An alternative reading of modern religious education in England and Wales

This paper challenges the overly positive image of the contribution made by religious education in England and Wales to the attainment of liberal educational aims that was recently presented in this journal, in the context of a review symposium on a festschrift celebrating the work and achievements of the influential British religious educator, Professor John Hull. An alternative reading is pursued that provides a more accurate and fair interpretation of the evidence. There is a discussion of the ideological character of British religious education and a consideration of the reasons why assertions of its ‘success’ by religious educators are currently so vocal. Critical attention is focused on two particular issues over which the influence of Hull on contemporary policy and practice is acknowledged: that of his dismissal of the accusation that multi‐faith religious education confuses pupils, and that of current strategies in religious education to promote inter‐religious and intercultural understanding.     

Religious studies,religious education and the aims of education

This article interacts with a recent article by Denise Cush and Catherine Robinson in which they call for a new dialogue between religious studies in universities and religious education, and identify a number of developments in religious studies that have implications for the practice of religious education in schools. Cush and Robinson are representative of an influential body of opinion among religious educators that looks to religious studies for inspiration. It is argued that they, along with others, fail to appreciate the difference between the aims of religious studies and those of religious education and that this unrecognised difference leads them both to engage uncritically and superficially with the history of post-confessional religious education and to fail to recognise that the roots of some of the weaknesses in contemporary religious education can be traced to the influence of religious studies over it. Showing that religious education has (and is required to have) a different set of aims from religious studies (though some aims may be held in common) alerts us to its distinctive nature, and this in turn facilitates a clearer understanding of its role in schools, which can serve both to direct and to evaluate educational outcomes.     

Discussing terrorism: a pupil-inspired guide to UK counter-terrorism policy implementation in religious education classrooms in England

My research into pupils’ perceptions of terrorism and current UK counter-terrorism policy highlights the need for more detailed and accurate discussions about the implementation of the educational aims, in particular those laid out by the Prevent Strategy. Religious education (RE) in England is affected by these aims, specifically the challenging of terrorist ideologies and improving community cohesion, but many RE teachers feel ill-equipped in dealing with the issues that might arise from terrorism discussions. Therefore, I suggest that clarification could help alleviate some of the teacher’s concerns and help provide routes by which critical RE teaching and learning can take place.     

An exploration of the viability of partnership between dar al-ulum and higher education institutions in North West England focusing upon pedagogy and relevance

The article explores possibilities of collaboration between Muslim providers of traditional education (dar al-ulums) and HE/FE institutions in close geographical proximity in the North West England. It reports the outcomes of a project carried out in 2011/2012 influenced by the findings of the Makadam/Scott-Baumann report in 2010, in which it was stated that cross fertilisation of pedagogical methodologies in the dar al-ulums is already achieving a unique synthesis drawing upon skills of memory and cognition. The project had a dual intention to (1) see through to completion a partnership in which a BA in Islamic Education would be created for advanced dar al-ulum students and (2) to focus on the relevance and pedagogical styles of the dars-i nizami curriculum taught in the dar al-ulums and therefore add to scholarly and political debates on the madrasa/dar al-ulum education which has already generated a body of literature. The paper will focus on the latter.     

The experience of black African religious education trainee teachers training in England

This study addresses issues surrounding the recruitment and training of black African religious education teachers within the context of the government’s intention to make the teaching profession more representative of the wider community. In relation to this there is a strong emphasis in the Teacher Training Agency’s Qualifying to Teach on selection procedures which promote equality of opportunity and the recognition of individual training needs. The study is informed by the work of Sikes and Everington who have highlighted the place of religion and culture within the personal histories of religious education teachers. Black African members of two successive cohorts of PGCE students are tracked to identify their training needs in relation to their cultural and religious backgrounds. The data identifies four cultural and religious factors which impact on their training to teach religious education in the UK. Finally, as advised by the Carrington Report, recommendations are made for the practice of teacher educators.     

