Staff Profile
Diane Norton
Lecturer
I am a passionate believer in the importance and purpose of RE as a subject in the curriculum. It is a vital component in the personal development of young people as they grapple with growing up in twenty-first century Britain. I have worked in education for almost thirty years and feel just as passionate about this now as I did in my first teaching post. Working in a variety of contexts and with numerous roles in academic and pastoral management over the years, I have built a wide variety of experience from which to draw in this role as I seek to ‘pass on the baton’. I love teaching; it is one of the most rewarding careers one can choose and though it is challenging in many ways, there is always something special about seeing students succeed in their academic life, knowing one has had a part to play in that.
ITE has always been a thread through my career, whether this was as a mentor helping individual student teachers or as ITT Coordinator with responsibility for all trainees and mentors - it has always been a feature of my DNA as an educator. Working with YSJ as RE Tutor, therefore, was a natural progression for me.
I have been involved with training as well as teaching for many years. In my role as Diocesan RE Adviser, I worked with primary and secondary teachers devising and running many training courses on a range of topics - some RE based, others around assessment, leadership, diversity education and LGBTQ+ issues.
- School – School of Education, Language and Psychology
- Email – d.norton@yorksj.ac.uk
Teaching
I teach on the following courses:
PGC7012M - Learning and Teaching in the Primary Classroom
PGC7016M - Learning and Teaching in Subject Studies Secondary School
PGC7017M - The Developing Professional Secondary School Centred
QTS5003M - The Primary Wider Curriculum 2
Research
My PhD interest is that of the transition between primary and secondary education. This moves away from my MA in Religious Studies and Theology (studied at YSJ), but comes from my observations of primary school children in the classroom when I was an adviser. I was particularly challenged by how accomplished as learners young children are and wondered how better prepared secondary teachers could be to ‘harness’ this when students come to Year 7.
Professional activities
There are currently many changes occurring in RE and keeping up to date with these is paramount to ensure that YSJ student RE teachers are equipped as completely and fully as possible, in order to be at the forefront of these developments. In order to facilitate this, I attend conferences, network with other professionals and am a member of NATRE, AULRE and York SACRE. I am also an examiner for AQA and run my own tuition business; both of which allow me to keep up to date with developments in public examinations.
