<p>The intention of this essay is to critically analyze which perspective on gender that is conveyed in schoolbooks on religion in contemporary Sweden. The main question is: what gender perspective is conveyed in schoolbooks on religion? The sub questions are: what does the writer emphasize and what has the writer excluded from the text? Are the historical and discursive aspects of gender presented in the schoolbooks? What remains to be developed regarding the gender perspective in the schoolbooks?Earlier research has shown that men are overrepresented in the schoolbooks and that women and men are shown in stereotypical ways. This study highlights whether two books, written for the A-course in the upper secondary school and printed in 2007 and 2008, have been influenced by the recent requirements on equality in teaching material.The method used is a text analysis built on critical theory and Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of the gender system. The analysis is based on gender theory.The result shows that gender issues mainly are not regarded as important for religion in schoolbooks, when women are visible it is mostly their social role within religions that is represented and explained. The gender system of the religions is excluded from the text. The main conclusion from this study is that the schoolbooks need a more profound gender perspective, where masculinity and femininity are dealt with as human-created concepts.</p>

The intention of this essay is to critically analyze which perspective on gender that is conveyed in schoolbooks on religion in contemporary Sweden. The main question is: what gender perspective is conveyed in schoolbooks on religion? The sub questions are: what does the writer emphasize and what has the writer excluded from the text? Are the historical and discursive aspects of gender presented in the schoolbooks? What remains to be developed regarding the gender perspective in the schoolbooks?Earlier research has shown that men are overrepresented in the schoolbooks and that women and men are shown in stereotypical ways. This study highlights whether two books, written for the A-course in the upper secondary school and printed in 2007 and 2008, have been influenced by the recent requirements on equality in teaching material.The method used is a text analysis built on critical theory and Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of the gender system. The analysis is based on gender theory.The result shows that gender issues mainly are not regarded as important for religion in schoolbooks, when women are visible it is mostly their social role within religions that is represented and explained. The gender system of the religions is excluded from the text. The main conclusion from this study is that the schoolbooks need a more profound gender perspective, where masculinity and femininity are dealt with as human-created concepts.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka möjligheter läromedel i religionskunskap ger lärare att undervisa om livsfrågor i enlighet med de skrivningar som är formulerade i läroplanen, Lgr 11. Vidare är syftet med denna studie att undersöka i vilken utsträckning livsfrågor behandlas i de utvalda läromedlen och vilka typer av livsfrågor som behandlas i dessa. Genom att genomföra en läromedelsanalys utifrån en kvalitativ innehållsanalys undersöktes tre olika läromedel inom religionskunskap som idag finns på marknaden. Studiens resultat visar att de läromedel som idag finns tillgängliga inom religionskunskap för årskurs 4–6 till stora delar har ett innehåll som motsvarar det centrala innehållet i ämnets kursplan, men att de ställer höga krav på de undervisande lärarnas religionsdidaktiska kompentens när det kommer till att finna och välja ut material som komplement till undervisningen inom livsfrågor. Vidare visar även studiens resultat att valet av läromedel ger elever och lärare olika förutsättningar att arbeta med livsfrågor. Dessutom tar läromedlen upp olika typer av livsfrågor ur mycket skilda perspektiv. / The purpose of this study is to investigate which possibilities teaching materials in religious education give teachers to teach about life issues in accordance to the curriculum, Lgr 11. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent life issues are addressed in the selected teaching materials and what types of life issues that are addressed in these. By conducting an analysis of teaching material based on a qualitative content analysis, three different teaching material in the field of religious education were examined. The study's results show that the teaching materials that currently are available in religious education for grades 4–6 largely have the central content written in the subject's syllabus, but that they place high demands on the teachers' religious didactic competences when it comes to finding and choosing material as a complement while working with life issues. Furthermore, the study's results also show that the choice of teaching material gives students and teachers different conditions for working with life issues and that these teaching materials also address different types of life issues from very different perspectives.