Christian Faith in English Church Schools
Research Conversations with Classroom Teachers
Series:
Trevor Cooling, Beth Green, Andrew Morris and Lynn Revell
Chapter 6: Issues for Teacher Education
Extract
← 104 | 105 →
CHAPTER 6
Issues for Teacher Education
So far we have focussed on examining our teachers’ experience of What If Learning as an approach to creating distinctively Christian learning experiences for their students in church secondary schools. Our findings pose important questions for teacher education. In particular we suggest that specific professional support is required if teachers are successfully to bring together their perceptions of Christianity and their understanding of their professional role.
It is a peculiarity of initial teacher education (ITE) in England that while a third of all state-maintained schools are church schools, student teachers receive little formal education about what church schools expect of teachers. As a lecturer in education, student teachers have sometimes asked me what they should do if they are allocated a teaching practice in a church school. Do they have to be religious? Will they have to behave in a certain way? Are there some things they shouldn’t say?
We therefore decided to investigate a) exactly what experience the teachers in our research had of being prepared for working in a church school and b) how university lecturers who train teachers respond to the idea of giving specific support for teaching in church schools. I, Lynn Revell, was tasked with researching these questions and this chapter is my report of my research and findings. The findings raise significant questions for those involved in teacher education. ← 105 | 106 →
The Challenge
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