Tamara Nili-Freudenschuß presented her study on "Effects of Islamic Religious Education in Austria" as part of a poster presentation. The research project aims to evaluate Islamic religious education in Austria on the basis of results obtained through quantitative research. To this end, a comparison was made between the knowledge about and attitudes towards Islam (and other religions) of 9th grade students who have attended Islamic religious education for at least 6 years or always, and the knowledge and attitudes of students who have only attended it for a few years or never. The study comprised around 750 participants and is intended to determine the effects of the lessons in order to support their further development.

Şenol Yağdı presented his research on "Interreligious Experiences and Orientations of Islamic Religion Teachers - The Struggle for Acceptance and Tolerance in the Austrian School System". The research sheds light on the interreligious experiences and orientations of Islamic religion teachers in Austrian schools. It shows how interreligious learning promotes acceptance and tolerance and what challenges Islamic religious education teachers have to overcome in their everyday work.

Interreligious learning can promote acceptance and tolerance both at school and at a societal level. This is achieved through low-threshold, fear- and hierarchy-free opportunities for encounters in religious education lessons and at school events, ideally in interdenominational team teaching. This contributes to the positive development of young people and to better coexistence.

Questions of interreligiosity are central to Islamic religious education teachers and concern both practical professional and everyday aspects. Experiences of exclusion and power imbalances characterise their experiences, whereby they try to reverse othering processes and see themselves as the centre of society. This strategy of thinking and acting leads to "counter-othering". It is particularly interesting to observe this "counter-othering" on the part of marginalised sections of society. This raises its own challenges when it comes to categorising this phenomenon. Neither othering nor counter-othering phenomena appear to be meaningful strategies in this regard.

The papers presented contributed significantly to the discussion and understanding of current challenges and developments in the field of Islamic religious education. Participation in the conference underlines the commitment of the Department of Islamic-Theological Studies at the University of Vienna to contribute to the further development of Islamic religious education and contemporary religious education.