Declining Academic Performance in Multi-faith Religious Education in Botswana Public Junior Secondary Schools.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue IV, April 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Declining Academic Performance in Multi-faith Religious Education in Botswana Public Junior Secondary Schools.

Baamphatlha Dinama*, Gaone Vivian Olesitse, David Kaazumikua, Maphutshe Manyenyengwa, Zenzo Oratile
University of Botswana, P/Bag 00702, Gaborone Botswana
* Correspondence author

ABSTRACT
The study investigated the possible causes regarding the decline of students’ academic performance in Religious Education in the national examinations. From the findings, it is clear that Religious Education (RE) teachers are not aware that there has been a shift in the teaching of the subject from the phenomenological approach to the interpretive approach. Teachers’ inadequate knowledge and competency about the approach to be used necessarily affects the way in which they teach and assess, hence eventually affecting negatively the students’ academic performance. In order to improve the academic performance of students, all relevant stakeholders have to work together as a team.

Keywords: academic performance, religious education, multi-faith syllabus, academic work, interpretive approach.

1.BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
For close to thirty years after independence in 1966,Botswanaadoptedthe confessional approach in Religious Education (RE)teaching and learning and only made a shift after the 1994 Revised National Policy on Education (Botswana Government, 1994) when the phenomenological approach was introduced in 1996 (Dinama, 2010). This approach had an impact on RE pedagogy which naturally had implications on students’ academic performance. Consequently, in 2008 there was a shift from the phenomenological approach to an interpretive approach (Dinama, 2013). Just like the phenomenological approach, this newly introduced approach aimed at exposing learner’s into making their own thoughtful judgments about different religions. The approach further aimed at equipping students in ways which could allow them to examine the different religious views

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