Project team

Protestant theology: Mirjam Zimmermann & Benedict Totsche & Malte Brügge-Feldhake

Catholic theology: Ulrich Riegel & Oliver Hohenschue & Daniel Engel

Problem context

According to Art. 7 para. 3 of the German Constitution, religious education in Germany is an ordinary subject that is to be taught in a confessional manner, although efforts have long been made to ensure that it is "taught in an ecumenical spirit". In view of socio-demographic developments, however, this form of teaching is under severe pressure. The concept of confessional-cooperative religious education is an attempt to realize the confessional nature of the subject in confessional cooperation. The aim of this concept is to discover what is special about one's own denomination by engaging with the other Christian denomination, to develop one's own religious point of view and to practice respectful interaction with people of other religious beliefs.

From the 2018/19 school year, schools in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) that offer religious education for both denominations can also apply for denominational cooperative religious education. In order to guarantee the confessional character of both participating denominations, a didactic and methodological concept must be created that reflects the confessional and denomination-specific topics from both curricula and integrates them into a coherent annual plan. In addition, a change of teacher during the year is mandatory so that pupils can get to know and reflect on the perspectives of both denominations in authentic language. Mandatory joint church training events are formulated as a condition for the success of high-quality teaching. With these framework requirements, the concept valid for NRW sets relatively strong standards in order to guarantee the denominational character of the subject and denominationally cooperative learning.

Sub-project 1: Evaluation of kokoRU in NRW

In view of the independent character of denominationally cooperative religious education in NRW, it makes sense to evaluate this specific form. This first sub-project records both the learning effects of the lessons and the experiences of all those involved, i.e. the pupils, teachers, school administrators and parents. The sub-project thus answers the following research questions

• What learning effects do the pupils experience with regard to their knowledge of and attitude towards both Christian denominations and their denominational identity within a school year and what experiences do they have with the teaching process (e.g. organizational form, positionality of the teachers)?
• How do the teachers assess the preparation and implementation of denominational cooperation at their school, what experiences do they report, e.g. with regard to their qualifications for the new model, and what suggestions for improvement do they have?
• How do school principals assess the implementation of denominational cooperation at their school, what experiences have they had with regard to institutional support from outside and where do they see potential for optimization?
• How do parents rate their child's denominationally cooperative lessons, what experiences can they report and where do they see potential for improvement?

Method

In view of the complexity of the project, a mixed methods design was chosen in which quantitative and qualitative methods complement each other. Learning effects of denominational cooperative religious education are surveyed in a non-equivalent group design with pre- and post-test. The assessment of this form of organization by pupils, teachers, school administrators and parents is carried out using questionnaires, and finally the experiences and suggestions for improvement of the teachers are recorded in group discussions, which are evaluated using content analysis.

Details on the questionnaires can be found here:

• Questionnaires for pupils
• Questionnaire for the teachers who teach kokoRU
• Questionnaire for parents

Significance of the project

The project provides serious empirical findings on a topic that is currently the subject of much debate in religious education and where there is a certain pressure on church and state authorities to act. The scope of the project is so broad that a comprehensive view of a concrete model of denominational cooperation is possible. In addition, the project offers for the first time an insight into the learning effects of denominational cooperative religious education, which are recorded within the framework of a psychometrically sophisticated design. The findings of the project are not only suitable for the further development of denominational cooperative religious education in NRW, but also contribute to a more evidence-based discussion of this form of religious education.

Funding

Protestant Office NRW & Catholic Office NRW

Sub-project 2: Testing the cognitive and affective effects of kokoRU

The evaluation of kokoRU in NRW was able to show that this subject is popular with almost all stakeholders and is essentially taught in accordance with the specified standards. The learning effects recorded in the evaluation are also within the expected range, but could not be recorded in a methodologically sound manner due to the loss of the comparison group during the coronavirus pandemic. The second sub-project closes this gap by investigating the cognitive and affective effects of this organizational form of denominational religious education. The project thus answers the following research questions

• What cognitive and affective effects do teaching units that follow the didactic principles of the kokoRU and take place in the mixed-denominational learning setting of the kokoRU have on students?
• Does it make a difference whether these learning opportunities are geared more towards denominational differences or denominational similarities?
• How do these effects differ from those of a corresponding teaching unit in the didactic and organizational framework of conventional denominational religious education?

