Dutch non-affiliated pre-vocational pupils, their world view and religious education

Abstract

More and more, Dutch adolescents are no longer affiliated with or involved in institutionalised religious world views. This development raises questions on how religion is treated and taught in secondary schools in the Netherlands. In order to reconsider religious education within these schools, closer insights into this particular, growing, group of pupils is needed. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to gain knowledge on how pupils from third-grade pre-vocational secondary education [In Dutch: vmbo], who are not affiliated with or involved in an organised world view, perceive the way their world view is being shaped. Ten pupils (14–16 years old) were interviewed about their world view formation process and about potential influential factors. The results showed that pupils emphasised that they are in charge of their world view formation process. Based on trust, they choose their own norms and values and answers to life questions from various sources. Religious education in school seemed only influential if pupils can relate the content of lessons to questions and experiences they have in their own lives. Findings suggest rethinking the content and the role of teachers of religious education in school in light of what non-affiliated pupils learn about world view at from home and other sources.

Keywords:

• World view
• influential factors
• religious education
• pre-vocational secondary education

Introduction

Maybe other people think that the course ‘Religion and Worldview’ is important, talking about life after death and about God, but I am not religious, so then, I have little to do with it. (Carlijn, 15 years old, Hoofddorp)

In many Dutch denominational schools for secondary education religious education is provided. As there is no national curriculum nor are there state exams for religious education, it is unknown how many schools exactly provide religious education (Bertram-Troost and Visser 2017). We do however know that most schools providing religious education do so by offering a separate course, which can have different names which mostly includes the concepts religion and/or world view (Bertram-Troost and Visser 2017). Most schools offer the course as obligatory to all pupils, independent their own (non)religious backgrounds. As a result also secondary school pupils who are not affiliated with or involved in institutionalised religion receive religious education in school. As the afore-mentioned quote illustrates, this situation poses new challenges regarding the involvement of pupils in religious education.

In many Western European countries, church membership has greatly diminished, including in the Netherlands (Williame 2009). Since the 1960s, membership of its two largest churches, the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church of the Netherlands [PKN], has decreased with more than 30% (Bernts and Berghuijs 2016). This decline is particularly evident amongst Dutch youth. The majority of Dutch youth in the age of 15–18 years old, 55% in 2015 (CBS 2016), is no longer affiliated with or involved in institutionalised religion, such as the world religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam (van Dijk-Groeneboer 2010). These young people make up the majority of the school population. Redesigning religious education to improve the involvement of these pupils seems important. This leads to questions such as: ‘How should the course “Religion and Worldview” cope with and perhaps adjust to this changing school population?’ and ‘What should be the role, goals and content of the course “Religion and Worldview” with a view to a secularised school population?’ These are important questions in light of contemporary debates on future-oriented religious education both in the Netherlands (e.g. Narthex 2017, 17, 1) and worldwide (e.g. Francken and Loobuyk 2012).

In order to answer these questions, sufficient knowledge is needed on these so-called ‘non-affiliated’ pupils and the way they form their world view. ‘Worldview’ [In Dutch: levensbeschouwing] is often used as an umbrella term to refer to all the various religious and non-religious views on life. ‘Worldview’ refers to someone’s set of norms and values, ideals and answers to life questions (Van der Kooij, De Ruyter, and Miedema 2013). Previous research on Dutch youth and their world view mainly dealt with how adolescents who are involved in institutionalised religion form their religious identity (see for example, studies in van Dijk-Groeneboer 2010; Visser-Vogel 2015). Only few studies have (partly) dealt with Dutch non-affiliated adolescents and their world view (Bertram-Troost 2006; Prins 2008; studies in van Dijk-Groeneboer 2010; Zondervan 2008). These few studies argue that these adolescents use various religious and non-religious sources to form their answers to life questions. However, limited knowledge is available on how this formation of answers to life questions actually takes place. Therefore, we conducted this study to further explore the world view formation process of Dutch non-affiliated pupils.

