“Teaching tolerance, gender equality and religious freedom in German civic orientation courses” Nicholas Paul Stone, Stiftung Universitaet Hildesheim Introduction My research is an empirical study of the orientation course content with a view to three important values in Germany society: the freedom of religion, tolerance and equal rights between men and women. My research includes the 8 different text books accredited for the orientation courses by the Federal Ministry for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) as well as supplemental material, for example the transcripts of the listening activities. Main Text Forschungsfragen: This is where you should put your name and date  Wie fortschrittlich sind die Texte?  Was heisst typisch Deutsch, welche Normen und Werten werden betont?  Wie wird Immigration, bzw. wie werden Immigranten dargestellt? Was bedeutet „integriert sein“? Inwiefern sind entsprechende Erwartungen klar oder explizit konstruiert?  Im Bezug auf religiöse Freiheit: Geht es überwiegend um den Islam oder andere Themen? With regards to freedom of religion, I analyse if and how the course material targets Islam. Generally, I am interested in discovering whether or not the course material proportionally deals with the perceived influence that Islam has on European society and if it discusses the current potential for friction between natives and immigrants or between religious groups. Tolerance and equality of the sexes are two other important themes discussed in the context of immigration integration in Europe, and are closely related to each other and to religious freedoms. Preliminary Conclusions:  that immigrants “must adopt our values”  Figure 1: An example of some pictures with sample questions from the “Intercultural Coexistence” section of the integration textbook. Consider: How is it that coexistence between people in the photos is possible? (1b) Figure 2: Another example of “Intercultural Coexistence” Methodology In order to analyse the texts consistently and coeherently, I developed a matrix with 23 questions, plus a section for photos. This matrix was developed based on Dr. Patricia Bromley’s 2011study titled “Multiculturalism and human rights in civic education: the case of British Columbia, Canada”. My research is multidisciplinary and uses a hybrid methodology of content analysis and discourse analysis. It analyses theories of assimilation, interculturalism, and, multiculturalism to elucidate the message that is being constructed about integration. Although it is based on this hybrid metholodolgy, the analysis itself remains qualitative in nature, rather than a typical content analysis that would put a numerical or qualitative value on the results of the data collected. Instead, I have focused my efforts on transparency and explicity describing the step by step research process. I have done so in order to make my research publicly available and with the hope that it is clear enough to be replicable. Progressive given current social and political context, i.e. the public concern Focus is on practical skills and only to a small degree on the ‘typical German values”  “Typical German values” are vaguely and stereotypcially defined  Multiple perspectives used frequently, specifically the perspective of ‘the other’ Textbooks Analysed:  45 Stunden Deutschland – Orientierungskurs: Politik•Geschichte•Kultur (2008)  60 Stunden Deutschland – Orientierungskurs: Politik • Geschichte • Kultur (2013)  Miteinander leben: Unterrichts Material für Orientierungs und Sprachkurse (2014)  Orientierungskurs  Grundwissen Politik, Geschichte und Gesellschaft in Deutschland (2013)  Orientierungskurs Deutschland- Geschichte•Kultur•Institution (2007)  Pluspunkt Deutsch-Der Orientierungskurs: Deutsch als Zweitsprache (2006)  Zur Orientierung Basiswissen Deutschland 4te Auflage (2010)  Zur Orientierung Basiswissen Deutschland 6te Auflage (2014)