….Visions for the Future…. Peter Schreiner EFTRE Conference Bruges 2010

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Budapest 2007: EFTRE: Bringing Competences Together ● EFTRE’s activities should be more connected to the political agenda in Europe (EU and CoE and others) ● EFTRE should take part in creating a voice of RE in Europe (CoGREE) ● EFTRE can contribute to a Europeanisation of Religious Education by more exchange among RE teachers in Europe ● EFTRE can benefit through exchange with comparative research projects like REDCo, TRES, ENRECA and others

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Themes of EFTRE conferences 1992 York 1995 Hamburg 1998 Copenhagen 2001 Edinburgh 2004 Järvenpää 2007 Budapest 2010 Bruge Teaching World Religions School as a workshop of humanity Into the third Millennium. Religion. Culture and RE in Europe… Handling Truth claims in the RE classroom RE: educating the whole person The contribution of RE to active Citizenship. Developing a European perspective Challenging Religious Education Poverty and Social Inclusion as European Issues

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Perspectives on ● Concept of Europe »Europe does not exist, there is only Europeanisation« (Beck 2004) ● Role of Education »Teaching does not mean transmission of knowledge« (Freire 2009) ● Teaching Religious Education » I am not here to preach … I just want to make you think about religion and what you can learn from it. To think about what you believe and if you decide it‘s a load of rubbish … that‘s your right.« (Everington 2009) ● Research & Policy & Practice On the basis of the findings of REDCo we support the policy recommendations of the CoE and the Toledo Guiding Principles. However, we suggest a need for a degree of differentiation at the national level regarding the implementation of policies… (REDCo-Policy Recommendations 2009)

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge European Union & Council of Europe EFTRE‘s activities should be connected to the European agenda

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge European Union  Education and Training 2020 »ET 2020«. Four strategic aims (1) Making lifelong learning and mobility a reality; (2) Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training; (3) Promoting equality, social cohesion and active citizenship; (4) Enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training.  Lifelong learning as basic principle and target

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Council of Europe Intercultural Dialogue (White paper 2008) Religions as »cultural facts« Education for Democratic Citizenship

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Council of Europe: Intercultural education and the religious dimension »to foster reciprocal awareness and respect, as well as to learn how to live together in order to promote social cohesion and civic participation«

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge ● Coordinating Group for Religion in Education in Europe ● Statutes ― Exchange of information among the member organisations ― Clarification of common interests ― Agreement on common activities ― Representation of common interests beyond CoGREE

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge CoGREE Statement ● »Religious education as an ordinary school subject in most countries of Europe offers a substantive contribution to education for democratic citizenship. Education for tolerance and peace is incomplete without religious education.«

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Research for encouraging practice »Religion in Education. A contribution to Dialogue or a factor of Conflict in transforming societies of European Countries« TRES: »Teaching Religion in a multicultural European Society« ENRECA : »The European Network for Religious Education through Contextual Approaches«

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge REDCo project: »The role of the teacher takes on great significance. He or she has to meet the twin demands of offering both a solid basis of factual information and the opportunity to formulate individual interpretations and opinions.« ( Van der Want et al 2009 )

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Researching RE Teachers TRES: » Teaching Religion in a multicultural European Society« PeTeR: » Perspectives on Teaching Religion« ( Ziebertz & Riegel 2009)

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Religious Education promoting Competence (Feindt et al 2009) Change in education system: from input to outcome ( Standards, competences, quality, monitoring ) Competence: Knowledge, ability, commitment Elements of teaching: Individual learning Meta-cognition Knowledge and skills Training and re-flection Cognitive activation Relevance for daily life

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Younger generations and religion Generation X: between 1965 and 1980 Generation Y: between 1981 and 2000 ( dot.coms, the millenials, the Net Generation, Thumb Generation); more interested in religious experience than theological reasoning; »rather than asking what they must do to be saved, they ask what they must do to be loved«

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Theologising with Children »Children are philosophers and theologians in their own way«

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge EFTRE: Bringing Competences Together ● EFTRE’s activities should be more connected to the political agenda in Europe (EU and CoE and others), e.g. by exchange and dialogue with other existing initiatives concerning education and citizenship on an academic level and on strategic policy level ● EFTRE should take part in creating a voice of/for RE in Europe (CoGREE) ● EFTRE should think about innovative instruments for communication, networking and advocacy initiatives for RE (teachers)

Peter Schreiner EFTRE 2010 Bruge Thank you for your attention Peter Schreiner