Ina Ter Avest Libri

"During the 20-year history of the European Network for Religious Education through Contextual Approaches (ENRECA), several books have been published on the subject of Religious Education, from sociological, psychological or anthropological perspectives and always in the contextual settings of national educational frameworks and other specific culturally bound phenomena. Also, very often, an international comparative perspective was included. The shared goal was not so much to reflect on religion as such, and on its changing doctrines, institutions and prescriptions, but to try and understand religion in the specific European contexts of secularization and the plurality of life orientations, and to understand how religion becomes manifest in education in a variety of concrete policies and classroom practices, reflecting various social issues. This volume, marking the 20th anniversary of ENRECA, has a specific focus on the contextual dimension of time."-- Publisher's description

Regarding teaching about religions and worldviews, there is a gap between the ambitions of educational policies and our knowledge about what really happens in the classroom. Research on classroom interaction about religion is not very far developed, either nationally or as international and as comparative research. There is a growing awareness, however, that research on pupils’ perspectives on religion in education is needed in order to develop sustainable approaches for future education, and this book is a contribution to this research. The classroom can be seen as an arena both for learning and for micro-politics. This arena is shaped, and sometimes challenged and restricted, or even curtailed, by the wider societal and political context. In this book we present studies of classroom interaction that focus on the micro-sociological level of research. The studies presented open up a rather unexplored field of international comparative research on religion in education and the role of diversity for classroom interaction, giving deeper insights into what happens in classrooms, displaying varieties of interactive patterns and relating these to their specific contexts.

Under what conditions is it possible for people with different outlooks on life and different ethnic backgrounds to live together in peace? In the Netherlands, as in other European countries, this question has been at the centre of public debate for some time and recently has focused in particular on religious diversity. There are several positions, but they all see differences between groups as an essential problem. In this book, the authors take a different approach. The term conflict literally means ‘clashing together’, from the Latin confligere, to strike together. Wherever people come together, their interests and beliefs are sure to clash. And, conversely, clashes only occur when there is something shared to quarrel about. Whether we like it or not, living with each other means clashing with each other. Five Dutch researchers share their exploration of the paradoxical situation that we cannot survive without the other, because we only really learn about ourselves when we come into contact with others. At the same time it is problematic to live with the other since our lives clash with the life of the other and we try to shield ourselves and draw boundaries. How to live in difference and not be indifferent to the other? That’s the question.