21st Century Skills and Finnish Student Teachers' Perceptions about the Ideal RE Teacher Today and in the Future

Abstract

This study investigates religious education (hereinafter referred to as “RE”) student teachers’ perceptions about what constitutes a successful teacher in the next 20-30 years. The study focuses on RE student teachers in teacher education in Finland. The students were studied in the light of a 21st century skills framework. The data were gathered using a questionnaire (N=43) and interviews (n=8). The analysis of the interviews was deductive content analysis with a quantification of the results. There were several results from the study. For instance, the RE student teachers’ expectations of professional development are connected to their perceptions of the task requirements. The RE student teachers perceived all kinds of interaction skills as an essential part of RE teacher competence in the future along with dialogue skills. The RE student teachers also emphasised learning to learn and critical thinking skills as the core skills of a successful RE teacher in the future. The participants seemed to highlight all the different literacy skills (information, media, technology and religious) as the core skills of a successful RE teacher. Especially religious literacy was considered to be a key skill in the competence of the RE teacher in the future.