"...allt som händer i samhället speglas av i skolan" : En studie om undervisning inom religionskunskap i relation till ett mångkulturellt samhälle

The aim of this study is to investigate how a multicultural society can be reflected in the religious education. This essay will compare how teachers in grade 3 reflects about their religious education in relation to the society’s cultural diversity and it will also analyze how the teachers’ pupils think about religion. I have used the following questions: Do the teachers believe that the cultural diversity affects their religious education and if so, how and in what way? How do the teachers describe teaching religion in relation to the multicultural society? What are the pupils’ perceptions of religion in a context of cultural diversity? The investigation is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with four different teachers and a questionnaire study with 62 pupils that generates both quantitative and qualitative data. The theoretical approach of the study is grounded on different definitions of religion and on a theory called frame factor theory which was produced by Urban Dahllöf. The result of the study shows that the teachers believe that it is important to adapt their religious education to the cultural diversity. When comparing the teachers’ descriptions about their religious education it shows that all of the teachers describe factors that can influence their teaching of religion in a multicultural society. The questionnaire study shows similarities and differences in the way pupils think about religion but the most common thing is that most of the pupils associate God with religion.