Special Feature:
The Life Approach Method in Teaching
Christian Religious Education
in Secondary Schools
Jane K. Onsongo*
Abstract
This study set
out to investigate the extent to which teachers of Christian Religious Education
(CRE) used the life approach in the teaching of the subject in secondary schools
in Nairobi. Also, it was designed to find out whether these teachers were
academically and professionally prepared to use the life approach in teaching
the subject in secondary schools and whether they encountered any problems
in the use of the life approach. Further, the study hoped to come up with
suggestions on how the use of the life approach in the teaching of CRE in
the secondary schools could be improved.
Data was collected
from 61 teachers of CRE from 30 selected secondary schools in Nairobi using
questionnaires and observation of CRE lessons in Forms III and IV.
The study found
out that the teachers were not adequate professionally to use the life approach
in terms of pre-service training. As a result the teachers used the life approach
only to a limited extent in teaching CRE. It was also found out that the teachers
encountered a number of problems in their attempts to use the life approach.
These problems included shortage of time, a wide syllabus and inadequate guidance
on how to use the approach.
Some suggestions
were given on how the use of the life approach can be improved and recommendations
made to the Ministry of Education and its various arms for consideration.
Introduction
The teaching of
Christian Religious Education in Kenya has undergone tremendous changes over
the years. The subject traces its origins to the coming of the European missionaries
who taught it in order to gain Christian converts. The missionary approach
to the subject was confessional, that is, it was aimed at converting children
to Christianity. The syllabus required a careful textual study of the Bible
from which the students were required to relate what they studied to contemporary
life.
Origin and Meaning
of the Life Approach
The Life Approach
has a long history, especially in the teaching of catechism in the Catholic
Church. It was developed between the 1950s and 1960s, particularly through
catechetical congresses held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1962; Katigondo, Uganda
in 1964; Manila, Philippines in 1967; and Medellin, Colombia in 1968. The
main aim of adopting this approach in the teaching of catechism was to incarnate
the word of God into the culture or cultures of the people. That is, to make
the human situation and peoples' experiences the centre of catechism teaching
(Muthoni 1992).
In education, the
Life Approach has its origins in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. According
to Jean Holm (1975), this period was characterised by two revolutions within
a decade which necessitated changes in the approaches to religious education.
The first revolution took place in the 1960s as a response to research findings
by educational psychologists like Jean Piaget. The findings emphasised the
importance of experience in the learning process. Thus, child-centred learning
was contrasted with subject-centred learning.
The second revolution
took place in the early seventies when, under the influence of philosophy
of education, every subject in the curriculum was to be justified only on
the grounds that it contributed significantly to the child's general education.
These revolutions led to a different criteria for the choice of themes for
study in religious education, and the way in which they were to be handled
in the classroom. The aims were to change from the traditional ones of converting
children to Christianity to more educational ones.
Background to the Problem
After independence,
attempts were made to make education relevant to the needs of the Kenyan society.
Various educational commissions were appointed to survey the existing educational
resources, curriculum, and methodology, and advise the government accordingly.
The Ominde Commission of 1964 and the Education Act of 1968 both emphasised
the importance of teaching Christian Religious Education in schools under
the guidance of various churches which sponsored schools.
In respect to the
teaching of Christian Religious Education in schools, a joint church panel
was set up in 1968 to work on a syllabus which could be more relevant to the
Kenyan situation. A committee of Catholics and Protestants from Kenya, Malawi,
Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia under the title "Rubaga Workshop", prepared syllabus
223 "Christian Living Today" in 1970. The special aim of the syllabus was
to enable the student to grow towards responsible Christian maturity. This
syllabus emphasised life-related themes.
The second Christian
Religious Education Panel met in 1980 to review the syllabus developed after
independence. They reviewed all the syllabi from primary and secondary schools,
teacher training colleges, up to university. Commenting on the aims and objectives
of syllabi, the panel noted that:
(i) The aims and
objectives of the Christian Religious Education syllabi were either Biblical
or Christian-centred.
