Researching Non-Formal Religious Education in Europe

Book Cover

Imprint

Table of Contents

Introduction (Friedrich Schweitzer, Wolfgang Ilg, Peter Schreiner)

1. The focus on non-formal religious education

2. The need for researching non-formal religious education

3. Aims of the volume

4. The background of the volume: Research on non-formal religious education at Tübingen University and at the Comenius Institute

5. How the volume developed

6. The breakdown of the volume

7. A note of thanks

References

Youth counts! Mapping Christian youth work in Germany empirically and identifying presuppositions of educationally active congregations (Wolfgang Ilg)

1. The (in)visibility of non-formal education within the Protestant Church in Germany

2. Youth counts – the quantitative study

2.1 Methods

2.2 Results

2.3 Dissemination strategy: making local data available

3. Youth in demand – the qualitative study

3.1 Methods

3.2 Results

3.3 Dissemination strategy: the reflection sheet

4. On the reception of the studies

References

Catholic religious education in Germany. The sustainability of formal and non-formal learning (Judith Könemann, Clauß Peter Sajak)

1. Starting point, concerns, and design of the study

2. Methodological design of the study

3. Sustainability of religious education – criteria

4. Findings – the contexts of learning

4.1 Context of learning: Religious Education at school

4.2 Context of learning: catechesis

4.3 Context of learning: Voluntary work

5. Comparing the goals

6. The attempt at a model

References

The characteristics of non-formal religious education in a folk church. The Norwegian education reform (Heid Leganger-Krogstad)

1. Separation of formal and non-formal religious education

1.1 A general national reform of non-formal education

1.2 Church of Norway. The Christian education reform

2. Development and evaluation during the grassroot period

2.1 Local or national strategy?

2.2 The target group?

2.3 What activities are considered part of the reform?

2.4 Education as lifelong learning

2.5 Education – a practice of sharing

2.6 From voluntarism and tacit knowledge to professionalism and formal texts?

2.7 Open-ended activity

3. Development and evaluation in the implementation period

3.1 Curriculum for non-formal religious education

3.2 Education based on socio-cultural understanding of learning

3.3 Voluntary participation and systematic learning

4. The reform in the folk church

4.1 The reform as a positive driver

4.2 Critical view on the evaluations

5. Summary

References

Religious education in the Swiss Reformed Churches as a promising hybrid between non-formal and formal education (Thomas Schlag, Rahel Voirol-Sturzenegger)

1. On the situation of religious education in the Swiss Reformed Churches

1.1 Background

1.2 Approaches to the research topic

2. The Comprehensive Catechetical Program (rpg) of the Reformed Church of Zurich

2.1 Research design

2.2 Brief description of the rpg concept

2.3 Some main results

2.4 Interim conclusion: The rpg between formal and non-formal religious education

3. How do other regional church projects address these challenges? A brief orientation to other models in Switzerland

3.1 Thurgau: Church, Child and Youth (“Kirche, Kind und Jugend”) – Holding on to the place of the school

3.2 Aargau: Pedagogical action (“Pädagogisches Handeln”) – Partial obligation

3.3 Graubünden/Grisons: Building congregation (“Gemeindebilden”) – Religious learning on the basis of Religious Education as a school subject

3.4 St. Gallen: Spiritual Accompaniment (“Geistliche Begleitung”) – a program of religious experiences

3.5 Berne: Religious Pedagogical Action (“Religionspädagogisches Handeln”) – a redesign

4. Outlook and research desiderata

4.1 The important relation between empirical research and educational practice

4.2 Hybrid forms and places of learning – Catechetical learning and congregational development

4.3 Religious plurality: Does one religious “size fit all”?

4.4 Standardization and its impacts on children, young people, families

4.5 Professionalization: Research of competences and educational practice of catechists

5. Conclusions

References

Researching non-formal religious education in Islamic contexts. Studies from Germany (Fahimah Ulfat)

1. Introduction

2. Empirical studies on non-formal religious education in religious communities and mosques

2.1 Hasan Alacac?oglu 1999

2.2 Rauf Ceylan 2014

3. Which challenges can be identified?

4. Does the research show an influence of the religious socialization in mosques?

5. Conclusion

References

Cooperation between Christian youth work and schools in Germany. A research project (Lena Wolking)

1. Cooperation between Christian youth work and state-sponsored schools in Germany

1.1 Starting point: State-sponsored schools as places of learning and living

1.2 How is school-related youth work carried out?

1.3 Presuppositions for (Christian) school-related youth work: the principle of subsidiarity

1.4 Research about Christian school-related youth work in Germany

2. Protestant school-related youth work in Württemberg

2.1 Three examples of school-related Christian youth work in Württemberg

2.2 The regional project “Church – Youth Work – School”

2.3 Scientific monitoring of the project “Church – Youth Work – School”

3. Results of the research project

3.1 Factors for successful collaboration between schools, youth work and church

3.2 The basis for cooperation between schools, youth work and church

4. Summary, reception and methodological conclusions

4.1 Summary and reception of the research project: Tasks for Christian school-related youth work as non-formal education at school

4.2 Methodological considerations – critical perspectives

References

Researching interreligious and intercultural education in German kindergartens. Three empirical projects – their approaches and methodologies (Alexandra Wörn, Golde Wissner, Lena Wolking, Rebecca Nowack)

