ABSTRACT
This paper analyses the context, emergence, organisation and curriculum of the school subject known as ‘Culture of Religions’ (Kultura religija), which is given as an example of good practice in the Toledo Guiding Principles of the OSCE. It was designed, piloted and to a certain extent introduced in state schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina by a collaboration of international organisations and institutions, together with representatives from various local organisations. This paper addresses the challenges and opportunities that render this school subject not only highly relevant but also a controversial issue of education policy today.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Official Gazette of BH, No. 18/03.
2. The curriculum in local languages was available here until 18 June 2008, but the link is still on line: https://web.archive.org/web/20080203082628/www.kultura-religija.ba/kdr/dow/lrp/bs401.html (17.05.2018).
3. See Štimac, Zrinka. (Citation2018). Kampf um Deutungsmacht. Religion und Bildung in Bosnien und Herzegowina 1994–2008. Münster: LIT, p. 78.
4. For teacher training seminars see: http://www.kultura-religija.ba:80/kdr/pro/std/bs103.html (17.05.2018). Internal materials and documentation of the Sarajevo Goethe Institute on Culture of Religions were kindly made available by the GI director in 2007.
5. Job advertisement was available here (currently not available): http://web.archive.org/web/20070520125230/http://www.kultura-religija.ba/ (14.02.2016).
6. The list of all funding organisations was published here (currently not available): http://www.goethe.de/ins/ba/sar/ges/phi/de4018185v.htm (03.07.2009).
7. See OSCE (Citation2007a). Press statement: “Highlights of Public Opinion Survey on Education in BiH: Citizens Opinion in December 2006”, www.oscebih/org/documents/8751-eng.pdf (01.07.2009).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Zrinka Štimac
Dr. Zrinka Štimac focuses on religious diversity in educational media, global educational discourses, and the interactions between religion and politics. After graduating in the study of religion from the Leibniz University of Hannover she completed her PhD at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena. She worked at the University of Bielefeld as a teacher trainer for RE, and currently coordinates the research field ‘Religious Change and Societal Diversity’ at the Georg Eckert Institute in Braunschweig, Germany.