THE IMPACT AND IMPLICATIONS OF FAITH OR WORLDVIEW IN THE CLASSROOM The Priority and Importance of Character

In their quest for universally applicable methods, modern teacher educators have often downplayed teacher identity, including a teacher’s worldview or faith. From a postmodern perspective, however, the connections between teachers’ identities and practices are being recognized and explored more as the two elements are increasingly being seen as interdependent and virtually inseparable. To explore how students understand this connection, the authors surveyed 58 teacher education students at a Christian university to discover the connections they foresaw between their teaching practices and their faith or worldview. The authors found that while most students did not perceive their faith or worldview directly informing their pedagogical methods or curriculum, the majority of them did foresee indirect ways of integrating their faith or worldview in the classroom. The major way students saw the two connecting involved the teaching or moral virtue. The authors make suggestions as to how teacher educators can develop these connections by educating students about constitutionally appropriate ways to integrate the study of religion and character education in public schools.