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ISREV 2008 – COLLEGIAL PAPER ABSTRACTS – Final List

INDEX OF PRESENTERS, in surname order.   Click on a name to go to their abstract.  Or click on ABSTRACTS to go to the first abstract.

Stefan Altmeyer - The Language of Holocaust Remembrance in Educational ContextsZ Seyma Arslan - A Holistic Approach in Education From a Perspective of the Islamic Understanding of Human BeingElisabeth Arweck - The Interaction of the Major Religions at Close Quarters: Religiously Mixed Families in the UKHeinz Streib, Adem Aygün - Religious Socialization and Faith Development of Adolescents in Turkey and Germany: Results from Cross-Cultural ResearchKaren Aylward - Children’s conceptualisations of JesusCok Bakker, Ina ter Avest - Self-understandings of (RE) teachers as contributions to school identityGerdien Bertram-Troost - Living together in peace? The impact of Dutch schools for secondary education on pupils’ perceptions of religious diversityReinhold Boschki - Memory as a key concept in inter-religious educationOddrun Bråten - The Contribution of Secular Religious Studies to the Development of Multi-faith Approaches to Religious Education in England and NorwayMichael Buchanan - Preparing for Curriculum Change in Religious EducationMette Buchardt - ’Religion’/’Culture’ as Identity Politics, Knowledge Production and Social Economy in SchoolHrisanti Bulugea - An instrument designed to examine the educational value of some patristic texts and their degree of relevance to present day pupilsAnn Casson - The role of Roman Catholic schools in maintaining the ’Chain of Memory’, and their pupils’ perceptions of Catholic identityDenise Cush - Children of the Goddess: Pagan Theology, the spirituality of young Pagans and the implications for religious educationMarian de Souza - The dual role of unconscious learning in engendering and hindering spiritual growth: Implications for religious education in pluralist contextsAstrid Dinter - Formation standards, action research and global learningRecai Dogan - Some Considerations on the Perception of Islam of other Religions in Islamic Religious Education in History and in the PresentMario d’Souza - The Pursuit of the Common Good in Pluralist Societies: The Summons to Religious EducationPetro du Preez - Dialogue in Religion Education Today (and Beyond): On the Nature of the Child as InterlocutorKath Engebretson - Some challenges to inter-faith education in the school and university settingTrond Enger - Faith Meets FaithLeona English - Responding to the Gaze: Critiquing a Curriculum that Looks InwardLars Eriksen - Learning to be Norwegian: Religion and National Identity in Religious Education in NorwayJudith Everington - ‘I thought theories just helped you write essays but this has changed me’: The role of theory and research in the personal and professional development of beginning RE teachersNigel Fancourt - ‘Picking up tips from other people’s religion’: pupils’ understandings of the goals of religious education in EnglandVladimir Fedorov - Religious education as a significant means of preventing ethno-religious conflicts in RussiaRené Ferguson - Democracy and Religious Education in public schools in South Africa: where are we now?Anta Filipsone - Religious Literacy or Spiritual Awareness?John Fisher - Life’s experiences colour the way teachers and students view the impact of schools on the spiritual well-being of studentsLeslie Francis - Alternative spiritualities: different personalities? An empirical enquiry among 14- to 16-year-old studentsSatoko Fujiwara - The Representations of Our Religions and Other People’s Religions in the Textbooks of Eleven Different CountriesBrian Gates - Stretching the theological imagination across the lifespanLiam Gearon - Religion, Governance and EducationCarsten Gennerich - Muslim and Christian adolescents evaluation of theological concepts: Is it the context or the faith traditions which make the difference?

Peta Goldburg - From Syllabus Development to Classroom Practice in Study of ReligionBruce Grelle - Worldview Education, Citizenship, and the Competition of Global EthicsZehavit Gross - The Role of Silencing in the School Socialization of Jewish, Christian-Arab, Muslim and Bedouin Girls in IsraelElisabet Haakedal - Pupils’ Workbooks in the Norwegian Primary School: A comparison of the changing perspectives found in pupils’ expressions of different religions and life views through half a centuryMary Hayward - Re-visiting Commitment and Religious EducationHans-Günter Heimbrock - Perceiving the other: How to deal with sameness, difference and diversity in RE and in intercultural encounterMark Hillis - Covenant Connection: Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Christians in the struggle for Indigenous Theology in the Uniting Church in AustraliaJohn Hull - The Prophetic Tradition of Christian and Jewish Faith and the Ethical Transformation of TeachingRobert Hurley - Religious Education and the Theology of Religions: What the Choice of Methodology RevealsBrendan Hyde - The religious-spiritual supermarket of Western culture: Do children arbitrarily pick and choose their values and spiritual resources?Dzintra Iliško - The Challenges for Religious Education in Latvia: Encountering the DifferenceShira Iluz, David Resnick - How does teaching Bible for the matriculation examination in the Israeli State Religious school system correspond to teacher instructional goals?Arto Kallioniemi - Headmasters’ Conceptions of Celebrating Annual Christian Festivals in Comprehensive Schools: A Finnish ExampleYaacov Katz - Religious Education in the Israeli State Educational System: Different Religions, Different Ideologies and Different Value SystemsValentin Kozhuharov - Theology and worldview as definers of RE in an Orthodox Christian contextFedor Kozyrev - Ivan Ilyin’s phenomenological approach to religion and its pedagogical implicationsBernd Krupka - Confirmation 2008 – national survey on confirmants’ and their teachers’expectations of confirmation classes and confirmationDavid Lankshear - Church in Wales Schools - a perspective from within the ChurchAlma Lanser-van der Velde - Rap and Roots, Youth and Music in immigrant churchesChristina Osbeck, Sidsel Lied - Policies of religious plurality. The comparative cases of Sweden and NorwayHeike Lindner - ‘If you want to understand other people…’ Intercultural and Inter-religious Dialogue, and the Protestant Responsibilities for EducationRoseanne McDougall - ‘Religious Literacy’ in the University CurriculumPaul McQuillan - Leading Australian Catholic Schools in An Era of Religious DiversityWilna Meijer - Slot, Silence and Concentration: The reader between letter and spiritGabriel Moran - Leadership in Religious OrganizationsFred Sheldon Mwesigwa - Moral Education: An Alternative to the Divisive Primary and Secondary School Christian Religious Education and Islamic Religious Education CurriculumChristina Osbeck, Sidsel Lied - Policies of religious plurality. The comparative cases of Sweden and NorwayManfred L Pirner - German Religious Education in English. Content and Language Integrated Learning as a Chance for Promoting Intercultural Learning in REAnnebelle Pithan - Doing Gender in Written Materials and Text Books for Religious EducationAntti Räsänen - Religious Instruction - The Robust Stone Base of Successful EducationShira Iluz, David Resnick - How does teaching Bible for the matriculation examination in the Israeli State Religious school system correspond to teacher instructional goals?Yisrael Rich, Elli Schachter - Identity Education: Its Meaning and Measurement in Jewish Religious Secondary SchoolsMandy Robbins - Personality, religion and paranormal belief: a study among teenagers in Northern IrelandSturla Sagberg - Children’s Spirituality in Norwegian KindergartensYisrael Rich, Elli Schachter - Identity Education: Its Meaning and Measurement in Jewish Religious Secondary SchoolsGünter Schmidt - Christian versus Religious EducationPeter Schreiner - Europeanization of Education, the Place of Religion and the Role of Religious EducationBernd Schröder - Religious Education and Theology: How to deal with quests and claims of truth?Friedrich Schweitzer - Principled Pluralism and Theology’s Contribution to Religious Education: A Protestant Perspective Mualla Selçuk - Under What Conditions can Islamic RE Promote an Understanding of ‘Individualized Religion’?Geir Skeie - Teachers and researchers cooperating in developing religious educationKarin Sporre - Epistemology from out of a broken body?Julian Stern - The Spirit of the School: Monologue and Dialogue In and Beyond Religious Education

Heinz Streib, Adem Aygün - Religious Socialization and Faith Development of Adolescents in Turkey and Germany: Results from Cross-Cultural ResearchHoward Summers - How do exclusive religious private schools in South Africa cope with religious diversity?Cok Bakker, Ina ter Avest - Self-understandings of (RE) teachers as contributions to school identityMartin Ubani - Reaching for one’s own tradition with education: The case of FinlandJohn Valk - Worldviews, Worldview Communities, and Higher EducationPille Valk - Religion in education - pupils’ perspectives. Introduction of a comparative study in eight European countriesLeo van der Tuin - Inter-religious education for an inter-religious society? Does learning from religion lead to inter-religious thinking and tolerance? A view from Dutch pupils' and teachers' perspectives, based on empirical researchInge Versteegt - ”We are a Christian school, so...”: Teachers' perspectives on religious education and religious diversity in the classroomMarie von der Lippe - Tolerance and religious educationKevin Wanden - Teachers’ perception of the purpose of classroom religious educationWolfram Weisse - Religion and Education: A Contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict? The European Project REDCoHans-Georg Ziebertz - Xenophobia among Youth in Europe - Results of a ten-country survey

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COLLEGIAL ABSTRACTS, in Presenter's surname order.   Click on Top after any abstract to go back to the INDEX OF PRESENTERS.

Stefan Altmeyer - The Language of Holocaust Remembrance in Educational Contexts

Every culture of remembrance is reliant on the social space where it takes place. This space is heavily influenced by forms of public memory like memorial places, monuments, or museums. While these forms are permanently present, special ritualised formats like commemoration ceremonies intend to intervene in the routine of everyday life in order to bear in remembrance what constitutes a society’s historical identity. But do they really fulfil this educational task? What is the (positive or negative) impact of public ritualised remembrance on the individual and its competency of remembrance? Twenty years ago, James E. Young elucidated that ‘how events are remembered depends on the texts now giving them form’. Since then most research has been done on public textual forms, but only slight attention has been focused on the question of how individuals (for example pupils) themselves express the importance of these historical events.

This paper presents the results of a linguistic empirical research study in the field of language of remembrance, especially of Holocaust memory. The questions leading the research are: First, which language is actually used by memory politics and public culture of remembrance in Germany? And second, how do young people speak about these issues? By comparing both manners of speaking, we can draw conclusions on whether or not public remembrance in Germany adequately encourages forming a culture of remembrance for the present as well as for the future. Top

Z Seyma Arslan - A Holistic Approach in Education From a Perspective of the Islamic Understanding of Human Being

The idea of holistic education has an underlying human image which affirms that education for full personhood means recognizing the totality of skills and abilities which a student has. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the Islamic understanding of wholeness of the human being and to interpret how this holistic view leads to a holistic perspective in education.

Focusing on the Islamic concept of fitrah (human nature), we collected all the verses of the Koran related to human nature and tried to categorise this collection. Three categories which can be considered as the scope and content of the concept of fitrah were identified: First is that of human nature, namely a human being as a living creature in existential space. Second is the characteristic features of this being (its potentials and incapabilities). Third includes personal differences between individuals of this being (personal natures).

The first category is most significantly related to the ultimate aims of education such as the ultimate meaning of man's existence. The second category is related to the content of education and how the human being can be improved. The third category indicates a methodological perspective that should be considered in planning and practicing educational processes.

I argue that this categorization may help to think systematically about the relationship between human nature and education, to form a broad and balanced system of education based on an understanding of the full potential of the human being. Top

Elisabeth Arweck - The Interaction of the Major Religions at Close Quarters: Religiously Mixed Families in the UK

What happens in families where different (faith) cultures are present, because mother and father come from different faith backgrounds? Families, for example, in which a Christian may be married to a Muslim or a Jew, or families in which a Hindu may be married to a Sikh or a Christian. How do parents negotiate the practice and belief of their respective traditions? Do such families represent microcosms of processes which occur in wider societies? How do they navigate between different cultural and/or religious traditions to facilitate the everyday, and ensure ‘respect’ and space for ‘the other’? What are the implications for the way in which the children in such families form their own religious and social identities? How do they do this in combination with what they learn in school and with their experiences in the wider community?

A three-year long study in the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU) at the University of Warwick (June 2006 – May 2009) seeks to address these questions by investigating how young people in the UK come to identify themselves in relation to their parents’ faiths, and the factors which have a bearing on their own religious beliefs. The study engages with members of religiously mixed families through ethnographic methods (interview and participant observation). The proposed paper will report on research to date, by drawing out themes emerging from the interviews conducted with young people and their parents, and indicating implications for religious education in the school context. Top

Karen Aylward - Children’s conceptualisations of Jesus

This paper presents findings from a recent study undertaken in order to investigate children’s conceptualisations of Jesus, and most especially, their understanding of key Christian beliefs regarding the miracles of Jesus (including the virgin birth and resurrection) and the relationship between Jesus and God.

The paper reports the results of semi-structured interviews conducted with forty Year 7 and Year 8 (aged 11-13) pupils in five schools in England, and highlights the emergence of four key concepts in the data: 1. Knowledge: Statements that reveal what the students know or do not know 2. Religious Education: Statements that reveal students’ perceptions of RE 3. Belief: Statements that reflect students’ awareness that Jesus occupies a place within a belief system, and that belief or a lack of belief has consequences 4. Understanding: Statements that reveal students’ attempts to understand ideas and concepts other than their knowledge of Jesus, belief or RE

The paper discusses the results and demonstrates that whilst pupils in this sample revealed a willingness and ability to engage in complex theological debate, the language and discourse of science, fact, logic and reason was the principal reference point for most of the respondents. The paper concludes by arguing that the distinction made by pupils between ‘belief’ and ‘understanding’, and the variety of ways in which they conceptualised the relationship between the two, may be better understood through the theoretical lens of metacognition. Top

Cok Bakker, Ina ter Avest - Self-understandings of (RE) teachers as contributions to school identity

School identity is the main topic of one of our qualitative research projects in Christian primary schools, in the multicultural context of the Netherlands. Together with school leaders and teachers of these schools, we developed the concept of Structural Identity Consultation (SIC).

SIC is a two years’ track of three consultations of one day, every year. With SIC time and space is created to ‘step back’, to ‘lean back’, to reflect structurally on the teacher’s self-understanding as a professional RE

teacher, as well as on the role of Christian and Islamic religion in relation to the normative, possibly religious, dimension of the school’s identity.

