Page 126 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema
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CHAPTER 5
d. The practice is valued as an activity in the school curriculum
All the participants are very clear in their evaluation that this new activity is complementary to the recent curriculum. However, it is not considered a replacement of current celebrations. There are two reasons for pointing out the difference between the new and existing celebrations. First, the new celebration addresses a general philosophical theme. The fact that specific Christian content is addressed in the curriculum is appreciated, thus preventing the participants from using the new celebration to replace the Christmas celebration for students of Christian religious education. Second, this new celebration encourages dialogue, while the common celebrations and the weekly closing ceremony focus on presentations. This innovation offers the teachers ample reason to maintain this new practice.
6.5. Evaluation of the design process by the teachers
After every meeting, the teachers filled in a participant report. This enabled us to monitor how the participants evaluated the process and whether something needed to be adjusted in order to achieve the objectives. In the participant reports from session 1, three participants mention they value their new insight that dialogue can be an important new element in a new activity of religious education; it was apparently explicitly mentioned in the first meeting. Regarding the second meeting, one of the participants mentions being inspired by brainstorming about ways to stimulate dialogue. In the reports of meetings 3 and 4, dialogue is valued in another way. In session 3, two participants mention that they value the way they constructed the celebration collectively. This collectiveness is appreciated. In session 4, three participants value the possibility in this meeting for evaluating the celebration together and looking for collectiveness, and they appreciate the discussions among themselves. In session 4, the participants also indicate that dialogue about the school values would not have been maintained without the contribution of the first author.
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