Showing papers on "Religious education published in 2008"

The Global Politics of Educational Borrowing and Lending

Abstract: In the summer of 1943 Americans were marching victoriously through Sicily and making their way up the Italian peninsula to fight Fascist and Nazi troops, and eventually defeat them. They had planned to complement the military action with action in the field of education and to that purpose educator Carleton Washburne – at the time an officer and soon in charge of such task – gathered as much information as possible about the Fascist school system, on the one hand, and endeavoured to change it by infusing it with democratic values supported by a progressive education perspective, and by revising school textbooks and contents, on the other (Washburne, 1970; Fornaca, 1982). The overall aim was not to overturn the school system that they had found, but – as a report issued by the Allies stated – to change it step by step since both the system and ‘the human material ... cannot be transported suddenly and without shocks into the new one by way of a magic wand’ (Fornaca, 1982, p. 40). Italians who were fighting in the Resistance against Nazis and Fascists had also engaged in reforming the Fascist educational ideology and structure as soon as they liberated a town or a valley, but for various reasons they could maintain control over their military and civil successes in a limited way (Fornaca, 1982, p. 40). With regard to the educational changes under way and promoted by the Allied troops, it was the Catholic Church that proved to be the interlocutor whose disagreement over choice of educational advisors or decisions about religious instruction had to be reckoned with and appeased (Washburne, 1970; Fornaca, 1982). In the end, with Washburne’s supervision, a group of Italian educators prepared the 1945-46 primary school curricula. Much of the new educational model was rooted in the American and British traditions that many Italian educators judged more amenable than others to life in republican Italy, though Dewey and his educational thought and pedagogy never gained unquestioned consensus and popularity in post-war Italy. The lessons Washburne brought from elsewhere to be disseminated into a new sociocultural and political territory were filtered through the sieve of different, and competing, local educational traditions and eventually re-elaborated into a culturespecific perspective on schooling and education that owed much to the newly established Italian political balance.

The madrassah challenge : militancy and religious education in Pakistan

Abstract: Foreword - Husain HaqanniIntroductionContextualizing Islamic Education in PakistanA Deeper Look at Pakistan's Islamic SchoolsMadaris and MilitancyGovernment ReformsConclusions and ImplicationsAppendicesIndex

Inequality in Education: Comparative and International Perspectives

Abstract: List of Tables List of Figures List of Acronyms Series Editor's Foreword Introduction 1. Inequality in Education: A Critical Analysis W. James JACOB & Donald B. HOLSINGER Part I - Conceptual Issues 2. Distribution of Opportunities Key to Development Vinod THOMAS & WANG Yan 3. Does Capitalism Inevitably Increase Inequality? David HILL, Nigel M. GREAVES, & Alpesh MAISURIA 4. Education and Inequality in the Developing World WU Kin Bin 5. Gender Inequalities in Educational Participation Karen E. HYER, Bonnie BALLIF-SPANVILL, Susan J. PETERS, Yodit SOLOMON, Heather THOMAS, & Carol WARD 6. Inequalities in Education for People with Disabilities Susan J. PETERS 7. Language and Democracy in Africa Birgit BROCK-UTNE Part II - Asia 8. Reconstructing Access in the Cambodian Education System John M. COLLINS 9. Higher Education in China: Access, Equity, and Equality John N. HAWKINS, W. James JACOB, & LI Wenli 10. Using Enrollment and Attainment in Formal Education to Understand the Case of India Mary Ann MASLAK 11. Education Inequality in the Republic of Korea: Measurement and Causes Matthew E. BURT & PARK Namgi 12. Access and Equity: Who are the Students at Taiwan's Top Universities? HUNG Chih-Cheng & CHENG Sheng Yao 13. Provincial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Education: A Descriptive Study of Vietnam W. Joshua REW Part III - Europe 14. Different Paths, Similar Effects: Persistent Inequalities and Their Sources in European Higher Education Cecile DEER 15. Religious Education and Islam in Europe Holger DAUN Part IV - Middle East & North Africa 16. Social Inequalities, Educational Attainment, and Teachers in Egypt Nagwa M. MEGAHED & Mark B.GINSBURG 17. Inequalities in Iranian Education: Representations of Gender, Socioeconomic Status, Ethnic Diversity, and Religious Diversity in School Textbooks and Curricula Omid KHEILTASH & Val D. RUST Part V - North & South America 18. Mexico: Evolution of Education and Inequality in the Last Two Decades Gladys LOPEZ-ACEVEDO 19. Issues of Difference Contributing to US Educational Inequality Eric JOHNSON & Tyrone C. HOWARD 20. Measuring Educational Inequality in South Africa and Peru Luis CROUCH, Martin GUSTAFSSON, & Pablo LAVADO 21. Participation of Civil Society in School Governance: Comparative Research of Institutional Designs in Nicaragua and Brazil Silvina GVIRTZ & Lucila MINVIELLE Part VI - Sub-Saharan Africa 22. The History and Devolution of Education in South Africa Christopher B. MEEK & Joshua Y. MEEK 23. Measuring Education Inequalities in Commonwealth Countries in Africa Elaine UNTERHALTER & Mora OOMME Conclusion 24. Education Inequality and Academic Achievement Donald B. HOLSINGER & W. James JACOB Notes on the Authors Index

