RT Article
T1 The use of story to teach religious education in the early years of primary school: a systematic review of the literature
JF Journal of Religious Education
VO 69
IS 2
SP 253
OP 272
A1 Huth, Kerrin
A1 Brown, Raymond Edward 1928-1998
A1 Usher, Wayne
LA English
PB Springer
YR 2021
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1763025438
AB This systematic quantitative literature review explores the use of story in early childhood religious education to inform the research question “What are the pedagogical benefits of using story in religious education in the early years of primary school?” Searches were conducted across multiple databases and individual journals for publications dated from 1970 to 2019. Literature on the key areas of (1) early childhood, (2) story and (3) religious education were analysed to understand their unique perspectives and ways they overlap and connect, with an emphasis on seeking literature which connected all three areas. The study revealed the areas of religious education, the use of story and the field of early childhood as three distinct areas of research with connection points, and gaps in the literature connecting the pedagogical use of story for religious education in early primary education. The literature identifies the use of story as effectively engaging and connecting children to religious education in a pedagogically appropriate way for the early childhood age group. Further to this, benefits were found not only in faith development and biblical literacy, but also in learning, literacy development, empathy, and engagement with differing worldviews. The Australian context was a focus of the literature review providing insight for religious education in Christian schools which may be applied to other contexts in public schools, or internationally.
K1 Early Childhood
K1 Primary School
K1 Religious Education
K1 Story
K1 Systematic
DO 10.1007/s40839-021-00140-y