Voices and perspectives in Norwegian pupils’ work on religions and world views: a diachronic study applying sociocultural learning theory

This article researches work by four pupils in a diachronic collection of Norwegian primary school workbooks. Given signs of a variety of voices and perspectives in chosen representations of central tenets and/or practices in religions and philosophical traditions, how can an analysis and discussion of a few chosen texts shed light on their authors’, i.e. the pupils’, (self-) formative modes of encountering the diverse voices and perspectives? The pupils’ expressions are discussed by staging an interaction between inductively analysed elements in the source material and theoretical points from sociocultural learning theory. The theoretical concepts of ‘mediated action’, ‘voice’, ‘multivoicedness’, ‘dialogicality’, ‘speech genre’ and ‘privileging’ are particularly suitable. Interpretive results: Two pupils, working in the 1980s and early 1990s, have been engaged in inner dialogue with authoritative texts and voices, including teachers’ decisions for the learning situations. One pupil’s work (the mid 1990s) shows grappling with the many diverse insider voices in her textbook. Another pupil’s work (2008/2009) has traces of a structural privileging of the perspective of the ‘objective outsider’ while also signalling inner dialogic reflection.     

Contextual religious education and the actuality of religions

Contextual religious educators tend to view discrete religious traditions as artificially constructed systems disconnected from the ordinary experiences of children. This article sets out the case for the continued representation of religions as substantial social facts in religious education classrooms. Accepting Robert Jackson’s critique of essentialist readings of religion, it argues that the most appropriate alternative is not the nominal reduction of discrete religious traditions to the atomistic level of the individual spiritual lives of adherents, but a realistic identification of such traditions as actual socio‐cultural realities. It suggests two criteria for such identification: the collective intentionality of adherents and the presence of prototypical features within their lifeworlds.     

“The Subjective Necessity”

Abstract

Several recent articles on social work education have advocated for the inclusion of literature in the curriculum. The authors argue that the value of including works of literature in the social work curriculum extends beyond specific content to the reading process itself. They assert that the subjective values inherent in works of literature or film, as opposed to textbooks, can pose a necessary challenge to empirical thinking by exposing students to a diversity of narratives and narrative forms and by introducing ambiguity, critical thinking, and interpretive freedom into the classroom. An argument is made for including literature in a process of learning that is “dialogic” rather than “monologic” and that, by its practice and methodology more than its content, embodies and transmits the professional values of social work.     

互文性视角下英语语篇解读的对话本质

互文性是语篇分析理论中的一个重要概念,对语篇秩序的再生产、再创造有极强的解释力。对人们如何运用语篇、扫清语篇使用中的障碍有着指导性作用。对英语语篇解读对话本质的分析旨在探究语篇作者对语篇的隐性操作及读者对英语语篇进行批判性接受的必要性。     

Religious doctrines and critical religious education: teachers’ epistemic switching in a confessional setting

The purpose of the present article is twofold: first, to examine whether epistemic switching is documented in the context of religious education; and second, if it is, to show the challenges as well as the strategies that teachers utilise when they engage in epistemic switching. The context of our study is religious education in the Greek-Cypriot educational system – an example of a confessional setting in which Greek Orthodox Christianity is the only religion being taught in schools. This article describes a qualitative case study research – which is part of a larger, 1-year project – that explores the understandings of religion and interculturalism as well as the pedagogical perspectives on religious education of six Greek-Cypriot primary school teachers. The findings show how the possibilities and obstacles of teachers’ epistemic switching could inform larger debates concerning the entanglements between critical religious education pedagogies and religious doctrines, especially within confessional educational contexts.     