(ii) The aims and objectives
of the syllabus pointed towards the confessional aspects
of CRE.
(iii) The syllabi had therefore,
through their aims and objectives, pre-determined what the learner should
come out with, leaving him/her very little choice.
The comments show
that the syllabi for Christian Religious Education developed after independence
needed some review to make them learner-centred. The panel recommended that
a new syllabus was needed for forms 1 and 2, which moved away from "Bible
Themes" to Bible studies and "Life Themes" as was the case in forms 5 and
6. (Syllabus Review Report 1980).
During this period
(before the introduction of the 8-4-4 system), the Life Approach method was
emphasised in the teaching of Christian Religious Education in primary schools,
and in the secondary schools in the 223 syllabus taught in form five and six.
The recommendations
of the syllabus review panel of 1980 were still being worked on when the Kenyan
Government decided to overhaul the entire educational system and restructure
it to meet the long-term national needs of the country. It adopted the 8-4-4
system to replace the former. The new system of education emphasised practical
and technical education. In regard to Christian Religious Education, the emphasis
was now placed on the Life Approach.
The Meaning of the Life Approach
Loukes (1965) defines
the Life Approach as starting to teach with the real and concrete and the
present situation of the learners, and letting them arrive at a religious
understanding of those experiences.
Muthoni (1992)
defines it as the approach which emphasises the human person as the receiver
of God's self-revelation to humanity. The approach insists that God speaks
to people through their situations and experiences. From these two definitions
it is clear that the Life Approach essentially emphasised the use of the learners'
day-to-day experiences as the basis of teaching Christian Religious Education.
Reasons why the Life Approach is Preferred
The Life Approach method has been justified on various
grounds. Its chief advocates in education - Harold Loukes, Ronald Goldman
and Michael Grimmit, saw it as an attempt to correct the body-of-knowledge
emphasis of the Biblical syllabi existing in Britain during their time. Some
of the reasons why the approach is preferred include the following:
i. Religious beliefs cannot be taught
as if they were facts, but they are by nature experiential, Grimmit (1973).
ii. The
presence of religious education in the school curriculum must be justified
on educational grounds. This means a shift from the traditional faith-fostering
role to a more life-centred education, Loukes (1961).
iii. Findings
from developmental psychology pre-suppose a developmental approach in all
teaching. This calls for emphasis on the child's own experiences, needs and
interests. In religious education, therefore, there is need to encourage the
learners to look more deeply into their feelings, acts, and experiences, and
to express what they discover in everyday language.
iv. The
pluralistic and materialistic nature of the present-society cannot allow for
the use of traditional methods of teaching religion. To some extent, religion
has become a private affair, so the approach in teaching it should be one
that can help the learner to make his/her own free choice.
v. The most
important justification for the Life Approach is that Jesus Christ, the great
teacher, used the approach.
Generally speaking,
the approach has been preferred to old methods because it involves the learner
in the learning process and enables him/her to relate the Gospel message to
his/her own life.
The Main Steps followed in the Use
of the Life Approach
The primary Christian
Religious Education lesson plan format as outlined in the book No one Taught Like This Man (1979:219),
has the following steps which a teacher using the Life Approach may follow:
(a) Introduction
At this stage the
teacher involves the learners in reflecting on their day to day experiences
related to the subject matter. This arouses the their interest in the content
that follows.
(b) Lesson Development
There are four
stages in lesson development.
(i) Human Experience
This stage involves
starting by presenting or discussing an event or experience in the life of
the learners. The teacher tries to show how God is revealed in the experience.
(ii) The Biblical Experience
The teacher introduces
the relevant text from the Bible, or the religious story which will throw
light on the theme of the lesson.
(iii) Explanation
The teacher explains
the main points by use of various teaching aids to make the lesson more real,
lively and interesting.
(iv) Application and Response
The teacher tries
to show the relevance of the content to the learners' lives. The teacher provides
the learners with an opportunity to react and respond to the message of the
lesson.
