Page 98 - TWO OF A KIND • Erik Renkema

CHAPTER 4
hardly put into practice: encounter is limited to divided groups in segregated religious education and the didactics of a celebration do not show any dialogue. A minority of the respondents stated their desire to organize collective moments of contemplation, because it is supposed to offer more opportunities for encounter. Almost all of them belong to school 4. Concerning our second concept, equality of sources, we formulate two conclusions.
D. Contrary to the fact that a majority of the respondents mention the knowledge and/or understanding of plurality of traditions as an objective of religious education and contrary to the theoretical perspective endorsing equality, our empirical data show an emphasis on Christian tradition in religious education. First, we see a clear focus on Christian tradition in segregated religious education. Reasons provided included parent preferences and a statement that segregating allowed for more in-depth exploration. We also recognize this emphasis in the school celebrations. Celebrations that aim to foster students’ religious development are organized at Christmas and Easter, highlighting Christian tradition which respondents describe as important.
E. The concept of equality is also seen in the fact that the segregated denominations are explicitly visible in the celebration: ‘the Christian identity’ as well as ‘the public identity’ are presented equally. The celebration at school 2 and one of the celebrations at school 3 differ from this conclusion; these celebrations are explicitly a Christian celebration. However, in all celebrations, content of the Christian tradition is an important aspect or a basis.
Concerning our third concept, the attention for students’ life experiences, we formulate our final conclusion. It addresses our theoretical perspective that the attention for students’ life experiences in religious education is a key aspect of encounter (Jackson 2004).
F. Our data show that this attention is marginal during the celebrations; it mainly occurs in classes preceding the celebration. This means that the dialogue on students’ life experiences is primarily organized in educational settings where religious diversity is limited because of segregated education. In settings where this diversity is maximized (e.g. celebrations), the exploration of life experiences is restricted.
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