Critical Religious Education: Multiculturalism and the Pursuit of Truth

Abstract: This book is unique in its focus and coverage, because no titles have been published on the subject in recent years, despite the increased interest in questions of religious truth as witnessed by the increasing number of articles in relevant journals. It analyzes liberal religious education in multi-cultural societies and suggests ways in which religious education can help young people learn to take responsibility for their beliefs and life-styles in an informed, intelligent and responsible manner. Traditional religious education in Europe and America and its transmission of Christian beliefs has been transformed by the emergence of multi-cultural societies into a process whereby children were informed about different religious traditions. The primary task of this new liberal religious education was often seen to be the moral one of nurturing the twin liberal principles of freedom and tolerance. Critics of liberal religious education argue that this ignores questions of ultimate truth that are at the core of religious belief: this book seeks to reconcile the often contradictory accounts offered by different religions and secular traditions.

Taming Islam: Studying Religion in Secular Turkey

Abstract: It is hard to overemphasize how politically sensitive religious education is in Turkish society. The debate over religious education, along with a few other touchstone issues, reveals much about how official conceptions of religion clash with the beliefs and practices of many religiously observant Turkish citizens. This clash became particularly clear to me as I became involved in an independent and unauthorized women's Koran course in Sincan, a suburb of Ankara. I participated in this course in order to understand conservative religious lifestyles in Turkey, and to gain insight into the view of secularism that many pious Muslims held in Turkish society soon after the collapse of the Islamist-leaning government in 1997. The involvement in the Koran course certainly allowed me to carry out this research, but also gave me an interesting perspective from which to examine the politicization of religious knowledge and education at a rather turbulent time in Turkey's economic and political history. To appreciate the political importance and sensitivity of religious instruction, it is necessary to understand the nature of secularism in Turkey and most especially the relationship between the Turkish state and religion. The Turkish population is overwhelmingly Muslim, but especially since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the foundation of the modern Turkish republic in 1923, Turkey's government and major social institutions have been staunchly secular. The early Republican government, led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, saw secularization as essential to the creation of a truly modern nation-state. Indeed, Kemalism (the ideology based on the doctrines of Mustafa Kemal) promotes what it considers to be secularism, along with nationalism, economic development and Westernization, as the ideological basis of the modern Turkish Republic. Many aspects of Turkish society-from education and governance to the organization of daily life-were officially secularized over a relatively short period of time. However, Turkish secularism more closely resembles French laicite than American-style secularism. Where secularism in the United States strives for a complete separation of church and state, laicism (laiklik) in Turkey strives to bring religion under the control of the state. The idea is that religion should not be in the hands of a powerful and independent cleric elite (ulema) that can rival government power, but should be brought under the control of the non-religious state, where it no longer poses a potential threat to government hegemony (Davison 2003:341; White 2002:4). As such, Turkish secularism-or laicism-does not make assumptions of religious neutrality or objectivity in the public sphere, but instead religion is tightly defined and legally subordinated to the political establishment. Religion is controlled by a branch of government, the Directorate of Religious Affairs, whose main task, according to the 1982 Turkish constitution, is to regulate Islam, especially its public expressions, such that it guarantees that these expressions accord with the needs of the state (Yavuz 2000:29; Yilmaz 2005:388). Controlling religious education is, of course, an essential method of "domesticating" religion and guaranteeing that it remains relatively harmless. Over the course of the Westernizing reforms in the 19th-century Ottoman Empire, education became more and more secular (Mardin 1993:350-353). Since the founding of the modern Turkish republic in 1923, compulsory general education has been secular, ending once and for all the influences of the traditional Ottoman medreses, or religious schools. The new Republican government put all education under the control of the Ministry of Education, developing a unified curriculum and educational system that would articulate a particular cultural and moral identity-a Turkish identity-to be shared by the (Turkish) citizens of the new nation (Kaplan 2006:39). This identity included a very particular interpretation of Islam that was encoded in official religious educational practices and institutions, while alternative interpretations were condemned and often declared illegal by the Turkish government. …

