Hand on Religious Upbringing

Michael Hand's recent paper, ‘Religious Upbringing Reconsidered', re‐opens a debate that was flourishing over a decade ago in this journal and, long before that, in the works of others. In this response I examine Hand's claims that earlier contributions to the debate passed over the central problem and that he can solve that problem. I endeavour to show that several of Hand's arguments, such as those dealing with indoctrination, as well as his claims may be flawed, that the relevance of his inquiries is open to question, but that his hidden and, apparently, unacknowledged agenda should not remain hidden or passed over.     

Hand's Academy Challenge: Some Starter Questions

Michael Hand has recently challenged certain religious organisations that run Academies in the United Kingdom to devise and pursue their own faith‐based curricula in their schools. In this short article I examine some of the problems Hand's challenge might encounter, including whether religious conceptions of worthwhile activities and of human flourishing can be as devoid of religious beliefs as Hand would seem to wish and whether his challenge can be met.     

Educational pluralism and freedom of religion: recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights

This paper addresses the sensitive issue of the teaching of religions and beliefs in schools by analysing two recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. In these cases, the Court asserts that students should be exempted from compulsory courses on religion or from courses that are not conveyed in an objective, critical and pluralist manner in order to protect the rights of parents to raise their children in accordance with their beliefs and to protect the child’s religious freedom. What emerges from both decisions are sound principles about how to implement and teach these kind of courses without violating the freedom of religion and belief or undermining the state competences on education.     

The Home Literacy Environment and Preschool Children's Reading Skills and Interest

Research Findings: This study explored the association between the home literacy environment (HLE), conceptualized as comprising parents’ reading beliefs and home literacy practices, and preschoolers’ reading skills and reading interest. It also identified factors in the HLE that predict emerging reading competence and motivation to read. A total of 193 children age 6 years from 14 preschools across Singapore and their parents participated in the study. The parents completed a reading belief inventory, a family literacy activity inventory, and a demographic questionnaire that surveyed the child's reading interest. The children were administered a battery of standardized literacy tests. The study found a moderate relationship between the HLE and children's reading competencies and a strong relationship between the HLE and children's reading interest. When parents’ education level and children's age were controlled, hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that family literacy activities contributed more unique variance to children's reading outcomes and reading interest than did parents’ reading beliefs. Active parental involvement was the strongest component of the HLE, with parent–child engagement in reading and writing emerging as the best predictor of both the child's emerging reading skills and reading interest. With respect to reading beliefs, parents’ efficacy in supporting literacy development before their child attended school positively predicted reading competence, as did parents’ affect and verbal participation in fostering reading interest. However, verbal participation negatively predicted Singapore children's reading competence. Practice or Policy: The implications of the results were discussed.     

Culture,Literacy, and Power In Family–Community–School–Relationships

For too long, educators have held diminishing beliefs about Latino students' home life. Such beliefs are irrelevant except for the fact that students do not leave their culture at home; rather, home life is closely intertwined with their learning. Language and culture play a major role in students' learning and parents figure prominently in their children's academic success. In Latino communities, parents often feel disempowered because of their limited English language skills and their limited knowledge of the educational system. This inequality prevents Latino parents from advocating for their children in schools. However, balanced power relations between schools and Latino families are possible. The Carpintería research study reveals the transformation that is possible for parents and students when the family's language, culture, and literacy are acknowledged, appreciated, and utilized to empower students, families, schools, and communities.     

A Review of “Nurturing Children's Spirituality: Christian Perspectives and Best Practices”

This study examined the considerations involved when parents of sixth‐ and eighth‐graders in Israeli religious state elementary schools choose a religious secondary school for their children. While academic achievement was an important factor in parental choice, as religious Jews the parents were also greatly concerned with die secondary school's religious level. By means of discriminantal analysis, our study attempted to distinguish between two groups of parents: those who stressed the institution's religious level as opposed to those who stressed its academic level. We found that more religious parents, parents who had studied in boarding schools, and parents of Western origin belonged to the first category. Parents of younger children, less religious parents, and some parents of Oriental origin belonged to the latter group. The article also treats variations in parental attitudes according to parental gender, religious and communal identification, and child's grade and gender.     

