RE teachers’ perceptions of the RE aims.

Table 19. Details on: “RE aims promote pupils' growth and commitment to the Christian faith”

Respondents were asked whether or not the current RE aims promote pupils’ spiritual growth and bring about their commitment to Christian faith. Eighty four percent of respondents agreed, and 16% disagreed. The data show that the majority of respondents perceive the current aims as promoting pupils spiritual growth and inducing their commitment to Christian faith. Comparisons were made among the responses made and type of secondary schools, the

160 82.5 83.8 83.8 31 16.0 16.2 100.0 191 98.5 100.0 3 1.5 194 100.0 Agree Disagree Total Valid NA Missing Total

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

syllabus, and religious affiliations. It was revealed that the respondents from different schools had different perceptions over the issue, for example, those who agreed that RE aims promote pupils growth and commitment to the Christian faith were from GRZ (71.9%), Private Christian (20.6%), Private secular (5%) and Church/Grant-aided (2.5%), while the majority of those from the Church/Grant-aided schools (93.5%) disagreed. The type of secondary school in which the respondents teach has a significant influence on how RE aims are perceived. The chi-square test revealed the significance of this relationship (chi-square value=41.276, p- value=0.000). The perceptions of those who do not agree are influenced by syllabus 2044 which is more pupil than Bible centred. The respondents who use these two syllabuses confirm this, for example, those who use 2046 (88.8%) agreed that it is Bible-centred as compared to those who use 2044 (11.3%). The chi-square results are: chi-square value 25.059, p-value=0.000. In addition, the difference in perceptions is due to how the RE aims in the two syllabuses are developed. The aims found in syllabus 2046 are more Bible focused as compared to those found in syllabus 2044 which are more pupil focused. Also, comparisons with religious affiliations revealed that the majority who agreed that the RE aims in syllabus 2046 are more Bible focused were from the Evangelical/Pentecostal group (70.6%) as compared to the Catholic/Anglican (24.4%) and Indigenous Zambian Beliefs (5%) who use the same syllabus. The chi square tests were significant (chi-square value=23.886, p-value=0.000). This indicates that the responses were influenced by the respondents’ religious beliefs.

Table 20. Details on: “RE aims to impart religious knowledge and understanding of different religious faiths”

The table shows that 48.5% of respondents agreed that the current RE aims impart knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith. Whereas 51.5% disagreed. The data show that most of the respondents do not agree that the RE aims impart religious knowledge and understanding of various religious faiths. Comparisons made between the responses and

94 48.5 48.5 48.5 100 51.5 51.5 100.0 194 100.0 100.0 Agree Disagree Total Valid

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

religious affiliations revealed that most of those who belong to the Evangelical Pentecostal group (74%) disagreed that the current RE aims impart knowledge and understanding of different religious faiths as compared to the Catholic/Anglican (18%) and the Indigenous Zambian Beliefs (8%). The chi-square results are significant (chi-square value=18.760, p- value=0.000). This shows that the religious affiliation has a bearing on the responses given by the respondents. Further comparisons with the teaching experience, revealed that most of those who taught from 1 to 10 years (1-4 years-42.2%, 5-10 years-35.1%) agreed, while those from 11 to 20 years (11-15 years-43%, 15-20 years-19%) disagreed (chi-square value=34.831, p-value=0.000). The longer the teaching years of experience, the better their perceptions are of the RE aims being used in teaching RE in schools.

