Scholars of learning and instruction from a total of 12 different countries are currently attending the EARLI SIG19 conference at the Joensuu Campus. The conference focuses on the role of worldviews in learning and instruction, as well as on the various approaches used in religious and spiritual education.
At their best, worldviews create meaning and purpose for learning. Religions, on the other hand, convey different worldviews in learners’ socialisation environments.
The role of religion and religious and spiritual education differs greatly from one country to another. Due to immigration, many countries have recently had to look at the role of worldviews and religions in learning and instruction from an entirely new perspective.
“Most of our conference participants hail from Europe, but we also have some scholars from China, USA and Iran, for example. This gives us a variety of perspectives on the significance of worldviews in learning and instruction from the viewpoint of different religions and cultural contexts,” says Professor of Education Laura Hirsto, one of the conference coordinators.
She is particularly pleased with the way the conference facilitates a dialogue between different perspectives from various continents, cultures and worldviews.
“For instance, the way in which we view the world has an impact on the way we communicate with others. We also interpret things we see and hear from the perspective of our own worldview and cultural background. If we don’t understand the worldviews of others, it can be difficult to have genuine interaction.”
Understanding different worldviews, cultures and backgrounds is also important for teachers, as the learning process always involves interaction.
“This is why these international conferences are important for us scholars of learning, too.”
Diverse range of topics
The European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, EARLI, is an international network of scholars of educational sciences and learning. The association has more than 2,000 members from more than 60 countries, and it organises a conference every second year.
“EARLI, in turn, has 27 Special Interest Groups, and one of these, SIG19, is an interest group focusing on worldviews and religious and spiritual education. The interest groups hold their own conferences, and this time we are organising ours in Joensuu.”
According to Hirsto, Eastern Finland is a good place for the conference, as different worldviews – western and Orthodox theology – are naturally present.
“We also have excellent keynote speakers in our conference. I’m sure their diverse presentations will give plenty of food for thought and discussion. We get to hear about the role of worldviews in the context of US higher education, about the implications of an Islamic worldview in environments for teaching and learning, about the meanings and intentions underlying the teaching profession, and about the significances of varied worldviews in different approaches to religious education.”
The theme of this year’s conference is “Worldviews in creating meaning and purpose for learning”.
The conference programme is available at: http://www.uef.fi/en/web/sig19conference2018