明清时期秘密教门信仰体系与基本教义的形成与发展

明清秘密教门中的“无生老母”信仰 ,是罗教教主罗梦鸿在否定当时民间所流传的无生父母即是阿弥陀佛的基础上 ,杂糅儒释道三家经典中的某些内容 ,加以改造、创造而成 ,后经罗教弟子及黄天教等的发展 ,变得更加具体和丰富。而秘密教门中有关“天盘三副”或“龙华三会”信仰 ,则是在中国古代异端教派关于“弥勒救世”和“末劫说”的基础上 ,再融入对“无生老母”的崇拜而形成的。对于秘密教门的信仰体系和基本教义 ,既要看到它在反封建统治中的积极作用 ,也要看到它在社会主义建设时期的消极影响     

Spirituality Amid Dogma? Some Approaches to Educating for Religious Belief within in a State Religious School in Israel

The religious school, where young people are brought into religious life and practice, the development of a religious belief system is often neglected. Religiousness is often instilled as a linear end product, a monolithic corpus of ideas to be singularly transmitted and subsequently owned by youth. However, educational research by Gareth Matthews, Nel Noddings, and others suggests that youth are thirsting for opportunities to grapple, question, and wrestle with profound theological and philosophical issues—a process that leads to a richer religious identity. This article, based on three years of ethnographic research, looks at the way in which four teachers from one religious girls' high school in Israel executed theological education, from indoctrination with a pretty face, to the theological Bunsen burner. The dynamic between teachers' voices and students' voices sheds light on adolescent religious identity, and offers vital insights for religious education.     

Learning about evolution and rejecting a belief in special creation: Effects of reflective reasoning skill,prior knowledge,prior belief and religious commitment

Students in three sections of a high school biology course were taught a unit on evolution and natural selection. Prior to instruction, students were pretested to determine their (a) reflective reasoning skill, (b) strength of religious commitment, (c) prior declarative knowledge of evolution and natural selection, and (d) beliefs in evolution or special creation and related religiously oriented beliefs. Following instruction the measures of declarative knowledge and beliefs were readministered. The study was designed to test (a) the hypothesis that the acquisition of domain-specific concepts and the modification of nonscientific beliefs largely depends upon reflective reasoning skill, not prior declarative knowledge; and (b) the hypothesis that strength of religious commitment and a belief in special creation hinder the acquisition of scientific beliefs. Although instruction produced no overall shift toward a belief in evolution, as predicted, reflective reasoning skill was significantly related to initial scientific beliefs, and reflective reasoning skill, but not prior declarative knowledge, was significantly related to gains in declarative knowledge. Reflective reasoning skill, however, was not significantly related to changes in beliefs. Also as predicted, strength of religious commitment was negatively correlated with initial belief in evolution and with a change in belief toward evolution. Interrelationships among the study's major variables, as well as educational implications, are discussed.     

“Are all beliefs equal?” investigating the nature and determinants of parental attitudinal beliefs towards educational inclusion

This study explores the nature of parental attitudinal beliefs towards educational inclusion and the factors that determine these beliefs. Participants were drawn from the Growing Up in Scotland Survey (N = 2200). Results indicate that majority of parents held positive generalised belief towards including children with additional support needs (ASN) in mainstream classrooms (90%), compared with belief about the benefits of inclusion for children with ASN (72%), or benefits for typically developing children (70%). Lower parental income and higher levels of satisfaction with child’s current school were associated with positive generalised beliefs. Belief about the benefits of inclusion for children with ASN was also positively associated with lower parental income, while belief about benefits for typically developing children was determined by higher parental education and age. Our findings suggest that efforts to increase parental attitudes should target salient beliefs and take into account the determinants of each of these beliefs.     

