Religious Diversity [32] and Education in Europe Philipp Klutz Religious Education Faces the Challenge of Religious Plurality A Qualitative-Empirical Study in Vienna Religious Diversity and Education in Europe edited by Cok Bakker, Jenny Berglund, Gerdien Bertram-Troost, Hans-Günter Heimbrock, Julia Ipgrave, Robert Jackson, Geir Skeie, Wolfram Weisse Volume 32 Globalisation and plurality are influencing all areas of education, including religious education. The inter-cultural and multi-religious situation in Europe demands a re-evaluation of the exist- ing educational systems in particular countries as well as new thinking at the broader European level. This well-established peer reviewed book series is committed to the investigation and reflection on the changing role of religion and education in Europe, including the interface between European research, policy and practice and that of countries or regions outside Europe. Contributions will evaluate the situation, reflect on fundamental issues and develop perspec- tives for better policy making and pedagogy, especially in relation to practice in the classroom. The publishing policy of the series is to focus on strengthening literacy in the broad field of religions and related world views, while recognising the importance of strengthening pluralist democracies through stimulating the development of active citizenship and fostering greater mutual understanding through intercultural education. It pays special attention to the educa- tional challenges of religious diversity and conflicting value systems in schools and in society in general. Religious Diversity and Education in Europe was originally produced by two European research groups: ENRECA: The European Network for Religious Education in Europe through Contex- tual Approaches REDCo: Religion in Education. A contribution to Dialogue or a factor of Conflict in trans- forming societies of European Countries Although books will continue to be published by these two research groups, manuscripts can be submitted by scholars engaged in empirical and theoretical research on aspects of religion, and related world views, and education, especially in relation to intercultural issues. Book proposals relating to research on individual European countries or on wider European themes or European research projects are welcome. Books dealing with the interface of research, especially related to policy and practice, in European countries and contexts beyond Europe are also welcome for consideration. All manuscripts submitted are peer reviewed by two specialist reviewers. The series is aimed at teachers, teacher educators, researchers and policy makers. The series is committed to involving practitioners in the research process and includes books by teachers and teacher educators who are engaged in research as well as academics from various relevant fields, professional researchers and PhD students (the series includes several ground-breaking PhD dissertations). It is open to authors committed to these issues, and it includes English and German speaking monographs as well as edited collections of papers. Outline book proposals should be directed to one of the editors or to the publisher. Philipp Klutz Religious Education Faces the Challenge of Religious Plurality A Qualitative-Empirical Study in Vienna translated by Noëmi Lakmaier Waxmann 2016 Münster • New York Veröffentlichung mit Unterstützung des Austrian Science Fund (FWF): PUB 232-V15 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de Religious Diversity and Education in Europe, volume 32 ISSN 1862-9547 Print-ISBN 978-3-8309-3495-0 E-Book-ISBN 978-3-8309-8495-5 © Waxmann Verlag GmbH, 2016 Münster, Germany www.waxmann.com [email protected] Cover Design: Plessmann Design, Ascheberg Typesetting: Sven Solterbeck, Münster Printed in Germany All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission in writing from the copyright holder. Foreword Religious Education (RE) in large, religiously diverse cities, such as Vienna, offers pupils an exceptional opportunity to learn with and from each other in a religiously pluralistic landscape. My own experience as a part-time RE teacher at a secondary aca- demic school in Vienna has, however, also shown me the specific challenges RE faces in such a context. Some schools face difficult administrative tasks due to the way RE is currently organised, such as the necessity to fit RE classes for a variety of different religious communities and faith groups into schools’ timetables. My work, both as an RE teacher and an academic in the field of religious education studies at the University of Vienna and since September 2014 at the Catholic Private University in Linz, has been strongly influenced by this context of religious plurality. The opportunities it offers and the challenges it poses, as well as the question of how we can ensure that ideally all pupils are able to benefit from a religious education, are at the heart of my academic research. This study draws together most of my research in the field of religious education studies to date. It is a revised and translated version of my PhD dissertation, which I submitted to the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Vienna in September 2013, defended in December 2013 and published in German.1 I would like to thank Bert Roebben (Dortmund) and Wolfgang Weirer (Graz) who kindly provided the expert reports for my dissertation. A great number of people have been instrumental in the success of my work, and I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to all of them. First and foremost I want to thank everybody who was kind enough to participate in this study by attending discus- sion groups; without them it would not exist in its current form. I further want to express my heartfelt thanks to the members of the Viennese ‘Society for Religious Education’, led by Martin Rothgangel and Robert Schelander, who accompanied me on the journey of this research project from the outset and who offered feedback, constructive criticism and useful suggestions along the way. As part of this study, a group was established at the Department of Practical Theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology in Vienna, where I was able to put my interpreta- tions and empirical findings up for discussion. Elisabeth Fónyard-Kropf, Martin Jäggle, Andrea Lehner-Hartmann, Teresa Schweighofer and Helena Stockinger were members of this group. I would like to thank them all for their commitment! I further want to warmly thank my proof-readers, Lucia Schöffl and Barbara Vitovec, and my copy-editor Usch Schmitz for their prudent work. Many thanks also to Monika Mannsbarth and Christina Wachelhofer, who supported me in designing graphs and tables and gave me useful tips on formatting my work. Thank you also to Frank Sauer for his advice. I want to thank the editors for accepting my study into their series ‘Religious Diver- sity and Education in Europe’. Thank you to Beate Plugge from Waxman Publishing Co. for her professional work on this publication and to Noëmi Lakmaier for her excellent translation of this book. 1 Cf. Klutz 2015. Above all I owe a very special thank you to Martin Jäggle, who supervised my dissertation – thank you for all the knowledgeable conversations, appreciative and motivating feedback on my study and for the wonderful work we did together in the field of religious education! Vienna/Linz, May 2016 Philipp Klutz Contents Introduction. .11 1. Introductory Problem Analysis ......................................12 1.1 “If Denominational RE is Stretched to its Limits in some Places” – on ÖRF’s 2009 Position Paper. .12 1.2 RE in Austria Seen in the Context of an Ideologically and Religiously Pluralistic Society. 14 1.2.1 Religious Diversity and ‘RE in the Plural’ as a Growing Challenge for Schools . 14 1.2.2 RE in Context of the Ethics Education Debate ..........................17 1.3 Religious Education and RE in the European Context ....................24 1.3.1 Approaches to Religious Diversity ...................................24 1.3.2 Religious Education’s Aims and Objectives ............................25 1.3.3 Religious Education – a Task for Schools . 26 1.3.4 Europe’s many Different Approaches to RE ............................28 1.4 RE in Publicly Run Schools – A Subject for Public Debate ................31 1.4.1 Religion as a Subject in Schools Needs to Justify its Existence .............31 1.4.2 The Principle of Denominationalism Gets Increasingly Put into Question. .37 1.5 The State of Research in ‘New’ Empirical Studies .......................42 1.5.1 Research Studies on the Religious Dimension in Schools and on Dealing with Religious Diversity . 43 1.5.2 Research Studies on the Acceptance of RE and the Way it is Taught in Schools from the Perspective of RE Teachers. .44 1.5.3 Research Studies on the Acceptance of RE and the Way it is Taught in Schools from the Perspective of Pupils . 47 2. The Qualitative-Empirical Approach: Methodological and Methodical Considerations . .50 2.1 Epistemological Interest and the Ascertainment of Research Questions . .50 2.2 The Documentary Method – Meta-theoretical and Methodological Considerations