Americans All: The Cultural Gifts Movement

Abstract: * List of Illustrations* * Acknowledgments * Introduction: Cultural Pluralism in Interwar America *1. Searching for the Origins of Prejudice *2. Parent Education and the Teaching of Tolerance *3. Cultural Gifts in the Schools *4. Religious Education and the Teaching of Goodwill *5. A New Generation in the South *6. Cultural Pride and the Second Generation *7. Prejudice and Social Justice *8. Pluralism in the Shadow of War * Epilogue: The Fall and Revival of Cultural Gifts * Notes * Bibliography * Index ** Illustrations: * Children at the Bailly Branch of the Gary Public Library, Indiana * Clara Savage Littledale *"Teach Your Child Tolerance," 1934 *"Things for Them to Do," 1935 * Rachel Davis DuBois * Students in Fort Lee, New Jersey, present information on black history * Students in New York exhibiting Jewish ceremonial objects * Everett Clinchy * The first goodwill tour, 1933 * Will Alexander * Charles Johnson * Students recreating a Mexican market * A third-grade class performing Italian folk songs and dances * Fourth-graders modeling Africa in sand * Alain Locke * Cover from Americans All, Immigrants All * Illustrated map from Americans All, Immigrants All

Alternative Schooling Strategies and the Religious Lives of American Adolescents

Abstract: I analyze the effects of Catholic schooling, Protestant schooling, and homeschooling on adolescents' religious lives and test three mechanisms through which these schooling strategies might influence religiosity: friendship networks, network closure, and adult mentors. Data from Wave 1 of the National Survey of Youth and Religion suggest that Catholic schoolers attend religious services more frequently and value their faith more highly than public schoolers, but attend religious education classes and youth group less often. Protestant schoolers' involvement in their local congregation is similar to public schoolers', but their faith plays a more salient role in their life and they are more active in private religious activities. Homeschoolers do not differ significantly from public schoolers on any outcome considered. Moreover, friendship networks, network closure, and adult mentors play a very limited role in mediating the relationships between schooling strategies and adolescent religiosity. Interpretations of these findings are presented and discussed.

Democratic citizenship and religious education: Challenges and perspectives for schools in the Netherlands

Abstract: This article deals with the question what pedagogical and religious educational contributions have to offer to the debate on citizenship. Some historical background and theoretical conceptualisations of nowadays political focus on citizenship are described particularly focusing on the Dutch case. Explicit attention is given to the role of religion in the public domain. It is stressed that religion is more and more perceived as a source of power which could be positively used within the public domain. This development raises questions in relation to religious education at school, as schools are located in the intermediate domain between the public and the private domain. It is stated that both state schools and religious‐affiliated schools have to take the impact of the process of globalisation seriously by preparing students for their encounter with cultural and religious ‘others’. From a societal as well as pedagogical point of view, it is argued that all schools should be obliged to foster a religious d...

RS based RE in Public Schools: A Must for a Secular State

Abstract: This article is a reasoned, normative argument for making religion education (RE) a separate, compulsory, time-tabled and totally normal school subject at all levels in public schools. With reference to Religion (RE) in Danish upper-secondary school as well as to the way Danish departments for the study of religions (RS) educate Religion teachers, key contents and principles of an RS based RE are outlined. It is stressed that only the historical and comparative study of religions can provide the scientific basis for RE, and that it must be the RS departments that educate RE teachers. It is, furthermore, suggested that normalisation of RE in public schools be added to defining characteristics of a secular state, and that scholars of religion engage not only in studies of RE but also in establishing RS based RE.

