oa [Levensbeschouwing: een vak dat er toe doet, Religious Education and Worldview Education: A Field that Matters]

The subject of this contribution is the present state of affairs regarding religious education and the teaching of worldviews (Dutch: ‘levensbeschouwing’) on the one hand and the quality of the textbooks used on the other. The approach is that of a teacher in secondary education. The author starts by giving a brief outline of the general situation of religious education in the Netherlands. Then he deals with the significance of religious learning for the personal development of young people and asks how the subject should be taught. If it is to contribute to social cohesion and civic education it will have to aim at the development of a personal identity. These aims imply that both teachers and textbooks should meet certain standards with regard to didactics and professionalism. The author argues that due to recent developments, such as the so-called ‘new learning’, religious education and world view education can potentially fulfil a pivotal role for all ongoing learning processes in the schools.