试论对话性道德教育模式的建构

本文提出现代性的道德教育是基于对话的道德教育 .对话性道德教育模式旨在凸显人的主体性、价值性 ,强调个体的理性自觉 ,强调个体德性的自主生成。对话性道德教育模式的基本原则即平等原则、差异原则、个体原则、开放原则 ,基本策略即营造自由的交流情景、鼓励学生的自我表达、培养学生的质询意识、建构开放的话语模式。我们提出对话性的道德教育 ,所关初实际上并不只是作为一种道德教育的一种策略与方式方法 ,更重要的是 ,它关切我们对待学生 ,对待每个人 (包括教育者自身 )、对待个体德性生成、对待道德教育本身的态度 ,关切我们切身教育实践的基本姿态。     

‘The perfect pupil’: changing aims and changing measures of success in school RE

In England and Wales, religious education (RE) in non-faith schools has gradually changed from Christian education to the study of many religions and philosophies. However, the core values of RE have continued to be related to concerns about social cohesion and the building of shared values. The article briefly discusses changes in RE since 1944 and then considers attitudes to RE among a group of year 11 pupils (age 15–16) in one large multicultural comprehensive school, collected through questionnaires and group discussions. The subject name had been changed from RE to Religious Studies (RS) in 2004. The focus here is on pupils’ ideas of ‘the perfect RS pupil’; used as a means to access their understandings of the subject’s aims and their teachers’ expectations. The most popular responses were that the ideal pupil would be knowledgeable about religions and be tolerant and empathetic. This is in accord with the current social and political agenda for RE but lays it open to criticism that tolerance becomes an end in itself encouraging indifference to religions rather than a critical, evaluative perspective.     

Understanding ‘religious understanding’ in religious education

This paper takes as its starting point, one of the explicit aims of religious education in England, namely, the development of students’ religious understanding. It shows how curriculum documentation, whilst stating that religious understanding is an aim of religious education fails to clearly outline what is meant by it. This paper draws upon long-standing and ongoing debates in the field and suggests that religious understanding may be best conceived as a spectrum of understanding. Approached in this way, religious understanding becomes not an all or nothing affair, but a lens through which the student of religion may regard the beliefs and practices before them. Finally, the paper proposes an interpretation of religious understanding, which focuses on the soteriological dimension of religion, thus providing the student with a particularly religious lens to understand religious traditions in religious education and concludes by outlining what such an approach might look like in practice.     

The nature and role of religious studies at the University of Zambia: 1985–2005

The place of religion in higher education has been and remains a complex issue internationally. This article aims to outline the nature and development of Religious Studies at the University of Zambia in Lusaka (UNZA) as an instance of how religion entered higher education in an African setting. In doing so, it will also provide perspectives on the method that has been adopted in the study of religion and religious education and will highlight elements of the role which these disciplines strive to play at UNZA.     

‘We have our own religion’: a pupil perspective on minority religion and ethics instruction in Finland

The Finnish system of religious education offers instruction in the pupil’s own religion or in ethics throughout comprehensive school. By taking the pupil’s background as a basis for instruction, this system aims at promoting equality and integration with respect to religion and one’s worldview. However, there has been little knowledge about how the system of instruction is experienced by pupils themselves and how it affects pupil’s identities at school. This study illuminates through a participant observation study in grades 1–6 how pupils in five minority instruction groups experience their classes and perceive themselves in relation to other pupils in school. The study shows how working in small groups represents an important element in pupils’ experiences. Pupils generally experienced participation in instruction as positive and fun, but age integration, organisation of schedules and classrooms were also important concerns. Even if pupils were content about having their own instruction group, feelings of otherness and a negative sense of difference in relation to the majority of pupils were found particularly among pupils of religion.     

马丁·布伯的对话哲学及其对现代教育的启示

马丁·布伯对话哲学的主要思想包括:世界的二重性与人生的二重性;关系的本体性;\"之间\"领域的确立;皈依\"永恒之你\"。其主要特征有三:强调直接性,注重相互性及动态相遇。其深邃的精神内核使人们对教育本质、教育目的、教育过程、师生关系等有了全新的理解。     

儿童哲学研究的回顾与前瞻

当前的儿童哲学研究是批判性思维运动以及对话哲学在反思教育变革的一种尝试。在40多年的发展中,儿童哲学研究经历了探索与争鸣、扩宽与深化、反思与总结3个阶段。考察我国儿童哲学研究现状,问题与成就并存,我国儿童哲学研究的领域仍需拓宽,研究的深度还需加强,儿童哲学比较研究也亟待完善。