Enthusiasm and Ambivalence: Elementary School Teacher Perspectives on the Ethics and Religious Culture Program

Abstract

The implementation of the Ethics and Religious Culture Program has generated a great deal of controversy. Amidst all the controversy we rarely, if ever, hear what teachers think about the program. In this article, the authors present the perspectives of elementary school teachers. First a teacher discusses her experience with the program. This teacher is especially enthusiastic about the program, particularly the way in which it opens up new possibilities for reflection and dialogue. We then present the preliminary findings of a survey of teachers. This survey is the first non-governmental study of teachers. The findings point to considerable ambivalence regarding certain aspects of the program. Finally, we discuss some of the major challenges arising for teacher education, particularly the importance of providing an integrated disciplinary formation in both ethics and religion.

KEYWORDS:

• elementary school
• ethics
• program
• religion
• teacher education
• teachers

Notes

B. Kay, “Québec's Creepy New Curriculum,” The National Post, December 17, 2008, accessed October 2009, http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper.

M. M. Poisson, “Le Cours Éthique et Culture Religieuse: Un Dispositif Idéologique Pour Faire Reculer les Lumières,” Public Lecture, Centre St-Pierre, Montréal, March 2009, accessed May 28, 2009, http://www.philosophie.cegep.qc.ca/index.php.

“Le PQ veut abolir le programme d'éthique et de culture religieuse,” Le Devoir, December 10, 2009, accessed August 2010, http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/Québec/278988/le-pq-veut-abolir-le-programme-d-ethiqu. The study in question was widely dismissed as ideologically biased.

For an overview of this controversy, see N. Bouchard, “Living Together with Differences: Québec's New Ethics and Religious Culture Program,” Education Canada 49 (2009): 60–62; see also the articles by Morris and Boudreau in this issue.

“Faulty generalizations” is identified by the program as one of the elements that hinder dialogue. Others include personal attacks, straw man arguments, false analogies, appeals to the crowd, or appeals to prejudice and stereotypes. Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, Québec Education Program: Ethics and Religious Culture (Québec: Gouvernement du Québec, 2008): 24–26.

For example, attentive listening, respect for others, and attention to nuances. Ibid.

For a similar example at the high-school level, see the article by Eric Vander Wee in this issue.

The research team includes N. Bouchard with M. Gagnon and J.-C. Desruisseaux, Research Group on Ethics Education and Ethics in Education (www.gree.uqam.ca).

L'Association québécoise des enseignants du primaire (The Québec Association of Elementary School Teachers).

Conducted by MELS over 2 years in eight Québec schools.

MELS, Étude sur l'experimentation du projet de programme éthique et culture religieuse: Rapport final. 2006–2007 school year, 70 (Rapport inédit).

75 elementary school teachers and 20 high school teachers.

Ibid., 36.

Ibid.

MELS, Étude sur l'experimentation du programme éthique et culture religieuse, 2009, 47 (Rapport inédit). Three high school teachers and 18 elementary school teachers were interviewed.

Ibid., 10.

MELS, Historique du programme d'éthique et culture religieuse, accessed June 2010 at http://www.7mels.gouv.qc.ca/DC/ECR/index.php?page=historique.

N = 75.

84% of the respondents answered that it was “very important” that their students learn to practice dialogue; 13.3% said that this is “more or less important”; 2.7% “not important.”.

44% said that learning the religion competency was “very important”, 45.3% “more or less important”, and 8% “not important.”

Respectively, 2.7%, 1.3%, and 8%.

J. P. Proulx, “La Genèse du Programme D'Éthique et D'Enseignement Culturel de la Religion,” in J. P. Béland and P. Lebuis, Introduction to Les Défis de la Formation à l'Éthique et à la Culture Religieuse (Québec, Canada: Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 2008), 16.

Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport 2008: 1.

Ministère de l'Éducation, Teacher Training: Orientations and Professional Competencies (Québec, Canada: Gouvernement du Québec, 2001), 31–39.

N. Noddings, Critical Lessons: What Our Schools Should Teach (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 284.

J.-P. Marquis, La formation des Maîtres: Quelle Place Pour la Philosophie? (paper presented at the Journée Mondiale de la Philosophie Unesco: Le Programme d'Éthique et Culture Religieuse un an Après, Colloquim held at Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, November 26, 2009).

This is also true for in-service workshops. Here the typical scenario is to have a religion specialist teach the religion component and an ethics specialist teaches the ethics component. An ERC workshop or seminar will accentuate either religion or ethics depending on the background of the organizer(s).

I have found, for example, that academics with a religious studies background tend to respond quite favorably to the combination of ethics and religious culture. On the other hand, it is quite remarkable to see how academic philosophers can resist the religion component of the program. George Leroux, the philosopher who articulated the philosophical argument for the program, has publicly expressed his exasperation with colleagues who consistently dismiss the religion component of the program. This was most apparent at the Unesco Philosophy colloquium on the program. G. Leroux, Finalités et Orientations Générales du Programme E.C.R (paper presented at the Journée Mondiale de la Philosophie (Unesco): Le Programme d'Éthique et Culture Religieuse un an Après, Colloquim held at Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, November 26, 2009).

The problem of fragmented teacher education programs is not exclusive to this area. Since 2006 I have been a member of the Comité d'agrément des programmes de formation à l'enseignement (CAPFE). This committee is mandated by the Québec Minister of Education to evaluate and accredit all the teacher education programs in Québec. According to CAPFE, the absence of integrated teacher education programs is clearly one of the most significant challenges facing Québec Universities. Teacher education programs tend to favor a “course approach” versus a “program approach.” In a course approach, the selected individual courses are given as units independent of each other and students are given very few opportunities for integration. See: http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/sections/publications/EPEPS/RapportAnnuel2007-2008_CAPFE.pdf.

P. J. Palmer, “Listening to Teachers,” in Stories of the Courage to Teach, ed. S. Intrator (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002), 3.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ronald W. Morris

Ronald W. Morris is Associate Professor, Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University; Executive Director, Student Affairs for the Faculty of Education; and Research Associate for the “Research Group in Ethics Education and Ethics in Education” (www.gree.uqam.ca). His research interests include: ethics and spirituality in education, values in sexuality education, ethical perspectives on health and well-being, and narrative in moral-values education.

Nancy Bouchard

Nancy Bouchard is Professor, Department of Religious Studies, and Director of the “Research Group in Ethics Education and Ethics in Education” (www.gree.uqam.ca), Faculty of Humanities, Université du Québec à Montréal. She is interested primarily in the curriculum analysis of programs in ethics education and in the study of contemporary approaches to moral philosophy and moral education.

Anne-Marie De Silva

Anne-Marie De Silva was an elementary school teacher who served on validation and teacher-training committees for the new Ethics & Religious Culture (ERC) program, and worked full-time at the Ministry of Education developing materials and lesson plans in ERC for the classroom. She then taught the program at the elementary level for two years, and is currently the ERC Educational Consultant for the English Montreal School Board.