Kim de Wildt. With all senses: An empirical study of religious ritual in school

Transcription

1 Kim de Wildt With all senses: something for body and mind An empirical study of religious ritual in school Jena 2014

2 Studien zur Religionspädagogik und Praktischen eologie Band Nr. 6 Herausgegeben von Michael Wermke Dissertation Fachbereich Fakultät Humanwissenschaften und eologie der Technischen Universität Dortmund vorgelegt von Kim de Wildt, Bonn Zugl.: Jena, Univ., Diss., 2013 ISBN Bibliographische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliographie; detaillierte bibliographische Daten sind im Internet über abrufbar. FORMAT Druckerei & Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, Garamond Verlag, Edition Paideia Satz: Schreibservice Kathrin Lösche Druck: FORMAT Druckerei & Verlagsgesellschaft mbh Jena 2014

3 Contents acknowledgements Preface Research objective, strategies and methods Research model Knowledge generation eory of rituality e history of the study of ritual and ritual studies Characteristics of rituality Functions of rituality e religious educational context of rituality in school RE: a preliminary introduction RE in the German context Rituality in school e German context Objective or experiential RE: a debate Solutions? Realistic solutions? Specific forms of rituality in school RE and competence research methods Participant observation Description Evaluation Expert interviews Descriptive knowledge Explanatory knowledge Reliability and validity

4 4. interviews with teachers of re School forms and student population General data of the schools studied e interviews in comparative view Description: inventory of rituality in school Interpretation: aspects of rituality and teacher competence Conclusion Rituality in school Attention for rituality in school Teacher competence Dealing with theological difficulties in school Dealing with religious pluralism and secularism in school Functions of rituality in school Participant observation of ritual practices in school Graduation day Description of the graduation service Description of the planting of the apple tree Description of the farewell party Interpretation of graduation day e celebration of the first day of school Description of the celebration of the first day of school Interpretation of the celebration of the first day of school Circle time Description of circle time Interpretation of circle time Conclusion Rituality in school Characteristics of rituality in school Functions of rituality in school reflection Description Rituality in school: forms and contents Attention for rituality in school Teacher competence Functionality of rituality in school Explanation

5 6.2.1 Ritual Bildung and functionality of rituality in school Difficulties regarding rituality in school Prediction, recommendations and outlook Attention for rituality in school Teacher competence Interreligious rituality in school Functionality of rituality in school references appendix 1 Participant information appendix 2 Questionnaire appendix 3 Transcription Notation appendix 4 Matrix Display: Within-Case Display appendix 5 Matrix Display: Cross-Case Display appendix 6 Interview abstract appendix 7 Observational tool appendix 8 Songs and stories Figure index Table index Matrix index

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7 Acknowledgements On the road to completing this study I have been accompanied by several people whom I wish to express my gratitude to. My interest in religious education and ritual studies started at the Radboud University in the Netherlands and later in the Institute of Catholic Education there. My colleagues and friends Isolde Driesen, Marizjenne van den Heuvel and Sara Michielsen of the department of practical theology have been an immense support during this time. e person I am most indebted to is my promoter professor Bert Roebben who gave me the opportunity to start this project at the Institute of Catholic eology at the Technical University Dortmund. roughout the years he has inspired and motivated me with his knowledge and kindheartedness. I also wish to thank my colleagues in the Institute of Catholic eology and the Institute of Protestant eology who made working there such a rewarding experience. I specifically want to thank my colleague Dr. Katharina Kammeyer for her friendship at the start and throughout my years in Dortmund. I also wish to thank eresa Schwarzkopf for her support during several teaching courses. Without the participation of the teachers of religious education this study could not have been executed and for this I am very thankful. I furthermore wish to thank professor Ronald Grimes who has been a great inspiration throughout the years and I am honoured to call him my friend. I also would like to thank professor Paul Post and professor Claudia Gärtner for their willingness to be members of the reading committee. I am very indebted to my parents, brother and his friend for their ongoing support and believe in me. Without my husband, Dr. Rob Plum, and his spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical support I could not have executed this study. erefore this book is dedicated to him and our four-legged housemates who are our daily pride and joy: our dogs Henk ( ), Elena and Ceci, our horses Gismo and Lotte, our goats Felix, Fanny, Winnie and Wendy and our cats Melissa, Aap, Mies, Leo and Tijger. 9

