Page 138 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema
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CHAPTER 6
In our research we frequently have asked the question why this potential of religious education to enhance mutual understanding and encounter between students from different backgrounds is hardly ever expressed in the practice of cooperation schools (Renkema, Mulder and Barnard 2017, 2018a, 2018b).
2. Educating democratic values
In this final article of our research, we incorporate Dewey’s concept of democracy to further inform the debate about the lack of consistency between school values and educational practice, and to provide concrete suggestions for improving a practice of religious education that is in line with the values of cooperation schools. We do so knowing that democracy in education is a major subject in publications that deal with the role of schools in educating values in a plural society (see, for example, Apple and Beane 2007; Jackson 2004).
By adding John Dewey’s perspective on democracy in education, we equip the discussion about the expression of educational values in religious education with a theoretical view on values that are the basis of cooperation schools and concrete suggestions for enhancing the values-based and dialogical practice of religious education. We explore whether Dewey’s perspective can be helpful in developing practices of encounter and dialogue.
Although Dewey passed away more than half a century ago, his views on education in democratic societies are still referenced in academic discourse.
In our study of theory about Dewey we see a strong emphasis on issues that are still highly relevant to education that aims at encounter and living together in mutual understanding.
First, in several publications Dewey is shown to be relevant because his views aim at pluralistic democracies (Ghiloni 2011; Sutinen, Kallioniemi and Pihlström 2015). A central point of Dewey’s views is that living in a pluralistic world where encounters of differences between people take place regularly can be a challenge for society. Several authors still refer to Dewey when the challenge of democratic and interreligious education is discussed (Webster 2009; Ghiloni 2011; Sutinen, Kallioniemi and Pihlström 2015). It is the construction of a “society toward democratic ends” (Ghiloni 2011, 488) that is the ultimate aim of Dewey’s
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