Showing papers on "Religious education published in 2013"

“Worldview”: the Meaning of the Concept and the Impact on Religious Education

Abstract: The article analyzes the concept of “worldview” in religious education. A distinction is introduced between organized worldviews, more or less established systems with a group of believers, and personal worldviews, individuals’ views on life and humanity. The focus of the first section is on presenting a more precise description of these concepts by analyzing whether four elements are conceptually necessary: existential questions, moral values, influence in people's acting and thinking, and providing meaning in life. The aim of the second section is to investigate the role “worldview” plays in education and to clarify questions that need reflection when schools want to pay attention to both organized and personal worldviews.

Muslim Childhood: Religious Nurture in a European Context

Abstract: Glossary of Islamic terms 1. Islam and middle childhood 2. The inter-generational transmission of Islam: Evidence from the Citizenship Survey (co-authored by Chris Taylor and Graham Moore) 3. Qualitative research on Islamic nurture 4. Learning Islam in the home 5. Children in formal religious education 6. School, city and society 7. Muslim family life 8. Nationality, ethnicity and religion 9. Conclusion Bibliography

Dynamics of contestation over Islamic religious rights in Western Europe

Abstract: All European countries are confronted with claims by Islamic groups for religious rights in the public domain, as well as counterclaims by those who want to deny Muslims such rights. Examples are controversies over mosque construction, religious education and the right to wear headscarves and burqas. We show that across European countries there are striking differences in the kind of rights for Muslims around which public conflicts centre. Issues that are highly controversial in some countries are entirely absent from the debate in other countries. We explain these differences with reference to national path dependencies resulting from existing church–state arrangements and immigrant integration policy traditions. Using the method of political claims analysis, we conducted analyses of the German, Swiss, Dutch, Belgian, French and UK media debates on religious rights for Muslims, based on a selection of 30 national newspapers for the period 1999–2008.

The Sage Handbook of Philosophy of Education

Abstract: PART ONE: EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY What Is Philosophy of Education? - D C Phillips Schools of Thought in Philosophy of Education - Robin Barrow The Philosophy of Education and Educational Theory - David Carr The Philosophy of Education and Educational Practice - Richard Pring PART TWO: SOME KEY HISTORICAL FIGURES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION Plato and Education - Ieuan Williams Rousseau's Emile and Educational Legacy - Jack Martin and Nathan Martin John Dewey and Educational Pragmatism - James Scott Johnston T S Eliot, Education and Culture - Andrew Reid R S Peters, Liberal Traditionalist - M A B Degenhart Post-Structuralism, Postmodernism and Education - Richard Smith Feminism and Education - Cris Mayo and Barbara Stengel Education and the Catholic Tradition - Kevin Williams Gazetteer of Educational Thinkers - Compiled by Robert Manery PART THREE: PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE The Pofessional Status of Teaching - Timothy Reagan Teaching and Pedagogy - David T Hansen and Megan J Laverty The Wider Ethical Dimensions of Education and Teaching - Hugh Sockett Moral and Citizenship Education - J Mark Halstead Indoctrination - Richard Bailey Knowledge and Truth - Harvey Siegel The Value of Knowledge - Brenda Almond Concepts of Mind - Christine McCarthy Learning - Andrew Davis Motivation and Learning - Frederick S Ellett Jr and David P Erickson Transferable Skills - Stephen Johnson Educational Assessment - John Halliday Inclusion and Diversity - Penny Enslin and Nicki Hedge Equality and Justice - Claudia Ruitenberg and Daniel Vokey Individual and Community Aims in Education - John P Portelli and Francine Menashy Art and Aesthetics in Education - Constantin Koopman Religious Education - James C Conroy and Robert A Davis Physical Education - Mike McNamee and Richard Bailey Philosophical Questions about Learning Technologies - Craig A Cunningham and Briana L Allen Personal and Social Education - Graham Haydon Education and the Environment - Michael Bonnett

