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Abstract
In this article, we describe the multiple phases of a project that was constructed around the real case of a young Muslim student who wished to be exempted from coeducational physical education on religious grounds. When the school refused her initial request, she decided to take legal measures which ended up in the German Federal Administrative Court. The court ultimately ruled in her favour. Her case was selected as the core ingredient for a new teaching project, which studies acculturation from different perspectives, and examines the complex balance between individual rights and societal duties, as defined by constitutional law in the Federal Republic of Germany. This case demonstrates that the majority society, represented in this study by the school, at times needs to change traditional educational policy in order to further national goals of integration; not as a compromise, but as a fair balance of interests. The project was implemented successfully as an integrated part of teacher preservice education occurring towards the end of the first academically based phase of their training.
Notes
1. ‘Empirical research on youth-related issues has in the past largely disregarded the subject of religion. (…). In many studies of the situation of immigrant youths, (…), the subject of religion was assigned a subordinate position for many years. It has only been since the mid-1990s that the religious orientation of young immigrants, and above all those with Turkish-Muslim backgrounds, has moved further to the foreground in surveys conducted by the social sciences.’ (Gesemann Citation2005, 3).
2. Berry (Citation1980a) has developed a psychological taxonomy where assimilation to the norms and rules of the host society represents a special case among a variety of acculturation models.
3. Before beginning their Referendariat, all Referendare have high moral aspirations when it comes to coping with cultural diversity at school. Comparative analysis of their behavior in real cultural conflict situations at school resulted in two distinct types of dealing with these conflicts. The two types have been named according to the coping strategies they applied. ‘Synergy-oriented’ Referendare take efforts to understand students in a state of conflict on the basis of culture bound orientations, to approach them and to strive for conflict resolution in such a way that it is acceptable to all those involved, including new, ‘third’ solutions. ‘Ethno-oriented’ Referendare fail in realizing their aspirations. They do not assert the validity of other cultural perspectives in the school system and are characterized by efforts to assimilate students with another cultural background to their own norms and rules.
4. ‘Not assimilation, which would entail totally disconnecting one’s relationship to the indigenous culture and blending into the local culture, is the aim of naturalization politics, but integration. This requires the naturalization candidate to be incorporated into the political, social, and cultural arenas of the Federal Republic of Germany, the acceptance of a certain amount of basic values and customs of the host society, as well as the recognition of constitutional democracy principles, while at the same time respecting this person’s cultural identity.’ (Ibid., 347; translation B-S).
5. The individual’s fundamental right to religious and ideological freedom can be found in article 4, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Basic Law of the FRG. It encompasses freedom of religion – to have or not to have a certain religion or ideology, freedom of religious and ideological affirmation and free practice of religion.
6. Religious and ideological neutrality means ‘that the state and its laws are neutral, insofar and because they do not identify with any of the competing religions and ideologies, because and insofar they do not take sides. (…) Neutrality of the states’ law implies non-identification.’ (Jeckstaedt Citation2008, 77, translation B-S). The principle of religious and ideological neutrality bars the state from judging the faith and doctrine of a particular religious group as such (BVerfG, 2 BvR Citation1436/02 of 09/24/2003, paragraphs no. 1–138).
7. The role descriptions can be provided on request from the author.
8. This implies concrete, substantiated, and objectively comprehensible reasons that point to the existence of a compelling moral conflict due to one’s religious beliefs.
9. The author contends that England is deliberately making room for religious diversity while in Germany those in charge are coping with this by prohibiting references to religion in schools. The author rejects this in her interpretation of the concept of neutrality for schools, which is anchored in the Basic Law.