From Which to Why Not Religions in the Curriculum. A Troubled Pedagogy
Bekithemba Dube 
Issue: Vol.10 No. 11 November 2024 Issue Article 6 pp.65-73
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.202410116 | Published online 24th December, 2024.
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
The theoretical paper tapped into Bernstein’s notion of weak framing to point out the ambivalence of the religious curriculum in Zimbabwe. It showed the curriculum terrain that Religious Education has undergone and predicted its future. It also showed how curriculum conversations have moved the “which religions” question to why not religions in the curriculum. The paper argued that the weak framing of the religious curriculum presents itself as a playing field for politicians, curriculum planners, and educators where its validity is not to benefit the learners but to push the propaganda of the ZANU PF regime. The paper concludes, arguing that the presence of the religious curriculum has always been to buttress the status quo of the oppressor and the oppressed. Rejuvenation of the field is necessary, and urgent so that learners are not deprived of the benefits associated with the RE curriculum.
Keywords: Religious Education, Bernstein Theory, Religions
Amoah, Jewel, and Tom Bennett. “The Freedoms of Religion and Culture under the South African Constitution: Do Traditional African Religions Enjoy Equal Treatment?” Journal of Law and Religion 24, no. 1 (2008): 1–20.
Andrews, Sam, and Joshua Skoczylis. “Prevent, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus: Analysing Terrorism Prevention Policies Using Althusser’s Framework.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies 50, no. 2 (January 17, 2022): 405–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298211063929.
Antal, Carrie. “Reflections on Religious Nationalism, Conflict and Schooling in Developing Democracies: India and Israel in Comparative Perspective.” Compare 38, no. 1 (2008): 87–102.
Bernstein, B. Coding and Framing in Education. London: Routledge, 1970.
Chien, Robyn, and John Wallace. “The Use of Bernstein’s Framework in Mapping School Culture and the Resultant Development of the Curriculum.” In AARE International Education Research Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 2004.
Dieh, Monika, Joakim Lindgren, and Eva Leffler. “The Impact of Classification and Framing in Entrepreneurial Education: Field Observations in Two Lower Secondary Schools.” Universal Journal of Educational Research 3, no. 8 (August 2015): 489–501. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2015.030803.
Dodo, Obediah. “Inter-Religious Conflicts: A Review of Zimbabwe’s Religious Landscape, Post-Independence.” Ilorin Journal of Religious Studies 7, no. 2 (2017): 125–37.
Dube, B. “ Religious Education as an Ideological Tool in Zimbabwe: Unpacking the Strategy of the Regime .” In Regime and Education in Zimbabwe. Unpacking Post-Independence Curriculum Crisis, edited by B Dube and A. Mufanechiya. Lexington Books, 2024.
Gearon, Liam. “European Religious Education and European Civil Religion.” British Journal of Educational Studies 60, no. 2 (2012): 151–69.
Gramsci, A. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. New York: International Publishers, 1971.
Gwaranda, E.T., E Masitera, and P. Muzambi. “Education and Globalization: A Critique of Zimbabwe’s Current Religious Studies Ordinary Level Syllabus.” Alternation 10 (2013): 221–48.
Hoadley, Ursula. “Analysing Pedagogy: The Problem of Framing.” Journal of Education 40, no. 1 (2006): 15–34.
Jóhannsdóttir, Thurídur. “How to Configure Classification and Framing in Distance Teaching.” In European Conference on Educational Research, 2008. https://uni.hi.is/thuridur/files/2021/07/How_to_configure_classification_and_framing_in_dis.pdf.
Kasomo, Daniel. “The Position of African Traditional Religion in Conflict Prevention,” 2010.
Kent, Stephen A. “Religious Justifications for Child Sexual Abuse in Cults and Alternative Religions.” International Journal of Cultic Studies 3 (2012).
Magaisa, Alex. “The Regime and Its Enablers. Saturday Big Read.” Saturday Big Read, 2019. https://bigsr.africa/bsr-the-regime-and-its-enablers-d27/.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. Do’Zimbabweans’ Exist?: Trajectories of Nationalism, National Identity Formation and Crisis in a Postcolonial State. Vol. 3. Brussels: Peter Lang, 2009.
Ndlovu, Lovemore. “Religion Education Teaching in Zimbabwe Secondary Schools: The Search for an Authentic Values-Oriented Multi-Faith Religion Education Pedagogical Model.” British Journal of Religious Education 36, no. 2 (2014): 174–201.
Nkoane, Milton. “Critical Liberatory Inclusive Pedagogy: Arguing for a Zero-Defect Discourse.” Acta Academica 43, no. 4 (2011): 111–26.
Pausigere, Peter. “On Bernstein’s Sociology of Pedagogy and How It Can Inform the Pedagogic Realisation of Poor and Working-Class Children in South African Primary Maths Education.” Educational Research for Social Change 5, no. 1 (2016): 41–53.
Rasebate, Isaac Mokotso. “Syncretism of Basotho Traditional Religion and Christianity: Gateway to the Syncretistic Teaching of Basotho Traditional Religion and Christianity in Lesotho Schools.” African Journal of History and Culture 7, no. 7 (2015): 157–63.
Reardon, B.A. Freedom of Religion and Belief: An Essential Human Right. A Companion Guide to a Set of Short Films on the Human Rights to the Freedom and Religion and Belief. London: IARF, 2006.
Schwartz, Morey. “For Whom Do We Write the Curriculum?” Journal of Curriculum Studies 38, no. 4 (2006): 449–57.
The Zimbabwean. “ Mnangagwa Names Dokora as ‘A Destroyer of Zimbabwe’s Legacy,’” 2017. https://www.thezimbabwean.co/2017/11/mnangagwa-names-dokora-destroyer-zimbabwes-legacy/.
Velasco, Francisco Diez de. “Religion, Identity and Education for Peace: Beyond the Dichotomies: Confessional/Non-Confessional and Global/Local.” In Peace Education and Religious Plurality, 63–73. Routledge, 2013.
White, John. “Should Religious Education Be a Compulsory School Subject?” British Journal of Religious Education 26, no. 2 (2004): 151–64.
Zimbabwe Demographic Survey. Zimbabwe Demographic Survey for 2010- 2011. Harare: Government Printers, 2012.
Bekithemba Dube is a full Professor in curriculum studies. He holds PhD in Curriculum Studies from the University Free State (UFS). He has written extensively on the area of Curriculum, Politics and Religion in Post-colonial African countries. He has published more than 120 articles and book chapters in accredited journals in the past 6 years. He has successfully edited three books on curriculum, politics and religion and edited 4 special issues on education. He is currently the section editor for the Alternation Journal, Section Editor for the Research in Social Science and Technology Journal, Associate Editor E- Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and Associate Editor for the e-Journal of Religious and Theology Studies all accredited with DHET. He has served as a Head of the Department for Education Foundation and Department of Curriculum Studies at UFS. He is a visiting Professor at Appalachian State University (USA) and he has received funding such as Thuthuka, the USDP award with Colorado State University (USA) and UKSADP with University of Highlands and Inlands (Scotland). He has received various excellent awards for being exceptional in research, teaching and engaged scholarship.
Dube, Bekithemba. “From Which to Why Not Religions in the Curriculum. A Troubled Pedagogy,“ E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies, 10 no.11 (2024): 65-73. https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.202410116
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