After a period of five years of multi-method action-research on the implementation of SIC as well as its practical implications and the teachers’ perceptions, our overall observation is that teachers value these talks and reflections in a positive way as contributing to their normative professionalism. More and more school leaders as well as teachers are convinced of SIC’s necessity, as well as its beneficial function on the process of development of (religious) school identity. At the same time the hectic life in routine school context, is a pitfall for the continuation of the structural earmarking of space for SIC in the school’s schedule.

In our paper the benefits and the threats of SIC are presented, and discussed in relation to the professional identity of RE teachers and the development of the school’s identity. Top

Gerdien Bertram-Troost - Living together in peace? The impact of Dutch schools for secondary education on pupils’ perceptions of religious diversity

Nowadays there is a great variety in the way schools for secondary education pay attention to religion in general, and more specifically, to religious backgrounds of their pupils in the Netherlands. Although this variation is in some way related to the ‘official’ religious identity of the school, there are also great differences between schools which share the same religious background (e.g. Christian). Besides, schools differ greatly in the degree of religious diversity amongst their teachers and pupils, irrespective of their official religious identity.

Since February 2006 a law ‘Stimulation of Active Citizenship and Social Integration’ obliges schools to stimulate active citizenship and social cohesion. In discussions and elaborations on this law, the religious identity of schools and the (possible) relationship between citizenship education and religious education are taken into account, as well as religious diversity. This makes the question of the impact of schools for secondary education on pupils’ perceptions of religious diversity very relevant.

In this presentation I will focus on a couple of Dutch schools (both private and state schools) and the way they deal with religious diversity both inside and outside the school. In my presentation I will focus on the following question: ‘In which way do schools prepare their pupils for a life in a pluralistic society, and what impact does this have on the pupils?’ With the help of questionnaires, interviews and observations, pupils’ attitudes towards religious diversity, and the way these attitudes are possibly influenced by schools, are tapped. Top

Reinhold Boschki - Memory as a key concept in inter-religious education

The basic thesis of the paper is: All religious traditions live from memory. Therefore religious learning as well as inter-religious learning must be based on memory. The paper follows the thesis in three steps:

a) In the first part the thesis is elaborated by hermeneutical methods, re-reading basic religious texts in Judaism and Christianity. Recent theological publications indicate memory as a key concept in religious tradition and in theology. To tell the story of the past - both the history of suffering and the history of salvation - forms a specific religious hermeneutics through which to understand the present, and gives a vision for the future. Especially in liturgy one can find forms of celebrated memory.

b) The second step focuses on young people and their historical consciousness. Several recent empirical studies will be analysed, examining young Europeans’ approaches to memory. The results are brought together with the latest empirical studies on the religious attitude of adolescents. The paper discusses the question how historical consciousness and religious consciousness are related.

c) Finally the results of the first two steps are elaborated in terms of religious education. Learning in inter-religious terms means to a great extent learning about the interpretation of past events by the own and the other religion. To study the history of suffering of various religions (e.g. the Holocaust, the Crusades, inter-denominational wars) from the perspective of suffering individuals, families, and groups, sensitises learners to situations of oppression and suffering in today’s world. Top

Oddrun M H Bråten - The Contribution of Secular Religious Studies to the Development of Multi-faith Approaches to Religious Education in England and Norway

In England and Norway a multi-faith type of Religious Education (RE) has emerged in state schools in response to growing religious plurality. Both countries have long traditions of Christian RE in schools, and in both countries a development towards a more pedagogically based Christian RE prior to the emergence of a multi-faith approach has been important. In this paper however I wish to explore what role secular Religious Studies has had in recent developments. I will consider where there are overlaps with Theology of Religion and where there are important differences.

In England the change towards a more plural society coincided with the historian and philosopher of religion Ninian Smart’s efforts to transform the study of religion in universities and in schools. This influenced the developments of local syllabi that reflected the plural society. The development was recognized by law in 1988, and has continued since. There seems to be a consensus in the English discussion that RE needs to be existentially relevant for pupils. In Norway the change to a multi-faith approach to RE was introduced top down with a school reform in 1997. Prior to that there was no contribution to RE from secular Religious Studies, but since then there has been. A developing pedagogy is restricted by law which requires that RE in school should be strictly separate from RE in Church. This point has been enhanced by a recent verdict in the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. I will compare the role of secular Religious Studies in England and Norway in a concluding discussion. Top

Michael T Buchanan - Preparing for Curriculum Change in Religious Education

Religious education is a highly specialised curriculum area in Catholic schooling systems throughout Australia. Drawing from the theories emanating from a major study, the first of its kind in Australia, about the management of a top down curriculum change in religious education, this paper explores the processes developed by faculty leaders in order to prepare for the management of change. Located within a constructivist paradigm this qualitative study drew upon the principles of grounded theory to generate theory from the texts from interviews with faculty leaders who prepared for the management of the curriculum change within the school context.

Faculty leaders will prepare for curriculum change in religious education by undertaking the following actions: they will explore formal and informal avenues to become informed about a change initiative and all possible implications; they will develop various strategies designed to help staff members to learn about the change; they will provided opportunities for staff members to maintain continuous dialogue about the change; they will provide opportunities for staff members to become familiar with resources associated with the change; they will consider the relevance of the proposed change in the light of the pre-existing religious education curriculum; and will employ decision making strategies to bring about change. These actions are explored from the perspectives of the faculty leaders responsible for managing the proposed curriculum change. Top

Mette Buchardt - ’Religion’/’Culture’ as Identity Politics, Knowledge Production and Social Economy in School

In the past 15 years an increasing battle about ‘culture’ and multicultural society has taken place in Denmark. The internationally well-known crisis about cartoons with caricatures related to Islam, and the offence and protest it caused among Muslims in Denmark, is here only the top of the mountain. ‘Religion’ has in many different meanings of the word, been a rhetoric battlefield for conflicts concerning culture, nation and migration, an object to moral panic and problematization, not very different from what can be seen internationally in the post-wall rhetorics about ‘Clash of Civilizations’. In Denmark, from being identified as ‘guest workers’, ‘immigrants’ and ‘refugees’, immigrants from e.g. Turkey, the Middle East and Pakistan and their descendants are now mainly conceptualized and identified as ‘Muslims’. Social tension and inequity in society is mainly talked about in terms of ’a conflict of religion and culture’.

This paper will study and discuss the role of and struggle about ’religion’ and ’culture’ - and ’religion’ conceptualized as a culture and identity category with a basis in how on the one hand ’Muslim-ness’/’other-ness’, and on the other hand ’Danish-ness’/’Christian-ness’ are produced outside religious institutions, namely in the Danish state school.

Through a study of how knowledge around ’Christianity’ and ’Islam’ are constructed in the teaching of RE, which in Denmark is defined as non-confessional in the official curriculum text, I will discuss how production

of knowledge concerning ‘religion’/’culture’ and production and reproduction of social categorization and class-ification in the educational field can be seen as connected. Top

Hrisanti Bulugea - An instrument designed to examine the educational value of some patristic texts and their degree of relevance to present day pupils

The Holy Fathers are very important writers, and have significant influence on the practical educational applications of Orthodox and Catholic Church values and practices. From the Orthodox perspective, the advice of Saint Basil the Great as extracted from the homily To the Youth continues to maintain a measure of authenticity and actuality for today's youth. But what a patristic text transmits and to what extent it is accessible to pupils can be illuminated only by educational research. As part of the educational effort to examine the effect of patristic texts on young people in today's world, a project entailing the compilation of a questionnaire for administration to pupils is under way.

In the questionnaire two short relevant quotes from St. Basil’s homily will serve as a basis for a series of twenty-two questions that examine pupils’ life perspective, their values and their relationship to God and religion. In addition the questionnaire will examine pupils' perceptions of the relationship between secular and religious cultures. Some questions are to reveal what youngsters think about church culture as a means of teaching present day values, while others are to examine what pupils feel about contribution of family and society to their daily lives. It is hoped that the questionnaire will provide educators involved in RE with insights regarding pupils' perceptions vis-à-vis the relevance of patristic texts to their authentic life styles. Top

Ann E Casson - The role of Roman Catholic schools in maintaining the ’Chain of Memory’, and their pupils’ perceptions of Catholic identity

This paper aims to explore the relationship between the perceptions of Catholic identity of pupils in a small sample of Roman Catholic schools in England, and Hervieu Léger’s theory of religion as developed in her work ‘Religion as a Chain of Memory’. Hervieu-Léger (2000) writes of modern society not as secular, but as ‘amnesiac’, less and less able to maintain the chain of memory that binds it to the religious past. She speaks of the problem of transmission, which is not just a failure of education to transmit a body of knowledge, but a collapse of the framework of collective memory.

Roman Catholic educationalists have argued that schools have a role as maintainers of this chain of memory; often they are the only link in this chain. Pupils’ responses to questionnaires and interviews in my small ethnographic study reflect a diversity of understanding of Catholic identity; many have a weak sense of their own identity as Catholics and an increasingly secular, pick and mix attitude to religion. The paper will explore whether Roman Catholic schools do have a role as a maintainer of memory, and in what ways they seek to achieve this aim with pupils who have a weak sense of Catholic identity. It will also argue that a clearer understanding of the pupils’ perceptions of religious identity could inform Catholic teachers and so contribute to a closer alignment between Catholic RE and pupils' own experience of the Roman Catholic tradition. Top

Denise Cush - Children of the Goddess: Pagan Theology, the spirituality of young Pagans and the implications for religious education

This paper draws upon continuing research on Pagan Theology, teenage spirituality, and the worldviews of young witches and other young pagans in the UK. Building on earlier work focused on the attractions of ’witchcraft’ to young women , the author has continued her series of interviews with young pagans, to include young men. It was expected that gender would be a significant factor in the light of the emphasis on female empowerment in witchcraft, but research to date reveals interesting similarities as well as differences.

The beliefs, practices and spirituality of the young people interviewed are analysed against a developing literature in three areas. First, other work on teenage witches such as that of Berger and Ezzy in the USA and Australia. Second, the emergent Theology of contemporary Paganism as expressed by authors such as Michael York. Third, recent research on the worldviews of young people eg. by Blaylock (2006,2007) and Savage, Mayo et al (2006) in the UK, Roebben (2004) in the Netherlands, and Mikkola (2007) in Finland.

Although the number of young Pagans is relatively small, the paper will argue that their worldviews are indicative of changing attitudes towards religion and spirituality and thus of wider relevance for understanding the young people for whom religious education curricula are designed. It will also suggest that Pagan theology is providing a vocabulary for some young people to articulate their spirituality and thus should be taken account of in designing a religious education that takes account of diversity and religious literacy. Top

Marian de Souza - The dual role of unconscious learning in engendering and hindering spiritual growth: Implications for religious education in pluralist contexts

The adaptive unconscious plays a significant role in the way an individual develops prejudices and intolerance. At the same time, learning at the unconscious level, the tacit dimension, is an important factor in the learning process whereby creative, imaginative and intuitive responses may be generated to enhance individual and group learning.

In this paper, I will examine the role of unconscious learning as an element that can nurture or hinder spiritual growth in terms of connecting with the Other who is different. I will discuss the implications of this for the modern world which has witnessed the wide-ranging movement and displacement of people, which has inadvertently led to the cultural and religious differences between people being accentuated, with sometimes disturbing consequences. These are factors that have impacted on a new emerging generation who now fill our classrooms at primary, secondary and tertiary level; and they have certain implications for curriculum development.

Within this context, I will consider, with particular reference to religious education classroom programs, how the positive aspects of unconscious learning may be used to enhance students’ understanding of people from different religious and cultural backgrounds; and also, how the negative aspects of unconscious learning may be acknowledged and addressed, in order to increase the likelihood that this new generation may grow into an considerate, perceptive and empathetic people. Top

Astrid Dinter - Formation standards, action research and global learning

TECHNE, the artifice, is for Aristotle a way of elaborated analytical knowledge. TECHNE is oriented towards PRAXIS, that focuses on an intrinsic aim like TECHNE. In that sense PRAXIS has to be differentiated from POIESIS, that does not have an aim in itself, but in what is characterized by the process of making. TECHNE is oriented towards visible phenomena, whereas EPISTEME is only oriented towards deductively operating systems. Realizing the intrinsic aim in an adequate practice is significant for a good life. PRAXIS should be characterized by prudence, by PHRONESIS, whereas the development of habits and the relation to a certain situation are most relevant. It is most important to find an adequate proportion between two extremes.

This concept of formation standards as operative standards of competence profiles will be compared with a concept of teachers as researchers within a larger framework of action research. It can be shown that a combination of both can help to avoid a too stratified, top-down oriented, application of formation standards. Within this framework the focus of teachers as researchers plays an important role, especially when focusing on questions of diagnostics and a necessary life-world orientation. The paper will draw conclusions of how a concept of formation standards that is oriented toward operative standards of competence profiles can be an important part of teacher training. It will be shown how this concept can be especially fruitful, when focusing on processes of global learning and inter-religious learning. These learning processes are most important for teaching and learning in a multicultural and multi-religious society. Top

Recai Dogan - Some Considerations on the Perception of Islam of other Religions in Islamic Religious Education in History and in the Present

Because of some religious and political reasons, different interpretations towards other religions have been developed, based on the Quran and the prophetic tradition. In this paper, the perception of other religions within the framework of Islamic Madrasas, which played an important part in the formation of religious understanding of the Ottomans, and takkas (dervish lodges - an institution providing informal education), will be examined.

These two institutions were selected for this study because the former educated officials for all levels of service to the state, and represented the typical formal religious understanding of the state, while the latter provided people with informal religious education. Thus, both madrasas and takkas played a remarkable role in the formation of religious understanding in Islam. While the Islamic perception of the madrasa was more ideological, the Islamic understanding of the 13th -17th century takkas preceded a human-centered perception, collectivism in culture, and the promotion of moral values. Thus, the two institutions were significantly different in their approaches toward other religions.

