Integral to the Life Orientation curriculum is democracy and human right. This article contends that considering human rights cannot simply be a theoretical exercise as the implementation thereof affects lived human experience. Currently held narratives of lived experience need to be dialogically explored. Integrally linked to any such exploration is the identity of the explorer. It can be said that individuals are made to varying degrees by systems and networks of power in society, including dominant discourses. However, they also have the capacity, by exercising individual agency, to make themselves according to the way in which they respond to the intersections that shape identity, including ethnicity, culture, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation and so forth. This article seeks to explore teacher identity and, in particular, teacher religious identity, with a view to transformed Religion Education. The argument is made for Life Orientation teachers to negotiate their religious identity from a position of ‘religious identity paralysis’ or ‘religious identity paradox’ or even ‘religious identity flexibility’ to one of ‘religious identity transformation’. Both in-service and pre-service teachers participated in the studies informing this article.
Human rights issues are embedded in the teaching-learning of democratic values as outlined in the ‘Manifesto of Values, Education and Democracy’.
This article seeks to explore teacher identity, in particular, in relation to the human right to freedom of religion, with a focus on Religion Education (RE), located within the LO curriculum. This has implications for classroom practice. The right to freedom of religion is embedded in the United Nation’s Declaration on the Elimination of all forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on religion or belief (1981). In South Africa, this finds expression in the South African Constitution and more specifically, the Bill of Rights.
The findings that support the arguments for unpacking the religious identity of the RE teacher are drawn largely from two localised research projects
Both the above-mentioned 2008 and 2012 studies were located within an interpretive paradigm, adopting an exploratory case study approach. In both the cases, participants completed self-administered questionnaires in which they expressed their understanding of religious freedom. They also described how they thought their biography influenced their approach to RE. Responses to the questionnaire were further probed in semi-structured focus group interviews. The in-service participants (2008) taught RE in purposively selected KwaZulu-Natal primary schools.
The data collected in both studies were analysed thematically with the following themes emerging: (1) religious identity paralysis/paradox; (2) religious identity flexibility; and (3) religious identity transformation. The following framework provided the lens through which the data was viewed, Theoretical framework: Religious identity format ion
Social identity theory explores the relationship between the individual and society, and is crucial to understanding how identity is constructed and experienced. The aligned notions of ‘multiple identities’,
The participating teacher’s biographies strongly influenced the way in which they either promoted or discouraged an inclusive approach to RE in a context of religious diversity.
Teachers experiencing religious identity paralysis or a bounded identity,
Religious identity paradox refers to those teachers that experienced discomfort at the fact that religions other than that promoted by the previously dominant CNE dispensation, were being marginalised. While they felt bounded by their own religious identities (in most cases, Christianity), they recognised the need to be more inclusive. However, it became apparent that for many teachers this was difficult and they were not able to make the transition.
Thelma (an in-service teacher participant in the 2008 study) provided an example of this religious identity paralysis. She completed her teacher training during the years of Apartheid and CNE, before the new democracy which came into being in 1994. She is a devout Christian and her church teaches that only Christianity should be spoken about in the classroom and no other religion should be mentioned. In the primary school to which she was posted, she found it extremely difficult to teach RE, adopting anything other than a mono-religious approach that promoted Christianity. With the passing of time, however, she became increasingly uncomfortable as more children representing a variety of religions were accepted into the school and she realised that she was marginalising them and their beliefs. She was, however, at the time of the study, unable to change her approach.
The pre-service teachers that experienced religious identity paralysis expressed themselves as follows:
‘Not everyone is open-minded and believe[
‘In my belief I am supposed to promote only Islam. That is the basic requirement for any Muslim. How can I go against that? It will go against everything I believe in’. (Farida, female, pre-service teacher)
Julie, a committed Christian, believes that her religion is
Teachers experiencing religious identity paralysis or paradox, and who are unable to meaningfully negotiate their religious identity were ineffective in addressing religion within a human rights framework. They were unable to promote the human right to religious freedom.
