An international panel of scholars will provide an overview of how several European countries teach about religion. The panelist will discuss the structure and curriculum of Religious Education (RE) courses in their contexts and offer insights into current trends in research and practice.
An increasing number of theses in the humanities and social sciences are written as compilation theses, a text-genre derived from the natural sciences. New challenges may arise when a genre model is adopted from another field, something that is rarely discussed explicitly. This article is directed at supervisors and doctoral students, and addresses some of the challenges that can arise when the article-based thesis model is used in the social sciences and humanities. Three approaches to addressing these challenges are presented: a holistic view, coherence and anchoring. They are discussed as possible tools to utilize in supervision and writing, for a smoother process and better final product. © 2023, Cappelen Damm Akademisk. All rights reserved.
The `National Curriculum Framework 2005' [NCF] sets out to describe a core, common to all education in India. This is interpreted by various state and national school boards, all of which can add additional content to the curriculum. This paper focuses on the subject of ethics and moral values. The study as a whole combines textual analysis with ethnographic research, and uses as empirical material the NCF and textbooks, interviews, and observations from two different school boards (CISCE and CBSE). The study shows that moral values are seen as central in education, not as a theoretical subject about ethics, but rather values which ought to be inculcated in students.
It is sometimes claimed that there is no religious education in the general Indian school system. there are reasons to suggest that matters are more complex than that. Combining the two fields of religious and comparative educational studies, this article shows that there are themes in Indian syllabuses and teaching materials that involve religious content. Empirical data include the Indian National Policy of education, the National Curriculum Framework and syllabuses, as well as syllabuses and textbooks from a particular school board (CISCe).
It is sometimes claimed that there is no religious education in the general Indian school system. There are reasons to suggest that matters are more complex than that. Combining the two fields of religious and comparative educational studies, this article shows that there are themes in Indian syllabuses and teaching materials that involve religious content. Empirical data include the Indian National Policy of Education, the National Curriculum Framework and syllabuses, as well as syllabuses and textbooks from a particular school board (CISCE).
The article will discuss comparative education and comparative religious education in particular. Comparative research on religious education has been a neglected field, it has been claimed (Schweitzer 2004; Schweitzer and Schreiner 2020). Although progress has been made, this article will suggest that comparative work tend to neglect fundamental questions about key terms which might lead to misunderstandings and confusion — friction, in short. A methodology to handle such cases will be suggested, based on a comparative methodology developed by Bråten (2013) and key terms from Jackson (1997). In that way, friction will actually reveal opportunities to gain new insights about the context of origin in particular which otherwise might not have been reached. The article is based on the authors own, previous research involving cross-cultural comparison of religious education.
The article will discuss comparative education and comparative religious education in particular. Comparative research on religious education has been a neglected field, it has been claimed. Although progress has been made, this article will suggest that comparative work tend to neglect fundamental questions about key terms that might lead to misunderstandings and confusion—friction, in short. A methodology to handle such cases will be suggested. Friction will reveal opportunities for gaining new insights about particularly the context of origin. The article is based on the authors’ previous research involving cross-cultural comparison of religious education.
Religion as a school subject – Religious Education (RE) – is handled differently in various national contexts. This article discusses two different systems of managing (or avoiding) RE: those used in non-denominational Swedish and Indian schools. The article focuses particularly on what is allowed in the classroom with regards to religion. Both countries are secular, but where is the line drawn between the secular and the religious? Allowing the two contexts to meet reveals the particularities of each. The impact of Protestant Christianity, specifically Lutheranism, is evident in Swedish RE: religion is to be defined through beliefs and words, and religious actions should be excluded from classrooms. The Swedish context highlights ‘knowledge of’ religions, but avoids religious action. In India, there is no explicit RE, but Indian education does include learning from religion as well as ‘doing religion.’ The Indian approach is very inclusive, to the point of emphasising, as teachers put it, a common core of all religions. Both systems of RE offer particular opportunities and face certain difficulties in dealing with the contemporary globalised world.
The paper continues a discussion begun at isrev 2016, and attempts to de-westernize ethics by contrasting Indian ways of teaching the subject to similar Western applications, as exemplified by Sweden. The main focus of the paper is the subject of ethics and moral values in Indian education. There is a common core (ncf), interpreted by state and national school boards, and to which aforementioned parties can add additional content to the curriculum. The study’s empirical material from India is based on three such interpretations: Uttar Pradesh’ school board and two national school boards (cisce and cbse). Textual analysis is combined with ethnographic research, with material such as the ncf and textbooks, interviews, and observations. The study shows that moral values are seen as central in education, not as a theoretical subject discussing ethics, but rather as values inculcated in students and displayed by the latter through behaving as Indian citizens. In India, there is an emphasis on doing and behavior – living the proper life, if you will – whereas Sweden emphasizes theoretical reasoning about values and ethics.
