Speaker
Description
Over the past twenty years, educators and policy makers increasingly see religious education (RE) as an arena to teach and foster diversity, dialogue, and democracy. In the ensuing debate over RE as ‘intercultural education’, supporters agree with a contemporary emphasis in the name of diversity and civic virtues, while sceptics stress the importance of history in conserving and promoting national culture. Variations on this debate occur across Europe, but here I follow it in Norwegian religious didactics. Specifically, I investigate first how the two positions are negotiated in the 2020 RE curriculum. Then, I examine how it is implemented in RE textbooks, as applied curriculum. I find that the curriculum and policy documents show an attempt at balancing the two, but with a contemporary emphasis. The textbooks, however, show a more conservative approach, retaining more of the topics and goals from previous curricula. This presumably reflects a stronger connection with the traditional research disciplines, among the textbook authors. Broadly, this case shows that official curricula are only part of what influences govern teaching in public schools, and specifically that the curricular push towards intercultural education in European RE is slowed down by other factors, like research fields and disciplinary identity.
| Presenting author | Nils H. Korsvoll |
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