Do English Education Leaders Care About Religious Literacy and Respect for Religious Diversity? Should We?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 104
  In Roundtable Session: Religion and Public Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine, via content analysis of documents from the field, how leaders in the field of English Education are responding to the challenges of growing religious diversity and religious ignorance. These documents include standards, policy and position statements, textbooks, curricular requirements, blog posts/comments, and journal articles. Preliminary results indicate that curricula feature authors and works of literature that will require classroom teachers to deal with religious issues in their classrooms; however, the field of English Education itself is not preparing teachers for or supporting them in dealing with the potential challenges in any sort of consistent way. The paper concludes with some recommendations for the field.

Authors

• Robert Todd Bruce, Erskine College

• Beatrice Naff Bailey, Clemson University