Page 99 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema
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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND CELEBRATIONS IN DUTCH COOPERATION SCHOOL
Summarizing the conclusions about our three concepts, we see a tension between underlining of school values and the appreciation of encounter and dialogue by the respondents of cooperation schools on the one hand and rituals of religious education on the other hand. In theory, these rituals express and enhance school identity, but values of encounter and equality are restricted in these practices.
7. Discussion 4
7.1. Questions for religious education
We can ask four questions about this tension. First, according to the respondents, these values are expressed and enhanced in the collective celebration for all students. In their vision, there is a strong connection between this celebration and the school values. Although data from the questionnaires also indicate that the segregated religious education can have the same objective, such education is also regarded by the respondents as important for teaching a segregated denominational perspective (mostly Christian). Consequently, we ask: can activities for religious education in schools that feature religious diversity differ in their objectives and in expressing school values?
Our second question is in line with our previous research about dialogical didactics in religious education (Renkema, Mulder and Barnard 2017). In religious education at our participating schools, encounter is limited. This can be explained by the absence of social didactics in celebrations, by the absence of students contributing to the preparation and by the organization of the moments of contemplation in line with the segregated denominations. Therefore, we ask what social didactics can be created for organizing and preparing for collective celebrations in cooperation schools that enhance the expression of encounter between students. Thirdly, we indicated attention for the students’ life experiences as an important contribution to the expression of a core value of a cooperation school. This attention is hardly visible in celebrations. In addition, although the ‘development of a personal religious identity of the student’ is seen as an objective by many respondents, this objective is not stated in their motives for paying attention to dialogue and encounter in religious education. Therefore, we ask: can this theoretical focus and encounter as a school value be expressed in celebrations at cooperation schools by paying more attention to students’ life experiences? Our fourth question concerns the equality of religious sources. There seems to be a
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