Religious education

About: Religious education is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 9554 publications have been published within this topic receiving 65331 citations. The topic is also known as: faith-based education & RE.

The Relationship between Personal Prayer and Purpose in Life among Churchgoing and Non-churchgoing Twelve-to-Fifteen-Year-Olds in the UK.

Abstract: Abstract The relationship between personal prayer and perceived purpose in life is explored among two samples of twelve‐to‐fifteen‐year‐olds. The first sample comprises 914 males and 726 females who never attend church. The second sample comprises 232 males and 437 females who attend church most weeks. The data demonstrate a significant positive relationship between frequency of personal prayer and perceived purpose in life among both groups.

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...

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

The ‘Islamic’ in Islamic education: Assessing the discourse

Abstract: The paper assesses the dominant discourse on Islam and education that argues for an education derived from an exclusively 'Islamic' vision. In addition to exploring the historical roots of this discourse, the paper analyses it with respect to its (i) arguments for an Islamic vision of education, (ii) conception of Islam, and (iii) proposals for the implementation of such a vision. The paper argues that, at all three levels, the discourse suffers from serious conceptual and empirical weaknesses. It proposes that in seeking to overcome these weaknesses, the discourse will have to reconceptualize several elements, including its conception of Islam and its approach to the history of Muslims.