The conducted study focused on one particular group of pupils which is often overlooked in research on world view, namely pre-vocational pupils. Pre-vocational pupils are pupils taught at pre-vocational school [In Dutch: ‘vmbo’], which is one of the directions pupils can choose in secondary education in the Netherlands (see Website Government Netherlands, December 2016). It offers a practically oriented curriculum and vocational training, intended to teach pupils a particular profession. Adolescents who find it difficult to learn theoretical knowledge often choose pre-vocational schools, because they provide practical education. Studies in the field of religious education scarcely focus on pre-vocational pupils, which is a shortcoming as more than half of all Dutch pupils in secondary education are taught at pre-vocational schools (CBS 2015/2016). Besides, they form a specific group within the Dutch educational system as they have particular abilities and characteristics. They are, most importantly, more practically than theoretically oriented (Groeneveld and van Steensel 2008). It is suggested that, because of these specific abilities and characteristics, they deal with world view in their own way and they use their own concrete language to communicate about it (Tavecchio 2009).

In order to further reflect on questions regarding religious education for a secularised school population, the aim of this study is to gain knowledge on the biggest group of learners that attend religious education today, namely non-affiliated pre-vocational pupils. Therefore, a qualitative study was conducted on the question: How do pupils from third grade pre-vocational education, who are not affiliated with or involved in institutionalised religion, perceive the way their worldview is being shaped? Before going into methodology and results, we go further into earlier research on world view identity formation of adolescents and factors which influence this process. We give a further description of pre-vocational pupils as well.

Background information

Adolescents and their world view

Worldwide, many studies have been conducted on how adolescents form their religious identity (for example, Casson 2011; Chaudhury and Miller 2008; Cohen-Malayev, Schachter, and Rich 2014; Visser-Vogel 2015). Some studies focused on young people in general, on both youth ‘involved in’ and ‘not involved in’ institutionalised religion (e.g. Bertram-Troost 2006). From these studies, we know that various factors and sources play a role in the world view formation of adolescents today. Studies have highlighted the (possible) role of, for example, parents and friends (Bertram-Troost 2006; Bertram-Troost, de Roos, and Miedema 2007; de Gruijter et al. 2011; Visser-Vogel 2015); siblings and major life events (Bertram-Troost 2006); and media, like television and the Internet, (Lynch 2007; Pirner 2012) in the world view formation process of youth.

From the few studies that focused specifically on non-affiliated pupils, we know that non-affiliated adolescents personally choose religious or philosophical ideas and practices (van Dijk-Groeneboer 2010; Prins 2008; Zondervan 2008). This process is often described as ‘bricolage’ (Gazzah 2008). This term originates from cultural studies and refers to the process of acquiring ideas or objects from various social contexts, to construct a new identity or meaning (Gazzah 2008). In the field of religion, the term is used to indicate that young people combine religious and secular ideas, symbols, images and practices to construct their world view. Some of these adolescents are open to the possibility that a god exists or that certain religious tenets may be true (Collins-Mayo 2012). Their beliefs include a selection of (religious) ideas held by family members and/or in wider cultural memory. Their beliefs function more like (cognitive) opinions, than life influencing convictions. Other non-affiliated adolescents are indifferent to religious ideas and thoughts. Religion does not seem to matter that much to them (Collins-Mayo 2012). What matters most to them is being happy in life and having good relationships with family and friends. In addition, these pupils are significantly less concerned with reflecting on and talking about their world view, than pupils who are involved in institutionalised religion (Bertram-Troost 2006).

Pre-vocational pupils

We will now give a further description of what we know about the abilities and characteristics of pre-vocational pupils. After completing primary school at the age of 11–12, Dutch pupils move on to secondary education. Three types (so-called ‘directions’ or ‘levels’) can be chosen: pre-university education [vwo], senior general secondary education [havo] and pre-vocational education [vmbo] (see Website Government Netherlands, December 2016). Pre-university education prepares pupils for university studies and senior general education prepares pupils for higher professional education [HBO]. Pre-vocational education prepares pupils for secondary vocational education (MBO). Pre-vocational secondary education is divided into four tracks, ranging from very practically oriented [called ‘vmbo-bb’] to more theoretically oriented [vmbo-tl] (also see Website Government Netherlands, December 2016). A general curriculum is provided to all pre-vocational pupils in the first two years. At the end of the second year, pupils choose an occupational sector – for example, ‘care and well-being’ or ‘agriculture’ – with a view on further vocational education and jobs.

