Baha'i
Buddhist worldview traditions
Christian worldview traditions
Contextualising the diversity of worldviews
Hindu worldview traditions
Humanist worldview traditions
Jain
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jewish worldview traditions
Muslim worldview traditions
Pagan
Rastafari
Sikhi worldview traditions
Soka Gakkai
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Zoroastrian
Research

Can RE teachers be impartial?

Robert Jackson & Judith Everington

Research Summary

This article is based on the authors’ experiences of teaching RE, educating RE teachers and carrying out research on RE. They write about how skills and attitudes supporting impartiality in RE can be developed. A relationship of trust between teacher and students is seen to be very important. In this respect, it is of benefit if teachers can build knowledge and understanding of the opinions and values of the pupils in their classes. Some student teachers or teachers with very firmly held views find it difficult to be impartial regarding RE’s content. However, using examples from their research, the authors argue that good quality teacher education can assist those wishing to take an impartial approach. They recommend further research, ideally involving partnership between researchers and practitioners.

Researchers

Robert Jackson & Judith Everington

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

  • How can RE teachers be impartial when teaching?
  • What are the skills and attitudes that they need in order to do this?
  • How can these skills and attitudes be developed?
  • What kinds of relationships between teachers and students help teachers to be impartial?
  • How can teacher education help with this?
  • What kinds of further research are needed?

What was done?

The article brings together findings from different studies, carried out at different times and with various methodologies including Life History studies of beginning RE teachers, interviews with RE teachers, practitioner research carried out with pupils and an ethnographic study of a church.

Main findings and outputs

  • This research is about impartiality, not neutrality. Impartiality: the teacher is willing to let his or her beliefs or values form part of classroom discussion, when appropriate. Neutrality: teachers’ and pupils’ views are set aside and an ‘objective’ view of religion is sought.
  • Teacher commitment, including religious commitment, can certainly be compatible with respect for pupils’ freedom of belief or expression. Skilled teachers know when to withhold and when to communicate their views; pupils see this as professional honesty.
  • Sensitivity is needed, and self-awareness. Teachers should reflect on how their own views on religion have been formed and how these might affect their classroom presentations.
  • An interest in pupils as individual persons (rather than simply learners) is key; teachers must recognise, understand and respect their right to have life-views and beliefs that differ from their own.
  • In the case of pupils from religious backgrounds, teachers need to have sufficient knowledge of the diversity within religions to recognise the ‘position’ that a pupil holds.
  • For experienced teachers, their personal views or beliefs and those of pupils are explored in classroom discussions if a well-established relationship of trust has been achieved. One teacher was able to use his own ethnographic study of his own church as an effective learning resource.
  • Further research is needed on these issues, ideally through teacher-researcher partnerships, but the points in the article are consistent with broader-based work carried out by the Council of Europe (see second entry in Sources below).

Relevance to RE

  • Within policy, RE should not be understood as simply informing young people about religions. Young people’s own beliefs and ideas are also important, whether they are religious or not.
  • In designing the curriculum, the above point must also be kept in mind.
  • In teacher education and on a career-long basis, teachers should reflect on their own backgrounds, beliefs and motivations to teach RE.
  • They should consider how their own backgrounds, beliefs and motivations might affect how they present religion or related issues in the classroom.
  • Regarding pedagogy, RE teachers should relate to pupils as individual people and not simply learners. They should respect pupils’ rights to their own beliefs and ideas and to express these.
  • Listening to young people’s expressions of their beliefs and ideas is important for an atmosphere of trust to be built in the classroom. This is the right atmosphere for personal views to be exchanged, without pressure and with respect for difference.

Generalisability and potential limitations

As the authors say themselves, further research is needed on these issues, but the points and examples raised in the article are consistent with larger-scale European findings. Again, see the second entry in Sources below.

Find out more

Teaching inclusive religious education impartially: an English perspective, 10.1080/01416200.2016.1165184, British Journal of Religious Education 39.1 pages 7-24 (published online 9 May 2016), See also Signposts: Policy and Practice for Teaching about Religions and Non-religious Worldviews in Intercultural Education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. European Wergeland Centre, http://www.theewc.org/Content/Library/COE-Steering-documents/Recommendations/Signposts-Policy-and-practice-for-teaching-about-religions-and-non-religious-world-views-in-intercultural-education

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01416200.2016.1165184

 

Back to top