Table 21. Details on: “RE aims to lead pupils to salvation found in Jesus Christ”

Respondents were surveyed to find out their perceptions of whether or not the current RE aims lead pupils to salvation found in Jesus Christ. Eighty percent agreed, and 20% disagreed. The data show that the majority of respondents agreed that the RE aims lead pupils to come to Christian salvation. Comparisons made between the responses and religious affiliations as well as the syllabus used revealed that the majority of those who use syllabus 2046 (89%) agreed that the current RE aims lead pupils to salvation found in Jesus Christ as compared to those who use syllabus 2044 (11%). Syllabus 2046 is more Christian focused than 2044. Hence, the respondents different perceptions of the two syllabuses (chi-square results are: chi-square value=19.741, p-value=0.000). Also their perceptions seem to be influenced by their religious affiliations (chi-square value=17.769, p-value=0.000), for example, the majority of the respondents from the Evangelical/Pentecostal group (70.1%) agreed that the current RE aims lead pupils to salvation found in Jesus Christ as compared to the Catholic/Anglicans (24%) and Indigenous Zambian Beliefs (5.8%). On the other hand,

154 79.4 79.8 79.8 39 20.1 20.2 100.0 193 99.5 100.0 1 .5 194 100.0 Agree Disagree Total Valid NA Missing Total

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

most of those who disagreed were from Catholic/Anglican (59%), followed by a substantial number of the Evangelical/Pentecostals (38.5%) and Zambia Indigenous Beliefs (2.5%).

Table 22. Details on: “RE aims to impart Bible knowledge to pupils”

Ninety four percent of the respondents agreed that the current RE aims tend to impart Bible knowledge to pupils, and 6% disagreed. The data unanimously showed that the majority of respondents perceive the RE aims as imparting Bible knowledge to pupils in high schools. Comparisons made with the syllabuses used revealed that the majority of those who agreed that the current RE aims impart Bible knowledge to pupils were using syllabus 2046 (85.2%) as compared to those who were using syllabus 2044 (14.8%). The chi-square tests showed the significant relationship between the responses and the syllabus taught (chi-square value=11.638, p-value=0.001).

Table 23. Details on: “RE aims develop pupils’ abilities to make reasoned and informed judgments about religious issues”

This table shows that 45.8% of the respondents agreed that the RE aims help pupils to develop abilities to make reasoned and informed judgments about religious issues. On the contrary, 54.2% disagreed. The data show that the most of the respondents do not agree that the current

88 45.4 45.8 45.8 104 53.6 54.2 100.0 192 99.0 100.0 2 1.0 194 100.0 Agree Disagree Total Valid NA Missing Total

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent 183 94.3 94.3 94.3 11 5.7 5.7 100.0 194 100.0 100.0 Agree Disagree Total Valid

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

RE aims promote the development of pupils’ abilities to make reasoned and informed judgments about religious issues.

Table 24. Details on: “the current RE aims promote equal coverage of all major religions”

Respondents were surveyed to find out whether or not the current RE aims promote equal coverage of all major religions in secondary schools. Nineteen percent of the respondents agreed, 81% disagreed. The majority of respondents do not agree that the current RE aims promote equal coverage among all major religious groups in the country.

Those who disagreed (81%) gave the following reasons:

• They are more focused on Christian beliefs and values than any other religion.

• They are not in line with Educating Our Future recommendations of equal coverage of all major religious faiths in the country.

• They are catechism oriented.

• They are narrowly focused on a single religious faith (Christianity). However, those who agreed (19%) submitted the following:

• Other religions are included to a certain extent though not in as much detail as Christianity.

• They aim at evangelising all pupils to the Christian faith regardless of their religious backgrounds.

Concerning the respondents overall professional comments/recommendations on the current RE aims based on the syllabus they use, the following were submitted.

37 19.1 19.1 19.1 157 80.9 80.9 100.0 194 100.0 100.0 Yes No Total Valid

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

• RE aims must be inclusive in multireligious schools.

• RE aims must be broad in nature to embrace all religious beliefs and values. • RE aims in a Christian nation must be focused on Christian beliefs and values. • Change the RE aims from single to a multireligious focus.

• Let RE aims be “educational” rather than “faith” oriented.

• Make RE aims focus on moral aspects of a pupil rather than to be exam-centred. • Make RE aims that seek to create a pupil’s capacity to understand and think about

religious issues.

• Let RE aims be focused on the current issues affecting the pupil, for example, HIV/AIDS, politics, economics, gender, and religion.