Those are ideally
the steps that should be followed in the use of the Life Approach in the teaching
of CRE; that is, start from the current situation in which the learners find
themselves in, then lead them through the religious experience.
Literature Review
There is a lot
of literature on approaches to religious education, especially in Britain.
However, such literature is lacking in Kenya. Foreign literature was reviewed
to provide a theoretical framework for the study.
The Life Approach
to religious education was given impetus by a research conducted by Goldman
in 1964 in Britain using a sample of two hundred pupils aged between 6 and
17 years. The purpose of the study was to find out whether there are any sequences
in which levels of understanding progress in religious thinking using Jean
Piaget's developmental stages. The findings of the research revealed that
the religious thinking of pupils developed in stages. Goldman concluded that
there was a tendency to transmit "too much too soon" in the teaching of Christian
Religious Education. Goldman recommended the use of life themes, which he
defined as teaching by making use of themes based upon the real life experience
of the children.
Loukes (1965) noticed
that success in other subjects has been achieved by starting with the learners
experiences, and argued that the same success can be achieved in Christian
Religious Education if the same approach is used. Justifying the use of the
Life Approach, Grimmit (1973:52) writes: "Religious concepts 'only come alive'
when we are able to relate them sometimes partially, sometimes completely
to our life experience."
In Kenya, a number
of studies have been conducted on the teaching of Christian Religious Education
in schools. Wainanina (1984) conducted a research on the problems facing teachers
in implementing the new Christian Religious Education syllabus in primary
schools in Thika Municipality. Research revealed that the area of methodology
stood out as a major source of difficulty in the implementation of the new
syllabus. The research showed that teachers found it difficult to use the
recommended approaches due to lack of time, heavy teaching loads, poor professional
guidance and supervision in the subject. Wainanina's findings were confirmed
by a similar study conducted by Malusu (1985) in primary schools in Nairobi
Province.
Otiende (1982)
evaluated Christian Religious Education syllabi for forms 1 to 4. He observed
that syllabi for form 1 and 2 were confessional in approach and their content
was abstract, divorced from the children's immediate surroundings and without
reference to the traditional African Religion. For form 3 and 4 had a broader
content but were founded on a Bible-centred approach which prevented students
from gaining insights into the nature of their society.
From the review
of the related literature in the field of Christian Religious Education, it
was clear that no comprehensive study had been done on the use of the Life
Approach in the teaching of the subject. It was hoped that the study would
go a long way in filling this gap of knowledge.
Methodology
A stratified random
sample was used in the study. 30 secondary schools were selected. They were
categorised into strata: boys only, girls only, and mixed schools. For consistency
purposes, 15 public and 15 private schools were chosen. 5 schools were chosen
from each strata of private and public schools. All the teachers of Christian
Religious Education in the selected schools were asked to fill in a questionnaire.
For lesson observation purposes, 13 schools were used.
Form 3 and 4 were
used for observation because the students were assumed to be mature and could
therefore discuss freely their daily experiences with their teachers hence,
making the use of the Life Approach easy.
The research instruments
used were questionnaires and observation. The questionnaire, which contained
both closed and open-ended questions sought information on academic and professional
qualification of the respondents, the use of the Life Approach, and problems
encountered in the attempt to use the approach. Observation of Christian Religious
Education lessons in form 3 and 4 was done to obtain information on the use
of the Life Approach.
A total of 61 teachers
responded to the questionnaire, and 13 were observed teaching CRE lessons
in form 3 and 4. The data obtained was analysed manually using descriptive
statistics.
Results
The findings of the study were as follows:
1:5:1. Academic and Professional Qualifications
of the Respondents
The Christian Religious
Education teachers under study were found to be both academically and professionally
qualified, as 69% had attained university education or its equivalent and
only 29% had attained the Kenya Advanced Certificate of Education (KACE).
80% of the teachers were professionally trained, and only 20% were untrained.
Most of these teachers (70%) had taught CRE for more than five years. Teachers
were asked whether they had been trained to use the Life Approach in their
pre-service training or in-service training: It was found that 54% had been
trained to use the approach in their pre-service training, but the time devoted
to its use was inadequate. Majority of the teachers (85%) had not attended
any in-service training even after the introduction of new syllabi in 1985.