Naturally, the characteristics and abilities of pupils in these four tracks vary, but some general remarks can be made. A large study amongst 1420 pre-vocational pupils (Groeneveld and van Steensel 2008) showed that parents of these pupils are significantly less educated than the average of the Dutch working population. Approximately one-fourth of these pupils lives with only one of their parents or in a stepfamily and two-third of them only have friends who come from roughly the same socio-demographic environment as themselves. The study also showed that most of these pupils have a need for clear class structure and instruction. Moreover, the majority of these pupils has difficulty applying learning material to their daily life and they find it difficult to see the relevance of the curriculum. Many of these pupils have problems with concentration as well. In general, they deal better with visual material (e.g. images) than with texts and one-fifth has much difficulty reading (Groeneveld and van Steensel 2008).

In the previous paragraphs we have given a short description of what is already known of adolescents and their world view formation. We described some characteristics of pre-vocational pupils as well. Now we will focus on our study on how non-affiliated pre-vocational pupils (third grade) perceive the way their world view is being shaped.

Methodology

Method

For our explorative study, the method of ‘semi-structured qualitative interviewing’ was chosen, because it is suitable to investigate the perceptions of pupils. It is possible to collect complex and nuanced material with qualitative interviewing (Davidsson Bremborg 2011).

An interview format was designed. The first part of the interview dealt with questions on how pupils characterise their world view. This part was included to learn more about the content of their world view and made the transition to questions on influential factors and sources more concrete. Questions in this part were based on the definition of a world view of Van der Kooij, De Ruyter, and Miedema (2013) and were therefore grouped into three topics: (1) ‘values and norms’, (2) ‘ideals’ and (3) ‘answers to life questions’. Pupils were also asked about how they think their ideas and thoughts concerning these topics were being shaped: ‘if and with whom do you talk about these topics?’ and ‘where did ideas originate and where have you read or heard specific ideas?’ The second part of the interview focused on influential factors and sources that might play a role in the way pupils (have) form(ed) their personal world view. At the end of the interview, special attention was given to the role of religious education in the formation of ideas related to their personal world view. In the present contribution, we will, seen our research question, only focus on the second part of the interviews.

To stimulate the interviews, two short visual questionnaires were used. The first questionnaire was used to specify which five values pupils considered most important. This questionnaire consisted of 20 values in text and image, such as ‘friendship’, ‘happiness’, ‘being safe’ and ‘equality’. Images were included because of the reading problems which some pre-vocational pupils experience. The second questionnaire was used to specify which influential factors pupils considered to be of importance to the formation of their norms and values, ideals and answers to life questions. The answer possibilities included ‘very’, ‘a little’, ‘not very’ and ‘not’ important. Based on previous research, eight factors and sources were included, namely parents, siblings, friends, major events, the media (television and the Internet), hobbies (sports, dance and music associations), school in general and specifically the course ‘Religion and Worldview’. Images were also included in this questionnaire.

To make sure that the interview format and associated forms were understandable for pre-vocational pupils, the interview format was tested. Two pilot interviews were carried out with pupils from the Ichthus College Dronten. Based on the results of the pilot, improvements were made: questions that were too difficult for these pupils were reformulated and some questions were added to the form.

The interviews took place in April and May 2016 in two selected schools (see procedure). Afterwards, the interviews were transcribed. The interviews were analysed in Atlas.ti. Open codes and theme codes (Evers 2015) were used to code parts of the interviews and to make theme categories. The codes were discussed in our research team.

Procedure and sampling

For our study, we selected denominational schools in the region of Amsterdam which offer religious education as a separate subject. Schools in the region of Amsterdam were selected, because the influence and participation in institutionalised religion is lower there than in other parts of the Netherlands (Religie in Amsterdam 2014). Two schools for secondary education in the Netherlands were selected: the Hermann Wesselink College in Amstelveen and the Kaj Munk College in Hoofddorp. Both selected schools have a Protestant foundation.

