Discussing Religion - Discourses in Plans for Thoughtful Dialogues
Author(s):
Ann S Pihlgren (presenting / submitting) Malin Pihlgren
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching
Format:
Paper

Session Information

27 SES 02 B, Contents in Teaching and Learning: Religion, Citizenship and Democracy

Paper Session

Time:
2015-09-08
15:15-16:45
Room:
202.Oktatóterem [C]
Chair:
Carol Taylor

Contribution

According to the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child all children have the right to freedom of religion (Article 14:1):

States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Education should also, according to the convention, develop students’ abilities to discuss and respect human rights and freedoms (Article 29).

Curricula in many countries present religious education as a subject area. However, religious beliefs and faith in modern society are often considered matters of personal and inner reflection (Bäckström et al, 2004). The World Value Survey (Inglehart &Welzel, 2010) measures how people in the world perceive major areas such as religion, politics, economics, and social life. Two dimensions dominate: traditional/ secular-rational values, and survival/ self-expression values. A nation’s orientation within the two dimensions will explain the population’s view on life to a high extent. There has been a shift in orientations from traditional toward secular-rational values in almost all industrial societies (World Value Survey Cultural Map 2005-2008). An increasing share of the population takes survival for granted and priorities have shifted from economic and physical security toward an increasing emphasis on self-expression and quality of life. High ranking of self-expression values tends to produce a culture of trust and tolerance, valuing individual freedom and self-expression, and resulting in high rankings of interpersonal trust, and active political engagement. These are the attributes that the political culture literature defines as crucial to democracy (World Value Survey Cultural Map 2005-2008).

Religious education in European countries has shifted focus from education in or about one religion, to inter-religious education focusing on democracy and tolerance, and preventing bias (Jackson, 2007). In this paper we have chosen to use Swedish conditions when considering religious education as a school subject. These are conditions familiar to us but we also believe there is a generic reason to make this choice. Sweden’s population is the most secularized-rational country in the world, highly valuing self-expression, according to the World Value Survey Cultural Map 2005-2008. The Swedish population has moved from embracing traditional survival values to its present point in less than a hundred years.

Among several current Christian theologies there is a newfound interest in dialogue as a method of developing thoughts on God, redemption and the interconnectedness of the creation. Many theologians reject the old understanding of religious truths and instead lift the relation to God as important (c.f. arch bishop emeritus KG Hammar, 2006). This relation is dependent on dialogue and always situated in the lives of people.

This paper analyzes discourses in method materials for thoughtful dialogues in the classroom. It focuses on materials presenting religious and moral subjects. ‘Thoughtful dialogues’ refers to a family of interrelated methods for philosophizing with students, e.g. philosophy for/with children, and Socratic seminars, using open-ended questions, and an investigating and collaborative interlocution (Pihlgren, 2008). The questions guiding the study are:

  • What discourses can be found in methodological materials for thoughtful dialogue addressing the subject religion?

  • Are questions in the materials used to address faith, morality, and teaching? If so, how?

  • How are the discourses found in the methodological materials related to the discourses in religious education in a highly secularized country (using Sweden as an example)?

