Från konfessionell till icke-konfessionell skola : Åtta nyanlända afghanska gymnasieelevers upplevelser av svensk religionskunskapsundervisning

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to investigate how eight newly arrived Afghan high school students experience Swedish non-confessional religious education. This will be in contrast to how they experienced their previous confessional religious education in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the purpose is also to draw attention to whether these eight students have encountered challenges and opportunities with the religious subject at the Swedish non-confessional school. This study will answer two research questions related to this topic. The first question is: 1) In what way/s does the Swedish religious education system differ from the religious system they received in Afghanistan? The second question is: 2) What challenges and opportunities do these students think the Swedish religious education has for them? To answer these two research questions, a qualitative method has been applied, and interviews in two focus groups have also been conducted. There were four Afghan high school students in each focus group, which is a total of eight Afghan high school students who participated in this study. A sociocultural perspective and the concept of interculturality have been used in this study to analyze the results that have been shown. These two theoretical concepts are the basis for this study where we can interpret, and understand the results brought up. The results have shown that there are differences between Sweden’s and Afghanistan’s religious education systems. The results have also shown that the Afghan students faced both challenges and opportunities with the Swedish religious education.