The home–school interface in religious and moral formation: the Irish case

With the student body across Europe becoming more diverse, the issue of religious education in schools has come to receive greater attention. In the context of the specific historical and institutional context of the Irish primary educational system, this paper addresses aspects of the religious and moral formation of primary school children. The methodology employed in this study is qualitative: it is based on in-depth interviews with school principals, teachers and parents, and focus groups with students in five case-study schools. The paper examines the role of both home and school in the development of religious and secular beliefs. It also examines the way children are active agents in their own moral development, specifically how they mediate and interpret three sets of influences, namely formal school-based religious instruction, the broader school climate, and the implicit values and beliefs communicated by school, parents and the wider family.     

Mothers' Acculturation and Beliefs About Emotions,Mother–Child Emotion Discourse,and Children's Emotion Understanding in Latino Families

Research Findings: We examined associations among Anglo acculturation, Latino enculturation, maternal beliefs, mother–child emotion talk, and emotion understanding in 40 Latino preschool-age children and their mothers. Mothers self-reported Anglo acculturation, Latino enculturation, and beliefs about the value/danger of children's emotions and parent/child roles in emotion socialization. Mother–child emotion talk was observed during a Lego storytelling task. Children's emotion understanding was measured using 2 age-appropriate tasks. Correlations showed that mothers' Latino enculturation was associated with mothers' stronger belief in guiding children's emotions and children's lower emotion understanding. Anglo acculturation was associated with mothers' lower belief that emotions can be dangerous and children's better emotion understanding. Mothers with a stronger belief in guiding children's emotions more frequently labeled emotions. Mothers with a stronger belief that emotions can be dangerous less frequently explained emotions. Regressions controlling for child age and maternal education demonstrated that mothers with a stronger belief that children can learn about emotions on their own and mothers with greater Latino enculturation had children with lower emotion understanding, whereas mothers with greater Anglo acculturation had children with better emotion understanding. Practice or Policy: Results suggest that understanding both family acculturation and family enculturation will be helpful for early childhood researchers and educators seeking to assess and promote children's socioemotional development.     

'The Kids are Doing All Right': Differences in parental satisfaction,expectation and attribution in St Petersburg,Sunderland and

Comparative studies of attitudes in different countries have resulted in the claim that parents in the USA and England tend to have unrealistically positive views of their children's schools and academic performance. Low expectations, together with a belief in the importance of natural ability, it has been argued, lead to low standards and reduce striving to succeed. The present study builds upon earlier investigations of children's attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in Sunderland, Eastern Kentucky and St Petersburg by surveying parental perspectives. Findings from these three regions reinforce earlier findings about English and American complacency and the more demanding nature of the Russian context. In line with our earlier studies, and contrary to the suggestion of a number of writers, an emphasis upon effort, rather than ability, was a strong feature of the English and American responses, although it is pointed out that such beliefs may not actually result in high work rates. The paper concludes by suggesting that the important role of parents in instilling important attitudes and behaviours in their children is undermined by the current emphasis upon schools as fundamentally responsible for ensuring high levels of achievement.     

INDOCTRINATION AND THE SPACE OF REASONS

Abstract The “paradox of indoctrination” has proven to be a persistent problem in discussions of the cultivation of autonomy through education. In short, if indoctrination means instilling beliefs without reasons, and if children lack the rational capacity to evaluate reasons, how can that capacity be cultivated without indoctrination? Some educational theorists have relied on a transcendental justification of rational autonomy that avoids indoctrination, while others have accepted that some indoctrination is inevitable, focusing instead on defending acceptable forms of indoctrination. In this essay, Chris Hanks draws on a conception of rationality, mind, and nature developed by John McDowell to suggest an alternative understanding of the relation between indoctrination and autonomy. He argues that McDowell’s notion of the “space of reasons” defuses standard debates about indoctrination. Here, rationality is understood in both a naturalistic sense, whereby the development of autonomy is the process of being awakened to the space of reasons, and in a sui generis sense, whereby reason cannot be reduced to mechanistic principles or relations. The implications of this view for education point us to the notion of Bildung as the process that cultivates rational autonomy.     

