The purpose of this study is to examine what teaching materials is being used by three middle school teachers when they teach the subject religion, and how the materials are used. Furthermore, the purpose is to examine the three teachers’ perceptions regarding the teaching materials that are being used the most. To do this, the aim is to answer the following questions: What teaching materials do the teachers’ use when they teach religion, and how they are used? What perceptions do teachers have about the teaching materials they use the most?

The method used for this study is qualitative observations and interviews with three teachers of religion in three different schools. The analysis is based on a theoretical framework with different theoretical perspectives. Induction, deduction and abduction was used to analyze the observations, and a didactic question named the communication question presented by Sven Hartman (2011) is visible through all observations. Tendentious selection, stereotypical conceptions, the religion of elite and the religion of the people was used to analyze the interviews.

The study has led to the conclusion that the analysis of the observations and interviews revealed a pattern of textbook dominance. However, one teacher stood out from the common pattern in the observations, as the teacher used both the textbook and discussions equally in her teaching. The interviews showed that the teachers find more advantages than disadvantages of the textbook. The disadvantages they see with the textbook is not that it mediates stereotypical conceptions or contains a tendentious selection.