In the paper, the approach of Islamic understanding in Ottoman takkas towards other religions will be taken up and analyzed, particularly by making use of first-hand historical sources. Thus, the paper will contribute to the evaluation of viewpoints in Islamic religious education towards other religions. Since Takka-based Islam preceded a human-centered, emphatic, principled and value-based understanding of Islam, it presents us with highly valuable material concerning the approach towards other religions. It is important to regard these kinds of significant historical documents, their interpretations and practices, as a guide for world peace in teaching of other religions. Top

Mario O d’Souza - The Pursuit of the Common Good in Pluralist Societies: The Summons to Religious Education

The diversity of citizens in pluralist democratic societies revolves around a narrow sense of pluralism and culture. Religion is usually relegated to the private sphere, and various religious traditions are expected to live side by side. Also, there are those who do not profess a belief in any one religion or even in a god. This pluralism exists in the context of larger global ideologies which range from consumerism to ecology and equality. However, societies usually lack a functional democratic basis where issues of diversity are brought into relationship with the pursuit of the common good.

Whether pluralist democratic societies accept the idea of the common good or they don’t; either way there are challenges. If they do accept it, there is little evidence that its diverse citizenry actively participates in politics for the common good. If they don’t accept it, politicians fail to say how they expect a democratic society to continue to offer its cherished freedoms in the absence of the most basic forms of democratic unity.

This paper will reflect upon these challenges in the context of religious education, particularly in relation to the common good of democratic societies. What is the relationship of religious identity and diversity with regard to the common good? What is the connection between the education of persons, so vital for the health of democracy and the common good, and religious education? Distinctiveness and diversity must be the hallmarks of religious education in a pluralist society, only then will it be able to play a distinctive role in enhancing the common good of society, a society of persons. Top

Petro du Preez - Dialogue in Religion Education Today (and Beyond): On the Nature of the Child as Interlocutor

“Learning implies a learner and where the learner is a child, any theory of education implies a particular conception of the child.” (Smeyers P & Wringe C, 2005).

Dialogue as facilitation strategy (or didactic method) is frequently referred to in curriculum documents and policies concerning Religion Education in South Africa. Nationally a few attempts have been made to contemplate the use of dialogue in general and in Religion Education. Internationally much more work has been done on the value of dialogue for multi-religious education settings. However, most of the conceptual accounts of dialogue condone the importance and nature of the child (or learner) as interlocutor during dialogue.

My main argument will revolve around the assumption that one’s conceptual understanding of the child contributes to the ethical nature of dialogic relations often ascribed to Religion Education. This argument might influence our present understandings of dialogue, but could also influence our future understandings of dialogue as facilitation strategy in Religion Education. I will focus on a contemporary conception of childhood which acknowledges the relative nature of the child and emphasises the child’s enigmatic character. This conception of childhood will be used to demonstrate that in the same sense that children are in many ways enigmatic to adults, so they are also enigmatic to their peers. Lastly, the possibility that dialogue on religion could create a space for learners to face the religious otherness of their peers and to deepen their own religious self-understandings will be explored. Top

Kath Engebretson - Some challenges to inter-faith education in the school and university setting

Few educators today would argue against the need for inter-faith education in the secondary school and university. However, there are some challenging questions about what form this inter-faith education may take. I argue that the necessary position from which to engage in transformative inter-faith education is informed, committed, yet open and inclusive belief in ones’ own religious tradition.

However, few adolescents and young adults, many of whom are in the stage of suspended belief and questioning that naturally attends their religious development at this time, can be said to have this informed, committed yet open and inclusive belief in their own tradition that is the platform from which transformative inter-faith education may proceed.

This paper reports on empirical research that was conducted with practitioners of inter-faith education in a variety of settings. It discusses some of the impediments to transformative inter-faith education among young people, and makes a realistic assessment of what goals may be appropriate for inter-faith education in the school and university setting. Further, it discusses a range of practices that have been used with young people in inter-faith education, and critiques these in light of the foregoing discussion. Lastly it makes recommendations for the advancement of inter-faith education in these educational settings. Top

Trond Enger - Faith Meets Faith

Christianity was born as a religion among religions. In this paper I will present a short summary of the way in which Christianity has come to terms with other religions through history, in particular the fact that one single Christian standpoint in relation to other religions has never existed. From the earliest times until the present day, Christian attitudes to other religions have differed and still differ widely from, on the one hand, a purely negative attitude in most of the New Testament and in part in classical missionary work, to a spectrum of inclusive and relativistic attitudes during the last 100-150 years, on the other.

There is a general agreement that multi-faith RE has to be objective and neutral as far as belief systems are concerned. But what about different attitudes within a certain religion? Is the RE teacher supposed to treat the varying attitudes within Christianity to other religions as equally valid?

In my attempt to approach this question I will examine David Lochhead’s idea of ‘faithful agnosticism’ and ‘dialogue as relationship’, where he makes the observation that most Christian attitudes to other religions are based upon an a priori judgement of the other and not on an a posteriori judgment. The standard for the a priori judgment is normally one’s own religion and its claim to represent the ultimate and only truth. This attitude and this standard are not applicable in multi-faith RE. If we change from an a priori to an a posteriori judgment, however, it implies a profound alteration both of attitude and standard for a judgment. Top

Leona M English - Responding to the Gaze: Critiquing a Curriculum that Looks Inward

As an adult educator firmly rooted within the community of Roman Catholicism, I am routinely struck by my tradition’s reluctance to truly look outward and be receptive to an open encounter with the Other through inter-religious dialogue. In this paper, I use the heuristic tools of the practitioner-researcher to analyse a variety of texts that reveal our null, explicit and implicit curriculum with regard to inter-religious dialogue.

I proceed to explore from a critical perspective some of the main adult religious education curricula in use today, asking: What are their connections and commitments? How do they function as curriculum to further the status quo, create space or hinder dialogue with the Other?

The first curriculum to be examined will be from the most influential Roman Catholic religious education initiative in North America, the Rite of Christian Intiation of Adults. This is the main vehicle through which we initiate people into the Roman Catholic communion. The second curriculum is the syllabi from the lay education programs used with future lay ministers. The third curriculum is the various texts and practices of our tradition through which we communicate our beliefs: The Catechism of the Catholic Church; the practices of mandatum and imprimatur; and public actions and pronouncements such as the Pope’s 2006 comments on Islam.

My intent is to draw attention to Roman Catholic challenges to dialogue, and to highlight opportunities for genuine education and engagement with the Other. I will conclude with implications for the religious education of adults. Top

Lars Laird Eriksen - Learning to be Norwegian: Religion and National Identity in Religious Education in Norway

How is religion mobilized in the construction of national identities? Religion is back on the political scene. It anchors particularistic identities in something seemingly solid in the flux of a globalized world. Education represents a crucial tool for states in socializing democratic citizens. Looking at this issue, even in low-conflict areas such as Norway, sheds light on urgent questions of how nation states relate to religious diversity.

I will approach this question with two different methods: i) From 'above': Analyzing Norwegian official documents and religious education curricula from 1968 to the present. ii) From 'below': Classroom ethnography in three Norwegian schools, varying in terms of the cultural diversity of the student body.

The analytical focus of the project is the flexible ways in which core concepts of the curriculum percolate into classroom action. The presentation will trace the historical emergence of a central phrase in the curriculum: 'Christian and humanist values'. I will present data from my discourse analysis to draw attention to the way this term has accumulated a hinterland of meanings over the years. I will further present ethnographic data that show how 'Christian and humanist values' translate into classroom action in flexible, even contradictory ways.

I will argue that shared values anchored in religious traditions are falsely posited as a basis for social cohesion. Billig´s phrase 'banal nationalism' (1995) summarizes the claim that national cohesion is achieved through sharing signs (actions and utterances), rather than 'deep' values. Religious traditions are mobilized as an anchor for values that are presented as durable and deep. Top

Judith Everington - ‘I thought theories just helped you write essays but this has changed me’: The role of theory and research in the personal and professional development of beginning RE teachers

There is international recognition of the need to provide an education that promotes intercultural understanding and dialogue, and enables young people to understand and manage inter-cultural conflict. But how is this to be achieved? At government level the response is to develop policies and national curricula. The response of the academic communities is to provide theoretical models and research-based recommendations.

However, “It is what teachers think, what teachers believe and what teachers do at the level of the classroom that ultimately shapes the kind of learning that young people get.” (Hargreaves 1992, ix). Substantial research evidence indicates that ‘top down’ approaches, whether government directives or academic theory, have limited impact on teachers’ practice and can be counter-productive. Within the parameters of government policies, ways must be found of bringing together what teachers think and believe and the insights of theory and research, so that what is done in classrooms reflects an informed, committed and creative approach to inter-cultural education.

This paper offers an account and analysis of an action research study aimed at exploring ways of using theory and research to promote the development of beginning RE teachers’ thinking, practice and professional autonomy. Drawing on Afdal’s (2007/8) work, it will be suggested that an approach to initial teacher education that allows for teacher-academic dialogue and collaborative theorising can promote teachers’ personal and professional development and lead to ‘theoretical expansion’. Top

Nigel Fancourt - ‘Picking up tips from other people’s religion’: pupils’ understandings of the goals of religious education in England

Non-denominational religious education has been part of the English education system since the 1970s; currently, six major world religions are studied. This is justified in a number of ways, in its contribution to pupils’ knowledge and understanding, in its contribution to the pupils’ ability to evaluate and reflect on

religious issues, and moreover in its contribution to the development of pupils’ attitudes and values, such as tolerance and self-awareness. But do the pupils also see it in this way, or do they think that it also serves other ends?

This paper will set out my research as a practicing classroom teacher into pupil’s perceptions of the goals of the subject, and on their sense of their progress towards it. In particular, however it will examine the tension between these goals and current ways of assessing progress in religious education. The English education system is dominated currently by a culture of ‘high stakes’ testing, which reifies religion and ignores the pupils’ perspectives. But is this appropriate or beneficial to religious education? This paper will consider alternative models of assessment in the light of this research, especially more formative models of assessment, which would do justice both to the religion’s own self-understanding and to the pupils’ self-understanding. Top

Vladimir Fedorov - Religious education as a significant means of preventing ethno-religious conflicts in Russia

There has been heated discussion as to whether religious education should be made part and parcel of the mandatory public school curriculum in Russia. Thus far no official decision has yet been taken by the authorities responsible for the school curriculum, and a number of voluntary religious education projects have been introduced into someRussian public schools. One of the projects is entitled the ’Basics of Orthodox Culture’, which has been strongly supported and advocated by the Russian Orthodox Church. The subject has been defined as being part of the cultural cluster of school subjects.

The subject has met with severe opposition from some quarters, and as a result the Ministry of Education decided to intervene and to re-evaluate whether in future it will permit this subject to be taught within the framework of the mandatory Russian public school curriculum. A heated debate about the necessity of teaching ’Basics of Orthodox Culture’ as a cultural (and not religious) subject is also taking place, with various grounds pros and cons being proposed by supporters and opponents of the subject. Although there is certain recognition that religious motives can contribute to the prevention of ethno-religious conflicts in Russian society, because of the strong opposition to religious education per se, a special educational strategy needs to be developed to ensure that an acceptable approach to teaching ’Basics of Orthodox Culture’ can be reached.

This paper will address the development of an educational strategy that could conceivably lead to the teaching of ’Basics of Orthodox Culture’ as an acceptable subject in the mandatory Russian public school curriculum. Top

René Ferguson - Democracy and Religious Education in public schools in South Africa: where are we now?

Since the institution of democracy in South Africa in 1994, numerous educational policies have been developed to deracialise the education system and to promote democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights. The state (post-1994) has adopted a secular position, in that it does not align itself with any particular religion, belief system or world view, but is officially impartial in matters of religion. The state has enshrined the freedom of religion, belief or opinion as a fundamental right in the Constitution of South Africa, the position reflected in the National Curricula.

The transformation of the national curricula and the reality of the religious plurality of the population of South Africa means teachers in public schools are presented with complexities regarding the interface between the constitutional rights of learners, parents and communities, and the nature of Religious Education in terms of its contents and relevance in a pluralist democracy. The study upon which this paper is based, explores the ‘positionality’ of teachers in secondary schools in the region of Johannesburg towards the secularity of the state, religion and religious diversity, fourteen years after the institution of democracy in South Africa. Top

Anta Filipsone - Religious Literacy or Spiritual Awareness?

David Hay once wrote, ”Intellectualist theories of religion need to be complemented by a similarly strong interest in the nature of spiritual awareness.” On the basis of a comparison of the educational approaches of Andrew Wright and David Hay, the paper illustrates the still persisting problem of dichotomizing cognitive and trans-cognitive aspects of spiritual development and education. Even though both Wright and Hay

speak of the same topic, spirituality and spiritual education, they define these terms very differently, and as a consequence, they draw very different practical implications, set different priorities and warn of different dangers in spiritual education.

For Wright, the main vehicles of spiritual growth are reason and community, and the main dangers are uncontrolled emotivism and solipsism. Thus the main task for spiritual education is to aid students to participate intelligently in the public discourse on spirituality and religion. Hay, on the other hand, identifies spirit with awareness, which can be suppressed by one’s own reason and social pressure both from the secularized society and overly ritualistic communities. The main task of spiritual education, then, is to foster contemplative awareness.

The main question set in the paper is whether it is possible to make room in spiritual education for both of these perspectives, and how to combine them in a holistic way. With the help of the Wilber-Combs Lattice, which is one of the main heuristic devices employed by integral philosophy, a possible method of integrating cognitive and trans-cognitive aspects of spiritual development and education is proposed. Top

John W Fisher - Life’s experiences colour the way teachers and students view the impact of schools on the spiritual well-being of students

The title of this paper would probably elicit a response such as, ’That’s obvious.’ However, would you expect that teachers’ and students’ lived experiences have major influence on how they believe students’ spiritual well-being is nurtured in schools, even more inflence than type of school, gender, year level and teachers’ subject specialty? Personal experience lies at the heart of self-understanding. So, what personal experience is involved in spiritual well-being? Spiritual well-being (SWB) is reflected in the quality of relationships people have in up to four areas, namely with themselves, with others, with nature, and/or with God. So, this paper reflects on self-understanding in the existential and religious domains.

This presentation ties together several studies in which the views of teachers and students in state, Catholic and independent schools in Victoria, Australia, were investigated. The independent schools are based on conservative, evangelical and liberal Christian, and Jewish faiths.

