Sub-project Trefzer

PhD Project: „Children’s rights are human rights: a disregarded topic in RE teacher training – A design-based research project.“ (Franziska Trefzer)

This research project is a sub-project of „The Rights of the Child and the School Subject of Religious Education. Design Based Research on Integrating Child Rights Perspectives into RE and RE Teacher Education” at the Chair of Religious Education at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg 

gefördert von der Ev.-luth. Kirche in Bayern 

 und der Barbara-Schadeberg-Stiftung

Ein Teilprojekt des Forschungsprojekts „Kinder-Rechte und Religionsunterricht (KiReli). Religionsdidaktische Entwicklungsforschung zur Integration kinderrechtlicher Perspektiven in Religionsunterricht und Religionslehrkräftebildung“ am Lehrstuhl für Religionspädagogik der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 has mainly promoted the global discussion about human rights of children and adolescents. Looking at the matter through the lens of public theology, children’s rights should be a substantial part of (Christian) religious and values education and not only be dealt with marginally.

As a consequence, it is necessary to establish human rights and children’s rights education for student teachers of religious education (RE), in order for them to be able to adequately integrate children’s rights perspectives into school culture as well as into RE for generations to come.

Consequently – based on proven design-based research approaches (e.g. McKenney & Reeves) – a blended learning course at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg has been specifically designed for student teachers and will be further developed.

The aim of the research is to improve the design principles (e.g. a simulation game) of the course as well as to develop a theoretical understanding of this important topic, for instance by building up a „Human Rights Educational Competence“ for (future) RE teachers. By July 2022, the intervention will have been tested and evaluated three times with overall 80 students.

2. Design cycle in DBR (own illustration 2021; following McKenney & Reeves 2019, Reinmann 2018)