Primary teachers’ confidence in religious and moral education in Scottish non-denominational schools

This paper reports on the findings of a small qualitative study that investigated Scottish primary teachers’ confidence in Religious and Moral Education (RME) within the new curriculum known as ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ (CfE). The study was carried through face to face interviews with five primary teachers based in two Scottish local authorities. The study has identified that while teachers are confident with their pedagogical knowledge of the subject, they are less confident regarding the level of subject knowledge they have in the subject and about their professional engagement with CfE particularly citing the vagueness of the curriculum and difficulties they face in drawing out learning outcomes and expectations in their teaching of RME.