During the seminar international policy documents were outlined, e.g. the Toledo Guiding Principles, emphasizing the importance of religious diversity in education. Jorun Nossum presented the Oslo University College's INTERKULT project, which aims at creating a multicultural and international learning environment.

The presentations were followed by a vivid discussion. It became clear, that international policy documents can be an inspiration for educators, but there are challenges with regard to how to address and integrate religious diversity in practice:

• Different national situations have to be taken into consideration, e.g. related to the question, if and how religion is part of the curricula. Here, the contribution of participants from Austria and Norway showed, that these structural conditions can to a large extend prepare the ground for dialogue or its absence in schools.

• Religious diversity should be more than a teaching subject. The attention should be directed towards schools and other educational institutions as overall environments of learning and living together. As a starting point, educators should reflect aspects of this environment (food, sports, social events etc) and their relation to religious practices and expressions, and how they could be used for the promotion of dialogue.

• It was acknowledged that dialogue is not to be misunderstood as “harmony” – religious topics are sometimes linked to strong emotions. There is a need to prepare  teachers/educators to moderate conflicting situations, which requires their personal openness but also an awareness of the limits of dialogue. Not all controversies can and have to be solved in the classroom, but having them addressed dialogically is better than ignoring them. Here the participants approved the results of the REDCo research project introduced by Prof. Jackson. 


• Openness to religious diversity can lead to dilemmas. Sometimes not all stakeholders in an educational setting are aware of or agree with the principle of plurality, which is an integral part of religious diversity. The rejection of attempts to use educational settings for missionary purposes were named as an example for the establishment of “rules of the game”, which have to be respected by all.

As a result of the discussion, the participants agreed on the necessity to have spaces just like this seminar to be able to articulate questions and insecurities, to share experiences and to develop ideas as how religious diversity can become a part of inclusive and joyful learning environments.