Embedded Identities and Dialogic Consensus: Educational implications from the communitarian theory of Bhikhu Parekh

In this article the author will investigate the extent to which Bhikhu Parekh believes that a person's cultural/religious background must be preserved and whether, by implication, religious schooling is justified by his theory. His discussion will explore—by inference and implication—whether Parekh's carefully crafted multiculturalism, enriched and illuminated by numerous practical insights, is socially tenable. The author will also consider whether, by extension, it is justifiable, on his line of reasoning, to cultivate cultural and religious understandings among one's own children. Finally, the author will contend that Parekh, notwithstanding his cautious, even‐handed approach, commits several important errors, including conflating the culture of the parents with that of the children and insisting that cultural and religious persons ought to be allowed to defend their views in the public square on religious grounds.     

Young Children's Trust Beliefs in Peers: Relations to Social Competence and Interactive Behaviors in a Peer Group

Research Findings: The aim of this study was to explore the relations between children's trust beliefs and social competence as well as social preference. In addition, this study examined how children with different trust belief profiles may differ in their peer interactive behaviors. A total of 47 children ages 5 to 6 participated in this study. Data were collected via observation of play behaviors, a teacher-rated social competence scale, and a child interview. The results indicated that children's trust beliefs in friends’ promise-keeping behaviors were positively associated with intrapersonal and interpersonal domains of social competence. Children who had greater trust in non-friend classmates’ promise-keeping behaviors tended to be sociable in a group, polite, and more preferred, and they were less likely to be disliked by peers. Children with different trust profiles exhibited differential interactive behaviors with peers. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest that parents and early childhood educators should pay more attention to the extent to which young children trust their close friends and familiar peers, especially in terms of keeping promises. Adults may model their efforts in keeping their promises made to children and enhance children's capacity to reciprocate trust in close relationships. Adults can help children differentiate their trust based on the intimacy of relationships.     

Perceptual Access Reasoning (PAR) in Developing a Representational Theory of Mind

An important part of children's social and cognitive development is their understanding that people are psychological beings with internal, mental states including desire, intention, perception, and belief. A full understanding of people as psychological beings requires a representational theory of mind (ToM), which is an understanding that mental states can faithfully represent reality, or misrepresent reality. For the last 35 years, researchers have relied on false-belief tasks as the gold standard to test children's understanding that beliefs can misrepresent reality. In false-belief tasks, children are asked to reason about the behavior of agents who have false beliefs about situations. Although a large body of evidence indicates that most children pass false-belief tasks by the end of the preschool years, the evidence we present in this monograph suggests that most children do not understand false beliefs or, surprisingly, even true beliefs until middle childhood. We argue that young children pass false-belief tasks without understanding false beliefs by using perceptual access reasoning (PAR). With PAR, children understand that seeing leads to knowing in the moment, but not that knowing also arises from thinking or persists as memory and belief after the situation changes. By the same token, PAR leads children to fail true-belief tasks. PAR theory can account for performance on other traditional tests of representational ToM and related tasks, and can account for the factors that have been found to correlate with or affect both true- and false-belief performance. The theory provides a new laboratory measure which we label the belief understanding scale (BUS). This scale can distinguish between a child who is operating with PAR versus a child who is understanding beliefs. This scale provides a method needed to allow the study of the development of representational ToM. In this monograph, we report the outcome of the tests that we have conducted of predictions generated by PAR theory. The findings demonstrated signature PAR limitations in reasoning about the mind during the ages when children are hypothesized to be using PAR. In Chapter II, secondary analyses of the published true-belief literature revealed that children failed several types of true-belief tasks. Chapters III through IX describe new empirical data collected across multiple studies between 2003 and 2014 from 580 children aged 4–7 years, as well as from a small sample of 14 adults. Participants were recruited from the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. All participants were native English-speakers. Children were recruited from university-sponsored and community preschools and daycare centers, and from hospital maternity wards. Adults were university students who participated to partially fulfill course requirements for research participation. Sociometric data were collected only in Chapter IX, and are fully reported there. In Chapter III, minor alterations in task procedures produced wide variations in children's performance in 3-option false-belief tasks. In Chapter IV, we report findings which show that the developmental lag between children's understanding ignorance and understanding false belief is longer than the lag reported in previous studies. In Chapter V, children did not distinguish between agents who have false beliefs versus agents who have no beliefs. In Chapter VI, findings showed that children found it no easier to reason about true beliefs than to reason about false beliefs. In Chapter VII, when children were asked to justify their correct answers in false-belief tasks, they did not reference agents’ false beliefs. Similarly, in Chapter VIII, when children were asked to explain agents’ actions in false-belief tasks, they did not reference agents’ false beliefs. In Chapter IX, children who were identified as using PAR differed from children who understood beliefs along three dimensions—in levels of social development, inhibitory control, and kindergarten adjustment. Although the findings need replication and additional studies of alternative interpretations, the collection of results reported in this monograph challenges the prevailing view that representational ToM is in place by the end of the preschool years. Furthermore, the pattern of findings is consistent with the proposal that PAR is the developmental precursor of representational ToM. The current findings also raise questions about claims that infants and toddlers demonstrate ToM-related abilities, and that representational ToM is innate.     

