Showing papers on "Religious education published in 2012"

Modern Islamic Thought in a Radical Age: Religious Authority and Internal Criticism

Abstract: Among traditionally educated scholars in the Islamic world there is much disagreement on the crises that afflict modern Muslim societies and how best to deal with them, and the debates have grown more urgent since 9/11. Through an analysis of the work of Muhammad Rashid Rida and Yusuf al-Qaradawi in the Arab Middle East and a number of scholars belonging to the Deobandi orientation in colonial and contemporary South Asia, this book examines some of the most important issues facing the Muslim world since the late nineteenth century. These include the challenges to the binding claims of a long-established scholarly consensus, evolving conceptions of the common good, and discourses on religious education, the legal rights of women, social and economic justice and violence and terrorism. This wide-ranging study by a leading scholar provides the depth and the comparative perspective necessary for an understanding of the ferment that characterizes contemporary Islam.

A Meta-Analysis on the Effects and Contributions of Public, Public Charter, and Religious Schools on Student Outcomes

Abstract: An extensive meta-analysis, including 90 studies, was undertaken on the effects of religious private schools, charter schools, and public schools. The study explores the relationship between each of these school types and student outcomes. Additional analyses were done to determine the strengths and weaknesses of these institutions in a broad sense. The results indicate that attending private religious schools is associated with the highest level of academic achievement among the three school types, even when sophisticated controls are used to adjust for socioeconomic status. Students from public charter schools, however, performed no better than their counterparts in other public schools. Supplementary analyses indicate several ways that educators from religious and public schools can learn from one another.

