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The IERS Project has collaborated with Italian Universities, Centers for the study on secularism, Foundations and Associations in order to organize a international conference entitled “The teaching of History of Religions and History of Free Though in Public School“, that will act as the final Dissemination Event of the IERS Project. In fact, six speakers will come from the IERS Project Team. These persons are:
Here a detailed programme of the event:
DATE: Saturday, April the 2nd
VENUE: Circolo dei Lettori, Large Hall, Via Bogino 9, Turin (Italy)
Academic session: 10.00 a.m – 1.30 p.m
(Languages: Italian, English, French. Simultaneous translation IT>ENG, FR>ENG available)
Chair: Gian Enrico Rusconi, president of Centro Calamandrei, professor emeritus of the University of Turin
Opening Speech: Tullio Monti, director of the Centro Calamandrei
Speeches:
Session on the Italian experiences: 2.30 – 5.00 p.m.
(Languages: Italian)
Chair: Giovanni Lapis, IERS Project Manager and Beatrice Nuti, association UVA – Universolaltro
Youth associations of religious movements:
Professional associations of teachers:
Parents’ Association:
Forum of Religions in Milan:
IERS Project teachers:
Law & politics session: 5.00 – 7.30
(Languages: Italian)
Chair: Mariachiara Giorda, professor of History of Religions at the University of Bologna, Centro Calamandrei
In January the 26th in Palazzo Montecitorio, seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, has been held a Conference entitled “Scuola & Religioni. Buone pratiche dell’offerta didattica formativa della scuola pubblica italiana” (School & Religions. Good Practices in the Educational Offer of the Italian Public School).
IERS Project coordinators Massimo Raveri and Giovanni Lapis of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice have been invited as speakers by the promoter of the seminar, the deputy Hon. Davide Mattiello.
The Conference, inaugurated by a message from the Italian Minister of Education, University and Research, Hon. Stefania Giannini, was meant to map the various good practices dedicated to the spreading inside the public schools of the knowledge of contemporary cultural and religious pluralism. There was a strong concern on the need to reinforce the dialogue with political and institutional representatives in order to enhance the educational offer with additional pilot projects.
IERS Project coordinators has been therefore invited to present the Project and its outcomes, the Digital Modules, as examples of good practices aimed to create a school able to function as a place of cultural integration, anti-discrimination and citizenship education.
The meeting was attended by deputies of the Commission on Culture, Science, Education, such as Hon.Umberto D’Ottavio, and the Prefect Giovanna Maria Rita Iurato, head of the Central Directorate for Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Interior. Among the other speakers who took the floor there were professors of the University of Rome La Sapienza, University of Turin, University of Siena and University of Modena and Reggio-Emilia, who have studied the problem of teaching the history of religion in schools from different perspectives.
This event has been an extraordinary occasion for disseminating and exploiting IERS Project results at an institutional level, and it is a proof of a progressive awareness in Italy (as well as in other parts of Europe) of the increasing importance of tackling seriously the issue of religious pluralism in public education.
Here a video synopsis of the event (in italian)
The third edition of the International Conference Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality (TEEM’15) has been organized by Polytechnic of Porto – School of Engineering (ISEP) in Porto, Portugal at the beginning of October.
Alicia García-Holgado, researcher in the GRIAL Research Group at the University of Salamanca, presented the IERS project results in a session focused on giving visibility to research projects.
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Augsburg. – The partners of the EU LLP Comenius Project IERS, in which the Chair of History Didactics is involved, will meet from 26th to 29th April 2015 to hold their third conference at Augsburg University.
The IERS Project, which is financed by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union (Comenius Multilateral Projects), takes on the challenges for education policy posed by an increasingly multi-cultural and multi-religious Europe. At present, religious education at state schools in the European member states shows many different forms; but scientifically based, critically oriented, historically and interculturally structured learning in religious studies is still poorly developed. The project rationale is based on the conviction that an a-confessional, objective, high-quality teaching about history and the present state of religion supports the development of social, civic and intercultural competences educating towards a constructive and critical understanding of cultural and religious differences. The Chair of History Didactics at Augsburg University contributes its expertise in the qualitative evaluation of the Learning and Teaching Modules.
The IERS Project is a two-year initiative (December 2013 – December 2015) with two overlapping phases. The first project phase plans to create innovative teaching tools in form of digital modules combining information and communications technology with up-to-date academic findings from the studies of religions. The aim of the project is to create at least 20 digital modules categorised in three thematic blocks. These are:
An already concluded baseline study seeking to describe the current way of teaching about religion all over Europe completes this process of the first phase. The second phase of the project includes extensive pilot activities in which the digital modules are evaluated from the point of view of history didactics and tested in actual classes. Based on the feedback, an accompanying handbook is developed, which will also contain the analysis of the baseline study, a general introduction and additional information material.
The members of the project consortium are Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia (Italy) as project coordinator, École Pratique des Hautes Études (France), Syddansk Universitet (Denmark), Universidad de Salamanca (Spain), Oxfam Italia Intercultura (Italy) as well as Universität Augsburg (Germany). In addition to the didactical evaluation of the module concepts, the Chair of History Didactics at Augsburg University has also taken on the management of the distribution of the project results and the pilot phase, in which a range of schools from Italy, Denmark, France, Spain and Germany are involved.
The conference in Augsburg will focus on optimising the module development and digitalisation as well as on starting the practical module testing by the partner schools. So as to achieve a sustainable dissemination of the project results the agenda further includes the greater involvement of relevant stakeholder groups.
Contact (national):
Felix Petzold M.A.
Project manager (national) of the IERS Project (LLP)
Augsburg University
86135 Augsburg
Phone 0049(0)821-598-5554
Email: Felix.Petzold@phil.uni-augsburg.de
The Dipartimento di Studi sull’Asia e l’Africa Mediterranea of the Università Ca’ Foscari (Venezia) has organized a workshop in order to introduce the European Project IERS.
The workshop will take place on February 2 in the Liceo Foscarini di Venezia. The programme will be:
15.00 – 15.15
Prof. Massimo Raveri
Opening address
15.15 – 15.30
Dr. Giovanni Lapis
Presentation of the Project “Intercultural Education through Religious Studies”
15.30 – 17.00
Prof. Mariachiara Giorda
Seminar: ” Modalità e importanza dell’insegnamento della storia delle religioni nelle scuole”
The IERS baseline study of religion education in the partner countries maps and analyses how religion and teaching (about) religion is played out in the official curricula for religion education or other school subjects, primarily in upper-secondary school in the five participating countries, i.e. Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. On top of that the baseline study also highlights the most important trans-national European recommendations for the implementation of a study-of-religions based RE in the nation states of Europe, in order, hopefully, for religion education to contribute to intercultural understanding, tolerance and a constructive handling of religious and cultural diversity and conflict.
The digital modules are intended for teachers in secondary or upper-secondary schools, in various school subjects (History, Geography, Humanities, Philosophy, etc.). They provide them with up-dated information about the three monotheistic traditions and religions of Asia. The perspective is the one of academic and scientific study and research.
The IERS project proposes 27 modules. Now are available four modules:
