How did children respond to questions and tasks concerning existential questions and understandings? Preliminary re-analyses of children’s existential responses in the UMRe project 1968-1973

• The experimental education project UMRe: Undervisningmetodik - religionskunskap had a direct relation to the education political governance of Sweden, being financed by Skolöverstyrelsen [The National Board of Education], at time the central ministerial governing institutions of schools. The aim was to pedagogize (Bernstein 1990) “objective teaching in Religion Studies”, based on the pedagogical principle of MAKIS “Motivation – Activity – Concretizing – Individualization – Cooperation,” that was stipulated in the Curriculum reform of 1962. Like UMRe, also the concept of MAKIS was designed by scholars from the The Stockholm Institute of Education (Lgr62; SÖ-report 2, 5; Westling & Petterson 1973,1). From a wide range of activities, including interviews with pupils on their attitude to e.g. Religionskunskap and development of instruction materials, also the study “What are children’s existential questions?” was conducted, with responses from 377 pupils from six schools in different Swedish regions. Based on the pupils-responses, the paper explores fruitful ways to analyze the children’s responses to questions and tasks concerning existential questions and understandings, in order to identify what kind of (existential) responses the children express as well as their ways of doing it. On this basis, the presentation formulates ideas for how to explore children’s responses to questions and tasks concerning existential questions and understandings at present. In addition, the paper presents findings concerning the types of responses the children express and how these may vary in relation to gender and socio-economic background.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)