Teachers' perceptions and attitudes towards the revised Christian Religious Education curriculum for New Lower Secondary Schools in Uganda

Abstract

The study investigated teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards the content of the New Lower Secondary Curriculum (NLSC) for Christian Religious Education (CRE).  Religion plays a central role in Uganda; it influences political, cultural socio-economic sectors.  This is reflected in Uganda’s motto, ‘For God and my country’, and the national anthem, ‘Oh Uganda may God uphold thee’. In Uganda, people’s faith matters and when in 2008, the government attempted to ban religion from Uganda’s curriculum, there was national outrage and demonstrations from different sections of the population. Subsequently, the teaching of or about religion is a sensitive issue as it triggers some of the most heated controversies. As Silvestri and Mayall (2015) contended, ‘humanity is influenced by religion; it shapes how humans make decisions that express their relationship with the cosmos’ both horizontally and vertically. The religious motivation fine-tunes the behaviours and practices of humans in relation to the cosmic order. The study aimed to understand teachers’ perception of the new content, its appropriateness within Ugandan contexts and its alignment with Uganda’s traditional cultural values.  The study employed qualitative research paradigm methods, mainly interviews and focus group discussions.  It employed convenient sampling research techniques (Golzar et al., 2022) and targeted secondary school CRE teachers who enrolled and registered to pursue further studies in the teaching of CRE at levels of Master's and doctoral degrees. The study reveals that teachers were not consulted, and there are pertinent issues that were not considered in the design of the CRE new curriculum. Therefore, the laudable goals and aims of the NLSC may not be achieved. Findings reveal that CRE teachers perceive the subject content as majorly Pentecostal, confessional in methodology, simplistic in content, lacks detail, ignores critical issues such as the right to freedom of belief and worship, cultivating the African identity and promotes religious discrimination. The study recommends consultation and engagement of CRE teachers in all processes of reviewing the CRE curriculum, because they know what works, what does not, and they understand learners’ moral values and challenges learners experience in day-to-day life.