Religious education in public schools: An international human rights perspective

Abstract: The question of whether and how public schools in Europe (and, indeed, in liberal democracies more generally) should introduce religion into the classroom has become increasingly important. Children need to be given the tools to understand the role of religion in their society and in the world, but they must be protected from indoctrination by their teachers or school officials. This article takes international human rights principles as a standard against which different approaches to incorporating education about religion into public school curricula can be judged. It argues that 'plural religious education' is the approach to religion in public schools that best complies with international human rights standards. The recently drafted Toledo Guidelines are recommended as providing useful guidance to States that seek a rights consistent approach to this issue. Both these guidelines and the relevant case-law of European and United Nations human rights bodies are analysed and the key guiding principles relating to religious education in public schools are examined to demonstrate both the utility of the international human rights approach and its current limitations. © The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Learning beyond the surface: engaging the cognitive, affective and spiritual dimensions within the curriculum

Abstract: In Australia the separation of mind, body and spirit by secular society has had a significant influence on educational trends. An outcomes‐based approach to education, with an emphasis on cognitive learning, has meant that the affective and spiritual dimensions of students' lives have often been understated. Classroom programs in religious education have been affected by this educational climate where the pendulum has swung in favour of the achievement of cognitive learning outcomes. The cognitive dimension of learning is an integral part of the learning dynamic. However the roles of thinking, feeling and reflecting/intuiting are complementary within this process. Religious education is one curriculum area that can effectively address the interplay between the cognitive, affective and spiritual dimensions of learning. This paper outlines a model explored with pre‐service teachers at a publicly funded Catholic university. This model addresses the complementarity of the cognitive, affective and spiritual di...

Spirits and Letters: Reading, Writing and Charisma in African Christianity

Abstract: List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on Language Introduction Charisma - Institution Charisma/Spirit/Orality - Institution/Letter/Literacy African Literate Religion 'Spirit' and 'Letter' in African Christianity Examining Literacy Practices The Fieldwork Outline of the Book PART I: HISTORIES AND ETHNOGRAPHIES Chapter 1 Colonial Literacies Mission, School and Printing Press Steps towards Secularization Counterforce in Writing What is a School? Resistance and Non-religious Literacies Colonial Bureaucracy Evangelists as Administrators Chapter 2 Passages, Configurations, Traces At the Edge of the Road On the Road Early Evangelisations Christianity in the 1990s Religious Intersections Chapter 3 Schooled Literacy, Schooled Religion Enrolment in School After the Ringing of the Bell Recitations of Syllabi Experiences with Mission Schools Contemporary Religious Education PART II: LITERATE RELIGION Chapter 4 Literate Cultures in a Material World The Bible as an Everyday Object Literacy in Times of Paper Shortage Getting Hold of Christian Publications Publications as Property Chapter 5 Indices to the Scriptural Bible Talks Programmatic Visibility References to the Book Chapter 6 The Fringes of Christianity Blurrings and Criteria Turning Letters Upside Down Chapter 7 Thoughts about 'Religions of the Book' Book People Scriptural Inerrancy and Authority Canonization and the Bridging of Realms PART III: WAYS OF READING Chapter 8 Texts, Readers, Spirit Bibles, Versions, Origins Pamphlets and Eclecticism Selections and Combinations Private Readings, Implicit Influences Bible Studies Chapter 9 Evanescence and the Necessity of Intermediation The Impossibility of Storing the Holy Spirit Objects, Bodies and Spiritual Evanescence Chapter 10 Setting Texts in Motion Deciphering and Preaching Sediments of the Spirit Chapter 11 Missions in Writing Literacy Networking The Jehovah's Witnesses: Questions and Answers The New Apostolic Church: Mediation via Circulars Supplements as 'Obligatory Passage Points' Enablement through Denominational Publications Chapter 12 Enablements to Literacy Rumination and Scholarship Scripture and Enablement Enabling Supplements PART IV: BUREAUCRACY IN THE PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC MODE Chapter 13 Offices and the Dispersion of Charisma Bureaucracy as Social Practice Organizational Formalization as a Founding Myth Dispersing Charisma, Allocating Offices Charisma, Hierarchies, Variations Ignorance and Mutual Recognition Chapter 14 Positions of Writers, Positions in Writings Certifications of Authority God's Secretaries Identifications and Registries Fixing Polyvalent Rites of Passage Portrayals of the Momentary Chapter 15 Outlines for the Future, Documents of the Immediate Agendas as Revelations Reports of the Unpredictable Agendas, Reports, and the Holy Spirit Re-spiritualizing Bureaucracy Chapter 16 Bureaucracy In-Between Flows and Facades African Christianity and the State Formalizing Social Relations Imagining the State Legacies and Isomorphism Presentations and Concealments Bureaucracy as Pentecostal-charismatic Empowerment Chapter 17 Epilogue Bibliography Index

