Rethinking the Religious Neutrality of Public Schools: Teacher Identity and Positionality in Curriculum Enactment

• In Event: Crown Plaza Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Religion, Identity, and Schooling

Abstract

Research on teacher religious identity and its effect on curricula enactment has received limited attention in teacher education literature. The few studies that have been carried out approached the issue from one vantage point - that public schools are religiously neutral and if teachers’ religious identities are acknowledge and properly accommodated, teaching would be better enacted. Using data from a qualitative case study of teachers in pseudo-religious public schools in Ghana, I argue that public schools are not always religiously neutral. In parts of the world where the lines between secular and religious schools are blurry, the fluidity of teachers’ religious identities and their consequent pedagogical (in)actions are highly context driven.

Authors

• Richardson Addai-Mununkum, University of Education, Winneba

• Abena G Asiedu, University of Education - Winneba