Existentiella frågor ur ett lärarperspektiv : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om gymnasielärares förståelse, erfarenhet och idealbild av existentiella frågors roll i religionskunskapsundervisningen

Sammanfattning: This is a qualitative interview study that looks into teacher’s conceptualization of existential questions and their experiences with working with such questions in religious studies at upper secondary school. Previous research indicates that existential questions are often left behind in religious studies and that teachers feel unsecure when working with such questions in the classroom. Also, the term “existential questions” is not easily defined regarding meaning and scope and can therefore be understood in a variety of different ways. The purpose of this study has therefore been to investigate upper-secondary school teachers’ conception of what an existential question could be, what their experiences are with working with them in their teaching, and what they consider to be ideal when teaching about existential questions. Seven upper-secondary school teachers, currently teaching religious studies in the regions of Jönköping and Västra Götaland, have been interviewed from an inductive and explorative approach. The results of the study indicate that teacher’s conceptualization of existential questions differ significantly, and that teachers also have vastly different experiences regarding their student’s desire and capacity for conducting conversations about existential questions. The result also indicates that there exists a number of explanations as to why upper-secondary school teachers find it problematic to work with existential questions in their teaching. These include, among others, a lack of time, a polarized conversational climate in society, where questions without simple answers are avoided, ideological oppositions in the classroom and a lacking amount of background knowledge among students. What teachers seem to long for the most in their teaching of existential questions is a greater amount of time, cross-disciplinary cooperation and authentical encounters that could make even the big questions in life feel more relatable and less estranged by students.