The Spiritual Health And Life-Orientation Measure was used to ascertain teachers’ views in three categories, showing how important relationships are for i) an ideal state of SWB; ii) reflecting teachers’ lived experience; and iii) showing how well schools help students develop their SWB. The Quality Of Life Influences Survey was used to ascertain the students’ views on how well teachers helped them develop relationships in the four domains of spiritual well-being. These findings have implications for the SWB of students and staff as well as for religious education today. Top

Leslie J Francis - Alternative spiritualities: different personalities? An empirical enquiry among 14- to 16-year-old students

Recent studies have drawn attention to the emergence of alternative spiritualities in England and Wales, and this phenomenon has been interpreted against the background of debates concerning the erosion of traditional Christian belief and practice and the disputed secularisation hypothesis. One account suggests that these alternative spiritualities are occupying a space evacuated by conventional religiosity.

In order to test one specific aspect of this account, the present study set out to examine whether such alternative spiritualities serve the same psychological functions as traditional religiosity in terms of occupying the same personality space. A sample of 659 14- to 16-year-old secondary school pupils attending four schools in England completed the short-form Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire together with indices of paranormal belief and of traditional religiosity. The Eysenckian dimensional model of personality maintains that individual differences can be most adequately and economically summarised in terms of three higher order orthogonal factors, defined as extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.

The data demonstrated that, while traditional religiosity was associated with lower psychoticism scores (tendermindedness) and higher lie scale scores (greater social conformity), paranormal belief was associated with higher psychoticism scores (toughmindedness) and lower lie scale scores (lower social conformity). These findings suggest that paranormal beliefs may be serving a somewhat different psychological function in comparison to traditional religiosity. Moreover, while traditional religiosity is associated with better psychological health (fewer indicators of precursors of psychotic disorders),

paranormal belief is associated with poorer psychological health (more indicators of precursors both to psychotic disorders and to neurotic disorders). Top

Satoko Fujiwara - The Representations of Our Religions and Other People’s Religions in the Textbooks of Eleven Different Countries

I serve as the coordinator of a comparative research project involving the comparative study of RE textbooks in one of the following eleven countries: France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Phillipines, Thailand, Turkey, U.K., U.S.A. The research team across all countries consists of researchers of Japanese extraction. Most of the selected countries are affiliated in some way to either EU or ASEAN, and the research project has been designed to investigate how the two international associations affect the religious identities of the people in the respective participating countries.

The methodology used in this research is that of analysis of textbooks used in religious education. Textbooks, although compiled by scholars of religion rather than theologians, serve as an accurate and suitable basis for examining how domestic and foreign religions are represented to pupils. The analysis was conducted regarding political, social and institutional contexts of religion.

In this paper I will report the major findings of the project, with a focus upon both the self-understanding of religion(s) and the understanding of others’ religions. I will argue that the concept of ‘the theology of religions’ is also applicable to our cases, because any religious education has a certain normative dimension related to the more specific domain of theology. I will especially expand the case of Japan, and will show what equals ‘the theology of religions’ in an apparently secularized country. Top

Brian Gates - Stretching the theological imagination across the lifespan

“The great art of the religious educator is to transform the primitive literalism with respect to the religious symbols into a conceptual interpretion without destroying the power of the symbols.” These words from Tillich were central to my presentation at the first ISREV gathering in Birmingham in 1973. They remain central now. My concern then was with stretching the theological imagination of children and young people. That remains my concern but I have extended it across the lifespan.

I draw on an empirical study of boys and girls aged 6-16 years, from different religious backgrounds – Christian (Anglican, Free Church, Roman Catholic), Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Unattached – and from two different parts of England. The data is initially from two hours of interviewing – in writing and individual conversation conducted 35 years ago. This is complemented by two different forms of follow-up: • a repetition of the same exercise with new participants from the same schools today – another 1000+ doing the written exercise and another subset 300+ doing the individual interview • a longitudinal repeat of the original interviewing with the individuals now aged 40-50 years.

Each person interviewed demonstrates their understanding and interpretation of story, ritual and visual imagery. They do so in religion, science and politics. There are developmental sequences, there are both changes and continuities in the nature and strength of individual believing and valuing. Literal constraints linger. So does the potential for enhancement of self-understanding through effective Religious Education at every age. Top

Liam Gearon - Religion, Governance and Education

Post-Enlightenment secularization thesis common amongst classical social, political and even psychoanalytic theory (Durkheim, Weber, Marx Freud) presents us with an expectation of the decline in the public role of religion, and its marginalisation to the private sphere. The post-Enlightenment tradition includes some militantly atheistic tendencies, as well as those that take a more benign view of religion. In this wider intellectual tradition, though, religion was in such contexts often regarded (and in some quarters still continues to be so regarded) as an anti-progressive element within society. This same intellectual tradition has also been integral to militantly atheistic and totalitarian governments, where violent persecution of religious traditions is frequently the result. Yet religion seems, against the expectations of secularization thesis, to have retained a role in public governance.

Against this historical background, the paper presents a critical overview of some contemporary trends in religion and global governance, and sees them mirrored in emergent developments in religious and

citizenship education. The paper aims thus to provide an historical, political and pedagogical context for debates about religion in education, examining in particular the often fraught relationship between religious education and citizenship as a mirror of the wider, and also problematic, interrelationships between religion and politics. The paper also suggests reasons why the persistence of religion in the public sphere has become a challenge for theology and the self-understanding of religions, especially in educational context, as much as an issue in the politics of open democratic governance. Top

Carsten Gennerich - Muslim and Christian adolescents evaluation of theological concepts: Is it the context or the faith traditions which make the difference?

Islam and Christianity share common theological themes like ‘creation’, ‘sin’, ‘predestination’, ‘last judgement’, ‘resurrection’, etc. In theological analyses their similarities and differences are evaluated on a conceptual level without considering the context of the believers. However, empirical research provides the opportunity to evaluate the theological concepts on the level of experience and to explore the meaning of the concepts in lay person’s perspective.

The aim of this study is to compare the symbolic meaning of Islamic and Christian theological concepts within a common frame of reference. To do this the value-content of specific theological concepts (creation, predestination, afterlife) is evaluated, based on attitudes of a sample of Christian (N > 3000), Muslim (N > 500) and Non-religious (N > 500) vocational students in Germany.

The results of the questionnaire-study show that the ascribed content to the theological concepts is rather similar in the Muslim and Christian samples. Important differences in ascribed value-contents of the theological concepts occur rather not between the Christian and Muslim sample. They occur rather between theistic and nihilistic symbolizations of student’s diverse life-experiences determined by their social context. Based on these results it seems reasonable that experience-oriented dialogical reasoning about common theological themes in interreligious classrooms enhances students’ understanding of main concepts of their traditions. Top

Peta Goldburg - From Syllabus Development to Classroom Practice in Study of Religion

Curriculum change is a complex and difficult process requiring careful planning, adequate time, funding, support and opportunities for teacher involvement. It involves more than simply issuing and mandating a syllabus. Curriculum change requires that teachers reconceptualise the way they conceive the subject, how they position themselves and how they are positioned in relation to the required change. The teaching of religion, like other subjects, has been influenced by social and political agendas, available resources and teacher expertise. All of these influence how the subject is shaped and the way it is taught. Curriculum change entails not just a re-formation of the subject, but also teachers’ reconstruction of the subject and of themselves as teachers. Curriculum change is a complex it succeeds or fails according to the ways in which it is taken up, enacted and owned by those who teach it.

Queensland (Australia) is introducing a new syllabus for Study of Religion, an elective subject available to students in the post-compulsory years of senior secondary school. Study of Religion, an academic subject which draws on diverse perspectives from the humanities and social sciences and approaches the teaching of world religions from an educational rather than a faith-forming standpoint, has the potential to reinvigorate the teaching of religion if implementation is effective.

This paper traces the journey of syllabus development and implementation of the senior secondary school subject Study of Religion for the state of Queensland, and examines how key teachers effect change in the teaching and learning of religion in the classroom. Top

Bruce Grelle - Worldview Education, Citizenship, and the Competition of Global Ethics

We live in a world that is characterized by persistent abuses of human rights, by vast disparities of wealth and power between individuals and nations, by the degradation of the environment, and by seemingly unending religious, racial, and ethnic conflict and violence. This paper argues that a central task of worldview education is to prepare students to become citizens capable of recognizing and addressing these problems from the perspective of a humane and inclusive global ethic that is committed to respect for life and non-violence, economic justice, truthfulness, tolerance, and equal partnership between men and women.

The promotion of a humane global ethic depends upon the cultivation of religious literacy and critical education about the variety of ’religions’ and ’global ethics’ that are vying for hegemony in the era of globalization - the ’religion of the market’ with its corresponding ethic of economic growth and consumerism; the ’religion of nationalism’ with its corresponding ethic of militarism and national security; as well as the various religious and secular ’fundamentalisms’ that have sprung up throughout the world, with their ethics of exclusion and their endless proselytizing on behalf of tradition, science, church, caliphate, progress, party, race or whatever other gods they have committed themselves to worship. Hans Küng and the Parliament of the World’s Religions have famously declared that there can be ”no new global order without a new global ethic.” Likewise, there can be no new global ethic without considerable effort in education. Top

Zehavit Gross - The Role of Silencing in the School Socialization of Jewish, Christian-Arab, Muslim and Bedouin Girls in Israel

The aim of this paper is to analyze the silencing processes in the socialization of religious girls brought up in a transitional society between traditionalism and modernity. Using qualitative in-depth interviews, 20 girls (5 Jewish, 5 Muslim, 5 Christian-Arab and 5 Bedouin) aged 17-23, were interviewed.

The findings show that silencing is embedded in the ideal school graduate. Though the ideal model of school socialization is the silenced modest woman, her voice is enlisted for collective and political religious purposes in the public sphere. This is especially apparent among Muslim girls and is echoed in the discourse of Jewish, Christian and Bedouin girls. Knowledge acquisition is viewed as the key to their future progress and religious strengthening, but more prominently among Arab girls than among Jewish girls. While Arab girls indicate that the most important goal of their school was academic achievement, the religious Jewish girls claim that the most important goal of their school was values education. Whereas the discourse of Muslim and Bedouin girls was a feminist discourse of rights, the discourse of Arab Christians and Jews was more a feminist discourse of identity (see also Gross, 2006). None of them viewed themselves as emancipated liberated women, but rather as women with more opportunities. Silencing serves as a mediator between the girls’ traditional role and their modern aspirations. In conclusion, it seems that a quiet feminist revolution is occurring among religious Arab and Jewish girls in Israel, through modern knowledge acquisition and traditional religious strengthening. Top

Elisabet Haakedal - Pupils’ Workbooks in the Norwegian Primary School: A comparison of the changing perspectives found in pupils’ expressions of different religions and life views through half a century

The paper is an exploration of how pupils have expressed themselves in workbooks (i.e. writing and drawing books) used in religious education and other relevant subjects in the Norwegian primary school, from the middle of the 20th century until 2007. The academic approach is inter-disciplinary, i.e. mainly historical, but also comparative, analytic and interpretive. The research questions are: What and how can pupils’ expressions (i.e. units of meaning) referring to central tenets of different religions and life views tell about the perspectives used in the processes of the pupils’ learning about and from the subject matter? How may the variety of perspectives found in the expressions be interpreted?

About one hundred workbooks from thirty-five informants were collected during 2006 and 2007. A selection of the pupils’ expressions in the workbooks is explored by way of social semiotic theory, as well as theories from contextual theological hermeneutics. While there are a few expressions from the earliest and middle decades covering different religions, e.g. Islam, nearly all these expressions deal with Christianity. Expressions from the last decade cover the main world religions and Humanism.

Regarding results, it seems that the chosen expressions from the earliest and middle decades primarily tell about a Christian doctrinal perspective combined with a few elements of pupils’ exploring creativity. The expressions from after the mid- 1990’s often represent an ‘objective’ perspective on pluralistic subject matter. However, there are also interesting variations, and more elements of pupils’ creativity. In conclusion a few pedagogical remarks are made. Top

Mary Hayward - Re-visiting Commitment and Religious Education

This paper emerges from a research project, carried out in the Institute of Education at Warwick University between 2003 and 2007, which gave rise to the publication Christianity in Religious Education at Key Stage 3 (2007, Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit, Occasional Papers IV). The evidence on which this present paper is based was gathered, and substantially analysed, during that research project.

Following a brief review of the religious education literature which has addressed the relationship of teachers’ own beliefs or faith commitment to their role as religious educators, this paper distinctively focuses on the evidence from practising teachers collected during the project, in both community and faith schools. Essentially an addendum to the published Report, the paper offers an analysis of teachers’ views of the place of a Christian commitment in relation to teaching about this tradition. Because the focus of the Warwick research was on the teaching of Christianity in school, this tradition remains this paper’s focus; the research findings are however shown to be of relevance to RE more broadly.

The evidence offered here, and my analysis of this, tend to support the recommendation of the report of the Religious Education Council’s Teaching and Training Commission (2007) that there is need to extend opportunities for specialist trainees in RE to consider the relationship between their own faith/beliefs and the role of the RE teacher in community and/or ’faith’ schools. I suggest that the boundaries of such relationships are now more complex than the earlier literature envisaged. Top

Hans-Günter Heimbrock - Perceiving the other: How to deal with sameness, difference and diversity in RE and in intercultural encounter

To live together in civilised societies is the inevitable alternative to violence and war. To prepare pupils to live together proactively within a pluralistic and diverse multi-religious society in most European educational settings is a well accepted and more or less highly estimated goal. Despite a generally accepted ideology of overall human tolerance, the decisive steps to establish relations between pupils are built up within the everday learning process in the classroom and in school life.

As to this issue, RE education theory still has little empirical knowledge about the means, strategies and ambivalent effects how the relations to children of other cultural and religious groups are shaped or influenced by everday life in schools and by the learning process. How far are pupils prepared to accept otherness and difference within their educational system? What are the images transported about the other and how does the learning process give space to perceive others as others? Is religion (in general and in particular) used as a means to accept or to neglect human otherness? What ideal of belonging and difference is promoted in RE? And what about the hidden side?