Faith, phonics and identity: reading in faith complementary schools

Abstract: Thousands of UK school children spend considerable time during a lengthy period of their youth learning to read, or decode, a ‘religious classical’, the liturgical language connected to their faith. Drawing on recent theories of reading, identity and literacy practices, this paper briefly describes and seeks to share tentative thoughts about some common issues around the teaching and learning of religious classicals within minority ethnic faith settings. It presents a comparative textual analysis of a central teaching resource used in three Jewish, Muslim and Sikh complementary schools in the United Kingdom. It is concluded that, regardless of any relative effectiveness of method or resource, what may be more interesting for researchers is the symbolic value of learning to read the religious classical. This may be more important than the eventual outcome in terms of reading competence. Here, ‘successful reading’ is understood primarily as ‘successful decoding’. The tenacity of this literacy practice in the face of spoken community language attrition is testimony to the importance placed upon it both individually and collectively.

Response to Patricia Hannam’s Review of 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.

Religious Education in the European Context

Abstract: The current government in Hungary decided to introduce religious education and ethics as compulsory subjects in state schools from 2013 on. This has started a contested debate in Hungarian society about the place of religion in school. Arguments opposing this decision refer to tendencies of secularisation and to decreasing influence of churches in society. It is stated that the government tries to re-invigorate the importance of religion (Christianity) in Hungary for political reasons. This article provides an introduction to the situation of religious education (RE) in Europe from a comparative perspective to support a more differentiated adjudication. HERJ Hungarian Educational Research Journal 2013, Vol. 3(4)

Does Religious Education Work?: A Multi-dimensional Investigation

Abstract: This ground-breaking volume draws upon a rich and variegated range of methodologies to understand more fully the practices, policies and resources available in and to religious education in British schools. The descriptions, explanations and analyses undertaken here draw on an innovative combination of policy work, ethnography, Delphi methods, Actor Network Theory, questionnaires, textual analysis as well as theological and philosophical insight. It traces the evolution of religious education in a post-religious age from the creation of policy to the everyday experiences of teachers and students in the classroom. It begins by analysing the way in which policy has evolved since the 1970s with an examination of the social forces that have shaped curriculum development. It goes on to explore the impact and intentions of a diverse group of stakeholders with sometimes competing accounts of the purposes of religious educations. It then examines the manner in which policy is, or is not, enacted in the classroom. Finally, it explores contradictions and confusions, successes and failures, and the ways in which wider public debates enter the classroom. The book also exposes the challenge religious education teachers have in using the language of religion.

Politics of Religious Schooling: Christian and Muslim Engagements with Education in Africa

Abstract: In recent decades, religiously motivated schools have gained a new social and political presence and significance in many African countries. Although religious networks and organizations—Christian as well as Muslim—have played a central role in providing education in colonial and postcolonial settings, liberalization and privatization measures since the 1980s have opened up new opportunities for religious engagement at all educational levels. The contributions to this issue explore the implications of these recent transformations on Christian and Muslim investments in the educational domain. To do so, they examine these implications in view of reconfigurations of national and regional educational fields under the influence of colonial and postcolonial administrations. Furthermore, they address the multiple, often-contested meanings, practices, and institutional setups that have shaped and been constituted by, the field of ‘religious schooling’ in the context of both neoliberal reform measures and transnational religious renewal trends. Finally, they illustrate the need to adopt an increasingly comparative perspective in the analysis of religious education, and to understand how (internally differentiated) instances of Christian and Muslim education have developed historically in relation to each other.

REsilience, violent extremism and religious education

Abstract: This article is an attempt to provide an educational justification for the British Government-funded project, REsilience, on addressing contentious issues through religious education (RE) which was carried out by the RE Council of England and Wales. A number of issues relating to the inclusion of religiously inspired violent extremism in the curriculum are raised – definitional, political and educational. A justification is proposed which focuses on human rights in two ways: the right to freedom of religion and belief and the promotion of pupils’ moral development through human rights issues. It is suggested that the work of the moral philosopher Kwame Antony Appiah with his focus on morality in cosmopolitan societies is relevant to this, and in particular, his concept of ‘honor’ which can be used by educationists as the basis for engagement with violent extremism and related topics in the classroom.

