Religious Education Influencing Students' Attitudes: A Threat to Freedom?

Abstract

This article summarizes research completed under the supervision of Professor Robert Jackson. It describes the methodology used, inspired by the interpretive approach, and the Estonian research findings of the REDCo research project (Religion in Education: A contribution to Dialogue or a factor of Conflict in transforming societies of European Countries?). The study explored the attitudes of 14–16-year-old Estonian students to religious diversity and the role of the school in promoting dialogue and tolerance among representatives of different worldviews. The study reveals that experience of religious education may contribute to more open attitudes among students, both with religious and secular worldviews. Grounded in the findings of the empirical studies, policies for strengthening tolerance are discussed. It argues that, together with knowledge about religions, a reflexive approach, and contacts with representatives of different worldviews and religions are needed for the promotion of tolerance.

KEYWORDS:

• Estonia
• interpretive approach
• religious diversity
• tolerance

Acknowledgments

This research article was supported by the European Union through the European Regional development Fund (Center of Excellence in Cultural Theory) and ETF grant 9108 “Contextual factors of young people's attitudes and convictions in relation to religion and religious diversity”.

Notes

For example, Ott Heinapuu, “Kas tahame rohkem sallimatust ja vägivalda?” [Do We Want More Intolerance and Violence?], Postimees, March 11, 2004; Andrus Kivirähk, “Majamaniakid ja usundiõpetus” [House-maniacs and Religious Education], Ärileht, November 4, 2006; Elo Liiv, “Usuvabadusest Eesti moodi ehk elame luterlik-kristlikus riigis” [Religious Freedom in Estonian Way or We Live in a Lutheran-Christian State], Kultuur ja Elu 4 (2002): 29–32; Richard Villems, Speech of the President of the Academy on General Assembly of Estonian Academy of Sciences, December 10, 2008.

REDCo project enabled the researchers from different countries to discuss methodological and epistemological questions, also the main questions and research tools were developed together. But every country fine-tuned the instruments for the local situation. Where possible I distinguish between the work done by REDCo team and my own contribution by emphasising the actors (“REDCo”, “we”, “team”—work and decisions made by the REDCo team, including myself and “I”, “in Estonia”—decisions made for the research in Estonia by me).

Olga Schihalejev, From Indifference to Dialogue?: Estonian Young People, the School and Religious Diversity (Münster, Germany: Waxmann, 2010).

Pille Valk, Ühest Heledast Laigust Eesti Kooli Ajaloos: Usuõpetus Eesti Koolides Aastatel 1918–1940 [About an Unrevealed Spot in the History of Estonian Education: Religious Education in Estonian Schools in 1918–1940] (Tallinn, Estonia: Logos, 1997).

Finnish and Estonian languages belong to one language family; Estonia and Finland have close cultural relations. This encouraged close cooperation in many urgent and new fields in post-Soviet Estonia, including religious education.

Riigi Statistika Keskbüroo, Rahvastiku koostis ja korteriolud. 1.III 1934 rahvaloenduse andmed. Vihk II = Composition démographique de la populationn et logements. Données du recensement e 1. III 1934. Vol. II (Tallinn, Estonia: Riigi trükikoda, 1935): 118–121.

Statistical Office of Estonia, 2000 aasta rahva ja eluruumide loendus: IV Haridus, usk [2000 Population and Housing Census: IV Education, Religion] (Tallinn, Estonia: Statistikaamet, 2002); Loek Halman, Ruud Luijkx, and Marga von Zundert, Atlas of European Values (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2005); Raigo Liiman, Usklikkus muutuvas Eesti ühiskonnas [Religiosity in the Changing Estonian Society] (Tartu, Estonia: Tartu University Press, 2001); and so on.

European Commission, Social Values, Science and Technology: Special Euro Barometer 225 (Brussels, Belgium: European Commission, 2005). Also other surveys show similar numbers. Even respondents who belong to Christian churches tend to believe “in some sort of life force.” But it does not indicate usually believing in Paganism but rather opposing to atheism as well to anthropomorphic concept of God.

There are new national curricula including new syllabus for RE, available at the website of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research: http://www.hm.ee/index.php?1512622 and http://www.hm.ee/index.php?1512619, accessed September 10, 2011.

“Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act,” State Herald I, February 2, 1999, https://www.riigiteataja.ee/ert/act.jsp?id=77246. From 2011 the legislation has changed, the minimum is not stated anymore and a school has more freedom to make decisions about organizing RE. In reality the schools has not changed the policies and use the previous legislative framework.

Kristel Vaher, answered by e-mail for a request from Estonian Education Information System to Olga Schihalejev, January 28, 2009.

See Olga Schihalejev, “Dialogue in Religious Education Lessons—Possibilities and Hindrances in the Estonian Context,” British Journal of Religious Education 31, no. 3 (2009): 277–288; and also Olga Schihalejev, “Prospects for and Obstacles to Dialogue in Religious Education in Estonia,” in Dialogue and Conflict on Religion Studies of Classroom Interaction in European Countries, eds. Ina ter Avest et al. (Münster, Germany: Waxmann, 2009), 62–85.

The article on teachers’ perspective may be found in Olga Schihalejev, “Challenges in Creating Respect for Diversity: Teachers’ Perspectives,” in Teachers Responding to Religious Diversity in Europe: Researching Biography and Pedagogy, eds. Anna van der Want et al. (Münster, Germany: Waxmann, 2009), 41–54.

John W. Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2003).

Robert Jackson, Religious Education: An Interpretive Approach (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1997).

Robert Jackson suggested how the key principles of the interpretive approach might be expressed as a set of questions in Robert Jackson, “The Interpretive Approach as a Research Tool: Inside the REDCo Project,” British Journal of Religious Education 33 (2011): 189–208.

Anselm C. Strauss and Juliet M. Corbin, Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Technique (London: Sage, 1990).

For a questionnaire and a more-detailed account of results, see Schihalejev, 2010.

See the Waxmann series, “Religious Diversity and Education in Europe,” Volumes 5, 7, 8, 16, 10, http://www.waxmann.com/?id=21&cHash=1&reihe=1862-9547.

Pille Valk et al., Teenagers’ Perspectives on the Role of Religion in their Lives, Schools and Societies: A European Study (Münster, Germany: Waxmann, 2009).

Meira Levinson, The Demands of Liberal Education (Oxford, UK and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 114.

Robert Jackson, “Intercultural Education, Religious Plurality and Teaching for Tolerance: Interpretive and Dialogical Approaches,” in Intercultural Education and Religious Plurality: Oslo Occasional Papers (1), eds. Robert Jackson and Ursula McKenna (Oslo, Norway: The Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief, 2005), 11.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Olga Schihalejev

Olga Schihalejev is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Theology at Tartu University. She gained her doctoral degree under the supervision of Robert Jackson and Pille Valk at Tartu University in 2009. She has worked as a teacher of religious education and has written several teaching-learning resources. She is actively involved in improving the national syllabus for religious education and organizing annual conferences for religious education teachers in Estonia. She worked on the EC Framework 6 project REDCo and researched how religion is perceived by young people in a secular context. Her current research interest is the study of contextuality in young people's attitudes and convictions to religion and religious diversity. E-mail: [email protected]