Religious instruction in Switzerland

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The legal status and content of religious education in public schools is different in every canton in Switzerland . Due to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion in Switzerland, denominational religious education is to be given as an optional subject separately from the other classes.

General statements

In 1999, religious instruction was given at all schools in Switzerland.

In Switzerland, the cantons have school sovereignty. This leads to very different school systems with very different regulations for religious instruction. There is once that

Religious instruction in schools (SRU)

It is issued in the various cantons
  1. by the state schools without joint responsibility of the publicly recognized religious communities,
  2. with joint responsibility of the publicly recognized religious communities or
  3. under the responsibility of the religious communities recognized under public law in cooperation with the state.

and on the other hand the

Church, denominational religious instruction (KRU)

It is granted
  1. without cooperation with the state,
  2. in cooperation with the state, in the rooms of the school outside the weekly timetable,
  3. in the rooms of the school within the weekly timetable and
  4. Depending on the canton, the state has more or less a say in questions of church, denominational religious instruction.
The KRU is also known as Bible teaching.

The SRU usually takes place on the premises of the school. It is not integrated into the weekly timetable. The KRU usually takes place on the premises of the church. It is not integrated into the weekly timetable.

The school is responsible for supervising children who do not take part in religious education.

Basic religious education

Efforts have been made since 1995 to change this situation. For example, the joint commission of the Roman Catholic, Evangelical Reformed and Christian Catholic Churches, in consultation with the Education and Culture Department of the Canton of Lucerne, submitted an application to the Central Switzerland Conference of Directors of Education (IEDK) to have a curriculum for primary school drawn up. The project is called «Basic Religious Education».

At the same time - but independently - an interdisciplinary advanced seminar for the areas of canon law / state church law and religious education / catechetics for religious instruction was held at the University of Lucerne (UHL). The aim was to examine the current legal and actual situation of religious education in schools and to identify possible legal and religious educational perspectives.

Representatives of the school development of the EKD Lucerne, the ZBS and the Chair for Canon Law / State Church Law of the University of Lucerne (UHL) have launched a joint research project to investigate the actual situation of religious education in the educational departments, the Roman Catholic and Protestant Reformed regional churches, the Christian Catholic and publicly recognized Jewish communities in German-speaking Switzerland.

As of 1999

A study found that in 1999 there was school and / or denominational religious instruction in public schools in all German-speaking cantons. No school religious instruction was given in a total of five cantons. In fourteen cantons there was no school religious instruction in grades seven to nine (lower secondary level).

In eighteen cantons denominational religious instruction took place in public schools. In three cantons it was issued outside of public schools.

In fourteen cantons, the state determines the content of religious instruction in schools either entirely or in cooperation with the religious communities recognized under public law. In the two cantons, the churches recognized under public law determine the content of religious instruction in schools.

The content of church, denominational religious instruction is determined solely by the religious communities. There is only one canton where there is institutionalized cooperation between the churches and the state.

In almost all cantons, religious instruction in schools is paid for by the state. There are different financing models in four cantons.

As a rule, legal guardians can deregister their children from religious education; in two cantons it is compulsory for everyone.

As of 2002

As a result of a study from 2002, there is a weak tendency towards RU for which the various churches are jointly responsible, although the cantonal designations are different. This also tries to address the problem of different religious affiliations in Switzerland.

The SRU is usually paid by the state / canton, the KRU by the churches, in one canton both forms are financed by the parents.

The SRU is usually given by teachers in the school, the KRU by church staff outside the school.

A de-registration is carried out by the legal guardian.

As of 2010

Due to the increasing share of non-denominational people and of non- occidental denominations, there is a trend away from denominational religious instruction and towards non-denominational subjects such as ethics , society and religions or the like. However, there are still cantons that offer denominational religious instruction, which, however, is usually on a voluntary basis; this latter religious instruction is usually offered by the regional churches and often takes place in the rooms of the state elementary school .

Status 2014

Religion is now seen as a very private matter. As a result, there is a tendency away from denominational instruction and towards general cultural instruction. At the moment, religious education continues to differ from canton to canton, even from municipality to municipality. That is why there is also a confused term: Biblical history, ethics and religions, ethics and religion, religion, religion and culture and religious studies and ethics are just a few names for the subject in Switzerland. More recent efforts to define generally applicable competencies with curriculum 21 oppose this. At the moment, the variety of teaching materials is also relatively large. However, there is a trend towards other religions being given greater consideration in the newer school books. What the future position of religious education in Switzerland will look like is still open, “... even if it becomes apparent that the subject will be included in a separate“ Ethics-Religion-Community ”subject network ...” (Schlag, 2013, p. 139).

