Page 111 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema

2. Dialogue in religious education
We have two reasons to underline dialogue as a key aspect of religious education.
First, dialogue teaches students to handle plurality as present in the classroom
and in society (Keaten and Soukup 2009; Leganger-Krogstad 2003). Through
dialogue, students from different backgrounds meet. “Religious education is thus
a conversational process in which students, whether from ‘secular’ or ‘religious’ backgrounds, continuously interpret and reinterpret their own views in the light 5 of their studies” (Jackson 2004, 18). Dialogue stimulates the student’s attitude
of equality, trust and respect in encountering others, building bridges between people of diverse religious perspectives (Miedema and Ter Avest 2011): “Dialogue across religious differences may foster our capacities to listen to others with both patience and tolerance” (Elias 2010, 70). By organizing dialogue in religious education, teachers foster the students’ attitude of openness and understanding and therefore contribute to a way of living together based on a sense of equality and trust (Keaten and Soukup 2009).
A second reason for dialogue is the development of the student’s identity. By practicing dialogue, the student reflects on his personal views and convictions in the exchange with others who hold differing views and convictions (Roebben 2000; Elias 2010; Orteza Y Miranda 2010). Students engage in dialogue with particular views, prejudices and sacred beliefs; they should be encouraged to share and negotiate them in these conversations. When students are taught to participate with “the sensitivity to tread carefully when dealing with religious issues” (Moyaert 2018, 5) and with “the willingness to understand the other in his or her otherness” (Moyaert 2018, 4), dialogue contributes to the formation of their self-understanding. For this objective, the students must be encouraged to communicate about their personal experiences and convictions (Moyaert 2018; Keaten and Soukup 2009). These two reasons for implementing dialogue in religious education shed light on the educational mission of schools. Schools are communities in which students (and teachers) live together and are challenged to understand and trust each other. These communities can be seen as transformative communities, which help students to construct and reconstruct their personal identity and understanding of life (Miedema 2009).
A PILOT STUDY
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