Exploring religious education teachers' perspectives on character development and moral virtues, in state-funded, non-faith schools in England.

This article details the findings of a qualitative interview study with 30 Religious Education [RE] teachers, working in state-funded, non-faith secondary schools in England. Salient findings included participants' almost unanimous agreement about the role of RE in developing character, virtue literacy, and moral, intellectual and performance virtues. Whilst there was general agreement that RE contributes to educating moral virtues, participants differed concerning whether moral virtues were a) both a subject aim and a taught element, b) either of these respective positions, or c) an implicit by-product of RE lessons. There was no indication of this disagreement being due to participants' personal characteristics, suggesting that further guidance is necessary to clarify the role of RE vis-à-vis moral development. These findings mark a distinctive contribution to the literature on the role of RE, at a time when Ofsted is considering character education amongst the requirements of schools that are judged as good or outstanding. Plain Language Summary: This article provides a better understanding of how RE teachers think their subject contributes to pupils' character development, in non-faith, state-funded schools in England. The article does this through initially establishing that there has been a close historical connection between the teaching of religions and the teaching of morality in the English education system. This ongoing connection provides the groundwork for a study, consisting of an interview schedule, with 30 RE teachers who work in non-faith, state-funded secondary schools in England. The analysis revealed that almost all the RE teachers thought RE could contribute to pupils' character development and virtue literacy, in addition to moral, intellectual and performance virtues. When asked specifically whether RE could contribute to the development of pupils' moral virtues, the teachers mostly agreed but were divided as to how it did so. These findings are interesting because they provide a richer insight into how RE teachers, who work in non-faith, state-funded secondary schools, perceive their role as character educators. The findings are most relevant to teachers and policymakers, interested into how RE can contribute to pupils' character development, at a time when Ofsted has an increased focus on character education in schools. The authors suggest that further non-statutory guidance would be helpful to clarify the role of RE to pupils' character and moral development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]