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ABSTRACT
Teachers’ worldviews may impact their practice in terms of pedagogy, curriculum choices, and the value they assign to, or enthusiasm for, a curriculum subject. In England, Religious Education (RE) involves the teaching of religious and non-religious worldviews. RE teachers often lack training, subject knowledge, confidence or even desire to teach the subject. This article develops a working definition of ‘worldview’ as an individual’s frame of reference, held consciously and subconsciously, that evolves due to life experiences, enabling them to make sense of the world. Hermeneutical tools employed in training sessions with teachers enabled them to identify aspects of their worldviews and the narratives which have formed these. Research was undertaken through semi-structured interviews with 10 Primary school teachers in the South West of England. Findings revealed variations between teachers’ worldview-consciousness and the impact of their worldviews on their teaching of RE: notions of ‘good life’ varied and determined their teaching of, choices within and rationale for RE alongside growing confidence. Depth of understanding was facilitated for some by overseas travel or working and living in an ethnically diverse area. Greater self-understanding for teachers was evident in their acknowledgement of the impact of their own worldviews on their teaching of RE.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. The Welsh Government is proposing scrapping parental right to withdraw with the introduction of their new RE curriculum in 2022. Kirsty Williams, Education Minister, 21 January 2020, Press Release. https://gov.wales/children-wales-will-have-universal-access-full-curriculum
2. Each Standard Advisory Committee on RE (SACRE) produces a locally agreed syllabus which often sets out aims and rationale but there is no nationally agreed government directed aim or rationale.
3. The low number of pupils who take RE to GCSE level means that for many pupils in England, unless participating in a faith themselves, they may have little or no understanding of religion(s). For example, according to Ofqual only 24% of Year 11 pupils took RE GCSE in 2018 (Citation2018).
4. CPD sessions are training opportunities for teachers to develop their practice. CPD is a term that is employed across a wide range of professions, medical, dental and educational, in the UK that require updating of knowledge and experience.
5. Both of these terms are employed in England with some difference of focus: some institutions focusing on the practical aspects of training to become a teacher (ITT) and other focusing on engaging in the process of education for teachers with involvement of Higher Education providers such as universities (ITE).
6. Lead Teach Learn RE is a learning partnership project that supports teachers in the South West of England through local Hub meetings and conferences. The steering group is chaired by Tatiana Wilson (Exeter Diocese Education Advisor) and evaluated by Dr John Gay (University of Oxford) and Barbara Wintersgill. https://www.ltlre.org/about/
7. See Walshe (Citation2020) for a fuller discussion on the range of definitions for understanding.
8. The term ‘melting pot’ was used by one participant and so I employed this metaphor even though I would not wish to uphold this as a positive model for interculturalism. From this I decided to employ other metaphors to describe the two further findings that were surprising. I chose ‘mosaic’ and ‘mirror’ due to their aptly fitting the findings. Yet ‘mosaic’ is a metaphor already employed by a charity in Canada that has supported immigrants’ integration for 40 years: ‘empowering newcomers to fully participate in Canadian society’. https://www.mosaicbc.org/.
9. The term extremism is problematic leading to ideas that moderate allegiance to Islam is ‘acceptable’. Yet moderate implies a half-hearted allegiance to faith thus causing tension for those who wish to wholeheartedly adhere to their faith without being deemed a threat. (Jackson Citation2018)
10. Fundamental British Values are defined as democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance (Home Office, Citation2011).
11. See Brogaard (Citation2008), for further discussion on relativism and truth value.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ruth Flanagan
Ruth Flanagan, FHEA, is a Lecturer in Education, Subject Lead for Primary Humanities PGCE, and Race Equality Resource Officer for the Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter. Her research interests are in intercultural communication, the origins and evolution of worldviews and the significance of these on education throughout the world.