Faith or Doctrine? Religion and Support for Political Violence in Pakistan

Abstract: around the world, publics confronted with terrorism have debated whether islamic faith gives rise to a uniquely virulent strain of non-state violence targeted at civilians. these discussions almost always conceive of “islam” in general terms, not clearly defining what is meant by islamic religious faith. We engaged this debate by designing and conducting a large-scale public opinion survey in pakistan that measures multiple elements of religiosity, allowing us to separately consider the relationship between support for militant organizations and (1) religious practice; (2) support for political islam; and (3) “jihadism,” which we define as a particular textual interpretation common to islamist groups espousing violent political action. We also measured support for militant organizations using a novel form of an “endorsement experiment” that assessed attitudes toward specific groups without asking respondents about them directly. We find that neither religious practice nor support C. Christine Fair is an assistant professor in the school of Foreign service at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, Usa. neil Malhotra is an associate professor in the Graduate school of business at stanford University, stanford, Ca, Usa. Jacob n. shapiro is an assistant professor in the Department of politics at princeton University, princeton, nJ, Usa. the authors thank their partners at socio-economic Development Consultants (seDCo) for their diligent work administering a complex survey in challenging circumstances. the editors, the anonymous reviewers, scott ashworth, rashad bokhari, ethan bueno de Mesquita, ali Cheema, James Fearon, amaney Jamal, asim Khwaja, roger Myerson, Farooq naseer, and Mosharraf Zaidi provided outstanding feedback. seminar participants at UC berkeley, CisaC, Georgetown, the harris school, harvard, penn, princeton, stanford, and the University of ottawa provided a number of insightful comments. Josh borkowski, Zach romanow, and peter schram provided excellent research assistance at different points. this research was supported, in part, by the U.s. Department of homeland security through the national Center for risk and economic analysis of terrorism events [grant #2007-st-061-000001 to C.C.F. and J.n.s.] and the U.s. Department of Defense’s Minerva research initiative through the air Force office of scientific research [grant #Fa9550-09-1-0314 to J.n.s.]. any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations in this document are those of the authors. *address correspondence to neil Malhotra, Graduate school of business, stanford University, 655 Knight Way, stanford, Ca 94305, Usa; e-mail: neilm@stanford.edu. Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 76, no. 4, Winter 2012, pp. 688–720 © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com doi:10.1093/poq/nfs053 advance access publication 1 november 2012 at Prceton U niersity on N ovem er 8, 2012 http://poqrdjournals.org/ D ow nladed from for political islam is related to support for militant groups. however, pakistanis who believe jihad is both an external militarized struggle and that it can be waged by individuals are more supportive of violent groups than those who believe it is an internal struggle for righteousness. Discussions of terrorism in the United states, israel, China, Western europe, and south asia have repeatedly touched on whether islam is responsible for a uniquely virulent strain of non-state violence targeted at civilians. there is little agreement on this subject, even among those on the same end of the political spectrum. Writing in the Washington Post, conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer (2006) asserted: “it is a simple and undeniable fact that the violent purveyors of monotheistic religion today are self-proclaimed warriors for islam who shout ‘God is great’ as they slit the throats of infidels—such as those of the flight crews on sept. 11, 2001—and are then celebrated as heroes and martyrs.” this view contrasts with messages from other conservatives who deny the existence of a link between islam and violence. in 2002, for instance, president George W. bush said: “all americans must recognize that the face of terror is not the true face of islam. islam is a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. it’s a faith that has made brothers and sisters of every race. it’s a faith based upon love, not hate” (White house archives). these popular discussions almost always conceive of “islam” in general terms, despite the enormous variation in interpretation of islamic belief and praxis throughout the Muslim world, as well as the large differences between juridical interpretations and popular beliefs. equally problematic, authors often fail to distinguish between belief and praxis on the one hand and political movements associated with islam (islamism) on the other (Ginges, hansen, and norenzayan 2009; Kaltenthaler et al. 2010; Fair and shepherd 2006). We address debates about links between various aspects of islamic belief and support for islamist militancy by designing and conducting a large-scale public opinion survey of pakistanis. the survey offers greater insight into the country that is perhaps the most important focus of efforts to combat islamist militancy. in addition, it provides unusually strong empirical leverage on more general theoretical questions about the link between religiosity and support for non-state violence, given the great deal of heterogeneity in interpretive traditions (masaliks)1 (ahmad and reifeld 2004; Metcalf 2004, 2009; Marsden 2006; rozehnal 2007), beliefs about the role of islam in the law, and the quality of religious education (nasr 2000). We introduce advances in measuring both our independent variables (elements of religious beliefs and practice) and the dependent variable (support for 1. serious cleavages divide the main interpretative traditions (masaliks) within islam (barelvi, shi’a, Deobandi, ahl-e-hadis, Jamaat-e-islami, etc.), each of which puts forward its own definition of sharia. Religion and Support for Political Violence 689 at Prceton U niersity on N ovem er 8, 2012 http://poqrdjournals.org/ D ow nladed from militant groups). With respect to the independent variables, we measure multiple aspects of religiosity, allowing us to separately consider the relationship between support for violent organizations and (1) religious practice; (2) support for political positions presented as islamic (“political islam”); and (3) “jihadism,” which we define as a particular textual interpretation common to islamist groups espousing jihad as violent political action. in doing so, we move beyond the simple question “Does fundamentalist islam produce terrorism?” With respect to the dependent variable, we assessed support for militant organizations through a novel form of an “endorsement experiment” that avoids asking respondents about the groups directly.2 Doing so is critical because discussion of these groups can be highly sensitive, and respondents are particularly likely to offer what they believe to be the socially desirable response or to simply not respond to certain questions.3 Furthermore, it is dangerous for survey teams operating in parts of balochistan and Khyber pakhtunkhwa (KpK) provinces (both of which have ongoing insurgencies) to ask directly about these issues. Using this approach, we find that neither religious practice nor support for political islam is related to support for militant organizations. a specific understanding of jihad, however, is. respondents who define jihad as an external militarized struggle that can be waged by individuals are up to 2.7 percentage points more supportive of militant groups than those who believe it is an internal struggle for righteousness. as shown below, this difference is both statistically and substantively meaningful. as Wiktorowicz (2005) and others have argued, it is the content, not the practice, of one’s religious beliefs that matters. the remainder of this paper is organized as follows. the first section briefly reviews the literature on religion and support for political violence and derives three testable hypotheses. the following two sections describe our data and the methods of analysis. the final two sections present the results and discuss their implications. Background and hypotheses in formulating testable hypotheses, we draw on policy analysis and scholarly discourse on islam, islamist politics, and islamist militancy (as well as 2. see bullock, imai, and shapiro (2011) for a justification of this approach in an ideal point framework and blair, imai, and lyall (2011) for an application in afghanistan. 3. in Worldpublicopinion.org polling in pakistan, for example, item non-response on questions about al-Qa’ida was 68 percent in February 2007, 47 percent in september 2008, and 13 percent in May 2009 (Worldpublicopinion.org 2007, 2008, 2009). surveys in pakistan that ask directly about affect toward militant groups obtain don’t know/no opinion rates in the range of 40 percent (terror Free tomorrow and new america Foundation 2008; pew research Center 2009). surveys that indirectly measure affect by asking whether groups “operating in pakistan are a problem” (international republican institute 2009) or pose “a threat to the vital interests of pakistan” (Worldpublicopinion 2009) still obtain item non-response rates as high as 31 percent. Fair, Malhotra, and Shapiro 690 at Prceton U niersity on N ovem er 8, 2012 http://poqrdjournals.org/ D ow nladed from on decades of in-country fieldwork) to explore potential connections between support for militant groups in pakistan and three aspects of islamic faith: religious practice, support for islamist politics, and views of jihad.4