Teachers of the course ‘Religion and Worldview’ on these schools were contacted. They helped to find respondents that were willing to participate in the interview. Respondents were selected from the third grade of pre-vocational secondary education. Two criteria were used for selection. These criteria were based on characteristics of non-affiliated adolescents formulated by van Dijk-Groeneboer (2010). The first criterion was that pupils classify themselves as not belonging to an institutionalised religious tradition, such as one of the world religions. The second criterion was that they classified their parents as not belonging to an institutionalised religious tradition.

Pupils could voluntarily participate in an interview and they were not compelled to participate. All pupils were asked for permission to make an audio recording and they were told that the recorded data would be processed anonymously. Finally, ten pre-vocational pupils who met the set criteria were interviewed: six boys and four girls in the age of 14–16. Five of them originate from the school in Amstelveen and five of them originate from the school in Hoofddorp. Although the sample size is rather small, it is our contention that our data provide very useful insights into a specific group of pupils (non-affiliated, pre-vocational) which is mostly overlooked in academic research related to religious education.

Results

Results related to our main research question will be described in this section. We will elaborate on each of the eight factors and sources discussed with the pupils. The order in which they are described is arbitrary.

Being in charge yourself

Strikingly, the results showed that pupils attribute an important role to themselves: they make clear that they are in charge of their world view formation process. This becomes especially clear when pupils emphasise that they make their own thought-out choices and that they do not adopt ideas of others randomly. Stijn ¹ (15, Amstelveen) explains:

Actually, nothing can change how I look at life. That is your opinion. It is what you want yourself, that is how you will view life. Your parents can change you a little, but it is not as if they can fool me. ²

Reinier (15, Hoofddorp) says: ‘you have to discover things on your own and you need to find out yourself’. Others talk more about how life-questions arise in their minds and about how they invent answers themselves. Lieke (15, Hoofddorp) says about life after death:

I think it is something with ghosts, you sometimes see this on television. On the other hand, I think there is nothing, like before you were born (…) I think I have made this up myself, but that about ghosts you see on television.

These quotes make clear that pupils also experience some external influence, for example, from their parents or television. According to pupils, some people play a more important role than others and some sources are more likely to be used than others.

The role of parents

Pupils tend to adopt ideas and thoughts of their parents. For most pupils, ideas, thoughts and wishes of their parents are most important to them. Pupils relate the influence of their parents to three things, namely: their upbringing, the fact that they trust their parents and the idea that they spend a lot of time with their parents. Esmee (16, Hoofddorp) says: ‘I mean, your parents, they raise you, so they will have some influence anyway, they tell you things. Usually, when you are a child, you ask your parents things’.

Others say things like ‘if they tell me something, I believe them [rather than other people], they belong to you’. (Pieter, 14, Amstelveen) or ‘I am with them every day (…) and they have a great influence on me, especially because, they have power over me’ (Carlijn, 15, Hoofddorp). The latter is somewhat in conflict with what is been described in the previous part ‘being in charge yourself’. Sometimes – also in relation to other factors as will become clear in the following sections – pupils seemed to try to make clear that they do not choose all the aspects of their world view consciously, but that they also unconsciously adopt ideas of others in their environment.

The role of siblings

What has been said about the role of parents in their world view formation process, applies to a large extent to what has been said about the role of siblings. Pupils who have brothers and/or sisters argue that ideas and thoughts of siblings are important to them. They say they are influenced by their siblings, because they discuss world view related ‘things’ with them and because they listen to what they have to say. Bas (15, Hoofddorp) explains that he talks more to his brothers, than to his parents, because:

I am closer to them, than to my parents. (…) I can talk more with them, (…) this is also because of their age. My brothers are already older than me, and then, to talk to people that are even older… it is really the age difference [that matters].

Doortje (14, Amstelveen) indicates that ‘you discuss things with your siblings which you do not discuss with your parents’, while Esmee (16) says: ‘I often listen to my brother, to what he says about all things’.

The role of friends

Pupils explained that they are being influenced by their friends’ opinions and actions or by the fact that they have a lot of experiences together with their friends. Carlijn (15) says: ‘Friends, if they give their opinion about something, then they influence me with that. For example, uhm, with things they do, then I think, “I would also like to do that”’. Lieke (15) says ‘friends, you have a lot of experiences with them and most things you do are with them’.

