| dc.description.abstract | How do students affiliated with renewed Christianity experience school life? This is something I have wondered about myself. Despite my interest, I have noticed a significant lack of research on this topic within the didactic literature concerning minority students in the Norwegian school system. By "renewed Christianity," I refer to newer Christian movements, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostal churches, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Based on statistics, there are approximately 376.555 individuals participating in Christian congregations outside of the Church of Norway (Statistics Norway, 2023). However, these figures also include members of other denominations such as the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Nevertheless, this indicates the extent of Christian movements in the country, and thus, I believe it is worth shedding light on these students in a school context.
The purpose of this master's thesis is to explore the experiences of teachers and students affiliated with renewed Christianity. The study employed a qualitative analysis, interviewing both teachers and former students with backgrounds in a renewed Christian faith community. By utilizing theoretical aspects such as insider-outsider perspectives, pedagogical tact, and Goffman's (1963) stigma theory, the study has managed to identify various experiences from both teacher and student perspectives.
The study shows that students often find themselves in situations where they are seen as religious representatives of their faith communities. They express discomfort in these situations as they often occur spontaneously, leading them to feel "different" from the other students in the class. Although teachers acknowledge the presence of renewed Christian students in the classroom, they perceive them as relatively anonymous in disclosing their own religious affiliations. Thus, it appears that renewed Christians exercise a high degree of information control, deciding whether to disclose their religious beliefs or not. Neither teachers nor students deny the existence of stigma against renewed Christian denominations in schools. Teachers employ various teaching methods to prevent stigmatizing behaviors towards students, both in their interactions and in their teaching methods. Based on the findings, it becomes evident that the demeanour of the teacher significantly influences these students' school experiences. | |
