Becoming a Teacher of Religious Education - Transitions, Ideals and Experiences

Author(s):

Annika Margareta Lindskog

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

PRE_B1, Preconference; Paper Session B1

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-08

11:00-12:30

Room:

C E11

Chair:

Meinert Arnd Meyer

Contribution

In Sweden, Religious Education (RE) has been transformed over the years from being a confessional subject of the utmost importance into a non-confessional, minimised (yet mandatory) school subject. The syllabus for RE stresses the vital role for the subject in the multicultural setting of present day Sweden. At the same time, the syllabus does not specify exactly what is to be taught within RE, other than Christianity, life orientation and ethics. My thesis deals with the choice of content in the teaching of Religious Education (RE) among a group of Swedish upper secondary school teachers. The teachers have been studied during their last year of teacher training and the first two years following their graduation. Through empirical data emerging from interviews, observations and questionnaires, I will depict what the teachers find as the most necessary content within the subject of RE and how this choice of content is motivated by the teachers. Through the somewhat longitudinal character of the study, it is also possible to detect whether the teachers’ views upon teaching in general and upon the subject of RE specifically, alter when they go through the transition from being teacher students into becoming professional teachers. In this paper I will discuss some results that have emerged from an analysis of an extensive questionnaire that was distributed twice in the research group; in the beginning of 2005 (as students) and in the end of 2007 (as teachers). How do the teachers perceive the subject of RE? What do they identify as characteristics of a good teacher and how do they describe themselves as teachers? How did they look upon these matters when they were teacher students? Only a few of the teachers have actually found employment as upper secondary school teachers of RE after graduation from the teacher training programme, due to a meagre job market. For those who have been lucky in finding a job, a hidden agenda in relation to the competitive market economy of today’s school system has been a surprise for some. A complex picture of similarities and uniformity, as well as differences and contradictions, evolves when the teachers’/students’ answers are analysed. How can this picture be interpreted and understood? What is the significance of the teachers’ experiences – or lack of experience?

Expected Outcomes

Some preliminary findings are that while still being part of the teacher education, the students emphasize the importance of having a solid knowledge of their teaching subjects. Two years after graduation, this aspect is not as frequent in the questionnaires, especially not among those of the teachers that have had personal experiences of teaching. Among these teachers, a genuin interest of the subjects is more commonly expressed. There seems also to be a correlation between the direction of the academic studies of religion and what the teachers state as their prioritised content within RE. Those who have studied a semester of theology, have a tendency to have a main concern for ethics and life orientation, while those who have a semester of History of Religion in their own education, are more likely to mention non-Christian religions (especially Islam) as important content in RE. The matter of Christianity is not mentioned in the students' answer in the questionnaires, despite the fact that this is specifically mentioned in the syllabus of RE.

References

Bertram-Troost, Gerdien D., de Roos, Simon A. & Miedema, Siebren (2007). Religious Identity Development of Adolescents in Christian Secondary Schools: Effects of School and Religious Background of Adolescents and their Parents. Religious Education. Vol. 102, No. 2, pp 132-150. Brömssen, Kerstin von (2003). Tolkningar, förhandlingar och tystnader: elevers tal om religion i det mångkulturella och postkoloniala rummet. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. (Diss.) Bö, Magne (2006). Norsk skole og det etterlengtede helhet: En studie i en laereplanverks forsök på å skape helhet i et differensiert samfunn og religionens tildelte oppgave i dette forehavande. Trondheim: Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Det historisk-.filosofiske fakultet, Institutt for arkeologi og religionsvitenskap. (Diss.) Cohen, Erik H. (2006). Research in Religious Education: Content and Methods for the Postmodern and Global Era. Religious Education. Vol. 101, No.2, pp 147-152. Gustafsson, Kristina (2004). Muslimsk skola, svenska villkor: konflikt, identitet och förhandling. Umeå: Boréa, 2004. (Diss.) Ipgrave, Julia (2003). Dialogue among young citizens in a pluralistic religious education classroom. In Jackson, Robert, Ed. (2003). International perspectives on Citizenship, Education and Religious Diversity. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer, pp 147-168. Jackson, Robert, Ed. (2003). International perspectives on Citizenship, Education and Religious Diversity. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Lindgren Ödén, Birgit & Thalén, Peder, Eds. (2006). Nya mål? Religionsdidaktik i en tid av förändring. Uppsala: Swedish Science Press. Mannitz, Sabine (2004). The Place of Religion in Four Civic Cultures. In Schiffauer, Werner, Baumann, Gerd, Kastoryano, Riva & Vertovec, Steven, Eds., Civil Enculturation. Nation-State, School and Ethnic Difference in The Netherlands, Britain, Germany and France. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, pp 88-118. Molin, Lena (2006). Rum, frirum och moral: en studie av skolgeografins innehållsval. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. (Diss.) Nelson, James (2004). Uniformity and diversity in religious education in Northern Ireland. British Journal of Religious Education. Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 249-258. Osbeck, Christina (2006). Kränkningens livsförståelse: en religionsdidaktisk studie av livsförståelselärande i skolan. Karlstad: Religionsvetenskap, Karlstads universitet. (Diss.) Panjwani, Farid (2005). Agreed Syllabi and Un-agreed Values: Religious Education and Missed Opportunities for Fostering Social Cohesion. British Journal of Educational Studies. Vol. 53, No. 3, pp. 375-393. Rymarz, Richard M. (2007). Who is this Person Grace? A Reflection on Content Knowledge in religious Education. Religious Education. Vol. 102, No.1, pp 62-74. Skeie, Geir (2003). Nationalism, religiosity and citizenship in Norwegian majority and minority discourses. In Jackson, Robert, Ed. (2003). International perspectives on Citizenship, Education and Religious Diversity. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer, pp 51-66. Ståhlberg, Gustaf (2004). Söka sig vidare i livet: litteratur-, metod- och fallstudier kring människors objektrelationer, existentiella/religiösa orienteringar och sökande av psykoterapi. Umeå: Umeå University Medical Dissertations. (Diss.) Weisse, Wolfram (2003). Difference without discrimination: religious education as a field of learning for social understanding? In Jackson, Robert, Ed. (2003). International perspectives on Citizenship, Education and Religious Diversity. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer, pp 191-208. Åberg, Magnus (2008). Lärardrömmar. Om makt, mångfald och konstruktioner av lärarsubjekt. Göteborg: Mara förlag. (Diss.)

Author Information

Annika Margareta Lindskog

University of Gothenburg

Department of Education

Göteborg

186

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