Religious Faith and Practice Among Student Teachers, 1996

In the Danish part of the International Value Project 1990 (DDA-1523) it was documented by Peter Gundelach and Ole Riis that up to 15 per cent of the Danish population took an interest in 'alternative' religious ideas. The greatest interest was found among highly educated men and women in the younger generation. # In order to register the extension of these alternative ideas it was decided to investigate a certain population group about which it was expected that there was a greater interest in this type of ideas than in the rest of the population. # As several things indicated that people in occupations or situations which involve care and teaching had a greater interest in alternative religious ideas, it was decided to examine the religiosity of student teachers. Another advantage of this choice was that the questionnaire could be handed out to a whole group which could receive both joint and individual instructions. # A questionnaire was prepared and was tested in pilot surveys in the spring of 1996. In addition to the usual background variables the questionnaire contained questions about Christian faith and behaviour, alternative faith and behaviour, contact with religious groups, experiences with healing and alternative medicine, and expectations of the student teachers regarding the usefulness of their religious ideas and experiences in the class room. # The main survey, which was carried out in the autumn of 1996 and the spring of 1997, comprised 1835 first-year students at Danish teacher training colleges as well as the teacher training colleges in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The purpose of the survey was to decide whether the results from the above-mentioned International Value Project can be supported and also to give a more complete picture of the extension and importance of 'alternative' ideas and behaviour among the student teachers. # In the spring of 1998 data were collected from control groups at other educations and by means of detailed interviews with student teachers. # Data from the Faroe Islands, Greenland and the control groups are not included in the data material which the DDA has received, but the analysis results are found in the publication 'Mellem himmel og jord' (Between Heaven and Earth)