Religion, Reductionism and Pedagogical Reduction

Lewin, David

doi:10.1163/9789004446397_005

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Thus, they select and interpret the meanings and dimensions of diversity in IRE. Through this pedagogical reduction (Lewin 2021) Teachers can direct pupils to ask their parents about matters related to the diversity of Islam and especially ethical issues at home and thus avoid the position of a religious authority. They also justify the teaching of even sensitive topics related to the diversity of Islam by means of their professional skills and by following the curriculum.…”

Section: Diversification Of Religious Diversity Within Religion-relat...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing Differences through Highlighting the Common: Religious Education Teachers’ Perceptions of the Diversity of Islam in Islamic Religious Education in Finnish State Schools

Putkonen,

Poulter

2023

Religions

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Muslims are Finland’s largest and fastest-growing religious minority. In Finnish state schools, the number of pupils studying Islamic religious education (IRE) has almost doubled in a decade, and IRE has its own national curriculum, which is based on the general principles of Islam. Pupils are diverse in terms of their languages, cultures, ethnicities and in their religious and worldview backgrounds, religious diversity being reflected in the religious education curriculum content in which the diversity of Islam is addressed. In this study, we examine the diversity of Islam in IRE. The research results are based on interviews with IRE teachers (N = 17) working in comprehensive schools in the capital region of Finland, and we use data-driven content analysis to explore teachers’ perceptions. This study shows that IRE teachers use balancing pedagogical tools in order to deal with the diversity of Islam. According to the findings of our study, dealing with this diversity in religious education requires a dialogicity that both highlights and blurs differences related to diversity. Religion-related dialogue in IRE provides an arena for a balanced discussion about religious differences as well as what they have in common.

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Section: Diversification Of Religious Diversity Within Religion-relat...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing Differences through Highlighting the Common: Religious Education Teachers’ Perceptions of the Diversity of Islam in Islamic Religious Education in Finnish State Schools

Putkonen,

Poulter

2023

Religions

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“…There is ongoing work exploring the pedagogical basis of RE (Lewin 2020;Hannam and Biesta 2019;Hannam et al 2020), as well as different ways of instrumentalising the R&W approach in the classroom (Freathy and John 2019;Pett 2022;Revell and Christopher 2021;Shaw 2019, Wintersgill et al 2019).…”

Section: There's a Question Of What The 'And' Means Its Religion And ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Opportunity for Expanding University-School Connections: Stakeholder Views of the Religion and Worldview Proposal

Harvey,

Newcombe

2023

JBASR

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This article explores the results of an 18-month project exploring the opinions on Religious Education in schools and the religion and worldview’s proposal (CoRE 2018) with key stakeholder groups ‘outside the classroom.’ This article begins with a review of relevant academic critiques and then explores the key themes revealed by the stakeholder groups in the course of the research. We highlight three key thematic areas of challenge 1) structural and resourcing issues facing RE in schools, 2) conceptual debates about key words and areas of subject focus and pedagogical approach and 3) the perceived value of the subject. These issues are explored in some depth, noting that all groups thought that greater resource sharing and cooperation between the various stakeholders was important. It concludes by arguing that this discussion offers a unique opportunity for university engagement. Although academics in particular expressed concerns about a lack of conceptual coherence in the religion and worldview proposals, we suggest that university engagement with schools could effectively model constructive discussions across differences of academic disciplines and the various ways of understanding beliefs, practices and ethical choices.

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“…Whether this is problematically reductionist or offers students a pedagogical reduction (a simplified entry point into a topic) is beyond my scope. But it is at least plausible that such reduction could have a genuinely pedagogical intention (Lewin, 2019, 2020) and the idea that students are (temporarily) not told of these other views could, at least in principle, be justified pedagogically.…”

Section: Indoctrination As Transmission Of Doctrinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indoctrination

Lewin

2022

Journal of Philosophy of Education

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The indoctrination debates have been a key feature of the philosophy of education over the past 50 years. While it is generally acknowledged that the pejorative associations of indoctrination only emerged over the last 100 years, those normative associations are widely taken to be an essential part of the concept itself as are the positive connotations of education. I explore some of the problems of assuming that the term must refer to something negative and the essentialism that this implies. The attempt to 'transvaluate' indoctrination results in the claim that the concept is virtually indistinguishable from education. Drawing on Ivan Snook's Indoctrination and Education, I examine several candidates for indoctrination to show that the pejorative label is not a good fit. I argue that much of what is framed as indoctrination turns out to be either impossible-implausible or necessary-inevitable; the fact that there is scarcely a gap between these extremes should give us pause to wonder about this term and its relation to education: By providing a term for those influences of which we generally disapprove, does the concept of indoctrination act as a way for educationalists to uphold and protect the normative view of education (that education must aim for something intrinsically worthwhile)?This paper forms part of a Special Issue entitled 'Beyond Virtue and Vice: Education for a Darker Age' in which the editors invited authors to engage in exercises of 'transvaluation' .

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Religion, Reductionism and Pedagogical Reduction

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

Balancing Differences through Highlighting the Common: Religious Education Teachers’ Perceptions of the Diversity of Islam in Islamic Religious Education in Finnish State Schools

Balancing Differences through Highlighting the Common: Religious Education Teachers’ Perceptions of the Diversity of Islam in Islamic Religious Education in Finnish State Schools

An Opportunity for Expanding University-School Connections: Stakeholder Views of the Religion and Worldview Proposal

Indoctrination

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