Pre- and in-service education professionals facing religious diversity and interreligious dialogue in Catalonia

ABSTRACT

Education professionals, and especially those in secondary education, are key players in enabling intercultural and interreligious dialogue. However, it is worth asking whether educational actors are in fact adequately trained to address the serious responsibilities and challenges represented by the participatory democratisation of public religious life. On the basis of a survey (n = 849), we analysed views on religious beliefs and interreligious dialogue among teacher-managers in secondary schools (n = 275; 59% state schools, 40% public-private schools) and future socioeducational actors (n = 574) studying at four Catalan universities. The findings revealed that these pre- and in-service education professionals held varying opinions and attitudes. Their views tended to be favourable towards diversity and dialogue, mostly coinciding with Knitter’s mutuality model, but generational differences were observed, and different standpoints emerged with respect to religious beliefs and interreligious dialogue. The survey outcomes yielded a range of different profiles. In-service professionals had a moderate profile with regard to religious beliefs and dialogue, while among students two distinct profiles were identified: one representing a more open-minded, tolerant and progressive attitude towards religious diversity and interreligious dialogue, and another which included belief in absolute truths stemming from one’s own beliefs.

KEYWORDS:

• Interreligious dialogue
• religious beliefs
• socioeducational actors
• schools

Disclosure statement

My co-authors and I do not have any interests that might be interpreted as influencing the research, and the ethical standards were followed in the conduct of the study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Directorate General of Religious Affairs of the Government of Catalonia-AGAUR [2015RELIG00007, 2014RELIG00019].

Notes on contributors

Ruth Vilà Baños

Ruth Vilà Baños has been a professor in the Department of Methods of Research and Diagnosis in Education at the University of Barcelona since 1999. She holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Barcelona, specialised in intercultural communication competences. She is part of the Research Group in Intercultural Education, GREDI, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Research in Education (IRE). Her research interests concern topics such as intercultural education, intercultural competences, and intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

Angelina Sánchez-Martí

Angelina Sánchez-Martí holds a PhD in Education and Society and is currently a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Systematic and Social Pedagogyat at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She has undertaken investigations mainly in the field of education and children of immigrants, as a member of GREDI (UB-Research Group in Intercultural Education). Lately, she has been involved in several researches related to intercultural and interreligious.

María José Rubio Hurtado

María José Rubio Hurtado holds a PhD in Pedagogy and is a full-time professor in the Department of Methods of Research and Diagnosis in Education at the University of Barcelona. She is a resercher in GREAV (Virtual Teaching and Learning Research Group) and is also part of a teaching innovation innovation group in Competences in higher education. Her work focuses mainly in the field of technology, education and diversity.