Method

Subproject 2 is based on the research design of the Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. The initial conditions of the teaching unit are recorded in a pre-test and its effects in a post-test. The teaching unit itself comprises eight lessons in which the central characteristics of the Protestant and Roman Catholic faith are discussed. All lessons are framed narratively in order to overcome the distance that many pupils have to a lived faith.

The teaching unit is available in three versions. Experimental group I goes through the teaching unit with work assignments that are primarily based on the similarities between the two denominations. Experimental group II undergoes the teaching unit with work assignments that focus primarily on the differences between the two denominations. Then two control groups are formed, one from the Protestant religious education classes and one from the Catholic religious education classes. They also go through the same teaching unit, whereby the similarities and differences are evenly distributed. A third control group consists of kokoRU learning groups that do NOT go through the teaching unit in question.

Significance of the project

It has not yet been tested whether the learning effects of the kokoRU are actually due to this specific didactic setting. Theoretically, it could also be the case that it is the learning unit and not the didactic setting that produces these effects. The third sub-project closes this research gap.

Funding

German Research Foundation

Publications

Malte Brügge-Feldhake, Ulrich Riegel & Mirjam Zimmermann (2024). Didactical model to promote perspective taking, in: British Journal of Religious Education(https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2024.2374163)

Ulrich Riegel, Benedict Totsche, Mirjam Zimmermann & Steffi Fabricius (2024). Religious didactic training courses. The exemplary case of training courses on denominational-cooperative religious education in North Rhine-Westphalia, in: Religionspädagogische Beiträge. Journal for Religion in Education (2024)(https://doi.org/10.20377/rpb-276)

Ulrich Riegel & Mirjam Zimmermann (2022). Evaluation des konfessionell-kooperativen Religionsunterrichts in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.

Steffi Fabricius, Ulrich Riegel, Mirjam Zimmermann & Benedict Totsche (2022). Between Fight and Theatrical Performance: Conceputal Metaphors of Positionality in Communication about Cooperative Religious Education in Germany. In: Religious Education(https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2022.2070375)

Mirjam Zimmermann & Ulrich Riegel (2022). Findings on learning and learning effects in denominational cooperative religious education. In: Religionspädagogische Beiträge 45(2), 89-105.

Ulrich Riegel & Friedrich Schweitzer (2022). Researching denominational-cooperative religious education empirically. A review of existing designs, methods and instruments. In: Religionspädagogische Beiträge 45(2), 107-120.

Oliver Hohenschue, Ulrich Riegel & Mirjam Zimmermann (2022). Heterogeneity in Religious Commitment and its Predictors. In: Religions 13(2), 139.

Ulrich Riegel, Benedict Totsche, Mirjam Zimmermann & Steffi Fabricius (2021). Organizational aspects of the introduction of confessional-cooperative religious education in NRW, in: Theo-Web. Zeitschrift für Religionspädagogik 20(2), 196-215.

Mirjam Zimmermann, Ulrich Riegel, Steffi Fabricius & Benedict Totsche (2021). Teachers' perceptions of the religiosity of children and adolescents in NRW's confessional-cooperative religious education, in: Österreichissches Religionspädagogisches Forum 29(2), 103-121(https://doi.org/10.25364/10.29:2021.2.6)

Mirjam Zimmermann, Ulrich Riegel, Benedict Totsche & Steffi Fabricius (2021), Standpunktfähigkeit und Perspektivenwechsel als Anforderungen an die Lehrpseron im konfessionell-kooperativen Lernsetting aus der Sicht von betroffenen Religionslehrkräften, in: Religionspädagogische Beiträge 44/1(https://doi.org/10.20377/rpb-93).

Ulrich Riegel, Mirjam Zimmermann & Oliver Hohenschue (2020), German Principals' Attitude towards the Form of Religious Education at State Schools, in: Journal of Religious Education 68(3), 397-408.

Ulrich Riegel & Mirjam Zimmermann (2020), Das Thema Abendmahl/Eucharistie als Prüfstein konfessionell-kooperativer Unterrichtsarrangements, in: Kerygma und Dogma. Journal for theological research and church teaching 66(2), 173-191.

Working Papers

Working Paper 1: Research report on the survey of school principals

Working Paper 2: Research report on the survey of parents

Working Paper 3: Research report on the survey of teachers

Working Paper 4: Research report on the survey of pupils

As promised in our letters to you, dear parents, we have planted a tree at "Plant-for-the-planet" for every 3 questionnaires received. A total of 336 trees were planted thanks to your support - thank you very much!

Tree certificate