To answer these questions the paper: • analyses concrete examples of RE class room material by focussing on the use of texts and pictures • draws on alternatice strategies of intercultural education outside conventional RE class room settings • tries to reshape the basic concepts of religion and culture suitable and educational theory. Top

Mark Keith Hillis - Covenant Connection: Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Christians in the struggle for Indigenous Theology in the Uniting Church in Australia

In 1985, at the request of its Indigenous membership, the Uniting Church in Australia supported the formation of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC). In 1994 Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders of the Uniting Church in Australia entered into a covenant as a public act of reconciliation. The relationship between Indigenous and Christian theology is interwoven with these events. Discourse concerning this relationship reveals daring connections between Indigenous ceremony, art and cosmology and Western Christian theology that are not widely known.

Since its 11th Assembly in 2006, the UAICC and the Uniting Church have sought to renew the Covenant that was declared in 1994. A number of questions arise: Are there signs of vitality in the Covenant relationship that have implications for the self-understanding of Australian Christians? Is it possible for non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians to communicate authentically on the ground of Christian theology? To what extent have Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Christians sought or resisted an Indigenous theology in the Uniting Church? How may the theory and practice of Religious Education take shape in the context of the Covenant connection within and beyond the Uniting Church?

This paper will explore historical and current discourse concerning dialogue with Indigenous theology in Australia. It will draw upon the work of the UAICC, Djiniyini Gondarra, the Rainbow Spirit Elders and several others engaged in the field. The paper will also include reflection upon research into the Covenanting process and the projects that have emerged in response to it since 1994. Top

John M Hull - The Prophetic Tradition of Christian and Jewish Faith and the Ethical Transformation of Teaching

The distinction between relationship to God and to other human beings is sometimes expressed in terms of a vertical dimension and a horizontal one. In the biblical prophetic tradition, however, the vertical is collapsed into the horizontal, as God is no longer accessible as an independent reality but only through justice and love extended to the neighbour. Thus the paradox that images of God are forbidden and yet human beings are themselves in the divine image is resolved, and similarly the paradox of the two commandments, one of which is the greatest while the other one (love of the neighbour) amounts to the same thing is also resolved.

In Christian theology the prophetic insight reaches its climax in relation to the man Jesus, who in his sufferings becomes the needy neighbour, and in his resurrection the one to whom the corresponding human becomes hostage. After the ascension of Jesus, he is again known only through the diversity of otherness.

The ethical implications of this interpretation of prophetic religion for the relation between teacher and students will be developed, drawing upon Martin Buber, John MacMurray, and Immanuel Levinas. It will be shown that although dialogue is necessary pedagogically, the ethical obligation toward the pupil goes beyond dialogue and is non-reciprocal. The teacher who stands in this prophetic tradition can call upon it as a resource for endurance and as a stimulant to the imagination; thus education becomes a form of the knowledge of God. Top

Robert Hurley - Religious Education and the Theology of Religions: What the Choice of Methodology Reveals

When understood as the transmission of correct knowledge, RE is often reduced to a didactic presentation of doctrine in which the uninitiated are taught the meaning of Christian faith and morals. The assumption implicit here seems to be that the content of Christian revelation is something foreign to the uninitiated. While catechumens may, by virtue of their baptism and the instruction they are receiving, be understood to stand in closer proximity to the truth than do outsiders, they are not yet regarded as full members of the Church.

This paper explores two approaches to biblical catechesis in which metaphors of cognitive distance and proximity do not dominate: Godly Play and La catéchèse biblique symbolique. In presenting the Christian tradition, neither Berryman nor the Lagardes presume to stand in closer proximity to its ‘truth’ than do the young people they accompany. Both approaches encourage children to unlock the meaning of their own lives as they explore sacred stories, liturgical celebrations and Christian symbols. Both approaches implicitly assume that all human persons already know God in the very constitution of their being, before any teaching takes place. In introducing young people to the language of the Christian Tradition, these approaches provide them with words to express what they already know in the depth of their being. Do the methodological options and the theological assumptions informing these approaches undermine the distinctions between insiders and outsiders? Top

Brendan Hyde - The religious-spiritual supermarket of Western culture: Do children arbitrarily pick and choose their values and spiritual resources?

According to some recent research, young people growing up in Western culture are conscious that their world contains a type of religious-spiritual supermarket. They consider themselves free to choose their own set of values and spiritual resources which they deem relevant to themselves, and which provide them with some sense of purpose and direction, or at least provide a sense of immediate wellbeing. This is sometimes referred to as the commodification of spirituality and religion. The arbitrary nature of such choosing may lead to the notion of relativism, which questions whether the worth and value of anything can be judged outside of its own particular context.

This paper, drawn from aspects of the author’s own hermeneutic phenomenological research into the spirituality of children aged between 8 and 10 years in Australia, suggests that children’s selection of spiritual and religious resources is not necessarily always arbitrary or relative. In discussing pertinent aspects of cultural postmodernity, relativism, and a biological basis of spirituality, this paper argues that although there is subjectivity in relation to the way in which children weave their spiritual worldview, their construction is not necessarily an arbitrary process. It concludes by highlighting some pertinent implications for the teaching of religious education in both faith and secular contexts. Top

Dzintra Iliško - The Challenges for Religious Education in Latvia: Encountering the Difference

This paper outlines the situation after 1991 when radical transformation towards democratization radically affected all domains of life in Latvia. This change was especially marked by people’s quest for new spiritual orientations, together with the suddenly emerging cultural pluralism and religious diversity, unknown before. This development manifested a growing sense of insecurity and loss of orientation among a considerable part of the Latvian population. Society in Latvia has not yet learned how to cross the boundaries of difference in order to appreciate pluralism and to affirm diversity - social, ethnic, cultural, and religious.

One of the challenges for Latvia is how the affirmation of religious liberty and pluralism can be utilized in the search for national self-definition. The need to cross the boundary of religious differences and to enter into inter-religious dialogue becomes more crucial as every day passes. The proposed dialogue broadens the capacity of citizens to experience how to live together in a pluralistic society, by emphasizing issues which gives life meaning and values.

This qualitative study focuses on teachers' diverse dispositions and presuppositions towards the different. The author points to ways of addressing the issue of teachers' encounters with difference (cultural, racial, and religious) as well as suggesting how to teach students to respect other traditions in their original uniqueness. The paper will look at higher education where teacher training programs may be considered as one of the key contributors to the cultivation of inclusivity, where diversity is embraced and appreciated in its multiple forms. Top

Shira Iluz, David Resnick - How does teaching Bible for the matriculation examination in the Israeli State Religious school system correspond to teacher instructional goals?

Bible is a complex discipline because it has emotional, moral and faith goals in addition to the content characteristic that pertains to all teaching disciplines (Rosenak, 2003). Faith and emotion includes, shaping a philosophy of life that draws its source from the Bible, strengthening faith in the Creator, enhancing the connection between Bible study and the daily life of the student in the present and of the adult in the future, and emphasizing the connection between studying the Bible and adherence to the commandments of Jewish law found therein.

The objective of the present survey of Bible teachers in upper high school classes (grades 10-12) in State-Religious schools is to describe and analyze their views of the curriculum. While the findings of the survey overlap those with other subjects, we focus on a central finding which makes the teaching of Bible a representative case of how the Bagrut examination overwhelms the goals of the teaching program, its contents, methods of instruction and learning.

Participants and method: In the quantitative part of the study, 128 high school Bible teachers drawn from a representative sample of religious high schools answered a telephone survey. In the qualitative part of the study, ten teachers participated in small-group, partly-structured group interviews with the aim of enhancing the findings.

Research tools: The telephone survey consisted of fifteen questions in a Likert scale format. The respondents were invited to expand on the closed answer alternatives wherever they wished. The questionnaire covered a number of subjects, including the different components of the curriculum, training and supervision, the teacher’s sense of knowledge of the Bible, etc.

Findings: A major finding is the central role played by the Bagrut examination in the process of teaching and learning. The structure and nature of the examination create pressure on the school system to focus on preparing students for the examination, often in contradiction with the goals of the teaching discipline – this is what emerged from the interviews with the teachers. In preparation for the examination, teachers of Bible studies are obliged to develop a high level of student proficiency in reading and analyzing texts using various syntactic and exegetic tools. As a result of the large amount of material to be covered in a limited amount of time, the teachers feel frustrated by having to relinquish their goal of teaching in depth (e.g. teaching Biblical personalities and imparting an understanding of the educational and moral message found in the Bible, in favor of a technical, simplistic way of studying the text. In the view of the teachers whom we interviewed, the exigencies of the examination cause great damage to the Bible studies discipline and its teaching, so much so that the original meaning of teaching Bible studies in high schools has disappeared (Iluz, 2004).

Discussion: Despite the intensive preparations and considerable time allowed to Bible instruction, Ministry of Education officials are disappointed with the Bagrut results. Teachers, too, are frustrated with the test

results, in addition to their frustration with how the Bagrut preparation warps their educational approach. As the Ministry considers changes both in the Bagrut and in the Bible curriculum, this research indicates the importance of acknowledging and understanding the beliefs of teachers. When teachers feel that changes in curricula are imposed on them from above, they may react with overt or covert opposition to the contents, methods of teaching or study materials (van Driel, Bulte & Verloop 2005). Teachers will accept changes much more easily if they feel that the goals of the changes accord with their own teaching goals (Johnston, 1992) or if they feel that the change aims to resolve problems which the teacher faces in his daily work in the classroom. Top

Arto Kallioniemi - Headmasters’ Conceptions of Celebrating Annual Christian Festivals in Comprehensive Schools: A Finnish Example

In recent years Finnish society has become very secularized. Finnish schools traditionally celebrate different kinds of annual Christian festivals (e.g. Christmas and Easter). With the increasing development of multiculturalism in Finnish society as well as in the Finnish school system, celebrating these festivals in schools has encountered several crises: children from religious backgrounds other than from Christian denominations are not able to participate in them. Traditionally the status of these festivals has been very strong; they have always been considered as being very significant in Finnish school culture. However, as a result of the development of multiculturalism several schools in the Helsinki area have abandoned this tradition because of cultural and organizational difficulties arising from the multicultural complexion of schools.

My presentation is based on a survey conducted in Spring 2007. 250 Finnish comprehensive school headmasters took part in a nationwide survey. The focus was to ask headmasters to estimate how 37 different statements about school festival traditions correspond to their own views.

Using factor analysis the following four different dimensions were found: 1. importance vs. unimportance of annual festivals, 2. difficulties in the organization of annual festivals, 3. festival traditions as a central part of Finnish culture, and 4. importance of festival traditions in a multicultural society. Possible differences regarding headmasters’ gender, age, school levels and size of working places were tested using a one-way ANOVA, which was complemented with Scheffe and Student t-tests. Results indicated the changing process in school culture. Top

Yaacov J Katz - Religious Education in the Israeli State Educational System: Different Religions, Different Ideologies and Different Value Systems

The Israeli state educational system comprises schools representing state Jewish secular, state Jewish religious, state Arab (Moslem and Christian), and state Druze sectors of the heterogeneous Israeli population. Each educational sector is bound by a common core curriculum that includes religious education suitable for and accepted by each sector.

As a result, religious education in the Israeli state school system cannot be considered as a uniform subject with common goals and standards, but rather comprises a variety of curricula with goals based on the belief codes of the different religions, the different ideologies and, indeed, the different value systems that characterize the different sectors comprising the mosaic of Israeli society. Judaism in its various forms is the basis for religious education in state secular and state religious Jewish schools; Islam and Christianity in their various forms inspire religious education in state Arab schools; and the Druze religion is that which lies at the heart of religious education in state Druze schools.

In addition, the social value systems of the Jewish secular and religious communities, the Arab Moslem and Christian communities and the Druze community have a powerful influence on the character of religious education in the respective educational sectors. All these differences lead to different goals and perceptions of religious education in the Israeli state educational system and to unique pluralism and tolerance not found in any other facet of Israeli education.

The paper will suggest the adoption of a common inter-faith core curriculum in religious education in Israel, in order to address the promotion of consensual religious values, consensual societal values and consensual educational goals in the religiously and ethnically sectorial school population. Top

Valentin Kozhuharov - Theology and worldview as definers of RE in an Orthodox Christian context

Theology has defined the content of religious education (RE) for centuries, and still plays an important role in modern RE. This is specifically true for the Orthodox RE where teaching and practice have been equally taught and acquired for centuries. The new school RE subject Worldview (in Slavic Mirovedenie, literally meaning Knowing the World) continues this tradition by presenting the world to children as interpreted by the sciences and the Orthodox Christian religion.

Worldview was proposed in 2005 to be taught as a supplementary part of the curriculum Basics of the Orthodox culture, which is currently taught as an optional school subject in many schools in Russia. Now Worldview is being developed as a separate educational unit to be taught at school with three general themes for the various age groups of the primary and secondary school: Knowing the (closest) environment (age 6-10), Knowing man and his environment (age 11-15) and Knowing the world (age 16-18). It is important to note that methodologically the evidence of science and religion are interconnected and complementary; no predominance of the one over the other is shown.

The expected outcome of teaching RE as Worldview is that it will provide a more realistic picture of the world and facts which children can observe in their lives, as opposed to the (still) purely secular and blurred picture which the traditional Russian textbooks continue to present to schoolchildren in many school subjects. Top

Fedor Kozyrev - Ivan Ilyin’s phenomenological approach to religion and its pedagogical implications

Ivan Ilyin is one among the famous Russian religious philosophers who were exiled by the Soviets in 1922 and never returned to Russia. In his last work ‘Axioms of Religious Experience’ (1953) written in Russian, Ilyin attempts to describe the phenomenon of religion by distinguishing between ‘religious act’, ‘religious content’ and ‘religious subject’. The work is full of revealing observations concerning both the essence of religious life and the principles of religious education.

The paper elucidates parallelism between the structural model of religion developed by Ilyin and the phenomenological ideas of W.C. Smith with the latest interpretations and implications by religious educators. It argues that keeping distinction between personal religious actions on one hand, and religious content translated by tradition on the other, is one of the most important preconditions for effective religious education in a public as well as in a confessional setting.

The second focus of the paper is on Ilyin’s reflections on the ‘subjectivity of religious experience’, being the first axiom of his phenomenological construction. Some epistemological issues intertwined with the problem of the ‘objectivity of religious truths’ are discussed.

