Within the first sub theme of the significance of religion to the students, emerged the importance that students attribute to their religion, and how their religious thinking impacts on how they engage and interact with all aspects of their lives. Religious thinking and the prominence of God seems to be central in influencing how the students thinking is directed in terms of their engagement with debate and discussion on moral, social and ethical issues encountered in the course. The influence of the majority religious thinking in the community on student‟s emerged strongly, suggesting that there is a tension associated with what other people might think of them when they constructively engage with some HSW aspects of the course. The worry of upsetting the status quo community opinion seems to be a significant issue with a sense of limiting ones interaction in order to stay safe from becoming marginalised or ridiculed. There is also some evidence to suggest that student‟s experience difficulty and tension if they wish or attempt to discuss some of the issues they have engaged with in their course with their families, for example the theory of natural selection and evolution. The second sub theme that emerged addresses the tension inherent in the process of reconciling the discomfort associated with thinking stimulated by scientific evidence that is perceived to conflict with religious beliefs. The notion that there is a perceived conflict in certain areas of the course, notably again the
Primary data analysis discussion: 6.10 Summary of Theme four
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issue of evolution, resonated strongly across the cohort, and that the students experienced a sense of tension when they engaged with the scientific evidence for the theory of evolution in for example presentation or debate activities associated with the HSW components. The tension seems to center around the discomfort experienced when the material they engage with provokes thinking that on the one hand merges with compelling evidence, such as DNA profiling of various animal and plant groups and the similarities that exist in these profiles, but is perceived by the students to conflict with their religious thinking. There is substantiation to suggest that the students generally experience significant difficulty in reconciling their beliefs with the evidence because they perceive (whether correctly or not) that their religion is telling a different story to the evidence they are faced with, given the precedence that religion has in their lives. A common technique for dealing with this conflict and tension seems to be to put the information to one side and either ignore it or compartmentalise it in order to divorce the issue from their daily lives. Where this tension is more acute and uncomfortable, there is a tendency to reject the evidence altogether and withdraw into the comfort zone of their religious teaching without attempting to reconcile the two.
The final emergent sub theme illustrates the difficulty or impossibility of keeping religious perspectives out of ethical and moral considerations. Because in this cultural context religion is central to all things, any engagement with ethical and moral discussion will inevitably draw upon the student‟s religious thinking. If that religious thinking is informed by inflexibility by virtue of the student‟s perceived interpretation of their religion, then this issue can be reasonably assumed to compromise full and constructive engagement with ethical and moral considerations.
The teacher perspective regarding the theme of religious impact encompasses several strands. There is a strong sense of caution and even trepidation evident when engaging with social, moral, & ethical issues associated with how the students draw upon their religious thinking when engaging with these matters. The religious thinking of the students is perceived by teachers to significantly shape and form the student‟s engagement with the social, moral and ethical aspects of HSW, and yet the teacher participants seem to be in a sense
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alienated from the culture of the students to a certain extent by virtue of negating the relevance and importance of the religious dynamic, even though they are aware that in Arabic culture religion is central to everything. Clearly the religious undercurrent that pervades the student participants thinking is a source of tension for the teacher. There is an evident sense of apprehension about the possibility of inadvertently getting into difficulties with the parents and the authorities where religious thinking informs the student participants engagement with the social, moral & ethical aspects of the course. The second strand within this theme focuses on teacher‟s perception that the religious dynamic actually compromises student engagement with the social, moral & ethical aspects of HSW within the course. There is a sense that the ability of the students to fully embrace and immerse themselves in open critical discussion and debate is curtailed. The third strand relates to feelings of teachers themselves encountering compromise and frustration in their ability to engage the students fully with social, moral & ethical debate because of the perceived religious conflict with what they are trying to do. Finally there is a sense of conflict between certain aspects of the curriculum relating to social, moral & ethical issues, and the religious ascendancy. On the one hand teachers feel they must cover these matters because they are in the specification, but feel vulnerable in doing so because of the possible repercussions that might be invoked as a result of inadvertently causing offence.
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