REL502 Master's Thesis in religion didactics

The course is connected to the following study programs

• Master's 5-Year Programme in Teacher Education, level 5-10

Prerequisites

The professional, supervised training in the 4th year must be completed and passed.

All courses in the programme preceding the master’s thesis must be completed and passed.

Course contents

The master’s thesis is an independent research work on a theme in the field of religion didactics, aimed at primary school, level 5-10. The thesis will deal with professional vocation and be practice-oriented. The work will be carried out in consultation with an assigned supervisor who must approve of the thesis-question. The supervisor is assigned based on the project description. It will be an advantage to write the master’s thesis based on the project description from REL422. The students will be a part of the programme’s academic environment and actively participate in seminars and supervision.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge

The student shall

• Have specialized insight in a specified area within the field of religion didactics

• Have in-depth knowledge about research, theory of science, methodology and ethics relevant for the master’s thesis

Skills

The student shall

• Be able to design questions that are important for teaching religion as a subject, analyse and explore these, and be able to present the results in an academic manner

• Be able to analyse and have a critical approach to national and international research, and use this knowledge when working with the master’s thesis

• Be able to expound on questions related to methodology, the ethics of research and scientific theory, and relate these to the work with the master’s thesis

• Be able to implement an independent R&D work under supervision and in compliance with ethical academic standards

General competence

The student shall

• Be able to present and communicate advanced R&D work in the field of religion didactics to diverse target groups

Examination requirements

• Attendance at mandatory supervision

• The contract must be approved and signed. The conditions of the contract must be met.

• The project description must be approved

• Approved attendance at seminars where the drafts are discussed

• Presentation of parts of the thesis at seminars (minimum once) and giving prepared comments to a presentation (minimum once)

Teaching methods

The course includes 6 mandatory seminars, where chapters of the thesis will be discussed. (Attendance requirement: 80%). The student will also have mandatory supervision (approx. 10 hours, some of the supervision may be in groups). The workload is estimated at 800 hours.

Evaluation

The person responsible for the course, in consultation with the student representative, decides the method of evaluation and whether the courses will have a midterm- or end of term evaluation, see also the Quality System, section 4.1. Information about evaluation method for the course will be posted on Canvas.

Assessment methods and criteria

The master’s thesis can be written individually or in pairs.

Scope: 40-60 pages / 16000-24000 words. 50-70 pages / 20000-28000 words if written in pairs. Other forms of documentation and presentation which combine the written text with other media (like film, pictures, sound) may be accepted. In these cases, the form and scope must be approved by the supervisor.

Graded assessment,

Theses that are written in pairs will be assessed as one, and the students will get identical grades.