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Research

What is professionalism in RE teaching?

James C. Conroy

Research Summary

This article draws on research carried out in 24 UK schools over a three year period. It looks over problems with defining how teachers in general can be seen as professionals, then it considers the theme of teacher professionalism in RE specifically. It shows how RE teachers are often confused about what being a professional RE teacher means. Is it about passing on faith? Is it about making sure that pupils meet examination targets? Why have many RE teachers reached for philosophy as a way to boost their professional esteem? The article argues that a genuine focus on religious literacy and the ability to help pupils gain in religious literacy are the true characteristics of RE teacher professionalism, but failure to grasp this has meant that RE teacher professionalism is in decline.

Researcher

James C. Conroy

Research Institution

University of Glasgow

What is this about?

  • What is professionalism in RE teaching?
  • What does it mean for a teacher to be professional?
  • What does it mean for a teacher of RE to be professional?
  • How does professionalism in RE relate to religious faith?
  • How does professionalism in RE relate to the preparation of pupils for examinations?
  • Why have many RE teachers turned to philosophy as a way to boost their professional esteem?
  • How can a focus on religious literacy restore professionalism to RE teaching?

What was done?

The researcher went through the data of a large research project on RE in the UK, bringing out examples that relate to the issue of RE teacher professionalism. The original project used a combination of different research methods. They included observation in schools, focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, expert seminars, reconstruction of classroom events through theatre, conference feedback, teacher-led research, textbook and teaching materials analysis and examination papers analysis.

Main findings and outputs

  • Teacher professionalism is harder to define than e.g. professionalism in law or medicine, because it is less clear what teachers need to know and be able to do.
  • Teachers seem less able to have control over their conditions of work and practices. They work in a command and control culture.
  • RE teachers struggle with further complications, e.g. the interest of religious groups in their work and general lack of clarity over what RE is for. Pupils expect them to have an identity in relation to religion, so it can be hard to separate their personal and professional identities.
  • Some RE teachers try to shape a professional identity by embracing ‘accountability’ and concentrating on pupil ‘performance’. Examinations represent an unhealthy obsession and much time and energy are spent in rehearsing students to give model answers according to set formulae.
  • This means that RE’s knowledge base shrinks, and with it teachers’ professionalism.
  • It can also mean that issues of truth are not debated and RE becomes in effect a matter of different ‘opinions’.
  • The use of non-specialist teachers can add to these problems.
  • Where there is a professional approach, it is based on religious literacy – viewing knowledge of religion as professional knowledge, and equipping learners with it as professional practice. Such teachers ask students to consider religious interpretation, symbolism and ritual, but rarely seem to focus on theology.

Relevance to RE

  • On policy, the nature and scope of RE’s content should be identified. It needs to be stressed that RE’s content has educational value and is not intended to form lists of key points for examinations.
  • On curriculum, the RE curriculum should aim to provide learners with knowledge and understanding of religion, including opportunities to debate issues of truth in the light of their studies. This is not the same as a philosophy and ethics approach, though it may overlap.
  • On pedagogy, shrinkage of RE’s knowledge base for purposes of examination rehearsal should be avoided.
  • On teacher development, RE teachers should have or gain broad knowledge of religious traditions. They should develop the ability to teach this content to learners in an engaging way, relating it to learners’ likely or actual questions including questions over truth.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The findings are presented through a fairly small number of examples from the project, but the author reports that such examples were numerous. They are consistent with other research and with a great deal of educational opinion. The article does not go into how the main recommendation could be put into practice (that is, how religious literacy could be put at the centre of RE teacher’s professional work, or how the obsession with examination training could be overcome).

Find out more

Religious Education and religious literacy – a professional aspiration?, British Journal of Religious Education 38.2 pages 163-176 (published online 6 April 2016).

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01416200.2016.1139891

 

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