Page 144 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema
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CHAPTER 6
Can we describe these segregated practices as examples of an “undesirable society: (...) one which internally and externally sets up barriers to free intercourse and communication of experience” (Dewey 1980, 105)? Can this question challenge cooperation schools to discuss their practice of segregated religious education in the light of Dewey’s sociological aspect of democracy in education?
Second, in Dewey’s view, communication is conditional for democracy, which “will have its consummation when free social inquiry is indissolubly wedded to the art of full and moving communication” (1927, 184). In our data, we see respondents’ valuation of communicating between students in religious education. On the other hand, we detected that the implementation of didactics for this communication between students was limited (Renkema, Mulder and Barnard 2017). This inconsistency between Dewey’s emphasis on communication and the limited practices of this important aspect of democratic education leads us to believe that religious education in cooperation schools can more effectively express key values of living together and commonality by enhancing practices of community. In these practices, Dewey’s sociological aspect of democracy and the school values are expressed in practices in which “the making of something in common” (1938b, 46) is manifested. This means working on activities in religious education that foster dialogue between students from different backgrounds. In doing so, a cooperation school develops its central characteristic: a “spirit of social cooperation and community life” (Dewey 1899, 14). That is why we conducted participatory action research in which teachers of a cooperation school faced the challenge of organizing dialogue in a religious celebration (Renkema, Mulder and Barnard 2018b). In the celebration, dialogue is expressed in another way than through the presentations that the teachers are used to. Students from 8-12 years old are gathered in the gym. Dialogue is structured: students sit together in small groups of 4-5 students, teachers ask pre-selected questions, and time is allotted. Some students (aged 11 and 12 years) have the role of moderators in the groups.
The dialogue between students deals with a poem, a story, and a video trailer, and discusses the following three questions: What do you see or hear? What do you feel or think when you see or hear this? Do you know other examples of this experience? The students discuss their answers to the three questions in their groups. Four teachers are present and contribute to the celebration by reading the poem or story, showing the trailer, asking the questions and collecting some
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