Method

The study analyse seven seminar plans suggested for thoughtful dialogues in the classroom with students, grade K-12, and addressing religion or morality. The plans were chosen from materials from Belgium, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, and the USA. One plan from each material was chosen. A social constructionist/poststructuralist approach is taken, where knowledge is considered contextual and social, and where an action or stance therefore can be considered as impossible or natural depending on how the world is perceived within the dominating discourse. Our analysis will be carried out by using a revised version of Fairclough’s (2013) three-dimensional conception of discourse: 1. Analysis of (spoken or written) language texts. 2. Analysis of discursive practice (processes of text production, distribution, and consumption). 3. Analysis of discursive events as instances of social practice (the wider social practice that the analyzed communication is part of). Discourses attempt to fix webs of meaning through ‘nodal points’, particular systems of meaning or chains of signification (Laclau & Mouffe, 2001). Other signs will be organized around the nodal point. The literature section focus on three nodal points (Winther Jørgensen & Phillips, 2000). Faith is a central concept in religion. Morality is an important part of the curricular content in several countries. The analyzed method materials are designed to work within a school context as means to teach students, motivating the nodal point teaching. The nodal points will help us to find the specific signs forming the discourses and giving the studied material meaning. The three dimensions are analyzed separately. The text analysis is concentrated on the formal features of the text, specifically vocabulary and phrasing, modality (the degree of affinity shown within text and between text and illustrations), and ethos (what identities are constructed?). The relationship between the texts and the social practice is mediated by the discursive practice. This analysis is concentrated on intertextuality – what influences from other genres and texts that could be found in the texts, and contextuality – what socio-cognitive and contextual dimensions of production and interpretation have influenced the texts. The analysis of the social practice is done by comparing the results to research presented in the literature section and focused on the three nodal points, if the discourse practice reproduced the field or transformed it, if there were hidden structures of inequality or new ways to present reality, and the consequences of the social practice.

Expected Outcomes

The results show three discourses in the material. The discourse of critical thinking in school is the most frequent, and aims at transforming teaching. Faith is not a specific issue here. The teaching philosophy in school discourse does not address faith and moral questions or the egalitarian dialogue are elements used to justify the teaching of philosophy in school. The third discourse addresses faith and suggests a critical thinking in religion discourse, challenging the present hegemonic discourse in western societies. Religious education in secular countries tends to focus on teaching about the world religions from an outsider’s perspective whereas the methodological materials for thoughtful dialogues tend to focus on moral questions when exploring religious texts. Religious education in school could be considered from two factors: 1.) The attitude toward questions of faith and 2.) The approach to knowledge. Questions of religious faith might be addressed in education, or not. Knowledge might be seen from a fundamentalist point of view, where a set of true facts are presented to the students, or, as in the opposite position, attaining knowledge includes critically examination of facts and values. This will give four different approaches to religious education in school: Dogmatic religion, dogmatic atheism, examining theology, or examining philosophy excluding theology. Questions of faith and religion need to be discussed with others: Thoughtful dialogues could be used in classrooms and other contexts for dialogues about faith, and religious and theological questions, and thus helping the individual to form a relationship or grounded base on which he or she can reflect on matters of the faith and belief or disbelief. This approach is in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

References

Bäckström, A., Edgardh Beckman, N. & Pettersson, P. (2004). Religiösa förändringar i norra Europa. En studie av Sverige ”Från statskyrka till fri folkkyrka” [Religious changes in Northern Europé. A study of Sweden ”From State Church to Free People’s Church], Slutrapport. Uppsala: Diakonivetenskapliga institutets skriftserie. Convention on the Rights of the Child. United Nation Human Rights. UNICEF: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx, 2015-01-30. Fairclough, N. (2013). Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press. Hammar, K G. (2006). Tecken och verklighet, Samtal om Gud, Ecce Homo [Signs and reality, Conversations about God, Ecce Homo]. Lund: Arcus förlag and Stockholm: Verbum förlag. Inglehart, R. & Welzel, C. (2010). Changing Mass Priorities: The Link between Modernization and Democracy. Perspectives on Politics June 2010 (vol 8, No. 2), pp 551-567. Jackson, R. (ed.) (2007). Religion and Education in Europe: developments, contexts and debates. Münster: Waxmann. Laclau E. & Mouffe C. (2001). Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London: Verso. Pihlgren, A. S. (2008). Socrates in the Classroom. Rationales and Effects of Philosophizing with Children. D. diss. Stockholm University. Winther Jørgensen, M. & Phillips, L. (2000). Diskursanalys [Discourse Analysis]. Lund: Studentlitteratur. The World Value Survey Cultural Map 2005-2008, http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs/articles/folder_published/article_base_54 2015-01-30.

Author Information

Ann S Pihlgren (presenting / submitting)
Ignite Research Institute
Bergshamra
Malin Pihlgren
Svenska kyrkan, Sweden

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