Compared to other fields of educational work, confirmation lessons or other programs related to the preparation for confirmation have rarely been investigated empirically. While there are good reasons for theological and other theoretical contributions to confirmation we are convinced that empirical approaches can play – and actually should play – an important role for confirmation work as well.
Project History
The present project started in one particular region in Germany. The Württemberg church was interested in finding out about how its new models introduced in the year 2000 actually work within the congregations. This project, which started in 2005 and will continue until the end of 2008 is limited to one particular region (churches in Germany are typically organized according to specific regions that correspond to the geography of the earlier state churches). In a second step, the Württemberg project has become the starting point for the idea of conducting a nationwide study in Germany that allows for certain comparisons between the situation in different parts of Germany and, hopefully, also for comparisons between the different models that are in use in different German regions.
The next step was a symposium “Researching Confirmation” that took place in Tübingen/Germany in March 2007. Participants came together from all over Germany and also from some other European countries. Among others, studies and research ideas from Finland, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland were presented. Soon it was obvious to all participants that international collaboration in the field of confirmation could be very useful.
Schedule
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July 2007: meeting of the partners in Tübingen/Germany; agreement on the items for the questionnaires
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October 2007: meeting of the partners in Helsinki/Finland
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September 2007: surveys t1
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Spring/summer 2008: surveys t2
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April 2008: meeting of partners and presentation in Birmingham (Conference Religion and Youth)
- October 2008: meeting in Berlin/Germany
- November 2008: meeting Vienna/Austria with discussions about the results
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February 2009: meeting in Zürich/Switzerland
- April 2009: meeting in Tübingen/Germany
- from 2010:presentations and plans for new studies
For presentations and conferences see Presentations