The State and Civil Society

Abstract: By addressing the propositions that were set out in the introduction, this chapter brings together what has been developed up to this point. It becomes clear that materialist state theory as employed in this book and especially the Gramscian understanding of the integral state form meaningful tools to understand the agitation of the landmines campaign in Germany and the UK.

Education policy racialisations: Afrocentric schools, Islamic schools, and the new enunciations of equity

Abstract: This paper draws on ideas of assemblage to examine the contingency and (in)coherence of education policy. The paper is a conceptual and thematic attempt to understand the policy terrain, broadly conceived, pertaining to opposition to the establishment of private Islamic schools in Australia and public Afrocentric schools in Canada. This opposition is located within complex policy terrains relating to multiculturalism, whiteness and race/racism. The paper focuses on the complex racialised politics surrounding education policy initiatives that support marketisation and choice in private and public K-12 schooling – with an interest in what forms of choice are legitimated in and by a racialised education market. The paper concludes that opposition to Islamic and Afrocentric schooling highlights the ambiguity of equity, and the fragility of identity in racialised education policy environments.

Translation as a site of language policy negotiation in Jewish day school education

Abstract: This article examines how students and teachers at a non-Orthodox Jewish day school in New York City negotiate the use of translation within the context of an institutionalized language policy that stresses the use of a sacred language over that of the vernacular. Specifically, this paper analyzes the negotiation of a Hebrew-only policy through the ethnographic examination of language choices during activities surrounding scripture study and prayer. The ethnographic data reveal not only how the translating choices were linked with the discourses of authenticity, intentionality, and affect, but also how the language policy was challenged in daily classroom practices. A key finding is that choices to translate from the sacred language, Hebrew, to the vernacular, English, were neither ideologically neutral nor simply limited to the linguistic sphere of rendering a sacred text comprehensible. Rather, they offer insight into the ways in which translation practices reflect broader questions regarding religious ...

Muslim schools in secular societies: persistence or resistance!

Abstract: Muslim schools are a growing phenomenon across the world. Muslim diaspora resulting from multiple factors including political, religious and economic enhanced the need among Muslims to maintain and develop their faith identity. Marginalisation of Muslims, in whatever forms and for whatever reasons, particularly in Muslim minority and/or secular societies further energised affiliations with faith identity. In this context, the article will argue that Islamic schools are being seen by many Muslims as an option not only to provide opportunities for updated education in consonance with their perceptions of Muslim identity, but also to denote an agenda for resistance to challenge racism and existing power relations.

