A study-of-Religion(s)-Based Religion Education: Skills, Knowledge, and Aims

Karna Kjeldsen

doi:10.26529/cepsj.678

Abstract

Different approaches to religion education have been in place for a long time or developed more recently to meet growing religious and cultural plurality in European countries and schools. In this article, I summarise and discuss basic principles for a study-of-religion(s) approach to religion education, adding arguments and perspectives from critical theories about education in general. I shall also argue that national curricula for, respectively, religion education in Sweden and History in Denmark indicate that analytical-critical skills can be a central part of religion education in elementary and lower secondary public schools. The structure of the article is based on a modified version of the ‘map of history’ developed by the scholar of education and history education Rosie Turner-Bisset who has formulated principles for teaching History in primary schools. The model will be used as a framework, for systematising and discussing key principles of a study-of-religions approach to religion education with reference to three categories: 1) attitudes, 2) skills and concepts, and 3) knowledge.

Highlights

In national and international discussions on religion education (RE) in public schools, the questions of whether and how RE should focus on various extra-academic aims remain central
Over the previous two decades, these discussions have been related to political discourses on citizenship education and intercultural/interreligious dialogue as means of meeting challenges such as intolerance, discrimination, and lack of social cohesion due to the increasing religious and cultural plurality in European countries and schools (Council of Europe, 2002; Jackson, 2009, 2014; Willaime, 2007)
The various models of RE presently in place in Europe, the different didactic approaches to RE, and research into RE all clearly demonstrate that RE in many countries is conceived or thought of as a unique or extra-ordinary subject

Summary

Karna Kjeldsen

Različni pristopi k religijskemu izobraževanju so prisotni že dolgo časa ali pa so se razvili pred kratkim v luči rastoče religijske in kulturne pluralnosti v evropskih družbah in šolah. V prispevku povzemamo temeljna načela na religiologiji temelječega pristopa k religijskemu izobraževanju in o njih razpravljamo, dodajamo pa tudi argumente in perspektive splošnih kritičnih teorij o izobraževanju. Zagovarjamo tezo, da nacionalna kurikuluma za religijsko izobraževanje na Švedskem in zgodovino na Danskem dokazujeta, da so lahko analitično-kritične veščine osrednji del religijskega izobraževanja v javni osnovni šoli. Struktura članka temelji na modificirani različici ‘zemljevida zgodovine’, ki ga je razvila strokovnjakinja za edukacijo in poučevanje zgodovine Rosie Turner Bisset in v njem oblikovala načela za poučevanje zgodovine v osnovni šoli. Model uporabimo kot okvir za sistematiziranje in razpravo o ključnih načelih na religiologiji temelječega religijskega izobraževanja glede na tri kategorije: 1) stališča; 2) veščine in koncepti; 3) znanje. Ključne besede: državljanska vzgoja, učenje o religijah/od religij, religijsko izobraževanje, religiologija c e p s Journal | Vol.9 | No4 | Year 2019 13

Introduction

Concluding remarks

Biographical note