Catholic social teaching should permeate the Catholic secondary school curriculum: an agenda for reform

Abstract: International research shows that the curricula of Catholic secondary schools are increasingly becoming dominated by the pressures of conforming to the requirements of nation states. These requirements are generally expressed in economic and utilitarian terms and evaluated by criteria of measurable outputs. As a result of these pressures, Catholic secondary schools are in danger of losing a distinctive religious and educational cultural programme expressed in a distinctive Catholic school curriculum. It is suggested in this article that a serious permeation of Catholic social teaching is crucial, not only for the intrinsic importance of its subject matter but also as a means to resist total cultural incorporation into state-mandated curricula. Particular attention is given to the educational potential contained in Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (2009).

Pendidikan Islam dalam Sistem Pendidikan Nasional

Abstract: Islamic educationis an integral part of the National Education System. As part of the national educational system, Islamic education gets legitimacy to exist and get a place to live and thrive in Indonesia to meet need of education for Muslims. Accommodation to the Islamic education system and make the system of Islamic education institutions have a strong foundation to be developed with the support of funds and attention from the state. Therefore, the state is obliged to develop Islamic educational system as a kind of religious education in the national education system. In the system of national education, Islamic education as a system of religious education is carried out in different lines of formal, informal and non-formal.

Education and the Arab 'world' : political projects, struggles, and geometries of power

Abstract: 1. Editorial introduction: Situating the world of Arab education: Critical engagements, Andre E. Mazawi & Ronald G. Sultana Section A: Contested Policyscapes 2. Privatizing education in the Maghreb: a path for a two-tiered education system, Abdeljalil Akkari 3. TVET reforms in the Arab region: The 'push' and 'pull' in policy development, Borhene Chakroun & Eva Jimeno Sicilia 4. The contested terrain of educational reform in Egypt, Fatma Sayed 5. Pressure groups, education policy and curriculum development in Lebanon: a policy maker's retrospective and introspective standpoint, Nemer Frayha Section B: Re-calling Voices 6. Education and ethnography: insiders, outsiders and gatekeepers, Linda Herrera 7. Performing patriotism: rituals and moral authority in a Jordanian high school, Fida Adely 8. 'To Educate an Iraqi-Jew' or: What can we learn from Hebrew autobiographies about Arab Nationalism and the Iraqi education system (1921-1952)? Orit Bashkin 9. Doing 'identity work' in teacher education: The case of a UAE teacher, Matthew Clarke Section C: Suspended Visibilities 10. The human right to education in Arab countries: an international law perspective, Sawsan Zaher 11. Inclusive education and children with disabilities in the Gulf Cooperation Council member states, Sara Ashencaen Crabtree & Richard Williams 12. The teaching of Amazigh in France and in Morocco: language and citizenship between pedagogy and power politics, Abdelouahad Mabrour & Khalil Mgharfaoui 13. Educational provision and spatial dis-[o]rientation among pastoralist communities in the Middle East and North Africa, Steven C. Dinero 14. Citizenship, difference and the schooling of Muslim children in Malta, Louise Chircop Section D: Knowledge Imaginaries 15. Nationalism, Islamic Political Activism, and Religious Education in the Arab Region, Rukhsana Zia 16. Going international: the politics of educational reform in Egypt, Iman Farag 17. Higher Education and Differentiation Based on Knowledge: Algeria's Aborted Dream, Hocine Khelfaoui 18. Arab youth, education and satellite broadcasting, Imad Karam Section E: Geopolitical Predicaments 19. American dreams of reinventing the 'Orient': 'digital democracy' and Arab youth cultures in a regional perspective, Omar El-Khairy 20. Palestinians, education, and the Israeli 'Industry of Fear', Nadera Shalhoub- Kevorkian 21. War, state collapse and the predicament of education in Iraq, Nabil Al-Tikriti 22. Representations of Arabs in Iranian elementary school text books, Golnar Mehran