What makes a school Catholic

Abstract: This research aims to look at how a group of primary head teachers’ in the North West of England perceive the Catholic nature of their schools and how they give their account of Catholic education for twenty-first century Britain. They go on to describe their feelings about the mission of their school. The head teachers’ views of how they identified their school’s Catholicism are critiqued in the light of Catholic Church teaching on the nature of Catholic schools and compared to academic and theological models of Catholic education.

Qur'anic and Ajami literacies in pre-colonial West Africa

Abstract: Traditional African literacy practices have often been ignored in the wake of European colonialism and the educational policies of colonial governments. Nonetheless, literacy had been established in parts of Africa following the introduction of Islam. This paper will examine the developments of literacy in pre-colonial West Africa. In this region, literacy was introduced for specifically religious functions associated with the practice of Muslim religion and was conducted in Arabic. The introduction of literacy for religious purposes also gave rise to the development of secular literacy practices in which the practices derived from religious literacy were developed in new contexts, and in African languages. The influence of Islam on literacy in Africa languages gave rise to Ajami, African language literacy using Arabic script. The development of Ajami involved a process of micro-language planning in which individuals educated in Arabic adapted Arabic script to the phonologies of local languages giving ris...

Failures of meaning in religious education

Abstract: The educational aims of religious education (RE) in the UK as evinced, for example, by Ofsted have been couched in the language of meaning making. Based on an ESRC funded three-year ethnographic study of 24 schools across the UK, this essay represents one attempt to interrogate how such meanings are shaped, or indeed fail to be shaped, in the day-to-day transactions of the school. We do this by locating RE in current discussions of efficacy, as manifest in inspectoral reports and allied scholarship, illustrate how complex the entailments and purposes of RE are, explore some of the ethnographic and related data to understand how meaning is shaped inside and outside the classroom, and, finally, attempt to locate that material in more general observations about the nature of meaning in RE – observations that are informed by contemporary readings of meaning making in the work of, among others, Baudrillard. We observe that RE, so dependent upon meaning for educational justification, is too frequently a site which witnesses failures of meaning.

The Delphi method: gathering expert opinion in religious education

Abstract: The ‘Does Religious Education work?’ project is part of the Religion and Society programme funded by two major research councils in the UK. It sets out to track the trajectory of Religious Education (RE) in secondary schools in the UK from the aims and intentions represented in policy through its enactment in classroom practice to the estimations of its impact by students. Using a combination of approaches, we are in the process of investigating the practices which determine and shape the teaching of RE in secondary schools through linked case studies, semi-structured interviews and a practitioner enquiry strand. In this article we focus on the first stage of the project where we used the Delphi method to elicit expert opinion on the aims and intentions of RE in secondary schools in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. We outline the place of the Delphi process within the rationale of the project, discuss emerging themes and some of the issues arising from the use of this approach.

Religious Education in England After 9/11

Abstract: In the ten years following 9/11 there was unprecedented interest in, and commitment to, religious education in the school curriculum in England. Politicians, academics, and professionals all argued that learning about religion could foster “social cohesion” and even prevent terrorism. Accordingly there were a number of national and international initiatives to develop religious education as a part of intercultural education. With a focus on England, but taking full consideration of landmark transnational collaborations, this article examines developments in policy and professional discourse concerning religious education that occurred after, and sometimes as a direct result of, the events of 9/11. It is argued that this emphasis, often instigated at the behest of politicians, led temporarily to an increased status of the curriculum subject in England, but that this influence may have also led to increased instrumentalism, and with it, associated risk to the subject's intellectual autonomy and int...

European Religious Education And European Civil Religion

Abstract: This paper challenges a foundational conjecture of the Religion in Education Dialogue or Conflict (REDCo) project, that increased interest in religion in public and political life as manifested particularly in education is evidence of counter-secularisation. The paper argues that rather than representing counter-secularisation, such developments represent an emergent and secularising European civil religion facilitated through European religious education.

