Religious and citizenship education in Belgium/Flanders: Suggestions for the future

Abstract

In Belgium (Flanders), citizenship education is one of the cross-curricular achievements, but it is not scheduled as a separate school subject. Alternatively, citizenship education is integrated in diverse school subjects and particularly in the religious education classes. However, with this didactical approach, two problems arise. First, attention to liberal, democratic values is not always given in a sufficient, convincing way and is often dependent on the teacher staff's efforts and goodwill. Second -and more important -, religious education in Belgium is organized by the independent religious instances of the recognized religions and not by the state. As a result, religious education teachers are often responsible for citizenship education, without supervision of the state. Not surprisingly, the aims of citizenship education are not always reached and Flanders scores below the European average with regard to citizenship education. In order to improve this situation, this article recommends a new, obligatory, non-confessional subject about (and not into) religion, where attention is given to religious diversity, ethics, philosophy and citizenship education. For pragmatic reasons, an immediate introduction of this subject would be impossible, but a gradual and profound change is recommended.

Assessing Islamic Religious Education Curriculum in Flemish Public Secondary Schools

“…The Belgian/Flemish context, for nearly one decade now there have been heated debates about the organisation and subsidisation of RE courses in public schools (Franken and Loobuyck 2013;Franken 2014;Franken 2017aFranken , 2017c. Even the possibility to reduce the two hours to one hour-as in Wallonia-is a topic of discussion (De Standaard 2019a;Education Commission 2016a;Flemish Government 2019).…”

Islamitische godsdienstlessen: naar een integratief pedagogisch-didactisch model

“…De eerste kritiek is vaak gericht op alle vormen van confessioneel godsdienstonderwijs, ook bijvoorbeeld katholiek en protestants-christelijk godsdienstonderwijs. Deze vormen van onderwijs zouden achterhaald zijn omdat ze stammen uit de tijd dat Nederland en Vlaanderen sterk verzuild waren, terwijl de samenleving van vandaag seculier, pluralistisch en grotendeels ontzuild is (Franken 2014;Loobuyck et al 2011). Regelmatig is de kritiek echter ook specifiek gericht op het islamitisch godsdienstonderwijs.…”

Intra- and Interreligious Dialogue in Flemish (Belgian) Secondary Education as a Tool to Prevent Radicalisation

“…The Belgian/Flemish debates resonate with the international, at least Western European, debate on the place and added value of religion in a school context (Franken 2017a(Franken , 2017b(Franken , 2017c(Franken , 2018Franken and Loobuyck 2013a, 2013bFranken 2009, 2011;Zilliacus and Kallioniemi 2016;Valk and Tosun 2016;Sahin 2018;Kjeldsen 2019). Additionally, debates regarding citizenship education are ongoing (Franken 2014;Loobuyck 2019aLoobuyck , 2019bLoobuyck , 2020Sahin 2017a). However, the expectations toward IRE teachers, imams or Muslim social civil society are not new (Flemish Parliament 2003, 2006, 2011, 2012a, 2012b, 2015dEducation and Equal Opportunities Commission 2011a, 2011b, 2011cEducation and Training Commission 2009; Education Commission 2016d).…”