ABSTRACT
This contribution characterizes the development and present tasks of the Comenius-Institute (CI), a Protestant Centre for Research and Development in Education and, in this way, represents an important part of the Protestant churches’ commitment for their own educational activities but also for public education and education policy. The CI has organized manifold research in the areas of church-related education and beyond by using historical, empirical, and systematic methodologies. At present, it can be characterized by three main features: A) It is a centre of competence and research for developing Protestant perspectives of education in cooperation with academic partners in education, theology, and social science. B) It is a centre of science with a focus on education, religious education and other disciplines with relevance for Protestant perspectives and commitment in education. The interdisciplinary character of the institute allows contributions to different discourses in the mentioned disciplines. C) It is a centre of resources, services and impulses for general issues of Protestant education such as inclusive education, gender orientation, sustainable development, online based learning concepts, adult education, and Europeanization in education.
