Starting from the conceptual distinction between religious and devotional (faith-based) contents and their status in the educational systems shaped by the complex socio-political discourses of the former Yugoslav countries, the researchers focused on examining the representation of religious content in Science and Social Studies textbooks used in the first cycle of education. The study employed the methods of theoretical analysis and content analysis on a sample of 24 textbooks. The results showed that religious content in the textbooks is insufficiently, inconsistently, and unevenly interpreted; that the progression of the concept across grade levels is not clearly evident; and that there are significant differences in the representation and interpretation of religious content in the textbooks of the former Yugoslav countries. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that there is no consistent presentation of the category religion in Science and Social Studies textbooks of the former Yugoslav countries. The findings suggest the need for a more comprehensive treatment of the concept of religion in terms of representation, intensity, extent, and developmental progression.
Alavanja et al. (Wed,) studied this question.