Page 76 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema

CHAPTER 3
With regard to content, we can distinguish three main findings, all related to the substantive perspective.
For one, almost none of the respondents prays with the students during the moment of contemplation. Two reasons are mentioned for not praying in class: four respondents viewed it as inconvenient because of their personal convictions: ‘It would be the same if I were to paint while I’m not a painter at all. So when I pray not believing in God, I find that peculiar.’ (Respondent B, interview 23-9- 14) Two respondents say they want to pray with students, but in spite of their personal preferences, they do not, because they think it is school policy not to. As for religious objects, two respondents state that they light candles during the Advent period. They see this as an expression of Christian faith.
Our second issue is on the biblical content. The respondents indicate that biblical stories are told (or read) during the moment of contemplation. The suggestions in Trefwoord are leading in their choices. The respondents value this biblical content in the moment of contemplation. Also, in the reliability test, respondents confirm that this appreciation of the Christian tradition is important to the cooperation school. They identify the biblical content as an expression of Christian tradition: ‘Trefwoord works with the biblical stories; that’s nice, since we are indeed a cooperation school with this background. A Christian background.’ (Respondent B, interview 23-9-14). We can discern several motives for biblical content in the interviews. One of the main motives is the assignment to deliver general education in a cooperation school, especially the knowledge of ‘basic stories’ (Respondent C, interview 22- 9-14) In addition, the illustration of an existential theme is a motive: ‘I do not feel that when you are finished telling the biblical story (...) that you are done.’ (Respondent A, interview 23-9-14) One respondent claims that the transfer of ‘a very small piece’ (Respondent B, interview 28-10-14) of Christian faith is her motive for telling the stories.
Our last issue is the respondent’s views on the attention for diverse religions in religious education. In all interviews the respondents state a desire to pay more attention to various religious traditions. One respondent describes as her motive: ‘I just think that when they [the students, ER] know that background a little, that they might deal with it better later on.’ (Respondent C, interview 22-9-14) The respondents also mentioned that Trefwoord does not offer much material concerning other religions.
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