Strategies for teaching religion in colleges of education

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The revised norms and standards for teacher education requires an understanding of thebeliefs, values and practices of the main religions of South Africa. However, many preserviceteachers have emerged from backgrounds of monoreligious education, or fromschools where Religious education was discarded from the curriculum. This situationimplies that pre-service teachers may lack the knowledge and skills to cope within areligiously pluralist school environment. This study argues therefore that the attitudes andperceptions of pre-service teachers towards Religious education in particular andreligions in general will be positively influenced by means of a programme ofintervention.The main aim of this study is to examine strategies for teaching religion to pre-serviceteachers to equip them for the religious and cultural diversity of South Africanclassrooms. F euerstein' s theory of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) is examined asa vehicle for initiating new and creative ways of thinking about religions. Ten criteria forMLE are implemented within a context of co-operative small group learning on thegrounds that learning about religions should take place in a constructivist paradigm. Thepotential influence of a tutor/mediator on the perceptions and attitudes of pre-serviceteachers towards religions other than their own is therefore a significant theme in thisstudy. The influence of a programme of intervention on student attitudes towards religionand Religious education was determined within an action-enquiry research model. Theempirical research indicates that active participation in the learning process not onlyenhanced student participants' knowledge and understanding of religious concepts, butalso fostered the value of an unbiased, positive approach to the study of religions.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University