Reasons for the changes in religious instruction in schools

In order to understand the development of religious education, one has to become aware of some changes in society, according to Schlag (2013). Today's trend is towards a dualization of religions. The two poles of institutional and universal religion mean that religion is in a field of tension. The universal religion is a mix of many different beliefs, as they are also propagated by the mass media. The different elements create a patchwork that is no longer institutionally anchored. This phenomenon can be found across all generations. The members of the institutional religion, on the other hand, identify with the church and its values ​​and also show commitment to their religion. Around 70% of 16-25 year olds believe that there is no place for them in the church. They want a religion that stands up for the poor and needy in this world, but that is not tied to institutional structures. This idea is like a utopia . Schlag (2013) justifies this thinking with the good economic conditions in Switzerland. Today's young people go on long journeys and take this fact relatively natural. This results in encounters with other religions and cultures that arouse interest and tolerance in many boys. In contrast, there are the traditional large churches, which have a conservative image. In addition, we have been developing into a multi-religious and multi-cultural society since the second half of the 20th century. There is great diversity in a relatively small area, which should also be encountered in religious instruction in schools.

literature

Religious instruction in the area of ​​tension between church and state

  • Bachofen, R., 1998: Church educational work with young people in the area of ​​tension between church and school. Zurich.
  • Bräm, K., 1978: Religion as a legal problem within the framework of the order of church and state. Zurich.
  • The contribution of the churches to the fulfillment of the state educational mandate. Aschaffendorff 1998.
  • Eggenberger, H., 1975: Religious Education in Switzerland. In: Der Evangelische Erzieher 6, 425–438.
  • Religious education facing the challenges of cultural diversity in Europe , 1995: Documentation of the VI. European Forum on Religious Education in Schools. Graz.
  • Katharina Frank: Religious instruction in schools in Switzerland. In: Michael Klöcker / Udo Tworuschka (ed.): Handbuch der Religionen. Churches and other religious communities in Germany and in German-speaking countries, 58th supplementary delivery (2018), I - 16.3
  • Renck, L., 1994: Legal Issues of Religious Education in a Confessional State. In: DÖV 1994, 27 ff.
  • Rodler, W., 1997: Educational Policy and Religion. In: Christian-pedagogical sheets 2, 66–68.

Religious Education - Denomination - Ecumenism

  • Ehmann, R. u. a. (Ed.), 1998: Religious Education of the Future. Aspects of a necessary change. Freiburg-Basel-Vienna.
  • Religious Education Study 2002 © A. Belliger, Luzern, page 98 of 100
  • Englert, R., 1995: The churches' joint responsibility for future religious instruction. A common history of problems in religious education . In: rhs 37, 338-346.
  • Gredler, J., 1997: Religious instruction on the test bench or: the future of (denominational) religious instruction. In: Christian-pedagogical sheets 1, 22–24.
  • Hailer, M., 1997: Confessional or Secular Identity? On the debate about ecumenical religious instruction. In: Una Sancta 2, 165-168.
  • Helbling, D., Kropac, U., Jakobs, M. & Leimgruber, S., 2013: Denominational and non-denominational religious instruction. A relationship determination using the example of Switzerland. TVZ, Zurich.
  • Jakobs, M., Riegel, U., Helbling, D. & Engelberger, T., 2009: Denominational religious instruction in multi-religious society. An empirical study for German-speaking Switzerland. TVZ, Zurich.
  • Klosinski, G. (Hrsg.): Religion as opportunity and risk. Development-promoting and development-inhibiting aspects of religious upbringing. Bern.
  • Lachmann, R., 1997: The future of religious instruction in schools. Ecumenical religious instruction. In: Una Sancta 1, 13-26.
  • Schlüter, R., 1996: Church argumentation patterns in the discussion about a modification of the denominational principle in religious education. In: Religious Education Contributions 37, 3–15.
  • Schlüter, R., 1997: The “Denomination of Religious Education” in its plurality. Church positions - denominational differences. In: Religious instruction in secondary schools 4, 210–222.
  • Siller, HP, 1997: Arguments about the dispute over the denomination of religious education. In : Catechetical Leaves 1, 25–30.
  • Schlag, T., 2009, “Talking about religion” - religious instruction in Switzerland within the limits of sheer reason. In: M. Meyer-Blanck / S. Schmidt (Ed.): Religion, Rationality and Education. Würzburg, 163-176.
  • Schlag, T., 2011, acc. m. R. Voirol-Sturzenegger: Far away ... or closer than you thought? - On the status of religious education in Switzerland and in the canton of Zurich. In: Zeitschrift für Religionspädagogik / Theo-Web, 10th year, issue 2, 69–79.
  • Schlag, T., 2013: Religious Education in Schools in Switzerland. In: Jäggle, M., Rothgangel, M. & Schlag, T. (Hrsgg.): Religious education in schools in Europe. Part 1: Central Europe V&R unipress, Göttingen, pp. 119–156.

Church announcements and receptions

  • Religious upbringing and education, 1994: A future perspective for the evang.-ref. Regional Church of the Canton of Zurich , developed by U. Cremer, P. Moll, H.-J. Tobler and H. Eggenberger.
  • Lachmann, R., 1996: Ridge walks in religious instruction. Four public pronouncements on religious education on the eve of the new millennium. Divinum et humanum, 193-216.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A. Belliger, B. Spitzer, Th. Glur-Schüpfer: State and church religious instruction in the public schools of the German-speaking cantons. Lucerne 1999
  2. ↑ Belliger, Andréa: Institute for Communication Research IKF: State and church religious instruction at the public schools of the German-speaking cantons. Lucerne 2002
  3. ↑ Stephan Leimgruber / Ulrich Kropač: New Models of Religious Education in German-speaking Switzerland , 2009 ( Memento of the original from July 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 106 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kaththeol.uni-muenchen.de
  4. ^ Anzeiger der Region Solothurn, article by an EPP politician, September 9, 2010
  5. ^ Schlag, T .: Religious Education in Schools in Switzerland. In: Jäggle, M., Rothgangel, M. & Schlag, T. (Hrsgg.): Religious education in schools in Europe. Part 1: Central Europe. V&R unipress, Göttingen 2013, pp. 119–156