The third focus is on the justification of personal religious autonomy in Ilyin’s book. Ethical and pedagogical implications are discussed. The paper tends to disclose the liberating potential of Russian religious philosophy in the twentieth century through the analysis of the ideas of one of its most conservative Orthodox representatives. Top

Bernd Krupka - Confirmation 2008 – national survey on confirmants’ and their teachers’expectations of confirmation classes and confirmation

In many Protestant territorial churches, confirmation is a rite of passage connected to the accomplishment of baptismal education, historically linked to the end of schooling and the entrance to adult work life at the age of 14 or 15. The paper will present first results from a survey conducted on approximately 3000 confirmands and 150 confirmation workers from 60 parishes in the Church of Norway. The survey consists of two sets of questionnaires distributed at the beginning and at the end of confirmation classes in 2007/2008, and is part of an international collaboration where similar questionnaires are distributed in the Protestant churches of seven northern and central European countries.

The paper will present national results from the first round of questionnaires, whose items focus on a) the confirmands’ religious attitudes and expectations of confirmation and confirmation classes concerning ritual, spiritual and social experience, ethical formation, religious formation and religious identification; and b) the confirmation teachers’ religious attitudes and aims concerning the same aspects.

The study will give an insight into the religious thinking and attitudes of 14 year-olds expressed in their expectations from confirmation classes, and from confirmation as an important rite in Norwegian society.

The material will also be relevant for questions of didactics as we can compare confirmands’ and teachers’ aims and expectations . For parts of the sample, the results for the 2nd round of questionnaires will have come in, and will be able to indicate possible attitude change and whether the participants’ experience matches their expectations. Top

David W Lankshear - Church in Wales Schools - a perspective from within the Church

During 2007 the Church in Wales initiated a major review of its role in Education, and particularly the contribution made by the Church to Church in Wales’ schools. This paper will present research undertaken on behalf of the Church as part of this review. 60% of Ministers in the Church in Wales responded to a questionnaire seeking their views and also details of the impact of their work in schools on their overall workload. 53% of Parochial Church Secretaries responded to a questionnaire seeking details of the links between schools, teachers and their parish. It also sought details of the numbers of adults and children actively involved in the life of the parish.

The paper will report a summary of the findings analyzed from the responses of the Church Ministers and Parochial Church Secretaries to the research questionnaires. In the course of the paper I will focus on a discussion of the implications of these findings for the future of the Church in Wales provision of schools and for church schools more widely. In my presentation I will also explore the relationship between church attendance and the work of churches in the schools in their area. This research to be presented in my paper will form part of the background to a major Church in Wales report to be published later this year. Top

Alma Lanser-van der Velde - Rap and Roots, Youth and Music in immigrant churches

My research, based on participation research methodology, focuses on young adults in immigrant churches. People found immigrant churches in order, apparently, to pass on beliefs to the next generation or, even more, ‘to evangelize the non-churched teenagers and young adults to provide them with meaningful experiences that will bring them closer to the Lord.’

In the most recent Dutch survey concerning young people and spirituality (van Dijk-Groeneboer and Maas, 2005) the three aims for life that scored highest were ‘enjoying life’, ‘being free and independent’, and ‘having a happy relationship’. In this research ‘a life guided by God’, ‘having faith in God’, and ‘having faith’ scored lowest. This aim of the present research was to establish where the young members of immigrant churches place themselves within this landscape.

The religious culture of immigrant churches is more vivid and physical than I am used to. When I visited several services of immigrant churches, I noticed the major role music plays: singing, clapping and dancing connected people with one another. Music is also an undeniable part of youth culture worldwide. Ever since pop music arose, the choice for a certain style or group establishes someone’s identity. These deliberations lead to the following research questions: How does church music in an immigrant church influence the musical preferences of young adults? How do the musical preferences of young adults influence the church music in an immigrant church? On the basis of these questions I will present the results of the recently completed research I proposed at ISREV 2006. Top

Heike Lindner - ‘If you want to understand other people…’ Intercultural and Inter-religious Dialogue, and the Protestant Responsibilities for Education

“If you want to know yourself, then see how others go about it. If you want to understand others, look into your own heart." Could this couplet also be a key to the topic of ‘Dealing with those we do not know?’ It suggests a change of one's own perspective. “Look at other people first and then you will know yourself." If our aim is to understand, we have to be in a position to see differences. How much ‘being different’ can we actually tolerate? To what extent are we able to put up with other people being different?

The contribution offers a theoretical outline of an inter-cultural and an inter-religious dialogue which respects the perception of truth as seen by other faiths, and which remains compatible with the precepts of Religious Education. In order for such a dialogue to take place, society today needs a culture of narration and dialogue. Through this the people's personal points of view may be hermeneutically developed in encounters with others.

The author gives a brief overview of the challenges which society faces today in terms of ‘Immigration’ and ‘Integration’. The skills of differentiation in terms of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue are shown against the background of Protestant responsibilities for education. The last part illustrates these skills of differentiation by showing their practical application in both Religious Education contexts and in the Outreach Ministry of the Protestant Church in Germany, which is called ‘Diakonie’. Top

Roseanne McDougall - ‘Religious Literacy’ in the University Curriculum

Generally speaking, students entering LaSalle University are lacking in ‘religious literacy’. This study explores the idea that students can learn basic content and skills which enable development of ‘religious literacy’. Through such learning, students can acquire the background needed to take second-level courses in the field of religion.

The objectives engage students in constructing knowledge of the Christian Tradition, while developing skills related to those of rhetoric - reading, thinking, speaking, listening, and writing. Both grasp of specific content, as emphasized by Stephen Prothro (Religious Literacy 2007), and uses of pedagogy, as articulated by Barbara Walvoord (Teaching, Learning College Introductory Religion Courses 2007), are developed. Recurring varied forms of assessment test confirmation of earlier findings.

Since each course is paired with another course (either history or writing), readings or debates about contemporary issues are interjected into the semester plan in order to assist students to make connections between the Christian tradition in earlier times and more recently. Forms of pedagogy employed in these interdisciplinary sessions are included in this study. Each student works with a learning portfolio. The one hundred sixty students in these courses comprise twenty percent of the entering class, and are not participants in the University Honors Program.

This study builds upon previous related studies, but is more highly specified and nuanced. The outcomes of the project, both in terms of content and process, will be used as a resource in curriculum evaluation and future course design for the first year religion program. Top

Paul McQuillan - Leading Australian Catholic Schools in An Era of Religious Diversity

This paper will detail the experiences of Brisbane Catholic Education in the founding of ecumenical schools within the Archdiocese, and will also ask challenging questions for leaders of Catholic schools throughout Australia in a changing religious landscape.

In 2001 Brisbane Catholic Education opened its first ecumenical school at Gaven, in a major growth area in the Gold Coast corridor. Three more schools have followed. All arose from requests from the local community, in major growth areas where significant co-operative work was already taking place among faith groups in the provision of services to their communities. Enrolment policies, the religious education program, and the way in which worship was conducted and the faith communities co-operated in pastoral care of families, differed in each school; but was well defined and intentional in its directions.

This intentionality within an ecumenical framework in turn poses questions for those who lead Catholic schools in more traditional frameworks. Numerous surveys have detailed the growing numbers of ’non-Catholics’ enrolled in Catholic schools. There is also significant research to show that Catholicity, if defined by church practice, has fallen dramatically among the ’Catholic’ population of these schools. The paper will look at possible ways to address this issue. Is there a need for more intentional and clear enrolment, and religious education policies that provide for a more traditional Catholic approach? Alternatively, should school leaders look to define an intentional religious education and pastoral program that first seeks to understand the religious and family background of students, and to intentionally address their issues as part of its overall school program? Top

Wilna Meijer - Slot, Silence and Concentration: The reader between letter and spirit

Recently, the Seven Cardinal Sins from the Catholic tradition gained much renewed attention. A recent Dutch book, Zonde van de tijd, by a collective of educational theorists under the pseudonym E.A. Godot, is a case in point. In this book acedia, or sloth, is put into critical opposition to the ‘rush, rush, rush’ of current existence, and turned from a cardinal vice into a possible virtue. Poetry is used in that connection as a form of cultural criticism.

The present paper dwells on the question whether there is an imminent relationship between poetics and religion, between poetry and reading on the one hand and religion and transcendence on the other, as the literary theorist George Steiner and the Dutch essayist Jan Oegema advocate. Steiner distinguishes five categories of solitude in his Grammars of Creation. These categories are explored in order to test the validity of the idea that the seeking of solitude and concentration as necessary for reading, eventually leads to spiritual and religious experience. This idea is rejected. Reading is, after the fashion of Milan Kundera, tied to the experience, not of a transcendent unity, but rather of a polyphony of human voices. Top

Gabriel Moran - Leadership in Religious Organizations

Leadership has been a topic of great interest during the past century. Most likely, the idea had a military origin but that quickly fused with a political meaning. In the late nineteenth century, the business entrepreneur joined the general and the president in supplying the exemplar of leader. In its literal meaning, the leader is one in front of followers who trail behind. How far a metaphorical meaning can move from the literal meaning is unclear.

Religious groups also have leaders; war, politics and business are influences on the meaning of religious leadership. Many religious groups, however, resist the idea of the leader as out in front of followers. Some religious groups try to modify the literal meaning; others try to subvert or even invert it.

The thesis of this paper is that religious groups should give an example of leadership that resists the dangerous tendencies in today’s military, business, and political assumptions. Part of the mission of religious education is to examine the peculiar logic of religion that would situate ’leaders’ in the middle of the group. Instead of a pretense of equality that hides the authoritarian character of most organizations, a religious group should acknowledge the different abilities of its members. The organization would consist of concentric circles in which varying contributions are made by each member to the community’s and the world’s well-being. The religious leader should act as an educator listening to all, and encouraging the talents of each member. Top

Fred Sheldon Mwesigwa - Moral Education: An Alternative to the Divisive Primary and Secondary School Christian Religious Education and Islamic Religious Education Curriculum

The aim of this paper is to examine the Uganda National Resistance Movement government’s preference of Moral Education to Christian Religious Education, and the implications this has for the current state secondary school CRE and IRE curriculum. The paper will argue that the NRM government took deliberate steps to remove CRE and IRE from the curriculum because of its confessional and thereby ‘divisive’ nature. The paper will propose that the NRM government’s support of a religiously neutral values education subject can be traced to its critiquing of the negative role of religion in Uganda’s political history, that gave birth to its evolution of a political philosophy of unity and secular morality right from ascendancy to political power in 1985.

The NRM government’s political influence of educational policy will be argued to have been made possible by the appointment of the Educational Policy Review Commission and the terms of reference of the Commission. Against this background, the paper will explore the religious leaders' and the public’s opposition to Moral Education, but at the same time critique the inability of CRE and IRE to adequately address the multi-religious context of the schools. Finally, this paper will argue that the Ugandan state primary and secondary school curriculum should provide for a multi-value CRE and IRE element in the religiously-founded public schools, to address the multi-religious context of schools. The paper proposes Moral Education in an attempt to address the multi-religious or secular nature of private schools. Top

Christina Osbeck, Sidsel Lied - Policies of religious plurality. The comparative cases of Sweden and Norway

The religious situation in the Nordic countries has changed in the last decades. In the early 20th century the region was to a large extent a homogenous Lutheran area. The situation today is radically more pluralistic, due to processes of globalization and localization.

A new project of the University Alliance of Inner Scandinavia is focused on compulsory schools in Sweden and Norway, as cases of how global pressure of religious plurality is handled in Swedish and Norwegian public spaces. The aim of the study is to describe and analyze how religious differences are understood and negotiated in religious education in Swedish and Norwegian compulsory schools. In the course of the

paper we will look at Nordic similarities as well as at national differences. The study will have a case design consisting of six cases, three from each country, and will include a number of field work methods. Theoretically the project is based on a framework which includes two competing methods of how to handle plurality: liberalism and multiculturalism.

In our paper we will analyze national policies of religious plurality regarding the comparative cases of Sweden and Norway. Focus will be on how religious difference is constructed and what kind of strategies for handling religious plurality are chosen. We will also use this policy analysis in order to provide a rational interpretation of the material emanating from the cases of Swedish and Norwegian schools. Top

Manfred L Pirner - German Religious Education in English. Content and Language Integrated Learning as a Chance for Promoting Intercultural Learning in RE

What started as a minor political attempt to promote communication and understanding between Germany and its neighbour countries in the 1970’s has developed into a boom since the 1990’s: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL - which means in fact teaching a school subject in a foreign language, mostly English, sometimes French) has been integrated in the programme of innumerable high schools and middle schools all over Germany - a development which is considered by some educationists as one of the most significant recent changes in the German school system. Up to now, the school subjects primarily involved in CLIL have been Geography, History and Biology, while there is as yet little experience with other subjects and with Religious Education.

The presentation will take up the challenge of CLIL for RE and will explore its characteristic chances for religious learning with a special focus on intercultural learning, which of course is one of the major aims of the CLIL concept. Principal questions around this innovative concept will be discussed, and results from the first empirical studies done at the University of Education at Ludwigsburg will be presented.

These results indicate that teaching RE in a foreign language brings significant chances for religious learning, which more than outweigh the problems. Students tended to show more cognitive activity and more social activity, they developed a cultivated way of dealing with mistakes, and they were better able to change perspectives than in mother-tongue RE. Also, their motivation for and appreciation of RE increased significantly. Some of them even explicitly argued how important it is that by CLIL in RE, intercultural communication on religious and ethical topics is promoted. Top

Annebelle Pithan - Doing Gender in Written Materials and Text Books for Religious Education

In my paper I will conduct a review and analysis of research about gender issues in German text books and materials used in teaching religious education in schools and churches. Religious education often works with written materials and text books. As is evident in all dimensions of religious education, text books and written materials can be analyzed by gender categories. In the German-speaking countries some research studies have been conducted on the topic of gender, and there are beginnings of ongoing discussion about gender issues in books and materials for religious education in schools as well as in church.

