Teaching Religion Around the World: A Modest First Glimpse

Abstract

This essay introduces a collection of short essays solicited from authors around the globe who teach religion courses at the college level (not for professional religious training). The central question uniting this collection is whether religious studies is a unified and global pedagogical field, and this introduction teases out salient continuities and discontinuities driven by broad cultural and political contexts. These essays are published together with this introduction in Teaching Theology and Religion 18:3 (July 2015). The authors were asked to provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student learning goals, and pedagogical techniques employed in their courses.Context matters in teaching religion. Any classroom is a context within a broader set of contexts, so it should not be surprising that religion is studied in different ways around the world. But what can a teacher gain by looking beyond geographical and cultural borders? What can one learn stepping into classrooms led by others who must also wrestle with the "what" and the "how" of teaching religion? Readers of this journal are used to venturing beyond their own local contexts but less often get the chance to go on a more expansive pedagogical journey. The nine essays collected here provide a modest first glimpse into answering one central question: is religious studies a pedagogically united field? More specifically, are there ways of teaching and learning that are common to the study of religion in undergraduate education regardless of cultural or linguistic context? Are there notable differences? These essays show us that two interrelated factors influence religious studies curricula and pedagogy: broad cultural and political structures which influence the early experiences of children in school, and then the anticipated career paths of graduates. Broad pedagogical choices seem to flow from those two baseline realities, but there is little that is global or unique the study of religion.In cultural contexts where there is no set career goal connected to the study of religion, religion is more likely to be conceived as a global study incorporating theory and method. In contexts where students are being trained specifically to be instructors of religious education, religion is more likely to be conceived as a study of one primary tradition with other perspectives considered in passing. In those cases, "theories of religion" are often overlooked in favor of courses focusing on ethics or "character education." The explicitly secular curriculum serves students pursuing a liberal education whose career goals are more amorphous, while the more denominational curriculum serves those who will be teachers or practitioners themselves. These general correlations are not surprising. The question is whether the explicitly cross-cultural, secular curriculum and the denominational, more theological curriculum prompt similar pedagogical choices. It is difficult to know anything for certain from nine essays, but this inquiry can IN OTHER CLASSROOMS

Towards a signature pedagogy for design and technology education: a literature review

“…After the initial coding of articles, a smaller sample of 11 were identified as directly relevant to the research question RQ1 (Boling et al, 2013;Caldwell et al, 2016;Domakin, 2014;Hall & Thomson, 2017;Love & Barrett, 2019;Noel & Liub, 2017;Osmond & Tovey, 2015;Parker et al, 2016;Peel, 2011;Robinson, 2015;Thomson & Hall, 2015). A variety of approaches were adopted by the authors in this sample, with 7 identifying at least one research method (Table 5).…”

“…A variety of approaches were adopted by the authors in this sample, with 7 identifying at least one research method (Table 5). Two were written as editorials to a journal edition (Peel, 2011;Robinson, 2015) and offered a useful perspective. The last two articles in final sample (Osmond & Tovey, 2015;Thomson & Hall, 2015) were included as directly relevant to the second research question (RQ2), focusing on implications for design and technology education.…”

“…Discussing the placement as a signature pedagogy in social work, Domakin (2014) sees practise as an important means of focusing on the individual's learning; and underlines that signature pedagogy starts with application of knowledge as an essential vehicle for understanding theory. Furthermore, the literature highlights the need to focus primarily on practical and experiential ways of knowing (Noel & Liub, 2017;Osmond & Tovey, 2015;Robinson, 2015). Signature pedagogies are intended to support learners in the transition from student to practitioner (Love & Barrett, 2019;Osmond & Tovey, 2015), and whilst it is recognised that a minority of students studying any particular subject in school will enter into a directly related career, they are different to transferable skills (Robinson, 2015).…”

“…Furthermore, the literature highlights the need to focus primarily on practical and experiential ways of knowing (Noel & Liub, 2017;Osmond & Tovey, 2015;Robinson, 2015). Signature pedagogies are intended to support learners in the transition from student to practitioner (Love & Barrett, 2019;Osmond & Tovey, 2015), and whilst it is recognised that a minority of students studying any particular subject in school will enter into a directly related career, they are different to transferable skills (Robinson, 2015). Returning to Shulman's three dispositions, discussed in the introduction, it could be argued that subjects in the curriculum offer learners different ways of thinking, performing and acting with integrity.…”

“…One of the most prevalent themes in the literature relates to the perceived gap between theory and practise experienced by students (Love & Barrett, 2019;Hall & Thomson, 2017;Noel & Liub, 2017;Parker et al, 2016;Osmond & Tovey, 2015;Robinson, 2015;Domakin, 2014;Peel, 2011); an experience often shared with professionals involved with mentoring students on work placements in teacher education (e.g. Parker et al, 2016) and social work (e.g.…”