To include or exclude : A didactic study on inclusion in religious studies classes

This study aims to examine whether or not teachers of religious studies in Swedish high schools manage to create an including atmosphere in the classroom, and what they are doing to achieve it. The research has been done by participant observation and is of a qualitative nature, where six different lessons taught by six different teachers have been examined and analysed. The focus during the observations have been to find any elements of excluding actions and words from the teacher, and to see what the teacher does to try to create an including environment. The theory of the established and the outsiders as presented by the sociologists Norbert Elias and John L. Scotson makes the foundation upon which the results of this study are analyzed. It can be concluded that there are indeed problematic elements in certain interactions between teacher and pupil during classes, where the teacher accidentally or perhaps without thought says or does things that could make their students feel excluded from the classroom community. These elements could thus have a negative effect on the atmosphere in the classroom, and turn an otherwise potentially including activity into an excluding one. It seems possible, however, to circumvent these problems by using an ethnographic approach when learning and collecting information as a teacher, and when teaching in the classroom environment.