Levinas, Subjectivity, Education: Towards an Ethics of Radical Responsibility

Abstract: Preface vi Acknowledgements viii List of Abbreviations x Introduction 1 PART I Levinas's Teaching 17 1 Teaching, Subjectivity and Language in Totality and Infinity 19 2 The Infinite Responsibility of the Ethical Subject in Otherwise than Being 44 PART II Towards an Education Otherwise 71 3 Heteronomy, Autonomy and the Aims of Education 73 4 Grace, Truth and Economies of Education 95 PART III 'Concrete Problems with Spiritual Repercussions' 119 5 Towards a Religious Education Otherwise 121 6 Dialogue, Proximity and the Possibility of Community 141 7 Political Disappointment, Hope and the Anarchic Ethical Subject 175 Coda 199 Bibliography 204 Index 212

Religious education in a post-secular and post-Christian context

Abstract: In 1999, a new curriculum for Roman-Catholic religious education was introduced in Flemish primary and secondary schools, taking into account both the growing de-Christianisation and religious pluralisation of pupils in the classroom. Recently, this new curriculum has been subjected to diverging criticisms: first it is considered still too Christian, and therefore not able to appropriately deal with religious plurality, and, second, quite contrary to the first criticism, because it deals too much with religious plurality the curriculum is criticised for being no longer sufficiently Christian. In view of this double criticism, in this contribution I first shed some light on the analysis of the current post-Christian and post-secular religious situation, upon which the Religious Education (RE) curriculum is based – i.e. an analysis in terms of detraditionalisation and pluralisation (rather than secularisation). Afterwards I evaluate whether the fundamental goals, which were set 10 years ago, are still adequ...

Reinventing Jewish Education for the 21st Century

Abstract: A century ago a group of educators led an effort to transform American Jewish education to enable it to operate successfully in the 20th century. Today, with American Jews living under very different conditions, a similar effort is needed to reinvent Jewish education for the 21st century. Changes and new initiatives already taking place on the educational landscape point the way toward a set of paradigm shifts that will make Jewish education more learner-centered, relationship-infused, and life-relevant. These changes at the level of educational practice need to be accompanied by a redesign of the educational system itself to make it better able to accommodate learners as “prosumers,” helping to create their own educational experiences, and to guide them on lifelong learning journeys. By maximizing the impact of ongoing innovations, by employing “design thinking,” and by forging stronger networks and collective impact initiatives across domains and settings, the Jewish educational system can be reinvented...

Does Religious Education Have a Future?: Pedagogical and Policy Prospects

Abstract: Introduction: The politics and discourse of RE Section 1. Representations of religion and education: critical enquiries 1. The global context of religion and belief 2. The conflicted context of education Section 2. Diagnosing RE's pedagogy, provenance and politics 3. The heart of the enterprise: a pedagogical problem 4. Phenomenology and anthropology: the advocacy of religion as an approach to RE 5. Discourse and dissonance in contemporary paradigms of RE 6. The politics of English RE: a portrait of disfunctionality Section 3. The case for a radical transformation of RE 7. The doors of pedagogical perception: pedagogy as existential stance 8. Towards an educational economy of religions 9. Between education and catastrophe: The futures of RE

Varieties of religious Americanism: religion, historical writing and political advocacy in the late-nineteenth century

