"Effectiveness of interreligious learning through perspective-taking with different forms of pupil-oriented Religious Education (RE): a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial“

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Reinhold Boschki; Professor Dr. Friedrich Schweitzer
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 404154214

In today’s social situation, which is marked by cultural and religious diversity, inter-religious competence has become more and more important. The potential for social conflicts is increasingly visible since migration has been accelerated due to the refugee situation in Europe. For peaceful coexistence, appropriate orientations and attitudes of individuals and groups are indispensable. There is more and more agreement that schools and religious education should support inter-religious competences. Inter-religious topics and demands for competences are firmly anchored in school curricula.The growth of religious education literature with respect to this topic corresponds to these developments. However, the lack of an empirical basis is also evident. The studies available do not shed light on the effectiveness of inter-religious learning, and they are even less useful for evaluating the different didactical approaches used in religious education in this context. Especially cluster randomized controlled intervention studies in real teaching contexts are lacking in the field of religious education, which would permit conclusions about the possibilities and the effectiveness of such approaches. In this respect, the research project – in close cooperation with empirical educational research as well as empirical didactical research in other disciplines (history, physical education) – realizes a new methodological quality in this area. Likewise, the study examines the controversial connection between didactics and competence-based research in education.Together with other research projects conducted at Tübingen the proposed project incorporates in particular the preparatory work from a DFG-funded research project on inter-religious competence. The central objective of the study (intervention study) relates to the question of the effectiveness of inter-religious learning in upper secondary education (Berufliches Gymnasium). The treatment consists of a threefold variation of a teaching unit “Living with Strangers” (low – middle – high pupil orientation). It is expected that the treatment will lead to increased acquisition of competences compared to the control group and that the effectiveness of the units will differ depending on their pupil orientation. With the help of this methodology comparative assessments of a central didactical concept will be possible.For measuring religion-related knowledge, religion-related perspective-taking and religion-related attitudes as central components of inter-religious competence the instruments developed in the previous project can be used. At the same time, the instruments need to be further improved. Given the sobering results concerning attitudinal change in the previous project, additional teaching elements are introduced as well as additional measurements.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants