On how RE Teachers Address the Sometimes Conflicting Tasks of Conveying Fundamental Values and Facilitating Critical Thinking - Paper

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran

Teachers in non-confessional Swedish religious education carry conflicting responsibilities: conveying moral values while facilitating students’ critical thinking. The study treats this tension as a practical pedagogical challenge rather than only a theoretical debate. Qualitative interviews with experienced RE teachers explore how they relate to these responsibilities and how they attempt to balance them in classroom practice. The analysis highlights the absence of official guidelines for managing such aims.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The Paradox of Moral Education

On how RE Teachers Address the Sometimes Conflicting Tasks of Conveying Fundamental Values and Facilitating Critical Thinking By Niclas Lindström * & Lars Samuelsson± Teachers in the non-confessional Swedish subject religious education have conflicting responsibilities to convey values and facilitate critical thinking. The research regarding these responsibilities has often been considered a theoretical problem and the discussion has concerned theoretical solutions. However, the problem is not only theoretical. It is in fact also a practical problem that many teachers frequently encounter. The overall aim of this paper is thus to draw attention to these conflicting responsibilities as a practical problem that teachers face and are expected to solve in their pedagogical practices. In line with this aim, a number of qualitative research interviews were conducted with experienced religious education teachers, who are considered to have a particular responsibility for moral education in the Swedish school system. The purpose of the interviews was to investigate how they relate to their sometimes conflicting responsibilities and consequently make an empirically informed contribution to the debate. This is an important task since there are no official guidelines on how teachers are to balance these responsibilities in their pedagogical practices. Keywords: moral education, paradox of moral education, religious education, controversial issues, ethics. Introduction A recurring idea, among practitioners and researchers, is that "teaching is an activity in which moral issues arise inevitably" (O’Hear, 1998, p. 14; see also: Hansen, 2001; Bullough, 2011; Campbell, 2013). Some, like Jackson, Boostrom and Hansen (1993), have even stated that "all that can be seen and heard in classrooms" (p. 43) can be of moral significance, including "events, actions and even aspects of the physical environment" (p. 2). Yet, they often seem to be divided on how teachers ought to treat ideals, norms and values in their pedagogical practices. The educational philosopher Peters (1998) has articulated what can be interpreted as one reason for the disagreements concerning moral education as follows: "On the one hand there is an emphasis on habit, tradition and being properly brought up; on the other hand there is an emphasis on intellectual training, and on the development of critical thought and choice" (p. 27) . This indicates that teachers are expected to balance different roles, as conveyers of values and facilitators of critical thinking, with conflicting educational aims: that the pupils should become eligible democratic citizens and independent rational * Associate Professor, Umeå University, Sweden. ±Associate Professor, Umeå University, Sweden. [https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.9-1-2](https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.9-1-2) doi=10.30958/aje.9-1-2 individuals. At the same time teachers should avoid being authoritarian or indoctrinating children. Moreover, there is no prevailing consensus concerning if any normative theory is correct and in that case which it would be (O’Hear, 1998, p. 15; Hand, 2014, p. 521). Thus, moral and ethics education can be considered controversial issues, as Hirst and White (1998) put it, not only because they concern "contested areas in philosophy" but also because of continuing"disagreement over their possible aims" and "the considerable debate over these"(p. 2). The conflicting responsibilities to convey values and facilitate critical thinking has often been considered a theoretical problem and the discussion has concerned theoretical solutions (e.g., Peters, 1998, pp. 38-39; Gardener, 1981, p. 65; Gardener, 1985; O’Hear, 1998). However, the problem is not only theoretical. As will be elaborated below, it is in fact a real practical problem that many teachers frequently encounter. The overall aim of this paper is thus to draw attention to the conflicting responsibilities as a practical problem that teacher

FAQs

What conflicting responsibilities do Swedish RE teachers face?

They must convey fundamental moral values while also facilitating students’ critical thinking. The paper frames this as a recurring tension in practical classroom work.

Why is the problem described as both practical and theoretical?

Research often treats the tension as a theoretical issue, but the paper argues teachers frequently encounter it as a real, practical pedagogical problem.

How does the paper investigate teachers’ responses to the paradox?

Through qualitative research interviews with experienced religious education teachers. The interviews examine how they understand and manage their sometimes conflicting responsibilities.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aran