Pre-service Teachers’ Perspectives on Teaching Scripture in Primary Religious Education

One of the challenges for pre-service teachers in Catholic primary schools is the teaching of scripture stories within Religious Education. Research states that Catholic teachers in the 21st century require tertiary training in teaching the Religious Education curriculum and they need to learn effective strategies to teach specific content in this learning area, including scripture. Godly Play includes an approach to teaching scripture that was intended for use in parish and hospital settings. Godly Play is now promoted by Catholic Education Western Australia as a meaningful approach for influencing the teaching of scripture in RE in early childhood and primary classrooms. This paper reports on a research project that sought to ascertain pre-service teachers’ perspectives about Godly Play as a strategy for teaching scripture stories in RE in primary schools. Qualitative surveys were employed to collect pre-service teachers’ perspectives of Godly Play prior to and again after learning about Godly Play as one strategy for teaching scripture. Survey data were analysed by question through a process of thematic coding. The results from these surveys provide insight into pre-service teachers’ confidence and pedagogical perspectives with regards to the teaching of scripture. Specifically, findings provide insight into pre-service teachers’ perspectives of the storytelling component of Godly Play as an effective strategy to equip them with the confidence, knowledge and ability to share biblical texts with primary-aged children in RE classes. Findings from this research have implications for pre-service teachers seeking employment in Catholic schools. Additionally, implications for Catholic education more broadly are discussed as well as considerations for future research

The T.I.T.U.S. Project: Implications of a Catholic spiritual and faith formation programme on the teaching of classroom religious education in Australia

This paper presents findings emanating from a larger investigation. In essence, this qualitative project sought to uncover the ways in which early childhood Religious Education (RE) teachers’ experience of a formation-based program, known as The T.I.T.U.S Project (Testament In Teachers Using Scripture), transformed their own religious literacy and subsequently, their teaching of RE; it is these findings that form the focus of this paper. Religious literacy is explained as consisting of more than content, to include the complex relationship of content with both context and learner. It is in this nexus between content, context and learner that The T.I.T.U.S Project resided. With existing literature clearly identifying teachers’ lack of confidence in teaching scripture within RE, that is, in engaging with context and context as Cullen explains it, this research is significant. The findings from the qualitative survey, interview data and reflective journals suggest that teachers’ own personal formational experiences and growth in religious literacy transformed their teaching of classroom Religious Education, including their confidence in teaching scripture