What is interesting is that most pupils experience the influence of their friends as less important than the influence of family members, especially parents. Some pupils argue that friends cannot be trusted unconditionally. Bas (15) says ‘it is not like my friends have changed me as much as my parents did’ and Mattijs (14, Amstelveen) says ‘you can trust your friends less easily, than your parents’. Some pupils – like Pieter, see the quote in the first paragraph of this section – make clear that they rather believe what parents say, over what others say.

The role of major life events

Some pupils say that major events have had an impact on their world view. What is experienced as a ‘major life event’ varies from pupil to pupil. Two pupils spoke about intense and profound personal experiences, which had a great influence on how they view life. Both pupils started to see life in a different light, because of these dramatic personal experiences. Bas (15) lost his mother at the age of 12 and he says: ‘All of a sudden, I have changed a lot. I started thinking more about myself, but also a lot more about friends and family, and about how life is and how life ends’.

Suus (14, Amstelveen) talks openly about a very rough period in her life. Relationships were greatly disturbed in her family, which made her suffer from severe depression and suicidal tendencies. These experiences made her think that ‘everyone deserves help’. She explains how she puts this into practice:

Last Tuesday, I was with a boy from my grade, we were going to buy an ice cream at Westwijkplein. There we saw a man who could barely walk (…) his hands were full with groceries, which almost fell. So, I said: ‘Let’s go help him’. So, we went to help him (…).

Other pupils refer to dramatic world events that they have heard of via the media. They indicate that these events – mostly related to IS or terroristic attacks – have reshaped their world view. These events made these pupils more aware of their daily environment: ‘Now, with ISIS, I mean IS, I am starting to become scared, well not really scared, but I keep in mind that, well, if something happens (…) I will be dead’ (Carlijn, 15).

The role of the media: television and the Internet

The media are a source which came up repeatedly in conversations with pupils, especially, while discussing life questions. A clear example is this conversation with Esmee (16) who believes in reincarnation:

Esmee:

‘Yes, I have uh, read stories about a boy who suddenly started to say that he was murdered in a past life and then, he led the police to the murder weapon. This made me believe in it [reincarnation] more.’

Researcher:

‘And where did you read this story?’

Esmee:

‘On the Internet. I do not know where exactly.’

Similar conversations occurred in interviews with other pupils. Nevertheless, pupils have various thoughts about the extent to which the media are a source from which they draw ideas related to their world view. There are those pupils who think that they are influenced by the media a lot: ‘If you see something quite often via the media, then you will start to believe it anyway’ (Pieter, 14). This argument is used by pupils in a similar way as the argument ‘spending a lot of time with family/friends’. It seems that these pupils suggest that their (online) environment has influence on their world view formation, even if it is unconsciously.

However, other pupils tell that the media do not influence their world view. Suus (14) says that she is indifferent to information on the Internet: ‘If something is in the news, like “the body of Jesus is found”, you know, then I think “good for you”’. Others are not indifferent, but they are very critical on the information that appears online. Reinier (14) expresses this like: ‘There is so much rubbish on the Internet. I never really believe what is on it’.

The role of hobbies

Not much has been said about ‘hobbies’ by pupils. The interviews made clear that pupils think the way they look at life is hardly influenced by their hobbies. Those who think that they adopt ideas and thoughts regarding their world view in a hobby context, find it hard to indicate how this works. Reinier (14) says: ‘I adjust my life to my sport. Just in my doings’ and Doortje (14) refers to her hobby ‘horse riding’ and argues: ‘I surely became much more concerned with animals and I am there [at the riding school] a lot’. The majority says that it has no influence (for example, Carlijn, 15) or they indicate that they are not involved in sport, dance or music clubs (for example, Bas, 15; Lieke, 15).

The role of school in general and the course ‘Religion and Worldview’ specifically

Only a few pupils argue, although very briefly, that school can change their ideas about life a bit, because: ‘I am there every day’ (Doortje, 14) and ‘(…) just a bit, seems logical (…) they teach you things’ (Lieke, 15). Others tell that their world view is hardly influenced by what is learnt in school: ‘I think that they mostly teach you the standard stuff. It does not really have much influence, I think’ (Pieter, 14).

