Search

This article presents the results of a three year research conducted by the author based on an educational project which was implemented in a Greek Secondary school for two years (2009-11). ‘We organise a conference’ was a project that presented students with an open-ended key evaluative question which they were required to answer. It was based upon enquiry based learning and it used the methods and techniques of applied theatre. Over the school year students researched an issue through role play (related to the process of organizing and taking part in a conference), which led to improvements in their cognitive skills while at the same time gaining greater insight into the issue and their own attitudes and practices. This is the educational way of ‘making sense of’ and ‘giving meaning to’ an issue related to students’ lives. The author discusses the learning outcomes of the process and the educational importance and value of the method in the larger context of educational design. Empirical methods such as texts and by-products of the project, a research journal and semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and observation provided the basis for the hermeneutical analysis method which was used in the quantitative and qualitative survey, the findings and results of which are presented in the article. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n11p333

This article concerns two recent political legislative moves by the Greek government and one in regard to Religious Education (RE) in schools. The latter concerns compulsory RE and the right to exemption for Orthodox students. The former concerns the new Curriculum of compulsory education (2011) which keeps RE as a distinctive compulsory subject for all, claiming that RE has been non-confessional since 2003 and an Amendment (2013) of Law 3536/2007 which was never implemented. The Amendment enacts a formal Muslim RE only for the schools of Western Thrace and for the students of the Muslim Minority who register at Greek public schools and have the right to withdraw from RE due to reasons relating to their religious consciousness. The native Muslims of Western Thrace (a region in the northern part of Greece bordering Turkey) are recognized as a minority according to the Lausanne Treaty (1923). They comprise 50% of the population, and according to the Treaty they have their own religion and educational system. The author takes into account the complexity of religion, educationand politics in the region and addresses controversial issues on the topic of RE that have been raised not only in local society but also between academics, educationists and educators. The question arises as to whether the Greek State is really concerned with RE and the type of RE to be offered to children. Fieldwork by interviewing persons responsible for or related to the subject and articles of local and national newspapers provided the sources for the paper.

In this article the author argues that the teaching of religion(s) in education, in a social pedagogical context, can encourage community cohesion especially when, during the current harsh crisis, the need for cohesion seems to be of paramount importance in enabling seemingly insurmountable problems to be overcome. At the same time minorities become vulnerable and diversity, a matter of high priority, comes to the fore. The author reviews evidence of research on the effect of educational intervention within Religious Education on student attitudes toward religious diversity. He proposes that constructivist methodology, using theatre/drama as a means of Religious Education, could give people the choice to be critical religious believers and active members in a society applying the fundamental social pedagogical principle of tolerance to and respect for the ‘other’.