Michael J. Reiss (born 1960) is a British

bioethicist Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethics, ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biolo ...

, educator, and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. He is also an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest. Reiss is professor of science education at the

Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior t ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, where he is assistant director, research and development.

Family

Reiss's father was an

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

; his mother, a

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

. His father was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

; his mother, an agnostic. Reiss had a secular upbringing in north London.Michael Reiss: How to convert a generation
" ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 28 November 2006.

Career

He began his career as a schoolteacher at Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge in 1983. In 1989, he became a lecturer and tutor in the Department of Education at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. At the age of 29, Reiss began training for ministry in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

with the East Anglian Ministerial Training Course: he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in the

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 1990 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1991. For many years, he led the Sunday service in his local village near Cambridge. He was a senior lecturer at Cambridge until 1998, then reader in education and bioethics until 2000. From 2003, he was chief executive of the Science Learning Centre in London.Who's Who, 2009 From 2006 to 2008, he was director of education at the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, a position he resigned on 16 September 2008, following protests about his views on tackling

creationism Creationism is the faith, religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of Creation myth, divine creation, and is often Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific.#Gunn 2004, Gun ...

when teaching

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

in schools, which the Royal Society said were "open to misinterpretation". Reiss works in the fields of

science education Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some ...

bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...

, and

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...

. He has a special interest in the ethical implications of

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

. He was formerly head of the School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology at the Institute of Education,

. In science education, he currently directs projects funded by the

Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was repl ...

, including a longitudinal,

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

study of pupils' learning, currently in its eleventh year. Reiss is a frequent consultant to the Royal Society, the

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA), previously known as the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), was a charity, and an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department for Education. In Engl ...

, the

Training and Development Agency for Schools The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) was a body responsible for the initial and in-service training of teachers and other school staff in England. It was an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Education. ...

(formerly known as the Teacher Training Agency or the TTA) and other organisations. He serves on the editorial board of the ''International Journal of Science Education''. He was a specialist adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures, 2001–02, and is a member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council. As early as November 2006, Reiss suggested that, rather than dismissing

as a "misconception," teachers should take the time to explain why creationism had no scientific basis. In September 2008, his views were presented in some media reports as lending support to teaching creationism as a legitimate point of view; however both he and the Royal Society later stated that this was a misrepresentation.Call for Creationism in Science
"

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, 13 September 2008. Reiss stressed that the topic should not be taught as

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, but rather should be construed as a cultural "

Worldview A worldview (also world-view) or is said to be the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and Perspective (cognitive), point of view. However, whe ...

." Reiss argued that it was more effective to engage with pupils' ideas about creationism, rather than to obstruct discussion with those who do not accept the scientific version of the evolution of species. In July 2009, he led a number of the UK's most senior scientists in writing to the Schools Secretary Ed Balls to complain that Ofsted's proposed new curriculum for primary schools did not mention evolution. In 2010 Reiss debated

Michael Behe Michael Joseph Behe ( ; born January 18, 1952) is an American biochemist and an advocate of the pseudoscientific principle of intelligent design (ID). Behe serves as professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, an ...

on the topic of

Intelligent Design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...

. In 2022, he was elected a member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20170523121822/http://reiss.tc/
Institute of Education web page

Prof Michael Reiss
at IRIS UCL {{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss, Michael 1960 births Living people 20th-century British biologists 21st-century British biologists English Jews 20th-century English Anglican priests 21st-century English Anglican priests Schoolteachers from Cambridgeshire British bioethicists People educated at Westminster School, London Converts to Anglicanism from atheism or agnosticism Academics of the UCL Institute of Education Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology Members of Academia Europaea British male journalists Academics of the University of Cambridge Theistic evolutionists Science activists Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts