Treatment of the theme Islam in German Geographical Education: Case Study of Bavarian Geographical Curriculum

Abstract

Several previous studies have looked at the treatment of Islam and Muslim culture in western curricula. However in Germany, especially in Bavaria where Muslim immigration has been growing since the 1990s, no recent research has covered this theme. As a first step, an exploratory study of Islamic themes in the curricula of Bavarian secondary schools was undertaken. This article describes the results of this inquiry, showing the extent to which Muslim themes appear in the curriculum and how the content has changed through time. The authors analyses the curricula with the help of the quantitative and qualitative method. The main results are that the theme does not appear in the curriculum over the entire post-war period. It appears for the first time in the 1970s. The subject appears mostly in the 8th grade. Students are at the age of 14 for the entire investigation period. The theme is always restricted to the area of Near and Middle East. Islam is presented as a cultural and environment-creating force in the orient. The contents of the theme “Islam” are always very short, and in total, the topic is formulated too generally. Such sparse information can lead to misunderstanding.