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Religious Education Curriculum Constructions in Northern and Western Europe: A Three-Country Analysis

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Religious Education in a Post-Secular Age

Abstract

Religious education (RE) is currently being discussed in many parts of the world. These discussions can be viewed from challenging social and cultural processes, such as secularization/re-sacralization, migration, and digitalization.These factors are often mentioned within a post-secular discourse, which has emerged together with several other concepts, such as post-modernism, post-structuralism, and post-colonialism, all of which have contested understandings and interpretations (see Carlsson and Thalén 2015; Lewin 2017, 15–35). As Jensen and Kjeldsen argue, the debates on RE are “clearly part and parcel of ongoing culture wars” linked to societal and, in turn, educational challenges (2013, 186). The discussions concerning religion and RE are also linked to discussions on policies at a macro level. For example, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the United Nations are all active in promoting the view that education should foster social cohesion, tolerance, and human rights (Council of Europe 2002, 2008a, b; OSCE 2007; United Nation 2006). Educational policy actors in many states struggle with constructing RE, in which processes and complex relationships between global ideas and their dissemination and re-contextualization in local settings become a key task (e.g., Ball 2012; Rizvi and Lingard 2010; Verger et al. 2018; Wahlström 2015).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Alberts, 2010; Aldridge, 2015; Barnes, 2020; Biesta et al., 2019; Chidester, 2003; Conroy 2016; Crisp and Dinham 2019; Cusack and Nurwanto 2017; Dinham and Francis 2015; Dinham and Shaw 2017; Franken 2017; Franken and Loobuyck 2011; Gearon, 2013; Jackson, 2014; Jensen and Kjeldsen, 2013; Kjeldsen, 2019; Kuusisto et al., 2016; Lewin, 2017; Moulin, 2015; Ntho-Ntho and Nieuwenhuis, 2016; and Wielzen and Ter Avest 2017. These are a few of the scholars taking part in the debate. There are many voices, and the field is quickly expanding. See also: Religious Education in Schools. https://iarf.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Religious-Education-in-Schools.pdf. [Retrieved 20200123].

  2. 2.

    The concept of post-secularism is currently gaining relevance (Casanova, 1974; Knott, 2005; Habermas, 2006; Rosati & Stoeckl, 2012; Sigurdsson, 2015). For a critical discussion of the concept, see Turner (2016, 649–667).

  3. 3.

    This chapter draws on previous work in the READY-project (http://www.readyproject.eu/), and the article Religious Literacy in the Curriculum in Compulsory Education in Austria, Scotland and Sweden – a Three-Country Policy Comparison by Kerstin von Brömssen, Heinz Ivkovits and Graeme Nixon in Journal of Beliefs & Values, Studies in Religion & Education, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2020.1737909. This chapter is extensively rewritten, but the curriculum analysis concerning Scotland and Sweden have partly the same starting points and analyses.

  4. 4.

    For a more extensive elaboration of the field of curriculum studies, see Pinar et al. (2008, 67–238).

  5. 5.

    In their literature review, Eisner and Vallance (1974, 2, 5–14) considered five concepts as major curriculum orientations: Curriculum as development of cognitive processes curriculum; curriculum as technology; curriculum as self-actualization or consumatory experience; curriculum of social-reconstruction relevance; and curriculum as an academic rationalist orientation. Although these perspectives might seem to be from another educational era, their major curriculum orientations still stand today and are important for ongoing curriculum policy debates about the aims of education and the construction of school subjects (see also Deng & Luke, 2008, 6; McNeil, 1985). Deng and Luke (2008) make use of four major curriculum orientations.

  6. 6.

    Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, yet has a certain degree of autonomy.

  7. 7.

    Kirkeministeriet. https://www.folkekirken.dk/om-folkekirken/folkekirken-i-tal (Retrieved 1/11/2020).

  8. 8.

    https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=209946#id73c451e7-10bb-40dc-8fac-311fbc943490 [Retrieved 200131].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University West, Trollhättan, Sweden

    Kerstin von Brömssen

  2. School of Education, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

    Graeme Nixon

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  1. Kerstin von Brömssen
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  1. University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Olof Franck

  2. University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden

    Peder Thalén

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von Brömssen, K., Nixon, G. (2021). Religious Education Curriculum Constructions in Northern and Western Europe: A Three-Country Analysis. In: Franck, O., Thalén, P. (eds) Religious Education in a Post-Secular Age. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47503-1_4

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