Values and religion in education: An Australian view

Abstract: Introduction James Arthur and Terence Lovat Part I: The Conceptual World of Religion and Values Religious Meaning, Practical Reason and Values David Carr Values and the Phenomenology of Religion Philip L. Barnes Do Values Depend on Religion? Would it be Best if they Didn't? Brian Hill Existentially Sensitive Education Martin Ubani Diversity of Religions and Freedom of Religions and Belief Gary Bouma Some Reflections on Secular Values in Education James Arthur Part II: Religion and Values in Education An Introduction to Education and Values Andrew Peterson Catholic Values and Education Policy Gerald Grace Teachers and Christian Religious Values Trevor Cooling Virtue and Value in Educational Research Julian Stern Values and Religion in Education Peta Goldburg Why Meditate? Oren Ergas Soul Searching: Prayer and Process of Education Hanan Alexander From "Islamic" Values to "Religio-Secular" Values in Muslim Contexts: Pedagogical Implications of a Conceptual Shift Farid Panjwani "The Cowl and the Curriculum" - the New Monasticism, Values and Schools Peter Mudge A Dynamic Systems Approach to Moral and Spiritual Development Derek Sankey and Minkang Kim Part III: Religion and Values in Inter-agency Work Religion and Values: A Review of Empirical Research Leslie Francis and Gemma Penny Values and Spirituality in Social Work Mel Gray Religion in the Public Sphere Patrik Fridlund Moral Problems of New Technologies Christoph Baumgartner Human and Religious Values in Society: A Relativistic Perspective Robert Crotty Diverse Political Values: Human Rights and Global Democracy Anthony Langlois Faith Communities, Social Capital and Civic Engagement John Annette Part IV: Religion and Values in Cross-cultural Work The Intersection of Religious Education and Values Andrew Wright Religious Identity in a Post-Modern Culture Eoin Cassidy Education and Religious Authority: Six Benchmark Questions for Framing an Enquiry Liam Gearon Educating for Harmony in Conflict Settings Zehavit Gross Sibling Rivalry Between Islam and the West: The Problem Lies Within Terence Lovat Going Beyond Reason? Variants of Intertwining Religion and Law Maik Herold Ethics in an Optics: The Levinasian Perspective on Value as Primary Dan Fleming Shari'ah Values for Modern Societies: Analysis of Contents and Contexts Luqman Zakariyah The Subjective and Universal in Modern Islamic Values Kelly al-Dakkak

Religious experience as an aim of religious education

Abstract: This article presents a model for religious education based on three central elements. First, it is argued that religious experience, or direct experience of the Divine, is an essential part of a full religious life, that religious experience is based in, enabled by and examined against, the body of knowledge in a given religion, and that religious experience is itself a form of knowing. Second, it is suggested that there be three sets of aims in religious education curriculum: knowledge aims, moral value aims and spiritual aims, the last of which encompasses religious experience, which religious education should aim to encourage and facilitate among students. Third, the teacher is presented as the central factor in such facilitation, and the pedagogical and personal characteristics of this ideal teacher are described.

The Future of Religious Education on the Flemish School Curriculum: A Plea for Integrative Religious Education for All

Abstract: After an elaboration of the paradigm shift concerning religious education in Europe, we will give a critical presentation of the Belgian and Flemish system of religious education. The article continues with a discussion of diverse proposals to change the religious education system in Flanders, and concludes that the introduction of an independent, nondenominational, and obligatory subject about religions, ethics, citizenship, and philosophy is the most promising option. In addition, denominational religious education can still be offered as an optional subject. This double system seems the best approach to cope with the educational challenges, the freedom of religion, and (religious) education in Flanders today.

