Study reveals that religion teachers face low pedagogical authority
July 8, 2025
the academic William Zamora presented the results of a study on the construction of the pedagogical authority among Catholic Religion teachers, highlighting tensions between leadership, institutional recognition and student perception, in the recent UC Education Colloquium.
In the framework of Colloquia in UC Education, the teacher William Zamora, from the UC Faculty of Education, presented the findings of the study “Feeling (un)recognized as a pedagogical authority: Voices of Catholic Religion teachers”. The activity included comments from the academic Patricia Imbarak, who delved into the pedagogical and curricular implications of the results.
The research, funded by the "Go and Teach" competition (2023-2024), investigates the experiences of 147 Catholic Religion teachers who work in Catholic and secular establishments. The data reveal a persistent phenomenon: teachers perceive under recognition of his pedagogical authority, a phenomenon linked to decline in religious adherence already the perception of the subject as little relevant within the school curriculum.
"Religion class is often seen as a "relic", without academic consequences or evaluative requirements., which generates disinterest in students and places teachers in a constant need to “conquer” their audience,” Zamora explained during the presentation.
Among the findings, the following are identified: tensions between the figure of the teacher as a leader versus an authoritarian approach, Being the charismatic leadership and teacher's personality key factors for achieving adherence and respect in the classroom. However, Zamora warned that “This exclusively personal support implies professional exhaustion and limits the institutional recognition of the subject and the teaching work.".
Furthermore, the research highlights that the absence of clear boundaries in the subject content —a mixture of human, pastoral and doctrinal formation—contributes to its curricular invisibility.There's a lot of confusion about what it means to teach religion. For some, it means transmitting doctrine; for others, it means creating spaces for personal reflection.", some teachers interviewed pointed out.
As a projection, Zamora proposes strengthen pedagogical authority of Religion teachers linking the subject to learning with real consequences for the academic career, defining a clear curricular territory that avoids its thematic dispersion and promoting the interdisciplinarity to demonstrate its educational and social relevance.
The UC Education Colloquia are an initiative of the UC Research Ecosystem, in collaboration with the Doctorate in Education, the Research Directorate, and the UC CEPPE (Center for Educational Research). The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, July 30, at 13.30:XNUMX p.m. in the Mabel Condemarín Room of the UC School of Education.
The event will feature a presentation by Verónica García-Lazo, a professor at the Faculty of Education, who will address "Challenges and Opportunities for Intercultural Education in the Visual Arts." Guillermo Marini, also a professor at the UC Education Department, will comment on this presentation.
