Implementing a Ricoeurian lens to examine the impact of individuals' worldviews on subject content knowledge in RE in England: a theoretical proposition

Abstract

This article recognises that for increasing numbers of teachers with no faith, religion may seem alien, and this may impact their choice of subject content knowledge. Teachers may, subconsciously, choose to teach aspects of religion(s) and non-religious worldviews which adhere to their own worldviews but ignore aspects with which they disagree. This theoretical article aims to examine the relationality between teachers’ personal worldviews and their choice of subject content knowledge for inclusion into their RE teaching. Current literature on worldviews and RE, alongside research into teachers’ professional knowledge, is examined in the first section of this article to commence investigation into this relationality. Implementing a Ricoeurian lens provides theoretical insight into the relationality between teachers’ personal worldviews and their professional knowledge, in particular their subject content knowledge. For teachers lack of subject content knowledge may be viewed as an insurmountable problem for effective RE teaching. Yet what constitutes teachers’ professional knowledge itself is questionable as is the relationality between personal worldviews and choice of subject content knowledge. This article recommends the provision of support for teachers to become worldview conscious to illuminate these (un)conscious omissions of religion(s) and non-religious worldviews and challenge any unexamined bias.