What are existential questions – in a school setting?

Abstract

The new Norwegian curriculum for religious education includes ‘exploration of existential questions and answers’ as one of five key elements. The article discusses how this key element should be understood against a background of religious education research and debates. Here, a dichotomy between learning from and learning about religions and worldviews has limited the possibilities for exploring the existential perspectives of students themselves. It is argued that ‘exploration of existential questions and answers’ should be seen as a universal human capacity and that existential philosophy offers a conceptual framework to define certain conditions that should be met when we speak about ‘existential questions’. Based on discussion of texts from de Beauvoir and Heidegger, a set of five criteria are suggested for school settings: 1) a person is the actor, 2) this person is asking a question, 3) the question is important to this person, 4) the question has a distinct content, 5) the question is formulated in a particular context. These criteria are developed and discussed in relation to the curricula of religious education in primary, secondary and upper secondary education as well as the core curriculum. It is argued that the ‘exploration of existential questions and answers’, offers the possibility to achieve key educational goals related to bildung and it is argued that there is a potential for research to develop this further.