Preservice Teachers and Religion: Serious Gaps in Religious Knowledge and the First Amendment

An introduction to this special issue ofSocial Studies Research and Practiceon religion’s place in the social studies

“…Despite the potential to engage students in discussions on religion (and other forms of culture) teachers in both the social studies and in other content areas more often than not choose to avoid the inclusion of religion into their pedagogical practice. Avoidance occurs for a variety of reasons including – though certainly not limited to – a fear of offending students or parents, a lack of knowledge regarding specific religions or concern about showing bias (Marks et al , 2014; Moore, 2012). Avoiding speaking about religion does a disservice to students and, subsequently, society as it can perpetuate a consistent problem of ignorance, intolerance and misinformation regarding various religions (Moore).…”

Secondary teacher candidates’ experiences teaching about religion within a history curriculum

“…that candidates have limited, problematic or inaccurate knowledge of world religions, including their own (Marks et al, 2014;Subedi, 2006). Candidates often misunderstand their own rights and responsibilities as future educators related to teaching about religion in public schools (Walker and Langan, 2016).…”

“…Learning to teach about religion through social studies Several studies have converged on the finding that teacher candidates are lacking in the knowledge required to teach about religion in meaningful ways (Marks et al, 2014;Subedi, 2006;Tannebaum, 2018;Walker and Langan, 2016). A survey of 101 elementary, middle and high school social studies teacher candidates found participants' knowledge of world religions to be "meager" (Marks et al, 2014, p. 251).…”

“…Subedi (2006) discovered that elementary teacher candidates were surprised to learn that social studies curriculum mandated teaching about religion in early childhood contexts. Less than 35 percent of social studies teacher candidates surveyed could identify any part of the First Amendment's religion clauses, even in generalities (Marks et al, 2014). Only 38 percent knew that the Bible could be used as literature in teaching about religion, and nearly 20 percent did not know it is legal to offer a world religions course in public school.…”

Growing up Between Two Cultures: Problems and Issues of Muslim Children

“…Within the fields of teacher education and multicultural education research, there is limited research investigating the role of teacher knowledge about religious diversity. Marks, Binkley, and Daly (2014) show that the lack of knowledge preservice teachers have about religious diversity should be urgently considered by teacher education programs in the U.S., not only for the purpose of teaching culturally responsive pedagogy, but also for allowing preservice teachers to practice reflective thinking about their own beliefs. Subedi (2006) pays attention to the lack of research focusing on the role of teaching religious diversity to preservice teachers and highlights how discussions about religion in teacher education intersect with other critical discussions on topics such as racism, power dynamics, and homophobia.…”