India is a country of many religious traditions. Although the state is secular, an Indian understanding of 'secular' (open secularism) is different from the ‘rigid secularism’ common in Europe. This has enabled a particular flavour of civil religion to develop, influenced in part by traditional religion. The civil religion of India is studied through society’s primary arena for socialization: school education. Indian school education is analyzed through national and local syllabi and guidelines, as well as through ethnographic research, composed of interviews and observations from different school boards in India. The results indicate there is an Indian civil religion. In school education, other religious traditions are subsumed under it, as they are seen to exemplify values common in all. The nature of the civil religion is, however, contested; primarily by open secularism and Hindu nationalism.
Increasing diversity is a global trend. Many European countries, which historically have beenrather monocultural, have experienced a large influx of people from other cultures and religioustraditions, such as from Africa and the Middle-East (Minkenberg, 2008). Sweden can be taken asan example: there have been several waves of immigration during the 20th century (Bevelander,2004, p. 7), and an even greater influx in the 21st century (Krzyżanowski, 2018, p. 101). As aconsequence, today Sweden is arguably one of the most diverse European societies (Schierup &Ålund, 2011, pp. 46–47). Religious education (RE) in schools could be expected to discuss anddescribe aspects of this diversity, yet it seems like the school subject might be ill equipped forthe task. To better accommodate today’s multicultural reality, one might, Eva Pföstl (2015, p.136), Péter Losonczi and Walter van Herck (2015, pp. 95–96) respectively suggests, learn from acontext where a plurality of cultures and religions were taken into consideration from the verystart of the development of a national education: India. Global issues must be handled locally,informed by the context – but we can also learn from each other instead of re-inventing thewheel over and over again. The purpose of the present article is to develop a methodology forcontrasting local contexts with each other, to highlight characteristic traits and particularities forhow global issues, like migration and religious diversity are handled (cf. Niemi, 2016, 2018;Bråten, 2014, 2015).
Conferences seem to be the place where both – networking and papers – get mixed up into exciting experiences. In a third slot, we are going to talk to and with different junior researchers about experiences, opportunities and obstacles before, during and after international conferences.
Religion as a school subject – Religious Education or RE – is handled differently in various, national contexts (see Davis and Mirosh- nikova, 2013). This paper is a dialogue between two different sys- tems of RE: those found in Swedish and Indian schools. Letting the two paradigms meet reveals particularities of each, both regarding ways of understanding religion in general and religion in school in particular (cf. Niemi, 2016). Both countries are secular, and only denominational schools have been studied. The paper focuses par- ticularly on what is allowed to do in the classroom with regards to religion. Where is the line drawn and why. Empirical data in- clude classroom observations and teacher interviews from India. The results show that secularism is interpreted differently in the two countries. The impact of Protestant Christianity, specifically Lutheranism, is evident in Swedish RE (cf. Buchardt, 2015; Kittel- mann Flensner, 2015; Dalevi, 2015, 4). On the face of it, India doesn’t have religious education (cf. Mahmood, 2013) at all. Looking closer, it can be found, but perhaps focusing on doings rather than ‘knowledge of’. The approach to religions is very inclusive, to the point where a common core of all religions is emphasized. The Swedish context highlights ‘knowledge of’, but avoids doings. The other con- text emphasizes doings, but avoids other areas. Both systems of RE offer particular opportunities and suffer difficulties in dealing with today’s globalized world (cf. Kittelmann Flensner, 2015; Kumar and Oesterheld, 2007); both lead to different ways of having dialogue in the RE classroom.
India is a secular state. For this reason, it has been claimed that there is no room for religion in its schools — in other words, no religious education [RE] — despite India being an extremely multicultural society. This compilation thesis begins by examining the aforementioned claim. On the level of educational policy, there might indeed be little religious content. However, the present study shows that the closer to school practice one looks, the more content about religion or even content in religion can be found. Empirical material backing up this claim includes text analysis of policies, curricula, and textbooks as well as ethnological material consisting of interviews and observations from schools in India.
An inherent possibility of research in the humanities is that it might qualitatively change the researcher’s perspective. In this case, an unexpected result of researching ‘RE’ in India was new insights into the researcher’s context of origin. The manner of attaining new perspectives on the context of origin in a contrastive analysis of two very different contexts is developed into a methodology of mirroring. The purpose of mirroring is not to compare as such, but rather to explore the researcher’s own context through reflexive introspection in the light of a contrastive. Characteristic traits of Swedish RE are explored using the methodology, and in the mirror, it appears that ‘religion’ in Sweden is understood through a Lutheran framework, which also affects what ‘secular’ means in the context. Vice versa, education about religion in India is coloured by its history and demography. ‘Religion’ and ‘secular’ are not in fact universal terms but are understood differently in different contexts. This is something often overlooked in comparative work on religious education.
Although the thesis does not offer suggestions on how religious education ought to be organised in any given place, it does discuss possible advantages and disadvantages of the way religion is handled in schools in Sweden and India, respectively.
