Religious education in russian schools: teacher’s opinions (based on interviews and questionnaires)

Abstract

The article publishes an analysis of opinions of teachers in the subject Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics in the secondary school in Russia. The relevance of the study is due to the necessity of empirical verifi cation of already proposed and existing worldview-related and methodological approaches in the sphere of religious education. The study included in-depth interviews with teachers, assessment of children’s knowledge, attendance of classes and workshops of teachers, interviews with teachers of further education courses, with university teachers specialising in religious studies and theology, as well as with researchers in theology. The project is region-specifi c; the article uses results of surveys and interviews carried out in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. Several pieces of evidence ae compared with results of surveys in other Russian regions. The main fi ndings are as follows. The study refl ects the contemporary Russian teacher with typical social and demographic characteristics; the modules of the Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics are taught by primary school teachers; most of them are positive about the introduction of this school subject; according to studies in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Regions, most teachers prefer non-confessional general modules; study materials are usually evaluated positively, but it is mentioned that they may have drawbacks in terms of the contemporary means of presenting information and in terms of the perception and demands of present-day students; most teachers have attended additional courses in the subject and evaluated them as useful, but said that they still do not have enough knowledge in religious cultures; interaction with religious institutions when teching modules in specifi c religious cultures is rare, the most successful interaction of this kind is seen in confessional schools; parents can discuss and choose the module in Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics in parents’ meetings; the teachers say that in these meetings parents were off ered an opportunity to discuss and select the module of Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics, any coersion being absent, but the role of the teachers is decisive. The main conclusion is that the implementation of the Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics has gone through the formative stage and has gone over to the stage of discussing the content of the modules and accumulating the experience in teaching practices.