Abstract: Despite the prevailing rhetoric of religious liberty in the nineteenth century, Protestant religious values dominated historical and public policy discourses. Histories celebrated Anglo-Saxon Protestant triumphalism, while laws regarding blasphemy, temperance, Sunday observance, polygamy, and religious instruction in public schools, as well as the Federal Indian mission policy, amply demonstrated Protestant influence on various levels of American government. My dissertation examines intersections of religion, historical writing, and political advocacy in the late nineteenth century. I focus my study on the Gilded Age (1865-1900) because of the importance American history assumed during this time. American history became an established part of public school curricula and university studies, and amateur and professional historical studies flourished as individuals sought to understand and preserve American national identity. I argue that historical writing by religious thinkers played a central role in the construction of religious nationalisms in the late-nineteenth century, while also informing the public policy position of their adherents. Using a case-study approach, I examine key thinkers representing mainstream Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Seventh-day Adventism, Quakerism and Reform Judaism. These religious intellectuals wielded the new historical sensibility to comment, from the perspective of their religious beliefs, on the nature of American public and private institutions, immigration restriction, Sabbath laws, race relations, and questions of war and pacifism. Their aim was to construct a vision of America’s past, present, and future that would allow believers to wholeheartedly embrace an American national identity without compromising their beliefs. Current historical literatures on religion and nationalism criticize prevailing Anglo-Saxon Protestant views of the nation in the Gilded Age yet frequently fail to address how others in the period understood themselves and their place in American

The Bible, the School, and the Constitution: The Clash that Shaped Modern Church-State Doctrine

Abstract: Steven K Green tells the story of the 19th-century School Question, the nationwide debate over the place and funding of religious education, and how it became a crucial precedent for American thought about the separation of church and state

Promoting spiritual ideals through design thinking in public schools

Abstract: Against a backdrop of the debates on religious education in public or state schools, we argue for the introduction of spiritual ideals into the public school curriculum. We distinguish our notion of spiritual ideals from religious ideals as conceptualised by De Ruyter and Merry. While we agree with De Ruyter and Merry that ideas drawn from religious/spiritual sources play a significant role in the students’ identity formation, development into reasonable liberal democratic citizens, and flourishing as adults, we highlight some problems with their conception of religious ideals. Instead of religious ideals, we propose spiritual ideals in schools using a design thinking approach that acknowledges and welcomes the students’ diversity in understandings of spirituality. We further give examples of student projects that illustrate the potential of design thinking as a pedagogical tool for students to acquire spiritual ideals.

Tarbiyah for shakhsiyah (educating for identity): seeking out culturally coherent pedagogy for Muslim children in Britain

Abstract: Drawing upon Islamic epistemology to confront the challenges of a postcolonial world, some European Muslims are rejecting existing educational provision, seeking to formulate culturally-coherent pedagogy. This paper contributes to the debate on Islamic schools in Britain through the findings of a qualitative study of a British Muslim community education project initiated by home-schooling mothers who believe in ‘Holistic Islamic Education’. The study demonstrates parallels between the experiences and motivations of these mothers and indigenous education movements in that they seek to provide a ‘Qur’an-centred’ worldview, reviving classical Islamic education and synthesizing it with modern pedagogy as a defence against the dominant secular culture. Their pedagogy involves the nurturing of shakhsiyah (personality/identity) through tarbiyah (holistic upbringing) as a means to navigate the complexity of multiple identities and the challenges of modernity faced by Muslims in Britain.

Seek Knowledge Throughout the World? Mobility in Islamic Higher Education:

Abstract: While Southeast Asia as a region is generally poorly represented in scholarship on higher education, this is even more the case when considering Islamic higher education in the region. While patterns of mobility within the Islamic world are ancient, with mediaeval scholarly centres such as Baghdad, Cairo and Alexandria attracting scholars and students from many parts, scholarly mobility in Southeast Asia also has its own history. The earlier part of this article concentrates on the flowering of Islamic scholarly centres, with a particular focus on mobility. Subsequently, contemporary Islamic higher education in Southeast Asia, particularly in countries such as Malaysia, and Indonesia, is analyzed, focusing particularly on international mobility patterns, particularly of students. This includes both regionalism (students from Southeast Asia travelling to other countries within the region to pursue Islamic higher education), and efforts by countries such as Malaysia to recruit significant numbers of student...

Faith Dialogue as a Pedagogy for a Post Secular Religious Education.