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9 For groups, as well as for individuals, life itself means to separate and to be reunited, to change form and condition, to die and to be reborn. It is to act and to cease, to wait and rest, and then to begin acting again, but in a different way. And there are always new thresholds to cross: the thresholds of summer and winter, of a season or a year, of a month or a night, the thresholds of birth, adolescence, maturity, and old age; the threshold of death and that of the afterlife for those who believe in it. (Van Gennep 1960, ) Preface An overview of this study as a whole will be provided in this preface: ( 0.1) the research objective, strategies and methods, ( 0.2) a model of this study and ( 0.3) knowledge generation. But first, I will describe how the choice for this study was made. Every form of research starts with a specific research interest which is, in most cases, linked to the specific (scholarly) interest of the researcher. In this research this is the case as well: my research interest is linked to my own personal biography. erefore, I will situate this study in the context of my research interest. As a young, Dutch girl I attended a Catholic primary school in my hometown of Nijmegen. My parents both had a Catholic background, but were not practicing Catholics anymore. Churchgoing was a part of their childhood they had left behind as they became adults as much of their contemporaries also did. e choice to send their children to a Catholic school was a choice which was mostly made for pragmatic reasons: this particular primary school had a good name as an educational institution and was nearby our home as well, the same reasons on which basis most parents nowadays select a school for their children as well. So, there I went, from the age of five till twelve years old, attending this Catholic school. But something happened in those years in this Catholic school my parents could not anticipate: I felt at home there, not in spite of, but because of the Catholic character of this school. is study would 11

10 WITH ALL SENSES: SOMETHING FOR BODy AND MIND probably not have seen the light if it was not for the experiences I have made in this school as my religious journey in life started. e most profound religious experiences I encountered there were not only the Bible stories that were told there, but more so the atmosphere in which those stories were told. For instance, when Advent came the teacher used to light a candle daily and tell part of the story of Jesus birth. As she used to draw the curtains in the classroom before lighting the candle an atmosphere of intimate togetherness among us children arose. is story of Jesus birth became even more meaningful to me, when we as children enacted it: my classmates played the roles of Mary, Josef, the sheep, a doll portrayed baby Jesus and I got to play the angel delivering the good message. ese experiences had a profound impact on me: I experienced the Christian tradition as an intertwined experience of a meaningful message in a meaningful form of which I and the other children were part of. ose experiences implanted joyous feelings and a sense of purpose of life inside me. Although the primacy of this study lies with forms of rituality in school, this choice has not been made in a attempt to take up the old scholarly debate of the myth and ritual school: which came first, the myth or rite, and more importantly, which of those is the most meaningful and important expression of religion? e reason I wanted to pay attention to ritual on the forefront instead of myths and stories in an educational context is that in my perspective a good rite contains of good stories. And therefore a rite often enough implies a story, or two, or three In a lot of educational contexts the stories remain, but most of the accompanying ritualized forms tend to disappear, for instance due to them being considered more appropriate for elementary school instead of secondary school, or because cognitive forms of education are appreciated more and given more recognition than affective forms of education. Reasons for this reduction of attention for rituality in school will be addressed in this study. I would like to stress on forehand that my own experiences as a catechist for Catholic primary schools in e Netherlands and my experiences in Dutch and German universities have strengthened my believe that rituality is missed out on as an opportunity not only to provide students in secondary and higher forms of education with certain religious educational lessons that need to be taught, but especially of life lessons, that need to be experienced and celebrated. is is not only the case with young children, but also with young adults in their formative years and adults as well. Human beings are ritual animals: 12

11 PREFACE they need to express themselves in a ritual manner. As the crew from Mars500 returned on the 4 th of November 2011 from their simulated Mars journey after 520 days of isolation, the project manager Jennifer Ngo-Anh stated that she did not anticipate that creativity would play such an important role and that the participants themselves initiated creative forms to celebrate Halloween, Christmas and the Chinese new year to cope with boredom. 1 As I left elementary school I started a new school career in secondary school. Initially I went to senior general secondary education (HAVO which can be compared to the German Realschule). Due to circumstances of not feeling at home in school my grades dropped and I ended up in junior general secondary education (a form of education which can be compared to the German Hauptschule [see note 2 in Chapter 1]). e intimate atmosphere of elementary school as well as the protective sacred canopy I experienced there felt like a far reminiscent of the past. e only form of religion I encountered in secondary education were the hours in which a somewhat depressed looking priest taught religious education (RE) in a manner which only inspired us students to give a cognitive contribution in order to get a good grade and pass the class. I did not feel at home there and my parents decided to send me to another secondary school. is time it was not a Catholic school, but a secular one and I graduated there. e feeling that it was impossible to achieve anything more than this, was not articulated by the teachers, but strongly felt in this level of education amongst myself and my classmates. A career as a factory labourer or something similar seemed to await me. I did not accept this situation as my future perspective and went to a school for adult education (I got age dispensation, because I was seventeen at the moment and officially too young to attend this form of education). ere I completed senior general secondary education and some courses in preuniversity secondary education. After some years of (soul) searching, at a certain point in time I actually did end up working in a factory where my colleagues, predominantly middle-aged men, urged me not to make their mistake and leave the first chance I got to better myself, I rediscovered what was of the utmost importance to me. I felt that some of my life experiences, the positive influence of my family and some of my teachers who did believe in me and were a great inspiration, led me