When pupils are specifically asked about the course ‘Religion and Worldview’, a slightly different picture on the school context emerges. Pupils have various thoughts on the role of the course ‘Religion and Worldview’. The majority of pupils indicates that the course has impact on the formation of their world view, but the extent to which differs. Some think it is very important. They are eager to know more about ‘life questions’ and possible answers to these questions. The course provides them this information. Esmee (16) says:

I do think you have to learn things about this, otherwise you cannot make your own decision about if you want to join some kind of faith, in the future, yourself. I mean, if your parents are not believers, then you will have to find it out yourself.

Other pupils indicate the course has influence but not to a great extent. Pieter (14) for instance says ‘Sometimes you think “well, that may be true”, then you start to doubt a little, and yes, this may influence how you think’. Bas (15) makes clear that some of the topics addressed in the course really stimulate him to reflect. As an example, he mentions the lessons on death and life. He admits that, as his mother passed away, this topic was additionally onerous for him. He continues:

And then we were discussing euthanasia and then I think like ‘Hey, my other could have given up much earlier, but she carried on for five years.’ And then I wonder whether I could also carry on such a long time. And then I thought to myself and it made me change like ‘Hey, I’ve got to live like I want to live.’

Other pupils do not care about the course and they think it is not important for their world view formation. These pupils are not interested in religion related information or in life questions. Others have the feeling that the course is not about them or meant for them, because it is about and for ‘religious people’. Those pupils who say that religious education in school has no influence on their world view argue ‘because it is not my thing’ (Mattijs, 14; Lieke, 15).

Interestingly, some pupils make a distinction between the ‘religious part’ of the course and the part on world view: Bas (15) says:

The course is called ‘religion/worldview’. (…) If you consider it as two parts of the subject, I am not captivated by ‘religion’ so much, but regarding ‘worldview’ I think more like ‘Yes, this does appeal to me more’.

When asked why, Bas continues: ‘Because there you learn real things and you receive things on how live actually is like. (…).’

Conclusion and discussion

This explorative study was conducted to gather insights into how pupils from third-grade pre-vocational secondary education, who are not affiliated with or involved in institutionalised religion, perceive the way their world view is being shaped. The results made clear that pre-vocational pupils feel that they make their own (informed) choices about what is of value to them and about the ideals they pursue in life. Also, they feel that they do not randomly adopt ideas of others concerning life questions. They use their own reasoning abilities to judge possible world view-related ideas and opinions which they come into contact with via various ways (e.g. family or friends, the media). In this respect, this research confirmed what has already been suggested by other studies, namely that non-affiliated adolescents are of the opinion that they personally choose their (non)religious or philosophical ideas and practices (bricolage) (van Dijk-Groeneboer 2010; Prins 2008; Zondervan 2008).

The study also highlights a little on the processes that lie behind the choices pre-vocational pupils make regarding their world view. The results suggest that ‘trust’ plays an important role in their world view formation process: Pupils tend to adopt ideas and opinions of people who are close to them and who they trust more easily. Whether these people are parents, siblings, friends or perhaps other family members, varies per pupil. Moreover, ‘trust’ or ‘distrust’ play also a role with a source like the media, as the arguments pupils use to explain why they do or do not integrate information from the Internet in their world view mainly relate to the reliability of information in the media. Taken together, this explains why every pupil has their own ‘ranking’ of influential factors/sources.

The pupils seem to be aware of the fact that they are influenced, perhaps unconsciously, by their social and online environment. At the same time, they seem to find it difficult to explain how this influencing works. However, answers of many pupils refer to the importance of amount of time spent with other people or online; the more time spent with others or online, the greater the influence on their world view. Next to that, pupils argue that major life events in their (social) environment change their world view. At the same time, however, the school environment in general (the classroom, teachers, other lessons), where pupils spend a lot of time, are only explicitly mentioned as influential by a small number of pupils. This contradiction might lead back to the idea that ‘trust’ and ‘being close to someone/a source’ is most important in how pupils make choices concerning their world view. From the pupils’ perceptions, the ‘further away’ and less reliable the source or person is (in the eyes of the pupils), the less influential this source or person is, according to them. Therefore, most pupils indicate that they rather accept world view-related ideas from parents, than from others such as friends or teachers. These findings link with the earlier study of Bertram-Troost (2006) who found that schools in general have no significant main effect on religious commitments and explorations of secondary school pupils (mean age 16.4). The importance pupils’ parents attach to world view (in the eyes of the pupils) appeared to be a far more important factor of influence (see also Bertram-Troost, de Roos, and Miedema 2007).