Abstract: Inter-faith or inter-religious dialogue takes place for a range of reasons and comes in many guises, from the reconciliatory encounter to ease rivalry, to an engagement with the other in an exploration of the meaning and purpose of the human condition. This article examines the process of dialogue in a religious education context and proposes a dialogue that it is not simply a cordial meeting or the development of sympathetic knowledge and understanding of another’s beliefs but a dialogue that entails the recognition of self facing the other eliciting a willingness to be drawn out of the protective defence of the same into what de Certeau calls ‘the never-ending, yet life-giving journey which makes faith credible.’ In such encounters there is always a risk, a risk of assimilation into sameness through self-effacement or domination. Dialogue in this positional article entails the exploration of the relationship which the space between self and other reveals and supports. This article wishes to explore fait...

Interaction Rescaled: How Monastic Debate Became a Diasporic Pedagogy

Abstract: Rather than assume the relevance of a priori scalar distinctions (micro-, macro-, meso-), this article examines scale as an emergent dimension of sociospatial practice in educational institutions. Focusing on Buddhist debate at Tibetan monasteries in India, I describe how this educational practice has been placed as a rite of institution within the perimeter of Sera Monastery in India and rescaled into a more expansive diasporic pedagogy by reformers like the Dalai Lama. [interaction, scale, language, religious education, reproduction]

Knowing Self and Others: A Worldview Model for Religious Education in Turkey

Abstract: Turkish religious education's focus on religion from a social science and prescriptive Islamic perspective faces challenges today. This article presents a new model and approach that assists students in exploring their beliefs and values, those of others, and their Islamic heritage from an interdisciplinary worldview perspective.

Ethnic diversity, Christian hegemony and the emergence of multi-faith religious education in the 1970s

Abstract: This article provides a detailed reconstruction of the processes leading to the formation of the widely influential Birmingham Agreed Syllabus of Religious Instruction (1975). This is contextualised within one of the most significant periods in the history of race relations in the United Kingdom. The authors discuss how this syllabus, and other landmark reforms in religious education (RE) in English schools from the late 1960s, responded to ethnic diversity by promoting supposedly culturally pluralist, multi-faith approaches to RE, which were subsequently perceived as eroding the Christian foundations of British/English national identity. They argue that the vilification of these curriculum reforms by culturally conservative critics was in fact based on an erroneous assessment of the extent to which these renounced the Christian hegemony of RE. They also critique the assumption that the religious clauses of the 1988 Education Reform Act represented a simple transition from culturally pluralist to assimilationist policies for the subject.

Relationships between local patterns of religious practice and young people’s attitudes to the religiosity of their peers

Abstract: This contribution reports research into young people’s attitudes to religion and religious diversity in secondary schools across the UK. The data indicate that students’ respect for the religiosity of their peers, or their lack of it, is due less to the influence of classroom RE (multi-faith or otherwise) than to the experience of religion in the neighbourhood and the degree to which being ‘religious’ is viewed as ‘normal’ there. The essay contrasts negativity experienced in schools by young people of strong practising religious faith in neighbourhoods where religious practice is not the norm with the greater tolerance and respect accorded to religious young people in schools serving neighbourhoods where religious practice is common and prominent. It considers the implications for religious education of this uneven experience.

Meta-concepts, thinking skills and religious education

Abstract: This paper proposes that the acquisition of meta-concepts and thinking skills in order to facilitate scholarly religious thought should be the principal aim of religious education in schools. As a result, the aim of religious education is primarily stated in cognitive terms and religious education is understood as closely related to education about religion. The educational value of this approach is explained in a cultural–historical perspective on learning. It is shown that there is a close connection between learning and development and that school learning especially contributes to development of pupils’ higher cognitive functions, if school learning aims at the acquisition of subject-specific meta-concepts and thinking skills. In order to apply these insights to religious education, the aim of religious education is reconsidered and some examples of meta-concepts and thinking skills that may serve as the content of religious education are discussed.