Educating towards religious competence: an action project on RE didactics in school and church.

The aim of this project was to compare and address current challenges and develop new didactic approaches, for the teaching of RE in schools and the preparation for confirmation in church. The overall theme is ‘Educating towards religious competence’, and one results of our collaboration is a fourfold model for RE didactics based on the concept of competence. The research took place in two different groups, one for teachers and one for priests, thus respecting the different aims and frames of school and church, but also taking the opportunity to compare the two different settings from the perspective of practice. A meeting between the two groups in the last phase opened up new reflections on the differences and similarities of the two teaching environments.
The methodology is a combination of action research, didactic theory and philosophy of education. The open approach of action research means that each participant has chosen and developed their own project in a shared process of investigation. Mutual and equal collaboration is the organizing principle in the research process as well as the presentation. We will present six of the eight projects and some of the broader analytical perspectives and questions that the collaboration has generated.
The outline of the paper is the following: 1. A short introduction to religious education and didactic research in RE in Denmark, 2. Presentation of the fourfold model that was generated through the project: Educating towards religious competence, 3. The methodology: action research, 4: A brief introduction to the six projects, that we will present and discuss at the symposium.