In our current study, we focused more explicitly on the role of the course ‘Religion and Worldview’. We found that some non-affiliated pre-vocational pupils perceive this course as important. They use the course to gather ideas about possible answers to life questions. However, others do not relate the information presented in lessons to their own world view formation process. Some pupils explicitly said that they did not understand why the information on religions, presented in classroom, is important to them. On the basis of our findings we have the impression that the extent to which pupils use information provided in classroom for their own world view formation, depends on the extent to which pupils can relate the content of the course to their own lives and/or experiences/questions and ideas they have. As an example we already mentioned Bas who considered the lessons on death and life after death very meaningful, as these lessons dealt with questions which were relevant in his own life as well since his mother passed away. In our view these findings underline the importance of (religious education) teachers being well informed about the background and context of their pupils and, from there, building good relationships with them. Our data seem to stress the importance of good relationships and trust amongst a teacher and his/her pupils. In our view this connects to what is elsewhere coined as the importance of religious education as a safe space (e.g. Jackson 2014).

The results indicate that, according to most pupils, parents are very important for the formation of their world view. Pupils tend to value information provided by their parents over information provided by others, because they trust their parents the most. Therefore, in order to being able to take position as a school/teacher, knowledge on what parents teach their children about world view, and how this is taught, is desirable. In addition, we think it is important to determine what parents expect from religious education in school in order to reflect on the question how to connect what is taught at school to the needs and expectations of parents. Future research should focus on this topic, including more fundamental questions on the desirability of the degree of (dis)continuity between home and school context.

In this future research and reflections on religious education also the role and importance of teaching about religions and world views should be taken into account. Our findings make clear that non-affiliated pupils cannot be expected to have even a basic level of knowledge about religions and/or world views. Some non-affiliated pupils said that they receive little to no information about religious world views at home. Some of them only refer to the course ‘Religion and Worldview’ or the Internet as sources used to gather information on possible (religious) answers to life questions. Teachers, especially those working at schools with high numbers of non-affiliated pupils, should be aware of this.

The results of the current study support the importance of connecting religious education to the experiences and life contexts of pupils. In order to achieve relevance for all pupils, and not only the pupils who explicitly adhere to a particular world view or religion, further rethinking and reshaping the content and presentation of religious education is needed. It is our contention that it is worthwhile to (re)implement and/or to reinforce promising approaches like the interpretative approach of Jackson (1997) – which emphasises exactly the importance of, amongst other things, the interactive relationship between the content a teacher provides and the knowledge and experiences the pupils already have – in concrete classroom practices. This approach can be especially helpful both in (religiously) diverse classrooms and in all those classrooms with non-affiliated pupils present. As characteristics of pre-vocational pupils are that they are more practically than theoretically oriented and that they learn better by ‘doing’ than by ‘studying theoretical knowledge’, it is our contention that relating (religious) education to experiences and life contexts of pupils is even more important on the pre-vocational level.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Eline Minnaar-Kuiper (1987) graduated from the research master Theology and Religious Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in August 2016. During her studies she focused on doing practical research into topics related to youth and their world view, with a special interest in religious education provided by secondary schools. Currently, she is an educator at Heritage Organisation Imagine IC.

Gerdien Bertram-Troost (1979) is an assistant professor in Religious Education in the Faculty of Theology and an assistant professor in Educational Foundations in the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences (section of Educational sciences) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On behalf of both faculties she holds the Verus-VU-Research position for world view education. Her current focus is on the role and implementation of world view education in (future) education.

Notes

1. The real names of the respondents have been changed because of anonymity.

2. First quote: name, age, place. Second quote: name, age.