Learning to Judge Religious Conflicts

Abstract

Abstract In times of increasing polarisation and fragmentation in societies, the ability to form a judgement gain in importance. Judgement competence is, therefore, one of the key competencies that students at German schools should develop. In RE, however, teachers often avoid addressing religious conflicts that disrupt social cohesion. This is due to the circumstance, that it is widely undefined in RE didactics, what is to be learned and tested in terms of judgement competence. Moreover, there is limited knowledge on how to empirically measure such competence. This paper addresses this demand by proposing a model of judgement competence for RE. In the model, competence is conceptualised so that it reveals the mental process of judging religious conflicts. Furthermore, the model depicts external factors, e.g., knowledge and attitudes, that influencing judgement. By showing the complex judging process and its influencing factors, the model allows to explore pedagogical implications for fostering students’ judgements.