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International Review of Education

, Volume 62, Issue 4, pp 459–481 | Cite as

Interreligious education: Conceptualising a needs assessment framework for curriculum design in plural societies (with special reference to Mauritius)

  • Mohammad Belall Maudarbux
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

The growing debate on intercultural and interreligious dialogue has one major drawback: how to translate academic and theoretical contributions into practical tools for educators and policy makers. This paper aims to fill this gap by presenting a transferable “needs assessment model” based on five criteria and twenty measurable indicators of interreligious relations within a country. Using the example of Mauritius, a densely multilingual and multireligious country, the paper gives an inside view of the preparations which led to the launch of an innovative “Peace and Interfaith Studies” course at the University of Mauritius in 2010. The author was himself involved first as a curriculum consultant and then as a project manager of this course at the Council of Religions in Mauritius. After clarifying the differences between related concepts like multicultural education, intercultural education and religious education, the author defines “interreligious education” as being distinct from all of the above. The paper then proceeds to explain the rationale of interreligious education, followed by the identification of the critical factors which affect curriculum design and policy making. It uses these factors to highlight how each of them operates in Mauritius to create a web of complexity which makes interreligious education extremely volatile. This is followed by an overview of religious education in the Mauritian schooling system, an overview of the needs assessment framework and a description of the innovative “Peace and Interfaith Studies” course. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the main challenges of this model.

Keywords

Interreligious education Intercultural issues Needs assessment Mauritius 

Résumé

Éducation interreligieuse : conceptualiser un cadre d’évaluation des besoins pour la conception curriculaire dans les sociétés pluralistes (avec référence spéciale à l’île Maurice) – Le débat croissant sur le dialogue interculturel et interreligieux a l’inconvénient majeur de ne pas répondre à la question : Comment transposer les contributions scientifiques et théoriques en outils pratiques pour les éducateurs et concepteurs de politiques ? L’auteur de cet article vise à combler cette lacune en présentant un « modèle d’évaluation des besoins » transférable, fondé sur cinq critères et vingt indicateurs mesurables des relations interreligieuses dans un pays. Prenant l’île Maurice en exemple, pays fortement multilingue et multireligieux, l’auteur donne une vue interne sur les préparations qui ont conduit au lancement en 2010 à l’université de l’île Maurice d’une formation innovante, « Études sur la paix et l’entente interconfessionnelle ». L’auteur y a participé tout d’abord en qualité de conseiller pédagogique puis de gestionnaire de projet pour cette formation auprès du Conseil mauricien des religions. Après une clarification des différences entre concepts connexes tels que éducation multiculturelle, éducation interculturelle et éducation religieuse, l’auteur établit que « l’éducation interreligieuse » se distingue de toutes les autres. Il explique le bien-fondé de l’éducation interreligieuse, puis identifie les facteurs décisifs qui affectent la conception curriculaire et la formulation de politiques. Il reprend ces facteurs pour montrer comment chacun d’eux agit à l’île Maurice et crée un tissu complexe qui rend l’éducation interreligieuse extrêmement instable. Il s’ensuit un panorama de l’éducation religieuse dans le système scolaire mauricien, une synthèse du cadre d’évaluation des besoins et une description du cours innovant « Études sur la paix et l’entente interconfessionnelle ». L’article se termine sur une brève présentation des principaux défis de ce modèle.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Global Network of Religions for ChildrenNairobiKenya

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