My paper will focus on the main insights of the German discourse. I will attempt to demonstrate the process of development from the more quantitative to the more qualitative criteria of analysis. I will indicate the need for plurality or (de)construction of male and female role models according to the gender discourse in German society. By giving examples from different text books and written materials, my main intention is to provide a typical overview of how issues are tackled from a gender point of view. The aim is to provide a focus for teachers and others who use religious education textbooks and written materials, so as to illuminate the gender dimension and improve gender equality in religious education. Furthermore, I would like to open an exchange about similar discussions in other countries and discuss further challenges facing gender in religious education. Top

Antti Räsänen - Religious Instruction - The Robust Stone Base of Successful Education

The aim of my presentation is to examine religious education (hence RE) in Finland. What kind of role has RE in successful education? The research questions can be expressed in the following manner: (1) what do Finns expect of the RE teacher? The aim is to clarify what is the purpose of RE teachers’ work, and what kind of personality s/he should be. (2) How would Finns implement RE in comprehensive schools? This interesting issue was supposed to clarify how religion should be taught if it should at all.

The frame of reference of the presentation processes current RE in Finland. The research data are based on a survey. A total of 588 Finnish women (N = 364, 63%) and men (N = 216, 37%) participated in the survey. Research data was analyzed using factor analysis. The group differences are considered by gender, age groups, different kind of religiosity, and regional differences.

According to the results, the most important characteristic in a teacher is that s/he could courage students to independent thinking. It seems that RE teacher should be an expert – like all teachers – but because s/he is a RE teacher, some special characteristics are attached to her/him. RE has a received position among Finns. Finns endorse multidimensional RE. Attitudes towards Christian instruction, likewise optional RE, were diffuse, which means neither strong refusal nor acceptance. Gender differences are in line with previous results about females’ and males’ concepts of RE. Top

Yisrael Rich, Elli Schachter - Identity Education: Its Meaning and Measurement in Jewish Religious Secondary Schools

Traditionally, psychologists and educational scholars dealing with the topic of identity remained in their disciplinary boundaries, providing little interdisciplinary enrichment despite the obvious observation that assumptions about youngsters' developing identity affect school functioning and the conduct of schooling affects students' emerging identity. Some change is apparent, as several theoreticians and researchers in psychology and education (e.g., Lannegrand-Willems & Bosma, 2006; Schachter & Rich, 2006) have recently examined identity development in school contexts. Officials in religiously oriented schools may be especially interested in student identity development because their mandate usually includes the personal religious/spiritual growth of youngsters (Schachter & Rich, 2006; Wardekker & Miedema, 2001).

Here we propose to explicate the concept, Identity Education (IdEd) , which we conceived to reflect educators' systematic purposive efforts to shape processes and elements in others' present and/or future self definitions. This explication will be conducted in reference to Israeli religious secondary schools and will include: a rationale for IdEd; appropriate targets of IdEd; IdEd processes; universal, cultural and personal aspects of IdEd; and relationships between IdEd in varied educational settings (e.g., school, home, community, media). Additionally, we will present the Dyokan, a questionnaire we designed to provide religious school Heads multidimensional measures of students' perceptions of their school's IdEd efforts, and associations between Dyokan scores and individual- and school-level variables. These are based on responses of 10,000+ students from 200+ public religious secondary schools, and on tens of schools that based school improvement projects on feedback received from this measure. Top

Mandy Robbins - Personality, religion and paranormal belief: a study among teenagers in Northern Ireland

In the present study a composite questionnaire was administered to young people in Northern Ireland aged from 14 to 15 years of age. The questionnaire was completed under examination conditions. A total of 3,110 pupils attending Catholic (45%) and Protestant (55%) schools completed questions concerned with traditional religious beliefs and paranormal beliefs, alongside the short-form Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.

Traditional religious beliefs were assessed by the short form of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. This is a seven-item index concerned with affective responses to God, Jesus, bible, prayer and church, which provides a good predictor of scores recorded on the original longer version of the instrument. Paranormal beliefs were assessed by a five-item index concerned with belief in contacting the spirits of the dead, in ghosts, in fate, in horoscopes, and in tarot cards. Each item is rated on a five-point Likert-type scale: ‘agree strongly’, ‘agree’, ‘not certain’, ‘disagree’ and ‘disagree strongly’.

The data demonstrated that traditional religious beliefs and paranormal beliefs occupy different locations in relation to Eysenck’s dimensional model of personality. While traditional religious beliefs are associated with lower psychoticism scores and higher lie scale scores (greater social conformity), paranormal beliefs are associated with higher psychoticism scores and lower lie scale scores (lower social conformity) for pupils attending Catholic and Protestant schools. These findings support studies among young people in England and Wales that paranormal belief may be serving a different psychological function in comparison to traditional religiosity. Top

Sturla Sagberg - Children’s Spirituality in Norwegian Kindergartens

Spirituality is a term which has few connotations in Norwegian kindergartens. This is remarkable since laws for both schools and kindergartens in Norway refer to Christian and humanistic values as a basis for all education. Children’s right to spiritual development is mentioned in the UN’s convention of the rights of the child (§27). In recent years the question of children’s spirituality has been raised in a theological context together with a concept of children’s theology, but is still absent in a public educational context. This paper is part of a project to develop a hermeneutical approach to children’s spirituality in Norwegian public education.

I present possible meanings of the term ‘spirituality’, based to a large extent on the British debate about the statutory responsibility to take care of pupils’ spiritual development, and discuss (philosophically and ethically) in what sense the same responsibility can be understood in the Norwegian educational system. I present results from a minor field study in a Norwegian kindergarten as well, based on observations of and conversations with children and teachers around holidays. Hermeneutical criteria or starting points include spirituality as the capability and urge to transcend time and space, as relational consciousness (to self, to others, to nature, to God), as search for or core of meaning, as an element of health, as an aspect of being human. These criteria rest on the aforementioned research and earlier publications of my own. Central in my philosophical discussion are the writings of Charles Taylor, Keiji Nishitani, David Hay, and Robert Coles. Top

Günter Schmidt - Christian versus Religious Education

Christian Education rests on the central teachings of Christianity as defined by the Bible and its interpretaton in the universal Church. Religious Education is based on general pedagogical assumptions, philosophical Theories of Religion (ThR), and the History of Religions (HR).

Christian Education and Religious Education partly overlap and are in tension toward each other. The common ground comprises general aims of education such as critical judgment, autonomy and moral attitudes. The antagonism results from ThR- and HR-tendencies to subject Christianity to exogenic interpretations and from Christian claims to provide the overarching normative reference system for evaluating religious phenomena and culture in general. Theology means theorizing within the communicative sphere of Christianity – the Church, whereas Theories of Religion and History of Religions aspire to soar above Christianity and locate it amongst religions on the same level. They describe religions and their interaction with one another and with other cultural spheres from outside, interpret their doctrines and rituals with their impact upon adherents, but take a neutral stance toward claims of religious truth.

Like everybody else, philosophers and historians of religion hold personal religious or anti-religious opinions, but their professional ethos requires them not let these opinions dominate their work. Christian Education means initiating people into the inside view of Christianity and helping them to think, to feel and to act as Christians. Religious Education leans toward using Christian materials for general pedagogical purposes such as conveying knowlege about religions and fostering moral attitudes such as tolerance. Top

Peter Schreiner - Europeanization of Education, the Place of Religion and the Role of Religious Education

The term ‘Europeanization’ has gained widespread currency amongst scholars as a newly fashionable term to denote a variety of changes within European politics and international relations. It can be a useful entry-point for greater understanding of important changes occurring in politics and society. In my paper the term is used to investigate trends in education and to proof its relevance. Special emphasis is given to the place of religion in existing political documents and to the role of religious education.

Concerning mechanisms of Europeanization we can basically differentiate between two main types, ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ Europeanization. Vertical mechanisms seem to demarcate clearly the Europe level where policy is defined (mainly European Union and Council of Europe as institutions) and the domestic level, where policy has to be metabolized. By contrast, horizontal mechanisms look at Europeanization as a process where there is no pressure to conform e.g. to EU policy models. Instead, horizontal mechanisms involve a different form of adjustment to Europe, based on the market or on patterns of socialization.

In my paper Europeanization is used as a research agenda, investigating the ramifications of the concept for education and religious education on the domestic level. This includes taking account of developments and initiatives in political organisations like the Council of Europe and the European Union. Obviously more awareness about the European context is needed in education and religious education and also more comparative research can help to deal with current challenges that go beyond national boundaries. Top

Bernd Schröder - Religious Education and Theology: How to deal with quests and claims of truth?

Nobody knows the truth – everybody has his or her own convictions, indicating his or her personal conception of truth. This tension underlies the problem my collegial paper intends to address. It tries to answer both questions: What is the task of RE in perceiving the diversity of claims of truth? What is the task of theology (that means: of the diversity of theologies) in preparing and giving RE lessons which should come to terms with the diversity of truth claims?

The paper will describe and interpret strategies of German secondary school RE teachers in approaching truth claims – strategies which are used in different regional settings and conceptional frameworks (regular confessional ‘Religionsunterricht’ in the Saarland, ‘Berliner Modell’, ‘LER’ in Brandenburg, ‘Hamburger Modell’ etc.). These examples will be followed by some principal reflections stressing dispute, rationalisation by argument and tolerance rather than ‘learning about religion’.

One of the consequences in the field of the formation of RE teachers is the development of didactical and methodical tools for approaching truth claims; another is the strengthening of theological reflection of ‘religions’ and ‘truth’. Therefore the following question will be raised: Which kind of theology do we need in order to reflect and to orientate RE? The affirmative preference for an eclectic approach seems to be suitable for simplifying the theological thought process. I will suggest a concept of theology, in which different approaches (empirical, historical, and normative) should complement one another. Top

Friedrich Schweitzer - Principled Pluralism and Theology’s Contribution to Religious Education: A Protestant Perspective

Principled pluralism can be considered a central goal for religious education. It refers to an attitude that avoids relativism as well as fundamentalism. It is based on personal autonomy and on shared forms of life that are guided by tolerance, respect, dialogue, and solidarity. Many people take it for granted that this kind of pluralism cannot be achieved - or even be supported - by a type of religious education that makes theology one of its starting points. In this view, either the social sciences or religious studies together with the philosophy of education should be the sole basis for religious education. Religious education should be as impartial as possible. Yet it is easy to see that there is a price to be paid for this kind of religious studies approach to teaching religion as well. Can there be any place for theology in this approach? And if not, how can it be combined with a real pluralism that does not exclude - rather than to decidedly include - the self-understanding of the other that is needed for the realization of true pluralism?

The present paper argues for the possibility of including theology with the disciplines on which religous education should be based. Moreover, it analyses different understandings of theology in order to do justice to different varieties of theology. The aim of this analysis is to become clear about the respects in which at least certain kinds of theology can be considered necessary for principled pluralism in education. Top

Mualla Selçuk - Under What Conditions can Islamic RE Promote an Understanding of ‘Individualized Religion’?

Religions including Islam understandably have unalterable basic principles and beliefs in theological aspects. However, the believers of any religion bear their religious culture involving social and historical contexts. Therefore religion and culture become inevitably interrelated. Particularly, the view that is based on the fundamental sources of Islam, and the common understanding that was formed in history, calls for a religion that is present in all spheres of social life. Yet in modern times, what belongs to religious domain and what is left to the individual is a matter of controversy. Islamic RE faces the tension between preserving religious identity and responding to the demands of modernity. The claims concerning inflexibility and universality of Islam with regard to its contextual, indigenous and fleeting dimensions, stand before educators as challenges to deal with in Islamic RE.

Will these challenges continue to suppress religious education, or will the field be able to open new thoughts in today’s pedagogy? In the process of answering this central question I will explore the relationship between ‘Rabb-abd’ (God-human being) in my paper. I will also explore the Islam-sharia (Islam-Islamic law) relationship. I introduce the Qur’anic term ‘Hikma’ (Wisdom) as a working element of individualized religion. I offer the term ‘diraye’ (knowledge based on logical operation) as opposed to the term ‘rivaye’ (knowledge based on narration) for the content of religious education.

I hope this paper contributes to an understanding of Islam not only as a matter of communal affiliation, but as an aspect of individual choice as well. Top

Geir Skeie - Teachers and researchers cooperating in developing religious education

The present paper presents some preliminary results from an ongoing empirical research project involving several primary and secondary school teachers in some Norwegian rural and small town communities. The teachers have planned and run their own religious education projects in their class during the school year. In doing this they have cooperated with each other as well as with university researchers in a ‘community of practice’ based on action research and action learning methods. In this kind of research the aim is to develop practice through a planned combination of action and reflection. The teachers bring into the relationship their unique experience from the classroom, and the researchers contribute their knowledge and know-how about research methods and religious education theory. In the course of the research project, cooperation was maintained with other religious education research projects in England, which were similarly based on action research methods.

Drawing on results from the Norwegian project, this paper discusses the processes of practice development in religious education, and the role of teachers and researchers. The following questions are addressed: Is this particular kind of research contributing something new? How can we define the kind of knowledge produced in such a project? In addition the cooperation between teachers and researchers raises some ethical issues concerning the division of labour between teachers and researchers, as well as questions about the ownership of results. Top

Karin Sporre - Epistemology from out of a broken body?

What is the epistemology of sex- and co-habitation education in South Africa and Sweden? Can it cope with young women’s experiences of vulnerability in sexual relationships and empower them, or?

After earlier studies in feminist epistemologies I want in this research project to study curricula for sex- and co-habitation education as well as the education taking place in class-rooms. My purpose is to understand what kind of epistemologies motivate this education. How are the epistemologies constructed? Are they aware of power in relationships between girls and boys, or young women and men? Are they sensitive to experiences, for instance of powerlessness and/or power? Another complex of questions deals with disciplinary foci. Is the education and its directing epistemology focussing sex- and co-habitation education as a matter of ‘pure’ biology/health, or does it situate it in a social, sociological, psychological, and/or cultural context? If so, how?

Later I want to relate the findings of this study to human rights discourses as some of its actors grapple with an ‘incomprehensibility’ of offences against women, i.e. a stance where such offences cannot be regarded as ‘normal’ human rights offences. South African experiences from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission might/might not prove a resource in understanding such tensions. I will present the first tentative results from my studies in South Africa and Sweden. The expression ‘Epistemology from out of a broken body’ was coined by Chung Hyun Kyung in 1990. A critical gender perspective is foundational for this study. Top

Julian Stern - The Spirit of the School: Monologue and Dialogue In and Beyond Religious Education

It is relatively easy to transcribe ‘scripts’ of school-talk, in or beyond religious education, but much harder to interpret what is meant and what is understood by the listener. The philosopher Martin Buber distinguishes three kinds of dialogue: technical dialogue (roughly, exchanging information), real dialogue (which for Buber has existential and religious significance), and ‘monologue disguised as dialogue’. It is monologic conversations that are most dangerous in schools. More recently, Harry Daniels has developed ways of understanding classroom semiotics, with the emphasis being on scripting and interpreting classroom conversations.

