Don’t get mad, become a teacher: A phenomenographic study of pre-service teachers at a Buddhist college in central Java, Indonesia

This study sought to determine some of the reasons why secondary school graduands study to become Buddhist teachers, and understand more broadly what some of their challenges might be in choosing this career as a minority religion population in Indonesia. Pre-service teachers from each of the four undergraduate year levels were invited to be interviewed with the aid of their English teacher acting as a translator. One third of the total student cohort accepted the invitation to be interviewed. Their responses broadly fell in two dominant themes - resistance and resilience. A strong trend was that students had experienced various forms of bullying and ostracism both within their schools and communities, they had pride in, and a commitment to, preserve their Buddhist heritage. They also used their religious understanding with an altruism and tenacity that provided means to persevere and strive to hold to their religion and also find means to improve their lives and society. The paper concludes by suggesting that education about all religions to all children in Indonesian schooling would promote wider understanding, respect and tolerance in the society, and would serve to dispel erroneous understandings that continue to promulgate prejudice and marginalisation. Buddhist education institutions, too, might better support the aspirations and challenges of their students by pursuing a curriculum that is more in tune with global education and Buddhist youth.