“And she lived happily ever after. But did she?” With this intriguing question, referring to the Cinderella fairy tale, participants started their exchange at the second Zoomthal online seminar on 26th May 2021. Zoomthal is an online format, which had been developed when the Klingenthal face-to-face conference couldn’t take place in 2020. It deals with questions of storytelling and religion in education.
This second Zoomthal seminar welcomed 17 participants from various countries from Northern Ireland in the West to Ukraine in the East. The moderators, representing the co-hosting organisations CoGREE and ICCS, invited participants to have another look at the well-known story across Europe of Cinderella and invent a sequel to it. Did Cinderella live happily ever after once she had married the Prince?
In a second step, the group compared the fate of Cinderella with the fate of religion in education. Participants were challenged to reflect on what the different sequel stories they had just invented would mean for religion in education, for “CindeRElla”. Does she manage to have a happy marriage? What does she need to do for that? Do the others see the princess for who she is, or do they have prejudices against her? How does her relationship develop with the people, with the needy and poor? Does religion in education make a difference in the kingdom? This approach made space for innovative and inspiring ways to rediscover and exchange about the situation of religious education in the different contexts participants came from. One participant concluded: “Thank you, wonderful that there is European exchange. Very encouraging! And inspiring!”
In the end, the hosts also presented for the first time the programme for the postponed Klingenthal conference, which is now planned to take place on 18th-22nd October 2021 as a face-to-face meeting at Klingenthal castle close to Strasburg (France). Please find more information about this event and the registration link here.
