ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

A plea for inclusive worldview education in all schools

 

'n Pleidooi vir inklusiewe lewensbeskoulike vorming in alle skole

 

 

Siebren Miedema

Department of Research and Theory in Education, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Praxis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Taking personhood education ('Bildung') of students as the aim of schools, the author argues that worldview education should form an integral part of this education in all schools. It is shown that such a conceptualisation of worldview education is adequately combinable with citizenship education. In worldview-citizenship education the emphasis is first of all on students' appropriation and (continuous) development of their own worldview. A second important aim of this modus of education is that students should learn to live together in the context of the school as an embryonic society which represents different worldviews. With this two-fold aim the individual or personal and the social or communal side of the pedagogical coin are kept together. In the final part a concrete example of an inclusive practice of worldview citizenship education is described in a partnership of a Christian, a state, and an Islamic elementary school in the area of Amsterdam South-East.

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OPSOMMING

Indien die doel van skole die persoonsvorming ('Bildung') van leerders is, behoort lewensbeskoulike vorming in alle skole 'n integrale deel hiervan uit te maak, argumenteer die outeur. Daar word aangetoon dat so 'n beskouing van lewensbeskoulike persoonsvorming uitstekend gekombineer kan word met burgerskapsvorming. In lewensbeskoulike burgerskapsvorming word die klem allereers gelê op leerders se toe-eiening en (verdere) ontwikkeling van 'n eie lewensbeskouing. 'n Tweede doelstelling vir sodanige ontwikkeling is dat die leerders behoort te leer om in die skool saam te leef met ander persone wie se lewensbeskouings verskil van hulle eie lewensbeskouing. Op hierdie wyse word die individuele perspektief en die sosiale of gemeenskapsperspektief beskou as twee kante van dieselfde munt. Ten slotte word 'n praktiese voorbeeld waarin die doel van lewensbeskoulike burgerskapsvorming konkreet uitgebeeld word, gebied deur te wys op die samewerking van 'n christelike, openbare en islamitiese primêre skool in Suidoos-Amsterdam.

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Acknowledgements

Competing interests

I declare that I have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced me in writing this article.

 

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Correspondence:
Siebren Miedema
Van der Boechorststraat 01
1081 BT
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Email: s.miedema@vu.nl

Received: 05 July 2011
Accepted: 08 May 2012
Published: 03 Dec. 2012