These findings indicate that, much as the teacher may be academically qualified,
lack of regular professional updating can adversely affect the use of new
approaches to teaching.
1:5:2. The Use of the Life Approach in the
Teaching of CRE
It was found that
most teachers (80%) did not use the Life Approach. Majority were found to
be following the syllabus and content in the textbook word for word. They
made very few attempts to discuss the students' day-to-day experiences in
presenting the subject matter. The teacher-centred, subject-centred, and Bible-centred
approaches were found to be dominating most of the teaching.
Teachers were found
to be using methods which involve minimal student participation. Such methods
as the lecture method, question and answer, and teacher-directed class discussions
were the most used; while demonstrations, drama, role-play, field trips and
social action projects which could make students experience what they learned
in class were the least used. Students' activities were found to be limited
to note writing.
1:5:3. Teaching Learning Resources Available
for Teaching CRE in Secondary Schools
Resources are very
important to any learning situation. Some of the resources being investigated
were textbooks (Bibles, reference books, teachers' guides, students' textbooks),
audio-visual aids (radio, video, pictures, maps, globes, posters, charts,
film-strips, magazines, slides), and community resources (resource persons,
places). Majority of the teachers (74%) felt that their schools did not have
adequate resources. This was confirmed by the classroom observation checklist.
Where it was observed that apart from recommended CRE textbooks and the Bible,
no other resources existed for use in teaching CRE. Even the textbooks were,
in some cases only for the teachers, while students did not have their own
copies. Students therefore relied on what the teacher had to say and give
in the form of notes.
1:5:4. Problems Encountered in the Use of
the Life Approach.
It was found that
majority of the teachers (84%) experienced problems in the teaching of CRE,
which may affect their use of the Life Approach. Some of the problems encountered
included inadequate time, a negative attitude to CRE by the students, lack
of enough professional guidance on how to use the Life Approach, a wide syllabus,
and inadequate teaching-learning resources.
1:5:5. Suggestions on How the Use of the
Life Approach can be Improved.
The respondents
were asked to give suggestions on how the Life Approach could be effectively
used in the teaching of CRE. The following suggestions were made:
i. Involving
students in discussions, field trips and social action projects in order to
increase their experiences in various topics.
ii. The syllabus needs
shortening to make it manageable.
iii. The recommended textbooks
should present their content using the Life Approach
iv. The examination system should emphasise the Life Approach.
v. Involving CRE
teachers in syllabus evaluation.
vi. There should be pre-service and in-service training on how to use
the Life Approach to teach CRE.
1:6.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The following were
some of the conclusions arrived at by the researcher:
i. That the
CRE teachers under study had not been adequately prepared to use the Life
Approach in the teaching of the subject.
ii. That the teachers lacked
adequate teaching-learning resources to support their teaching of CRE.
iii. That the Life Approach was
being used only to a limited extent.
The researcher
recommended that the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) should consider revising
the current CRE syllabus to make it more manageable and more life-centred
in approach. It should also organise - in conjunction with the inspectorate
in-service courses, seminars and workshops to guide teachers on how to implement
the new syllabus using the Life Approach. The inspectorate, through its field
officers, should intensify supervision in secondary schools so as to guide
teachers on the need to vary their approaches to CRE to fit the needs and
levels of the learners. Finally, the curriculum developers and book authors
need to update the main CRE textbooks to make them more life-centred in approach.
* Jane Kerubo Onsongo
is a lecturer in the Department of Education, the Catholic University of Eastern
Africa. Her major research interests
are gender issues in education, methods of teaching Social Education and Ethics,
Christian Religious Education, and Educational Administration and Management.
Correspondence
Jane Kerubo Ombuna
Lecturer, Department
of Education
Catholic University
of Eastern Africa
P O Box 62157
Nairobi, Kenya
Fax 891084, Email:
research@cuea.edu
References
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