Those teachers who were able to express a measure of individual agency adopted a position of religious identity flexibility. They were able to remain committed to their own religious identity while still adopting a multi-religious approach to RE. These teachers were happy to teach
Sarisha, who qualified post-1994, provides an example of a teacher who exercised religious identity flexibility. She adopted a multi-religious approach to RE, preparing her lessons well, so that every faith represented in the classroom was featured in her lessons. Her religious literacy was excellent as she had, for example, made it her goal to know the names and traditions of various religious festivals. While her lessons provided knowledge, the learners were, however, still taught
In the study conducted with the pre-service teachers
‘Every individual or religious group should be free and do what their religious group says. They should follow their own principles which are being said by their God’. (Nosipho, Female, pre-service teacher)
‘Everyone has the right to speak about what they believe, and should not be threatened. Learning from views and practices of other religions does not mean one would stay away from their own religion’. (Jabu, Female, pre-service teacher)
‘I will be able to facilitate Religion Education because I am not compromising my salvation, but merely educating learners about the different religions of the world and South Africa’. (Ncami, Female, pre-service teacher)
These pre-service teachers were satisfied to simply know about religions other their own. They were content to adopt an inclusive, multi-religious approach to RE. By doing so, however, they would not necessarily engage with substantial issues, including prejudice, suspicion, fear and stereotyping that often underpin the way in which adherents of different religions regard one another, not least in the RE classroom.
Teachers are expected to manage multiple identities as they move in and out of their personal, social and professional domains. This includes their religious community and school classroom. Religious identity conflict between their personal and professional identities, calls for identity negotiation.
Martha who exercised religious identity transformation, expressed herself as following:
‘My belief is firm and I feel very secure therefore there is no problem to teach religious freedom in schools. I can deepen the learners’ faith and belief in their own religions, at the same time teaching them to respect other religions’. (Martha, female, in-service teacher)
She was able to put her religion into parenthesis, while meaningfully engaging with religions other than her own and encouraging her learners to do the same.
In order for true transformation to take place, RE teachers should be able to exercise their voice
Dialogical voice,
Narrative unity
The teacher with a transformed religious identity
Religion Education teachers employing an empathetic-reflective-dialogical approach in contexts of religious diversity have the potential to select and employ more creative teaching methods and become agents of curriculum development and design.
This article advocates for the inclusion of an empathetic-reflective-dialogical approach to teaching-learning in LO modules, in particular, those that prepare pre-service teachers to teach RE. Safe or non-threatening spaces, denoting the figurative and discursive use of the notion (Roux, 2012; Du Preez, 2013; Redmond, 2010; Stengel, 2010),
This article argues that if pre-service teachers can be provided with the opportunity to successfully negotiate their religious identity, they could possibly be less fearful of compromising their own religious identity (often the root of religious identity paralysis or religious identity paradox) and more able to engage with confidence in situations of religious diversity. This process begins with the acceptance of diversity (religious identity flexibility). However, this needs to progress to a place of being open to diversity and willing to engage with difference and learn from others. When they have successfully negotiated their religious identity, the possibility exists that they will be able to employ an empathetic-reflective-dialogical approach in the RE classroom that will provide learners with safe spaces in which to express their own beliefs, as well as empathetically take into consideration the beliefs of other learners. It is at this point that meaning will be added to any multi-religious approach to RE as advocated by the
As contended by Samuel and Stephens
[
Pre-service teachers need to consider the juxtaposition between what is envisaged by the
The author declares that she has no financial or personal relationship that may have inappropriately influenced her in writing this article.
The author declares that she is the sole author of this research article.
Full approval for a period of 3 years was given by the University of KwaZulu-Natal, College of Humanities, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, for research to be undertaken with consenting students in the area of human rights, and religious identity: HSS/0297/017.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or non-profit sectors.
The author confirms that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.