Religious Education in Russian Schools: Plans, Pains, Practices

Abstract

Since 2012 the compulsory course “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics” has been taught in all public schools of Russia. The introduction of the course compelled Russian scholars to engage in comparative research on the development of normative framework and teaching practice in religious education. Despite the importance of global trends and international debates, it is crucial to observe the local dynamics and discover how particular conceptualizations of religion, education goals, principles and teaching practices affect religious education and its development. In our research, we focus on the case of religious education in Sverdlovsk region with the view to discover how successful are the plans which originated in the efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church to gain entry to public schools, but were moderated by the resistance of educational and academic community. How effective are the practices? What unforeseen issues transpired in its implementation? Intending to highlight some major characteristics of the emerging model of religious education in Russian Federation we conducted a set of semi-structured interviews with the representatives of major groups involved in teaching (public authorities; established religious organizations; education officials; educators; parents whose children attend the course modules and, finally, academic community in Religious Studies) and on its basis we conclude that religious education at Russian schools today rests on a discrepancy between the alleged goals of the course “Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics”, which emphasize multicultural education, and its implementation, which stems from practical constraints and local agendas.

Author Biographies

Olga A. Iakimova, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia

Olga A. Iakimova, Cand. Sci. (Sociology) is Associate Professor at the Department of Integrated Marketing Communications and Branding, and Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory for Comparative Studies of Toleration and Recognition, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Her research interests include sociology of religion with focus on religious education and values; sociology of migration with focus on attitudes toward immigrants; methodology of social research, and comparative studies.

Andrey S. Menshikov, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia

Andrey S. Menshikov, Cand. Sci. (Philosophy) is Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Ural Federal University. His research interests are History of Philosophy and Political Philosophy.

References


  • Arweck, E., & Jackson, R. (Eds.). (2014). Religion, Education and Society: Young People, Religious Identity, Socialisation and Diversity. London: Routledge.

  • Berglund, J., Shanneik, Y., & Bocking B. (Eds.). (2016). Religious Education in a Global-Local World. Springer.

  • Blinkova, A., & Vermeer, P. (2018). Religious Education in Russia: A Comparative and Critical Analysis. British Journal of Religious Education, 40(2), 194–206. DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2016.1190687

  • Blinkova, A., & Vermeer, P. (2019). Religious Education in Russia: a Critical Analysis of a Widely Used Textbook. British Journal of Religious Education, 41(2), 174–187. DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2017.1405794

  • Daniliuk, A., Kondakov, A., & Tishkov, V. (2009). Kontseptsiia dukhovnonravstvennogo razvitia i vospitaniia lichnosti grazhdanina Rossii [The Concept of Moral and Spiritual Upbringing of a Citizen of Russia]. Moscow: Prosveshchenie.

  • Hvithamar, A., & Stepanova, E. (2011). Shkola i religiia: Evropeiskii opyt [School nd Religion: European Experience]. Nauchnyi ezhegodnik Instituta filosofii i prava Ural’skogo otdeleniia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk, 11, 361–376.

  • Jackson, R. (2014). “Signposts”: Policy and Practice for Teaching about Religions and Non-Religious Worldviews in Intercultural Education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.

  • Jackson, R. (2019). Religious Education for Plural Societies: The Selected Works of Robert Jackson. World Library of Educationalists Series, London: Routledge.

  • Jensen, T. (2017a). Religious Education: Meeting and Countering Changes, – Changing and Standing Still. Changing Societies & Personalities, 1(1), 48–73. DOI: 10.15826/csp.2017.1.1.004

  • Jensen, T. (2017b). Religious Education in Public Schools: The Most Important Tendencies (With Special Focus on Scandinavia). Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov’ v Rossii i za rubezhom, 35(4), 46–71. DOI: 10.22394/2073-7203-2017-35-4-46-71

  • Menshikov, A., & Iakimova, O. (2017). Poiski al’ternativy konfessional’nomu religioznomu obrazovaniiu v Evrope: kriticheskaia refleksiia opyta [In Search of Alternative to Religious Education in Europe: Critical Assessment]. Izvestiia Ural’skogo universiteta. Seriia 1. Problemy obrazovaniia, nauki i kul’tury, 4(168), 165–180.

  • Monitoring of the FRCSE Course in Russian Federation. Retrieved from http://orkce.apkpro.ru/401.html

  • On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations, 125 Federal Law, the Russian Federation (1997). Retrieved from http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_16218/

  • Ozhiganova, A. (2017). Teaching about Religion in School: The Pursuit of Neutrality and the “Culture Wars”. Introduction. Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov’ v Rossii i za rubezhom, 35(4), 7–29. DOI: 10.22394/2073-7203-2017-35-4-7-29

  • Shakhnovich, M. (2017). Religion in School: Current European Landscape. Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov’ v Rossii i za rubezhom, 35(4), 30–45. DOI: 10.22394/2073-7203-2017-35-4-30-45

  • Shnirelman, V. (2017). Religious Culture or Invitation to Religion: What Are the New Textbooks About? Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov’ v Rossii i za rubezhom, 35(4), 89–118. DOI: 10.22394/2073-7203-2017-35-4-89-118

  • Stepanova, E. (2011). Religiia i obrazovanie v Evrope: debaty o vzaimnoi sovmestimosti [Religion and Education in Europe: Debates on Mutual Compatibility]. Izvestiia Ural’skogo universiteta. Seriia 1. Problemy obrazovaniia, nauki i kul’tury, 3(92), 6–15.

  • OSCE. (2007). The Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools. Retrieved from https://www.osce.org/odihr/29154?download=true

  • Uzlaner, D. (2013). Kartografia postsekuliarnogo [Cartography of Postsecular]. Otechestvennye zapiski, 52(1). Retrieved from: http://www.strana-oz.ru/2013/1/kartografiya-postsekulyarnogo

  • Uzlaner, D. (2019). Konets religii? Istoriia teorii sekuliarizatsii [The End of Religion? A History of the Theory of Secularization]. Moscow: Izdatel’skii dom Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki.

  • Zubets, O. P. Zakluchenie po moduliu “Osnovy svetskoi etiki” [The Conclusion on the Module “Fundamentals of Secular Ethics”]. Retrieved from https://iphras.ru/page50562154.htm

Published
2020-01-06
How to Cite
Iakimova, O., & Menshikov, A. (2019). Religious Education in Russian Schools: Plans, Pains, Practices. Changing Societies & Personalities, 3(4), 373–387. doi:10.15826/csp.2019.3.4.083
Section
Articles