1. Terminological questions: Kindergartens as places of non-formal education?

2. Project I: Researching intercultural and interreligious education in German kindergartens

2.1 The pilot project

2.2 Children survey

2.3 Parent survey

2.4 Teachers’ survey

2.5 Best-practice models

2.6 Conclusion

3. Project II: Researching interculturally and interreligiously sensitive education in kindergartens. A scientific evaluation of 16 intercultural and interreligious kindergarten projects in Baden-Württemberg

4. Project III: Enhancing interreligious competences for kindergarten teachers in training

5. Conclusion: Analysing the results the three studies

5.1 Interreligious education in German kindergartens

5.2 Methodological challenges and suggestions for researching non-formal early childhood education

References

Islamic kindergarten. A controversial debate on non-formal religious education in Austria (Martin Rothgangel, Martin Jäggle)

1. The guidelines as background

1.1 Legal aspects and background

1.2 Educational guidelines for preschool education

2. The commissioned studies on “Islamic kindergartens in Vienna”

2.1 The preliminary study (Aslan 2016)

2.2 The main study (Aslan 2017; Hover-Reisner et al. 2017)

3. The doctoral theses of Stockinger (2017) and Brandstetter (2017)

3.1 Dealing with religious difference in kindergarten (Stockinger 2017)

3.2 Between homogenization and pluralization (Brandstetter 2017)

4. Summary and outlook

References

Researching non-formal religious education in the Orthodox Church. The first empirical study on Sunday Schools in Belarus (Yauheniya Danilovich)

1. Non-formal Orthodox religious education in the Orthodox Church

2. Sunday School as a concept of non-formal religious education

2.1 Institutional presuppositions, didactics, participants

3. Research on non-formal Orthodox religious education

4. The first study on Sunday Schools in Belarus

4.1 The aims of the study and the research questions

4.2 Research design and procedures

4.3 Selected results

4.4 Scope and limits of the study on Sunday Schools in Belarus

5. Implications for further research on non-formal religious education

References

Sunday School and worship activities with children. Empirical findings and perspectives from the Protestant church in Germany (Peter Schreiner)

1. Research design, basic data and preliminary remarks

1.1 The theological definition of Sunday School

1.2 Worship in day care centers and schools

1.3 Sunday School and worship activities with children and education

1.4 Christian teaching and children’s groups – why are they included in the study?

2. Selected results

2.1 Overview of the different formats

2.2 Structure, aims and methods

2.3 Participating children

2.4 Responsible staff

3. Summary and perspectives

4. Conclusion

References

Researching the effects of First Communion preparation. Empirical results of a national survey on religious education in German Catholic parishes in the perspective of religious identity formation (Stefan Altmeyer, Reinhold Boschki)

1. An evaluation study of FCC in Germany

2. Some selected results of the qualitative study

3. Conclusion and discussion

References

Non-formal religious education: The notion of mini-confirmands in Denmark (Leise Christensen)

1. Church, school and the idea of mini-confirmands: Historical Background

2. Numbers of mini-confirmands in Denmark 1995–2010

3. The findings of the report

4. From 2010 and onwards

5. School reform 2014 and consequences

6. Formal or non-formal religious education?

7. Research in Denmark on non-formal religious education and church matters in general

8. Closing remarks

References

Profiling confirmation work as a marketing strategy. A case study from Sweden (Per Pettersson)

1. Changing social and religious conditions for confirmation work

2. Confirmation is the major form of non-formal religious education

3. Changed pedagogic ideology and theological understanding

4. Differentiation and profiling of confirmation offers

5. Differentiated confirmation offer in Karlstad

6. Has the differentiation by profiling succeeded?

7. Differentiation of confirmation courses as part of societal differentiation

8. Why is confirmation loosing attraction?

References

Researching confirmation work in Europe. An example of research on non-formal education (Henrik Simojoki)

1. Introduction

2. Confirmation work as a field of non-formal education

3. Researching non-formal education: The studies on confirmation work in Europe (2007–2017)

3.1 An overview of the studies

3.2 Researching non-compulsory education

3.3 Researching programmatic aims

3.4 Researching institutional embeddedness

3.5 Researching educational spaces and learning environments

4. Conclusion and perspectives for further research

References

Researching voluntary commitment after confirmation and long-term effects of confirmation work. Perspectives from Germany (Friedrich Schweitzer)

1. Research topics and questions

2. Research designs

3. Selected results

4. Methodological considerations

5. Conclusions

References

What happens after volunteering? 10-Year longitudinal research on young volunteers in Finland (Kati Tervo-Niemelä)

1. Background

2. Design and method

3. Changes among volunteers and non-volunteers in emerging adulthood – the case of Finland

4. Discussion

References

Conclusions (Friedrich Schweitzer, Wolfgang Ilg, Peter Schreiner)

1. Formal, non-formal and informal learning: A critical review

1.1 Definitions, distinctions, overlaps

1.2 Growing awareness for non-formal education in the different countries

1.3 Questions concerning principles for successful non-formal education

2. Methodologies and research approaches

2.1 Qualitative research

2.2 Quantitative research

2.3 Combining qualitative and quantitative results

2.4 Characteristics of research in the religious area

3. Observations concerning the future development of non-formal religious education

4. Perspectives for future research

5. Outlook

References

Authors