An implementation of the faith development model of James Fowler in religious education in South Africa

A vacuum has arisen for many teachers of Religious Education in South Africa with the demise of Christian National Education as a guiding rationale for the teaching of the subject. Many teachers have come to question CNE's emphasis on the transmission of content and the importance of the teacher. The child, many believe, has not been given his or her proper due. Teachers have also realised the inadequacy of CNE as a means of addressing the multi-faith nature of RE classes. The debate concerning the future of RE has centred around the need to meet the demands of educational rather than religious considerations. It has also been focused on the rationale behind the teaching of the subject. The question of appropriate methodologies has, by and large, been ignored. The imperative of devising an RE that is sound educationally as well as one that is able to address the needs of all the shades of belief that are found in most RE classes has made the work of the developmentalist James Fowler particularly apposite. He has constructed a stage model that, he believes, describes the progression of faith or meaning through which individuals travel. During all the stages the modes of meaning-making follow a predictable pattern. These modes are universal in their application and are independent of the content of the belief system in which they are grounded, whether this be religious or non-religious. The teacher using such a model is therefore able to engage everyone in an RE class.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Education

Year dc:date.issued

1996

Author dc:creator

• Kleyn, George Henry

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17961

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/17961