Pedagogical experience on formation of tolerant and multicultural consciousness of students

Abstract

This article is based on the data cultivated from a teaching experiment carried out in one of the institutions in the city of Tyumen. The purpose of the experiment was to determine the necessity for education of religious and national tolerance through the study of special disciplines of the confessional and ethno-cultural content, for removing psychological barriers to religious and formation of a multicultural consciousness in the future. The authors emphasizes that the increase in tolerance level involves the use of teaching methods rooted into the structure of the educational process, the result of which would be the change of personal characteristics within an individual. Such personality changes included the system of relations, values and general outlook. This article deals with the impact of forms and methodical possibilities on the correction of inter-ethnic and inter-religious interaction of students, their normal behavior in different social situations. To appreciate the realization of this purpose, the authors developed a course on «Religions of the region under study». He emphasized the requirements of the educational standard which determines the necessity to study history, culture and religion of the region under study for the specialty «Regional studies» in the sphere of religious and interfaith relations. Historical and cultural aspects of the course content are harmoniously integrated into the context of religious relations. The experiment had been running for over four years and had shown positive benefits in the dynamics of formation confessional tolerance for students and elements of a multicultural consciousness.