Christian values in education: teachers in India narrate the impact of their faith and values on practice

India’s education system is complex because it has to meet the needs of a population which is culturally, geographically, politically, religiously and economically diverse. The principal investigator spent two summers in India talking with teachers and learners. This paper reports on the impact of C...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Elton-Chalcraft, Sally (Author) ; Cammack, Paul J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge [2020]
In: Journal of beliefs and values
Year: 2020, Volume: 41, Issue: 3, Pages: 284-304
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B India / Multi-cultural society / Interreligiosity / School teaching / Value ethics / Christianity / Teacher / Pupil
IxTheo Classification:AH Religious education
CH Christianity and Society
KBM Asia
NCA Ethics
Further subjects:B Christian faith and teaching
B Values in education
B headteachers in India
B post colonial education
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:India’s education system is complex because it has to meet the needs of a population which is culturally, geographically, politically, religiously and economically diverse. The principal investigator spent two summers in India talking with teachers and learners. This paper reports on the impact of Christian values in the secular but arguably Hindu nationalist education system. Working within an interpretivist paradigm and through an ethnographic lens, an interpretive phenomenological analysis approach was adopted to make sense of 34 interviewees’ narratives from five Indian states. The narratives were mapped onto an adaptation of a ‘tree metaphor’ to illustrate how values underpin decision-making and action in the school context. Five of the narratives are presented as keyhole examples to exemplify the similarities and contrasts in reported beliefs, values and behaviours set within the context of teachers’ professional practice. Findings reveal that all 34 participants drew on their Christian faith, and Indian cultural context, in their decision-making both in how they made sense of education policy, and how they interpreted school events and behaviours. Despite their common faith (Christianity), the 34 interpretations, decision-making and actions varied as demonstrated in the five selected narratives. We explore how the variance manifested and was influenced by the geographical, cultural, post colonial and school context.
ISSN:1469-9362
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of beliefs and values
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13617672.2019.1647674