Religious Education and Intercultural Understanding: Exploring the role of religiosity for upper secondary school students' attitudes towards RE

Abstract: Recent studies show that Religious Education (RE) may play an important role for teaching intercultural understanding in many Western societies facing increased cultural and religious pluralism. Quantitative and qualitative research have however failed to examine what role the religiosity of the students plays in their attitudes towards RE. A nationally representative Swedish sample of 1850 students answered a classroom questionnaire. The main result was that, when controlling for background variables such as gender, foreign background, parents’ education level, and study program, the student’s religiosity had a significant effect on their attitudes towards a) existential issues, b) preferences on what to study in RE, as well as c) incentives for studying RE. Regression analyses demonstrated that by entering individual’s religiosity into the model the effect of foreign background was suspended in 11 of 14 cases. In order to understand the attitude towards RE it is useful to include the student’s religiosity. As a consequence, this article argues that in order to reach the citizenship goals of educating for intercultural understanding in RE, the subject should be developed to reach male students, students with parents with lower levels of education, students in vocational study programs, and students who are not religious.

Secularists, Humanists and religious education: religious crisis and curriculum change in England, 1963–1975

Abstract: With particular reference to religious education, this article provides an account of the campaigns of Secularists and Humanists in England in the 1960s and 1970s and locates them within their broader religious context. These campaigns, which have been both underplayed and overstated in the existing historiography, failed to garner the levels of support required to fulfil their ultimate aims. Nevertheless, Secularists and Humanists did make a significant contribution to public and political discourses at the time and created opportunities with the potential to exert influence over the development of religious education, collective worship and moral education. Their involvement was welcomed, indeed fostered, by many leading Christians and religious educationists. Secularist and Humanist campaigns also precipitated parliamentary discussion and provoked considerable opposition from Christians in other quarters. Finally, some observations are made about the ways in which this episode in the religious history ...

Teachers’ Perspectives on Citizenship Education in Islamic Schools in Michigan

Abstract: This multiple case study examines how 4 social studies teachers in 2 private Islamic schools in Michigan understand the concept of citizenship education and the dilemmas they face in teaching for unity and diversity and in helping their students negotiate their civics identities within the American sociopolitical context. Data were collected through 2 in-depth semi-structured interviews. The study, which was conducted in 2010, reveals 3 dilemmas that Muslim social studies teachers handle in their classrooms. The first is how to find a balance between education for Islamic and American identities, given the increased Islam-phobia in the larger society and the lack of appropriate materials to show the contributions of Muslims to U.S. history and the world. The second dilemma involves the moral roots of teaching civics in Islamic schools and the contestation between moral absolutism and moral pluralism in the process of teaching for Islamic and democratic identities. Finally, social studies teachers...

Acculturation and religion in schools: the views of young people from minority belief backgrounds

Abstract: This paper aims to explore the relationship between religious identity, acculturation strategies and perceptions of acculturation orientation in the school context amongst young people from minority belief backgrounds. Based on a qualitative study including interviews with 26 young people from religious minority belief backgrounds in Northern Ireland, it is argued that acculturation theory provides a useful lens for understanding how young people from religious minority belief backgrounds navigate majority religious school contexts. Using a qualitative approach to explore acculturation theory enables an in-depth understanding of the inter-relationship between minority belief youth's acculturation strategies and their respective school contexts. Similar to previous research, integrationist attitudes generally prevailed amongst minority belief young people in this study. The findings highlight how young people negotiate their religious identities in a complex web of inter-relationships between their minority religious belief community and the mainstream school culture as represented through peer and staff attitudes, school ethos and practices and religious education. Young people demonstrated differentiated understandings of acculturation orientations within the school context, which they evaluated on the basis of complex perceptions of educational policy, interpersonal relationships and individuals' motivations. Findings are discussed in view of acculturation tensions, which arose particularly in relation to the religious education curriculum and their implications for opt-out provision as stipulated by human rights law.

