Priests are in need of help: It has become harder to teach upcoming confirmands.

Normally, it is they who stand and speak. Even preachers.

But on the course "Cook in the Confirmation Room," roles are reversed, and priests are placed on school benches with a mission to get some help and tools.

How should they handle the unrest and lack of concentration they experience from the coming confirmands during confirmation preparation?

The course from the Folkekirkens Uddannelses- og Videnscenter should help.

And it is a very popular course, as Hanne Høgild, a theological employee for Folkekirkens Uddannelses- og Videnscenter, explains.

- We experience a real strong interest and more than other courses, she says. I haven't experienced such a strong interest in one of our courses before.

- We can handle that they are teenagers, but we get feedback from priests about how it has become harder for the students to focus on something common, and there are also inclusion challenges, Hanne Høgild, theological employee at Folkekirkens Uddannelses- og Videnscenter, explains. (Photo: © Niels Aage Andersen, Danmarks Radio)

The course is held in all ten dioceses and has had between 35 and 75 participants – and that is many for a course for priests.

One of the priests who feels the unrest in the confirmation room is Anders Niemeier Lindegaard, who is a vicar in Græse and Sigerslevvester Pastorat in North Zealand.

He has found his way to the local community house, where there are many priests from Helsingør Diocese around the tables.

- The young people seem to have a hard time finding their footing, so I want to be good at creating a calm space, Anders Niemeier Lindegaard says.

Anders Niemeier Lindegaard can feel the unrest in the confirmation room, but he does not think that the students are necessarily harder to teach. (Photo: © Niels Aage Andersen, Danmarks Radio)

He notices a difference in how the concentration of the students is now compared to how it was for him as a 7th/8th-grader.

He misses tools to meet the students where they are now.

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> - There is chaos in the room, and I get disturbed by it myself, and then I get irritated and have to be extra firm to get some peace, Anders Niemeier Lindegaard, Vicar in Græse and Sigerslevvester Pastorat

The day's teacher in the community house in Græse will give him the tools. It is Rasmus Alenkær, who is a pedagogical psychologist and former teacher.

According to him, it is no surprise that stories about God, life, and death no longer hold the attention of a generation that lives with a bombardment of impressions through social media.

- Children's attention is harder to hold, because we live in a time where things go fast and everything should be fun and self-chosen, Rasmus Alenkær says.

He sees the challenges for priests as a reflection of the challenges in primary schools.

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The toolbox is missing tools

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Priests have long noticed that what they used to do no longer works.

That's what Hanne Høgild, a theological employee for Folkekirkens Uddannelses- og Videnscenter, reports.

- Since the coronavirus pandemic, we have started to receive feedback from priests who say that it has become much harder to have confirmands than it has been before – and it's experienced priests who usually do a good job, she says.

But it's not that it's the children's fault, Hanne Høgild emphasizes.

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> - Priests should be clear about the fact that there are two tasks in this. Both the academic one with the confession of faith and more, but also the one about being together and having a shared responsibility for the teaching, Rasmus Alenkær, Pedagogical Psychologist

She is backed up by Anders Niemeier Lindegaard, who is not seeing the students as harder to teach but notices an increasing number of distractions and people coming in and out of the room.

- There is chaos in the room, and I get disturbed by it myself, and then I get irritated and have to be extra firm to get some peace, he says.

Inclusion in primary schools also poses an extra challenge for priests when different diagnoses must be made to work together with learning and talking about the big things in life.

Rasmus Alenkær travels around to all the Danish dioceses and gives many priests tips and tricks for catching the coming confirmands. (Photo: © Niels Aage Andersen, Danmarks Radio)

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It's about more than the confession of faith

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Back in "the teacher's seat" in Græse, teacher and pedagogical psychologist Rasmus Alenkær has finished his presentation.

One of the points he has given to the assembled priests is clear: We must be clear about how we are together when we are in confirmation preparation.

- Priests must be clear about the fact that there are two tasks in this. Both the academic one with the confession of faith and more, but also the one about being together and having a shared responsibility for the teaching, Rasmus Alenkær says.

Has the confirmation preparation been saved with this point and two hours of presentation?

No, says Hanne Høgild, a theological employee for Folkekirkens Uddannelses- og Videnscenter.

But the popular course can be a pointer and show priests some things to grab onto in the pedagogical toolbox.

And that's exactly what Anders Niemeier Lindegaard takes home to the confirmation room.

- It has helped me put words to the fact that there is both an academic, but also a teamwork and community building aspect to the teaching, which I might not have thought about, he says.

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