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Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion | |
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Inter-religious Learning |
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Research project Strangeness as a Factor in Processes of Inter-Religious Perception, Communication, and Learning in Primary School Pupils Primary school pupils bring with them previous knowledge and experiences concerning religions that are foreign to the religious socialization they experience at home. The pupils’ attitudes can range from xenophobic estrangement (Be-Fremden), self-evident and familiar co-existence, to an exotic enthusiasm for all aspects of unfamiliar religions. The differences in how pupils relate the familiar and the strange plays a significant role as a factor in processes of inter-religious perception, communication, and learning. Experiences of strangeness should not be played down or ignored, and (religious) education would be ill advised to pursue the sole objective of minimizing or eliminating difference. Strangeness has productive potential: it arouses curiosity, stimulates the desire to learn, and inspires reflection – also about one’s own self and one’s own religion. The goal of this project is to delve more deeply into the factor of strangeness in the perception of religious difference, in communication, and, not least, in inter-religious learning processes. A suitable basis for the purposes of such a study is the teaching material known by the title ‘Gift to the Child’. This material was developed and published at the University of Birmingham by John Hull, Michael Grimmitt, Julie Grove and Louis Spencer. Hull provides a brief description of the intended teaching process in his article, "A Gift to the Child. A New Pedagogy For Teaching Religion To Young Children" (Hull 1996; 2000). The handbook for teachers (Grimmitt et al. 1991a) offers suggestions for didactic and methodological procedures, fourteen booklets have been designed for use by the pupils. The Gift-to-the-child procedure is particularly interesting because the play with approaching and distancing enacts work on difference and strangeness and seeks to render it pedagogically productive. This study is the first empirical analysis of the usage of this material in the classroom. We have videotaped lessons opened by the ‘Gift-to-the-Child’ material which allows for a careful analysis of the children’s reactions, of dialogues between teacher and pupils and among the pupils themselves. In a second phase immediately following the lesson, the ‘simulated recall’ method has been used to document feelings and thoughts which the pupils did or could not express during the class period. In the pilot phase (2002-2003) which was funded by the University of Bielefeld (Forschungs- und Innovationsfonds, FIF), we have recorded three hours of classroom interaction in primary schools and several subsequent simulated recall sessions for each classroom recording. We thank the three teachers and the pupils for participating in this research. And special thanks to the professional team of the Audiovisual Center of our Bielefeld University who, under the supervision of Dr. Walter Blohm, have produced excellent tape and CD recordings. Evaluation is under way; first results are being published ("Strangeness in Inter-Religious Classroom Communication: Research on the 'Gift-to-the-Child' Material", in: Bates, Dennis, Durka, Gloria & Schweitzer, Friedrich (Eds.): Religion, Reconciliation and Inclusion in a Pluralistic World. Essays in Religious Education and Practical Theology in Honour of John M. Hull, in preparation) and we seek to incorporate this pilot material into a more extensive research project. References Grimmitt, Michael, Grove, Julie, Hull, John M. & Spencer, Louis. (1991). A Gift to the Child: Religious Education in the Primary School (Teacher's Source Book), London: Simon & Schuster Hull, John M. (1996). "A Gift to the Child: A New Pedagogy For Teaching Religion To Young Children", in: Religious Education 91: 172-190 Hull, John M. (2000). "Religion in the Service of the Child Project: The Gift Approach to Religious Education", in: Grimmitt, Michael (Ed.): Pedagogies of Religious education. Case Studies in Research and Development of Good Pedagogic Practice in RE, Essex: McCrimmons, 112-129. |
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