Mapping the subject: Student teachers, location and the understanding of religion

Citation

I'Anson J (2004) Mapping the subject: Student teachers, location and the understanding of religion. British Journal of Religious Education, 26 (1), pp. 45-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/0141620032000149917

Abstract
Religious education students on initial teacher education programmes work in both school and university contexts that might be expected to produce different accounts of the nature of religion. This article explores the contested nature of religion and the ways in which student teachers negotiate their own understanding of subject knowledge. A small case study within a Scottish context is considered in which schools are seen to occupy spaces which privilege a modernist approach to subject knowledge in contrast with the post-structuralist accounts of religion that students may encounter at university. Consideration is given as to how six third-year student teachers negotiate the differences between these two contexts. This study has implications for the kind of support offered to students by initial teacher education institutions, where such differences obtain, and potentially raises questions concerning the future construction of religion in schools.

Journal
British Journal of Religious Education: Volume 26, Issue 1