To master an academic discipline is challenging, and different scientific disciplines pose particular challenges to the novice, or beginner, that approach the subject. Threshold concepts has proven to be a pedagogically fruitful framework, related to the gradual mastering of a subject-specific perspective. The article introduces the framework, followed by an overview of how threshold concepts have been used in research of the field of religious education. Previous research has primarily been concerned with confessional RE. The discussion is broadened to a Swedish university context through empirical material (interview and survey) of students from History of Religion. It is argued that lived religion, world religion paradigm, emic/etic, and orthodoxy/orthopraxy could be threshold concepts in this context. As such, they could be considered as keys unlocking the academic subject of History of Religion. The education given might be improved by considering the threshold concepts in course planning and teaching.
Religion as a subject is handled very differently in different, national contexts (see Davis & Miroshnikova, 2013). In this paper, we will discuss questions which surface in the meeting of two very different systems of RE: Sweden and India. The two paradigms interfere with each other (cf. Haraway, 1988). It reveals different ways of understanding religion in general and RE in particular. One focus will be on what sort of religious expression(s) pupils are allowed to meet in the two contexts. In this paper we will take both a theoretical and empirical approach on what sort of religious expression children in primary school are allowed to meet in RE. We show that the different histories of the two societies has shaped two particular understandings of religion, which in turn has resulted in two different ways of arranging RE. The Swedish, secular school-system tends to be Lutheran, although in an unconscious manner (cf. Buchardt, 2015). Whereas the Indian school-system on the face of it doesn't have religious education (cf. Mahmood, 2013). Looking closer, it can be found, but perhaps focusing on doings rather than knowledge of. One context highlights knowledge of, but avoids doings. The other context emphasizes do- ings, but avoids knowledge of and definitions. Both systems of RE offer particular opportunities and suffer difficulties in dealing with today's globalized world (cf. Kittelmann Flensner, 2015; K. Kumar, 2007).
Traditionally, children in India are given a rather free upbringing until they start school. It is the duty of a parent or guardian to provide education opportunities for children from the age of 6–14. However, many schools do offer care for younger children, in the form of ‘nursery’. In the Indian context, religion is a phenomenon which is expressed in abundance and great variety in society overall, yet is also handled with some caution. The Indian constitution defines the country as firmly secular. This principle has been of utmost importance, to safeguard the co-existence of the plurality of groups found throughout the country. Yet ‘secular’ must be understood in its context, as the Indian understanding is different from the rigid form expressed, for instance, by French laïcité. Crucially, Indian secularism does not entail separation from religion, but equal respect paid to different religions. This open and inclusive form of secularism is not uncontested, and recent developments include increasing influence from hindutva, a form of Hindu nationalism, which is also reflected in education.
To master an academic discipline is a challenge, and different scientific disciplines have their own, specific challenges for novices. Threshold concepts, as developed by Jan H. F. Meyer and Ray Land, have proven to be pedagogically fruitful concepts, related to the gradual mastery, by the novice, of a subject specific perspective. In this paper, the theory is introduced, followed by an overview of uses within Religious Education (RE). Earlier research has primarily focused confessional RE. Through empirical material (interview and survey) from students in science of religion, the general discussion is moved a specific set- ting, in Swedish university teaching of Religious Studies, where it is argued that lived religion, world religion paradigm, emic / etic, and orthodoxy / orthopraxy, could be considered to be threshold concepts in Sweden. These concepts could be viewed as keys into the discipline Science of Religion, and through using the threshold concepts in planning courses, teaching may be improved.
In Sweden, the didactics of religious education is perceived as a rel- atively new field of research. In this study we show that, in fact, the field has very old roots and that there were the beginnings of an aca- demic field of research in the 1970:s. The latter has in large parts been neglected or forgotten. We suggest that there currently is a lack of debate concerning the fundamental views of what the subject should be, as well overarching goals -- the lack of a “big picture”, if you will -- and that active teachers might lack a professional vocabulary. One might even question if there indeed is a field of didactics of religious education in Sweden. In this essay, we seek to look at that question. The main material is an overview of titles used in RE-teacher’s edu- cation, which illustrate the debate among scholars of religious educa- tion, as well as academic reviews of the subject. This is supplemented by interviews with three teachers. The study shows a fragmented field. No serious attempt is made at defining what the didactics of religious education is in a Swedish context. Few insights are imple- mented from the international field, such as Germany and England, nor even from the neighbouring countries Norway and Finland. This has repercussions for the teacher’s reflection on their practice.
Description about the book:
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Schools and Religion provides the first truly global scan of contemporary issues and debates around the world regarding the relationship(s) between the state, schools and religion. Organized around specific contested issues - from whether or not mindfulness should be practised in schools, to appropriate and inappropriate religious attire in schools, to long-term battles about evolution, sexuality, and race, to public funding - Fraser-Pearce and Fraser carefully curate chapters by leading experts exploring these matters and others in a diverse range of national settings. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Schools and Religion offers a refreshingly new international perspective.