The identification of four characteristics of children's spirituality in Australian Catholic primary schools

Abstract: In taking its theoretical impetus from hermeneutic phenomenology, the qualitative research reported in this paper aimed to identify characteristics of children’s spirituality in Australian Catholic primary schools. The videotaped life expressions of two groups of six children in each of three Australian Catholic primary schools formed the texts of this study. A reflection upon the texts, guided by van Manen’s lifeworld existentials, resulted in the identification of four characteristics of these children’s spirituality – the felt sense, integrating awareness, weaving the threads of meaning, and spiritual questing. In the light of these findings, some pedagogical implications for nurturing spirituality through the primary religious education curriculum in Catholic schools are proposed.

Faith in citizenship? On teaching children to believe in liberal democracy

Abstract: The recently introduced and compulsory citizenship education in English schools seeks to prepare children for life in a liberal democracy and is concerned with far more than the acquisition of skills and knowledge; it privileges particular forms of action, behaviour and ways of thinking I argue here that education for democratic citizenship (EDC) promotes commitments, dispositions and attitudes in children and I question the right of the secular state to foster allegiance to certain beliefs and values when the assumptions upon which they are based are generally hidden from children and are far from universally shared I explore the importance of religious education (RE) for citizenship and draw attention to the tensions experienced by believers who cannot entirely endorse the liberal democratic values enshrined in citizenship education Finally, I consider the cultural disinheritance of the Christian faith in citizenship education and propose ways forward which value the religious and cultural inheritanc

Teaching about Religions in the Public Sphere: European Policy Initiatives and the Interpretive Approach

Abstract: This paper charts a policy shift within international and European inter-governmental institutions towards advocating the study of religions (or the study of religions and beliefs) in European publicly funded schools. The events of September 11, 2001 in the USA acted as a "wake up call" in relation to recognising the legitimacy and importance of the study of religions in public education. For example, policy recommendations from the Council of Europe and guiding principles for the study of religions and beliefs from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe have been developed and are under consideration by member or participating states of both bodies. In translating policy into practice, appropriate pedagogies need to be adopted or developed. The paper uses the example of the interpretive approach to indicate how issues of representation, interpretation and reflexivity might be addressed in studying religious diversity within contemporary societies in ways which both avoid stereotyping and engage students' interest.

Contextual religious education and the actuality of religions

Abstract: Contextual religious educators tend to view discrete religious traditions as artificially constructed systems disconnected from the ordinary experiences of children. This article sets out the case for the continued representation of religions as substantial social facts in religious education classrooms. Accepting Robert Jackson’s critique of essentialist readings of religion, it argues that the most appropriate alternative is not the nominal reduction of discrete religious traditions to the atomistic level of the individual spiritual lives of adherents, but a realistic identification of such traditions as actual socio‐cultural realities. It suggests two criteria for such identification: the collective intentionality of adherents and the presence of prototypical features within their lifeworlds.

The New Outspoken Atheism and Education

Abstract: In this essay, Nel Noddings calls upon U.S. public schools to equip students with a more nuanced understanding of religious vocabulary, history, and ideas. Examining recent books by outspoken atheists including Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, Noddings argues that schools should help students "communicate across the chasm" between belief and unbelief in an effort to prepare a more civil and informed citizenry. In a wide-ranging discussion of religious vocabulary, belief, logic, morality, and aesthetics, she illustrates ways in which schools can incorporate religious literacy across the curriculum and foster a rich understanding of religious history and ideas among the students they serve.