Chopsticks and clothes: Chinese heritage parents' perspectives on young children's technology use as a tool for language and cultural learning

This paper presents Chinese heritage parents' perspectives on young children's use of technology as a tool for language and cultural learning. Growing up with Confucian heritage culture, some Chinese parents have particular cultural beliefs about learning that value effortful learning practices and the social context of learning. However, some Chinese parents believe technology is just a tool for entertainment and keeps children away from social interaction, which leads to their preference of print-based literacy practices at home. Four parents from different families whose children were between the ages of four to five participated in this study. These parents were interviewed about their experience and history of using technology and their thoughts about technology as a tool for language and cultural learning. Four narratives were constructed to describe parents' experiences, histories, opinions, cultural values and beliefs. Parents' perspectives were influenced by a variety of intertwined factors, including their own childhood language learning experiences, their histories of using technology, their cultural values and beliefs about learning, the purpose of technological experiences, and the quality of available technological resources. Pedagogical implications for using technology with children and communicating with parents are discussed.     

Understanding parental views of adolescent sexuality and sex education in Ecuador: a qualitative study

Parents' contribution to sex education is increasingly receiving research attention. This growing interest stems from recognition of the influence that parental attitudes may have both on young people's sexual attitudes and behaviour, and on school-based sex education. Studies regarding parental attitudes towards sexuality are, however, still rare. The two main objectives of this study were to explore parental views about sexuality and to understand parental attitudes towards sex education. Four focus group discussions were conducted with parents from high schools in Cuenca, Ecuador. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that parents held a restricted view about sex education, grounded in traditional religious ideas about sexuality, which led parents to understand it as a morally and physically dangerous activity. Although parents expressed a willingness to make good quality sex education available to their children, they reported having insufficient personal resources to fulfil that objective. The results of this study provide important information about the need to develop and adapt sex education to each specific cultural context, thereby confirming the importance of knowing about the cultural traditions and religious beliefs that may form obstacles to effective sex education for young people in Ecuador.     

The concept of educación: Latino family values and American schooling

Do traditional, agrarian values put minority culture children at a disadvantage in North American schools? The available results are mixed. In this chapter we attempt to “unpack” some of the effects of traditional Latino family values on their children's early school adaptation and achievement. Our research suggests that agrarian-origin values, which differ from academic-occupational orientation of school personnel, do not necessarily work to the disadvantage of students. On the contrary, under certain conditions, these values may be complementary to those of the school and in fact serve to support educational adaptation and achievement. A key to our findings and analyses is the concept of educación beliefs among the parents in our sample. Not all strongly endorsed cultural beliefs are instantiated in ways that impact children's experiences and development. Some cultural beliefs lead to instantiation into everyday routines of families, while others seem to be readily available, expressed, and endorsed but not reliably acted on (D'Andrade & Strauss, 1992). Those beliefs that are instantiated into the daily routine are more likely to produce detectable effects on children's development, a conclusion supported by cross cultural evidence (Weisner, 1984).