12 WITH ALL SENSES: SOMETHING FOR BODy AND MIND in another direction. I decided to try to get into university. On the first day I went there to study religion I came across a crucifix of Jesus near the road. I stopped and prayed. I believe my prayer was answered, because I began studying and my thirst for knowledge was stimulated and quenched. My study sent me on the path of ritual studies and that of religious education. During and after graduating I was given the chance to conduct a small research into the relation between those two fields of interest at the Radboud University Nijmegen. After this my life took a different turn as I went to Holland s big neighbour Germany. In first stance I only lived in Germany, but later on was given the opportunity to write this doctoral thesis about my two main scholarly interests: Religious Education (RE) and Ritual Studies (RS) in my new Heimat (homeland). It is my belief that rituality can contribute in a positive sense to the wellbeing of people and their growth into spiritual, moral beings and that it can do so in numerous manners. e objective of this study is to explore whether this is the case. Such dense subjects as religiosity and identity formation cannot easily be quantified or measured in numbers. erefore I made the choice to conduct qualitative research. is form of research links theory to empirical practice and can provide insights into more than only behaviour, but addresses the underlying motives, attitudes, etc. as well. Both the interviews with teachers as well as the field research are conducted to provide insight in the diverse relations between the different variables in the field of rituality and education. 0.1 Research objective, strategies and methods e aim of this study is to explore several aspects of rituality in a school context. e research angle is analytical: the objective is to measure whether existing ritual theory can be applied to the context of the school. Moreover, this study is fundamental: existing ideas with regard to rituality in a school context will be re-examined and re-explored. is research goal is achieved by three research strategies: (1) literature study, (2) interviews with teachers of religious education and (3) observation of specific forms of rituality in schools. (1) e literature study concerns the field of ritual studies in general and more specifically in the context of the school (chapter 1). Secondly, religious education in general is explored and more specifically religious education in Germany (chapter 2). 14

13 PREFACE (2) Teachers of religious education in secondary education (Sekundarstufe I) at the level of lower secondary education (Hauptschule) and one teacher of a school for children with special needs (Förderschule or Sonderschule) are interviewed in a face-to-face expert interview with a semi-structured questionnaire which is constructed on the basis of the theoretical context of ritual studies and religious education (chapter 4). is part of the study is the key to the answer which competences are needed with regard to the performance of rituality in school, because the teacher is the person who facilitates, designs or enables students to experience rituality in the school or classroom. (3) Actual ritual practices are observed in the Hauptschule and one Förderschule or Sonderschule. ese observations will be analyzed on the basis of concepts derived from the field of ritual studies (chapter 5). On the basis of the empirical research the forms of rituality that take place in the studied schools are described, as well as the connection between the theoretical concepts and the empirical reality in order to provide clearance in the challenges and possibilities with regard to rituality in the studied schools (chapter 6). e outcomes of these three research strategies lead to an answer of the main research question: in which way is and can rituality in Hauptschulen in NRW be created as a vibrant practice? (chapter 7). 0.2 Research model RS theories (chapter 1) RE theories (chapter 2) Expert-interviews (chapter 4) Partcipant observation (chapter 5) Figure 1: Research model Analysis (chapter 6) Analysis (chapter 6) Conditions for rituality as a vibrant practice in Hauptschulen in NRW (chapter 7) 15

14 WITH ALL SENSES: SOMETHING FOR BODy AND MIND 0.3 Knowledge generation ree kinds of knowledge will be generated: (1) descriptive knowledge, (2) explanatory knowledge and (3) predictive knowledge. (1) e aim of descriptive knowledge generation in the literature study, interviews and observations is to describe what takes place in regard to rituality in Hauptschulen. is will build the theoretical framework and give insight in the actual ritual practices taking place in the schools studied. (2) e aim of explanatory knowledge generation is to gain insight in the connection between the theoretical concepts and the empirical reality. It aims to provide clearance in the challenges and possibilities with regard to rituality in the studied schools. (3) Predictive knowledge is the outcome of the previous two kinds of knowledge and will generate conclusions and explanations concerning the main predictive research question: in which way can rituality in Hauptschulen be created as a vibrant practice? ese theoretical research questions have been operationalized into interview questions and the observational tool (See appendix 2 and 7 and chapter 3 Research methods ). 16