As important as the dialogue amongst pupils and teachers, is the dialogue beyond the school (with the families of pupils and with other members of local or wider communities) and over time (for example with the writers of sacred and other ‘canonical’ and historic texts).

This paper is based on empirical research in the UK and internationally, as part of the Spirit of the School project: an attempt to answer the questions ’What is the spirit of the school?’ ’What of the school promotes the spirit of the school?’ ’What do pupils and teachers and others do to contribute to the spirit of the school?’ The paper is based specifically around responses to the research tools developed from those of Harry Daniels, asking ‘What is typically said?’ in religious education and other school subjects and situations, and the interview question asking ‘tell me about a time in school when you talked about something important to you?’. Top

Heinz Streib, Adem Aygün - Religious Socialization and Faith Development of Adolescents in Turkey and Germany: Results from Cross-Cultural Research

This paper is a report and discussion of results from a recently completed research study conducted at the Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion, Bielefeld. The results are based on seventy faith development interviews, and it is one of the first studies conducted using Fowler’s assessment instrument on a Muslim sample. In addition, to our knowledge, this is the first cross-cultural study on the faith development of adolescents comparing samples of Turkish Muslim immigrants to Germany and subjects in Turkey. In addition, the growing data base of faith development interviews with adolescents of Christian origin collected in Bielefeld in completed and current research, allows for a comparison of Muslim and Christian adolescents. Thus the data on which this report is based has a triangular structure, which yields insights into the religious socialization and faith development of Muslim and Christian adolescents in Germany and Muslim adolescents in Turkey.

From the comparison of both Muslim samples, we are able to demonstrate how religiosity and images of God develop in different cultural contexts. Special attention is drawn to issues of modernization and transformation of religion in the immigrant situation. Conclusions are drawn for religious education in the multi-religious situation in Germany, but also for religious education in Turkey. Top

Howard Summers - How do exclusive religious private schools in South Africa cope with religious diversity?

In South Africa there are many different religious persuasions, although the country remains predominantly Christian. The Constitution of South Africa guarantees freedom of religion, diversity is highly valued, and tolerance and respect are actively promoted. Government policies ensure that the major religions are included in public life, but especially in the school curriculum. Although Religious Education is now part of an umbrella subject called Life Orientation and given little teaching time, the subject is still considered important.

Previously, the findings of a very small, ethnographic survey carried out in two Johannesburg public schools, one primary and one secondary, were analysed. The results showed that there was a definite shift away from the old confessional approach to teaching Christianity and that teachers at these two schools were, in the main, trying to educate about the various religions in the country.

But what happens at private exclusive Jewish, Christian and Muslim schools? Do they attempt to promote religious diversity? Are some of the major world religions taught, or just their particular religion? Do they adhere to the same policy as public schools regarding education in religion? Is the promotion of tolerance and respect important? The answers to these questions will be gathered from a survey of a sample of each of these religious schools and the findings will form the content of this paper. Top

Martin Ubani - Reaching for one’s own tradition with education: The case of Finland

While reflecting on empirical studies, this paper describes the characteristics of spiritual education in Finnish RE. The empirical data was collected among 12-13-year-old pupils and theology students during 2003-2004.

After the UN convention of the rights of the child in 1989, the self-understanding of RE has been noticeably affected by the holistic approach to humanity and spirituality. The interaction between the holistic current and the religious heritages and educational policies has produced different kinds of solutions for spiritual education.

Recently in Finland, the legitimizing of RE has shifted from societal realities (85% Lutheran membership and the State and Church bond) to individual rights. Since 2004, RE in Finland has been taught ‘one’s own religion’ instead of it being ‘confessional’. Currently, there are 13 different RE curricula based on different religious traditions. Each religious tradition has its own conceptions of religion and of spiritual development. However, the space in the society for religion(s) and the particular nature of religions (especially non-Western) may not fit together really well. In school reality this means that the ‘own religion’ that is introduced in RE differs from the actual religion that the pupils meet at home.

The concrete task of this paper is to explore spiritual education Finnish RE within a societal-historical context; its connection to the Finnish religious heritage; and as a pedagogical solution for upholding the rights of the children. Top

John Valk - Worldviews, Worldview Communities, and Higher Education

Higher education seeks to enhance student knowledge, awareness and critical thinking. Yet, it strives to do more. Educators desire also to nurture in students a sense of meaning and purpose, obligation and responsibility, right action and behaviour, and hope for the future.

Concern for these matters is not exclusive to the academy. They are also the domain of the great religious traditions or worldviews which founded many of the West’s great universities. With the secularization of the academy, however, the understanding and self-understanding of religious worldviews has changed, as has the approach to studying them. Today, knowledge of the religious worldviews upon which many cultures and communities are founded is generally lacking, as is awareness of the extent to which those worldviews and communities they undergird promote the public good. There is dissatisfaction with this turn of events.

This development raises opportunities, challenges and questions. First, in the scholarly exploration of worldviews – religious or secular – worldview communities which have long wrestled with the larger questions of life might again make contributions to higher education. What might those be? Second, those contributions would need to enhance both understanding and self-understanding. What might that look like? Third, and most important, description and measurement of successful student learning in the understanding and self-understanding of various worldviews would be of interest to both the academy and worldview community. What might that entail? This paper explores these matters in the context of a cooperative model between academy and worldview communities. Top

Pille Valk - Religion in education - pupils’ perspectives. Introduction of a comparative study in eight European countries

This paper describes the REDCo project (Religion in Education – a contribution to Dialogue or a factor of Conflict in transforming societies of European Countries), and presents the outcomes of the empirical research. The paper will focus on the comparative quantitative survey that was designed on the bases of the qualitative study, carried out in 2006 in eight European countries (Germany, UK, France, Spain, Norway, Netherlands, Estonia, and Russia). Both studies aimed to chart the role of religion, and particularly the role of religion in school through the eyes of pupils. The target group of the poll consists of 14 – 16 years old youngsters; the number of respondents is approximately 4000 pupils.

The first part of the presentation will give an overview about the process of the preparation of the comparative study; the team-work process, design of the questionnaire, working out the translation principles, and the research procedure will be introduced.

The second part of the paper is dedicated to some results of the REDCo quantitative survey, in the light of the following questions:1. What role has religion in pupils' lives (important others, peers, family)?2. How do pupils see religion in school and the impact of religion in education?3. How do pupils consider the impact of religion: does religion contribute more to dialogue or more to conflict?4. What are the differences between the countries participating in the REDCo project? Top

Leo W J M van der Tuin - Inter-religious education for an inter-religious society? Does learning from religion lead to inter-religious thinking and tolerance? A view from Dutch pupils' and teachers' perspectives, based on empirical research

Religious learning can take three perspectives: learning in, from and about religion (McGrimmit), or in other terms: mono-or confessional religious education, multi-religious education and inter-religious education (Ziebertz). RE in the Netherlands is only given at confessional catholic and protestant private schools, mostly as inter-religious learning from religion, called education in life-views. Most of the pupils in these schools are not affiliated anymore to any church or religious community.

In this study a comparison of pupils' and their teachers' views on RE was conducted. The major research question focused on pupils' and teachers' views on RE, and their attitudes towards other religions. Empirical data show that both pupils and teachers view and prefer RE as learning about religion. However in practice there is a discrepancy between what pupils learn and teachers teach, and what they want to learn and to teach. There is also a discrepancy between what confessional schools aim at – namely learning about religion – and what pupils and teachers prefer.

The outcome of RE is that Dutch pupils have problems with accepting other religions and immigrants, especially Muslims. The question is: whether inter-religious and multi-religious learning aiming at learning the inter-religious dialogue, neglects learning about one’s own religion? It appears that when you are not familiar with your own religion (mono-confessional RE) then you are not able to understand others' religion, and to dialogue with them. Top

Inge Versteegt - ”We are a Christian school, so...”: Teachers' perspectives on religious education and religious diversity in the classroom

In this paper I hope to present the outcomes of my dissertation entitled: Meanings of religious diversity in protestant-christian primary schools – the teacher’s perspective. To fit the paper more to the general theme of this year’s ISREV conference, it focusses especially on my second research question, namely, what is the relationship between the teacher’s personal religious beliefs, and the way he or she perceives religious diversity in the classroom?

The context of the research findings is contemporary Dutch society, characterized by secularization and religious diversity, but also by continuously popular protestant Christian schools. Ideologies of tolerance, religious pluralism and respect for diversity are, by some teachers, described as part of Christian ideology. These may be important keys to the successful perpetuation of contemporary Christian schools in Dutch society. However, sometimes ’we’ versus ’them’ discourses may enter the descriptions of teachers, thus creating problematic ’outgroups’ within the classroom.

The paper will address the following questions: how do the teachers teach about Christianity, compared to other religions such as Islam? What happens to teachers or children that do not ’fit’ in the formal Christian identity of the school? How is ethnic and religious diversity valued and constructed in the teacher’s narrative? The consequences of specific beliefs and didactic strategies are analysed on a social psychological level, referring to theories of social group mechanisms. Top

Marie von der Lippe - Tolerance and religious education

The research to be discussed in this paper is part of the ongoing European project ‘Religion in Education. A Contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict in Transforming Societies of European Countries? (REDCo)’. During the last decade several strategies for religious education have been developed in different European countries to comply with cultural and religious plurality. The most common models for RE seem now to be either confessional or non-confessional, or what often is termed segregated versus integrated RE. The Norwegian model, Kristendoms-, religions-, og livssynskunnskap (KRL), might be characterised as a form of non-confessional integrated RE. In Norwegian compulsory schools, tolerance is claimed to be one of the most important ideals. Tolerance was also one of the main arguments for introducing a new curriculum in religious education in Norway in 1997.

But, what is tolerance and how is tolerance taught and learned? There has been far less research conducted on tolerance among children and adolescents than among adults, and we have little knowledge of how adolescents perceive and experience tolerance. Through ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with young students at the age of 15 and 16, the possibilities for promoting and fostering tolerance in religious education will be discussed, and related to concepts such as conflict, dialogue and recognition. A better understanding on how young people develop tolerance, and the obstacles which seem to hinder this development, might be an important contribution to educational policy related to diversity and difference. Top

Kevin Wanden - Teachers’ perception of the purpose of classroom religious education

Since the Second Vatican Council, the purpose of Religious Education in Catholic schools, and particularly in secondary schools, has generated significant interest internationally. However, comparatively little research has been undertaken in the field of Religious Education as a subject area in the school curriculum, especially in New Zealand. Internationally, research has concentrated on areas such as subject matter content knowledge (Benson, Eklin & Guerra, 1985; & Galetto, 1996), planning (Malone, 1990), the role of Religious Education teachers (Crotty, 2002) and student attitudes towards the subject (Flynn, 1985; Francis, 1986; de Souza, 1999; & Walker, 2004). However, there has been little research into what teachers perceive as the purpose of classroom Religious Education.

Research indicates that a teacher’s perception of the subject is related to their view of education, appropriate pedagogy, and influences the selection of content material (Nespor, 1987, Russell, 1988 & Calderhead, 1996). Research into other subject areas indicates that teachers with deficient conceptual understandings of the subject present it in a rigid manner rather than developing an understanding of the underlying concepts (Ball, 1991). Results from these studies indicate that a teacher’s perceptions about the subject need to be in alignment with the approach adopted in the curriculum.

This paper looks briefly at the development of Religious Education curricula in Aotearoa New Zealand since 1965, and the current Understanding Faith curriculum. It then examines some preliminary results from a survey of teachers’ perceptions of the purpose of classroom Religious Education in Catholic secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. Top

Wolfram Weisse - Religion and Education: A Contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict? The European Project REDCo

The REDCo project represents an approach to address the question, how religions and values can contribute to dialogue or tension in Europe. Researchers in the humanities and social sciences cooperate in a thematic and methodological approach in order to gain better insight into how European citizens of different religious, cultural and political backgrounds can live together and enter into a dialogue of mutual respect and understanding. Differences are studied regarding their impact on modern Europe and the lives of its citizens. The REDCo consortium carries out research on how differences within European societies can be taken into account without creating conflict or exclusion. Empirical studies, targeting students in the 14-16-year age group, look into their own perceptions of dialogue or conflict within the different national contexts. These include a dual perspective of, on the one hand the subjects' own perspectives, and on the other hand analyses of observed teaching in both dialogue and conflict situations.

REDCo is a project funded by the European Commission, for the period from March 2006 until February 2009. Eight European countries, namely Estonia, Russia, Norway, Germany, The Netherlands, France, England and Spain, are involved in the project which is coordinated by Wolfram Weisse from the University of Hamburg. The paper will give a short overview of the project and highlight its main results based on the output of the two years. Top

Hans-Georg Ziebertz - Xenophobia among Youth in Europe - Results of a ten-country survey

Xenophobia is present and can be experienced in Europe and other parts of the world. Religion can be one dimension of xenophobia besides others such as ethnicity, race, etc. Some scholars explain the sources of xenophobia by ontogenesis, others by phylogenesis. In the first case society and education can develop strategies for intervention. In the second case xenophobia is seen as a characteristic of human beings rooted in the distant past. Should this be the case the presence of xenophobia cannot be ignored by society. Therefore the main questions are how xenophobia is expressed and if there are realistic possibilities to minimise xenophobic attitudes.

Sociological and psychological studies offer concepts to understand the genesis of xenophobia and they show stimuli which can lead to increasing and declining processes of xenophobia. The paper clarifies some theoretical concepts for the understanding of xenophobia first, then presents some results of an empirical research conducted in 10 European countries. About ten thousand 16/17-year-old secondary school students participated in this research. The main question is if and how young people express xenophobia, if and how religion is embedded in xenophobia, which differences can be analysed and if the results can be related and understood by the theoretical concepts presented in this paper. Finally the question regarding the possible contribution of educational strategies to the combatting of xenophobia will be raised. Top

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