Knowledge and Action, Reason and Habit, in Jewish and Muslim Philosophies of Education

Abstract: Jewish and Muslim philosophers, alike, regarded the formation of proper habits to be the key to effective education. They also considered rational acceptance of religious obligation to be mandatory for successful observance. This essay examines the relationship between these two dimensions of religious education: knowledge and reason on the one hand, and habit and action on the other hand, in the philosophical and pedagogical works of Abu Hāmid al-Ghazāli (1058–1111,) Moses Maimonides (1135–1204), and the anonymous Sefer Ha-Hinnukh (13th century).

The Quest for Diversity in Christian Higher Education: Building Institutional Governance Capacity

Abstract: Social justice pertaining to diversity issues in higher education grips the nation, yet Christian higher education (CHE) has moved slowly to address the diversity in our institutions and society. Christian higher education faces the same challenges with growing diversity as secular higher education. Diversity impacts every aspect of institutional life from student enrollment, faculty engagement, and curricular development to board governance and institutional outcomes. Research has focused on disparities in CHE in areas ranging across access, enrollment, graduation rates, faculty diversity, and administrative leadership. Yet, there has been limited inquiry into the role of governing boards in addressing diversity from a comprehensive, institutional perspective. This article examines the intersection of diversity, social justice, and governance in the context of Christian higher education. The authors argue the institution's theological foundations provide a strong biblical and moral rationale for addressi...

Epistemic subjects, discursive selves, and dialogical self theory in the psychology of moral and religious development : mapping gaps and bridges

Abstract: This article charts various communalities and differences between cognitive-developmental and socio-cultural models in the psychology of moral and religious development, with particular attention to Hubert Hermans's model of the dialogical self. The authors propose that, despite marked differences, even oppositions, between conceptual models and visions of the human subject in these two ways of conceiving psychological functioning, the cognitive-developmental approach and the narrative-dialogical approach show meaningful correlations and overlap. Arguing for a “meta-dialogical” perspective benefiting from both cognitive-developmental and dialogical self contributions, the article goes on to explore some implications for moral and religious education.

On Holy Ground: The Theory and Practice of Religious Education

Abstract: Religion has had notable and renewed prominence in contemporary public and political life Religious questions have also been freshly examined in philosophy and theology, the natural sciences, the social sciences, psychology, phenomenology, politics and the arts These fields reflect complex, multi-disciplinary understandings of religion, some hostile, some accommodating For religious education this has all contributed to its own international renaissance Religious education, in ensuring it is contemporary, shares with these fields the same criticality, the same distance between the study of religion and the religious life Yet what are the grounds of this modern religious education? Through a systematic historical and contemporary cross-disciplinary analysis, answering this question is the ambitious task of the book Chapters include: philosophy, theology and religious education the natural sciences and religious education the social sciences and religious education psychology, spirituality and religious education phenomenology and religious education the politics of religious education the aesthetics of religious education The central problem of all modern religious education remains this: what are the grounds of religious education when religious education is no longer grounded in the religious life, in the life of the holy? Although this primarily appears to be an epistemological problem, it soon becomes a moral and existential one The book will be of key interest to teachers, theorists and researchers working in religious education

A category mistake: why contemporary Australian religious education in Catholic schools may be doomed to failure

Abstract: Assuming religious education to be the same as other subject areas of a Catholic school’s curriculum by, for example, applying the outcomes based philosophy and language of other subject areas to religious education renders a category mistake. A prominent notion in the work of metaphysical philosopher Gilbert Ryle, a category mistake arises when facts of one kind are presented as if they belong to another. This is significant. When Australian Catholic diocesan syllabus documents treat and describe religious education as being like other subjects comprising the curriculum, a category mistake is made, the effects of which may be damaging for student learning. Following an examination of relevant Church documents to describe its purpose, a brief analysis of contemporary Australian Catholic diocesan religious education syllabi (cases in point) indicates that a series of category mistakes have been made. These findings have significance in informing the development and refinement of theory, policy and practice...

Narrative theology in Religious Education

Abstract: This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in British Journal of Religious Education, 20 March 2013. Copyright © 2013 Taylor & Francis. Available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01416200.2013.785931