Lived Religion - Conceptual, Empirical and Practical-Theological Approaches: Essays in Honor of Hans-Günter Heimbrock

Abstract: BRILL Phone (NL) +31 (0)71-53 53 500 Phone (US) +1-617-263-2323 Email: marketing@brill.com 'Lived religion' signifies a shift of focus in order to attend to the religiosity of individuals and groups as embedded in the contexts of life-worlds. It suggests fresh attention to the body, to perception, to experience, to everyday life, and to biography. The essays in this collection gravitate around the concept of ‘lived religion’, honoring the contributions of Hans-Gunter Heimbrock, in which he suggests this conceptual framework for understanding practical theology and religious education and for designing empirical research in theology. The contributions embrace a broad spectrum and include empirical studies, exegetical and historical investigations, contributions on practical theology as well as on the theory and practice of religious education, inviting further reflection and discussion about ‘lived religion.’

Religion, politics and pedagogy: historical contexts

Abstract: This issue of British Journal of Religious Education is set against a wide and still unfolding historical–political, centuries‐long context of religion’s changing role in the world, i.e. shifting p...

The pragmatics of reading prayers: Learning the Act of Contrition in Spanish-based religious education classes (doctrina)

Abstract: In this article I investigate the convergence of a number of linguistic, interactional, and textual resources employed in religious reading activities in Spanish-based Catholic religious instruction (doctrina) for school-age Mexican immigrant children. I examine the use of these resources through an analysis of the reading and memorization of the Act of Contrition (AOC), a prayer said during the religious ritual that involves the confession and absolution of sins. I discuss examples of a classroom reading activity that centers on the interactions of four female students and their teacher as they read the AOC. The analysis of their interactions illustrates the ways in which their collaborative reading engages a ritualization process that focuses and constructs text as sacred. The reading activity supported this ritualization process through (i) parallel reframing and interpretation of the words being read and (ii) verbalizations of cognitive activity related to ways of reading text. I also discuss how the activities of ritualization socialize attention to both text and other participants in the activity. Descriptions of doctrina instruction and the origins of the AOC are also provided.

Weaving the threads of meaning: a characteristic of children's spirituality and its implications for religious education

Abstract: Although well documented from a British perspective, empirical research exploring the spiritual lives of primary school children in the Australian context is a field in which scholarship is beginning to emerge. This article reports on one particular finding which emerged from an Australian study seeking to identify some characteristics of children's spirituality in Catholic primary schools. The characteristic has been termed weaving the threads of meaning. It describes the way in which the children who participated in this study appeared to use their sense of wonder as a means of expressing their spirituality by piecing together a worldview based around their attempts at meaning making. This article argues that the existence of this characteristic presents a challenge for religious education, in particular for those programmes which operate within faith schools where the Christian narrative forms a source of the authoritative wisdom to be handed on to its students.

Biblical and Theological Perspectives on Children, Parents, and ‘Best Practices' for Faith Formation: Resources for Child, Youth, and Family Ministry Today

Abstract: One of the most important ways to strengthen the faith formation of children and young people, and child, youth, and family ministries is by engaging and supporting parents or primary care-givers. This article seeks to address this challenge by mining resources from the Bible and Christian theology about the roles and responsibilities of parents, the complexity and dignity of children, and ways to pass on the faith. By taking into account theological perspectives on parents, children, and faith formation, church leaders can better engage both children and parents, and they can strengthen all areas of their work with or on behalf of children and young people, whether in children's ministry, youth and family ministry, religious education, or child advocacy.

Private School Diversity in Denmark's National Voucher System

Abstract: The voucher system in Denmark combines unrestricted generous subsidies with substantial autonomy of private schools as to schedule and teaching methods. This has produced a private school sector with a wide variety of school types. This paper uses data on eight cohorts of students (over 510,000 individuals) to compare educational attainment in public and private voucher schools, including religious schools (Catholic and Protestant) and various types of non‐religious schools. The findings suggest that, after controlling for individual and peer characteristics, the average public student would attain moderately higher levels of education if he/she attended grammar or Catholic school, relative to the public alternative. Attainment of students at Protestant, international and German minority schools is not different from public schools. However, attending free, boarding and, particularly, little and Waldorf schools is associated with substantially lower completion rates at the upper secondary level, which is ...

The triumph of religious education for citizenship in English schools, 1935-1949

Abstract: The failure of the Association for Education in Citizenship to gain official support for the secular and pedagogically progressive forms of education for citizenship that its founder members endorsed has previously been explained by the political impotence of the association's founder members and the professional conservatism of the educational establishment. However, this paper proposes that, as part of a wider cultural conservatism in England between 1935 and 1949, citizenship was recast in a Christian mould in response to foreign ‘secular’ political ideologies and that this enabled religious education to gain official endorsement as an essential form of education for citizenship. 1 The author would like to thank Professor William Richardson of the University of Exeter for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this article.

Education and diversity in the Netherlands

Abstract: This article sets out the Dutch approach to the multicultural question. It focuses on how national policies, schools, teachers and teacher educators are addressing and making sense of questions of cultural and religious diversity. The article shows how the Netherlands has partly accommodated itself to greater cultural diversity through compulsory reforms like intercultural education and citizenship education and through its long-established structure of public funding for pedagogically and religiously diverse schools. It also shows the double standards applied to Christian and Islamic schools in the media and public debate. Drawing on interview data with teachers and case study material on teacher educators, the article describes their daily dilemmas with regard to diversity and commonality in contemporary classrooms and concludes that these teachers do not have the professional expertise needed to respond effectively to such dilemmas.

Non-Indoctrinatory Religious Education in Secular Cultures

Abstract: This article identifies different types of religious education, as different countries and cultures provide different rationales for the appearance or non-appearance of religion in the curriculum of their public schools. It examines the nature of indoctrination and four principal ways in which indoctrination operates. The possibility of secular indoctrination is identified, along with the extent to which one type of religious education might be conceived as an antidote against it. It concludes that education about religion(s), as one type of religious education, is entirely consistent with democratic education in the public square.

Introduction to the Study of Religion

Abstract: Why do people study religion? How have they studied it in the past? How do we study religion today? Is the academic study of religion the same as religious education? These and many other questions are addressed in this engaging introduction to the discipline of religious studies, written by two experienced university teachers. The authors have crafted this book to familiarize novice students with key concepts and terminology in the study of religion. More advanced students will find a varied array of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches to the field. Topics include: definitions of religion perspectives in the study and teaching of religion how religion began to be studied: traditional perspectives – philosophical and theological how people experience religion: perspectives in the study of religious consciousness and perception – phenomenological and psychological studying religion within communities: Social and cultural perspectives – anthropological, sociological, political and economic judging religion: critical perspectives –feminist approaches, the interaction of popular literature and religion contextual perspectives – historical and comparative. The book encourages students to think critically about the theories and methods presented. Students will find arguments for the strengths and limitations of these approaches, understand connections among religious studies and other intellectual movements, and develop their own ideas of how they might want to go about the study of religion. Summary boxes, a timeline, a glossary and other pedagogic aids help students grasp key concepts, along with a companion website at www.sastor.com.

Nearness to God: A Perspective on Islamic Education

Abstract: Islam, as one of the most important religions of the world, has particular and significant educational views. The purpose of this article is to extract and interpret Islam's view of education. Using classic texts and the author's scholarship, Islamic education is defined as a form of religious education drawing humans near to God and God's purposes. In particular, the educational values that are central to Islamic education are clarified. In this way, the author hopes to advance Islamic education as an important element in the conversation about religious education.

Diverse experiences and common vision : English students' perspectives on religion and religious education

Abstract: The thoughts and reflections of the students reported in this chapter cannot be fully understood without some background knowledge of the relationship between religion and education in publicly funded schools in England. Religion has always been a significant component in English schools, churches and religious foundations having in past centuries been the prime movers and providers of education. With the introduction of universal primary education in 1870 and in subsequent education acts, the government adopted a partnership approach with state and church working together to ensure educational provision for all the nation’s children. The new state schools were designed as an expansion of the work of the church schools rather than as a secular counter-balance to it and so the incorporation of elements of religion was not seen as contrary to the aims of schools outside the church sector. Religious education has always been part of the state school curriculum and the statutory right of all school pupils to religious education was reconfirmed in the 1944 and 1988 Education Acts. In addition to religious education lessons, schools are required to offer daily acts of collective worship (school assemblies) for their pupils. Traditionally these took the form of Christian hymns, prayers and Bible stories but today they often use material from a variety of religious and cultural traditions, deliver moral messages of general application, or become occasions for the celebration and reinforcement of the school’s communal identity. In addition some schools without religious foundation see building links with local churches and faith communities as an important part of their involvement with the neighbourhood they serve.