Legitimizing public schooling and innovative education policies in strict religious communities: the story of the new Haredi public education stream in Israel

The study explored how a group of private Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) schools legitimized an innovative non-mandatory reform. Specifically, it examined the circumstances that facilitated and hindered a coincidence of wants between the schools and the Ministry of Education, which resulted in signing agreements that changed the status of the schools from private to public. The study drew on interviews and on various documents, including contracts, summaries of meetings, and work plans. The conclusions portray the correspondence between the top-down and bottom-up processes that facilitated the reform. At their intersection, discursive interactions transpired between the Haredi inspectors at the Ministry of Education and school leaders, reflecting a mutual aspiration toward pragmatic legitimacy. The prominent barriers to the reform derived from the Ministry of Education’s strategic assumption that a quiet, unregulated reform would generate less resistance. However, this assumption led to actions that ultimately reduced the effectiveness of the discursive interactions and their ability to produce pragmatic legitimacy. We argue that to legitimize innovative non-mandatory educational reforms in strict religious groups, the State should speak in several voices: through discursive interactions led by cultural mediators, but also through official publications, regulations, and marketing campaigns that would strengthen the reform’s pragmatic legitimacy.     

Identity and inter religious understanding in Jewish schools in England

This article sets up a dialogue between auto-referential (looking to self) and allo-referential (looking to the other) approaches to religious difference and applies these to education for inter religious understanding in Jewish schools. It begins by arguing that the multiculturalism of the 1980s and 1990s set up a duality of self and other, with the responsibility for looking to ‘the other’ (allo-reference) resting largely on the majority community and the licence to look to self (auto-reference) being given to minority communities. Within the Jewish community, multiculturalism supported and legitimated the development of an inward-looking Jewish identity-based education. This was challenged in the 2000s however by the new outward-looking emphases of the community cohesion agenda, and so Jewish schools have had to negotiate a place for themselves between auto- and allo-reference. Brief case studies illustrate contrasting ways in which two schools have positioned themselves in relation to these two poles. In School A, the imperative towards ‘the other’ attempts an openness to ‘the other’ in ‘the other’s’ own terms, whereas in School B the same imperative towards ‘the other’ is framed within the auto-referential framework of being and doing Jewish.     

Competence of Irish and Polish teachers in the opinions of young Polish immigrants in Ireland

Since 2004, Ireland has experienced the arrival of immigrants from various countries from all over the world including Poland. The Polish came to Ireland with their families including children of school age obliged to attend compulsory education. These children have attended schools dissimilar from the ones they are accustomed to in their home country in terms of teacher–student relationships. The question then arises as to what an Irish teacher is like in the opinions of young Polish immigrants? Is the image different from the one of a Polish teacher, or does the peculiarity of this job make teachers in various countries alike? This research conducted among a group of Polish grammar school students in Ireland helps to answer these questions. This article is a comparative study of teachers’ competence, and their personality, as well as their substantive, methodological and educational competence. The information was obtained by group interview technique with Polish youth aged 13–15 studying in Irish secondary schools at junior cycle level.     

Comparing religious education in Canadian and Australian Catholic high schools: identifying some key structural issues

Religious education (RE) in Catholic high schools in Australia and Canada is compared by examining some of the underlying structural factors that shape the delivery of RE. It is argued that in Canadian Catholic schools RE is diminished by three factors that distinguish it from the Australian experience. These are: the level and history of government funding which in turn leads to a relative lack of autonomy of Catholic schools to control their own RE curriculum; external political and social influences on the RE curriculum which is apparent in the popular election of Catholic school trustees; and most decisively, the absence of strong, ongoing bureaucratic support of RE.     

The challenge of religious education to deal with past and present Catholicism

Religious education (RE) in secondary schools in the Netherlands is challenged to redefine the educational aims. Concerning this debate, the preference for a cognitive approach is remarkably dominant, not only among scholars but among RE teachers as well. This appeal for a cognitive turn is based upon two hypotheses: first on the presumption of religious blankness among religiously unaffiliated pupils and second on a specific view on the way religious affiliation, religious reflectivity and religious tolerance are intertwined. The current article elaborates on a empirical research that questions both hypotheses. It first discovered the ongoing connection religiously unaffiliated pupils have with a former and conventional type of Catholicism, which impedes the development of their reflective personal religiosity as well as that of their interreligious openness. Second, this investigation revealed that personal connectedness with contemporary Catholic faith encourages these two developments. As such, this research contributes to a nuanced perspective on the chances and bottlenecks within religious learning by religiously unaffiliated and affiliated pupils. Concerning the redefinition of religious educational aims, it provides empirical arguments for a balanced combination of cognitive, attitudinal and experiential aims and advocates a preference for experiential and attitudinal aspects as a didactical starting point.     

The living art of religious education: a paradigm of hermeneutics and dialogue for RE at faith schools today

ABSTRACT

In light of ongoing debates about religious education as hermeneutical, this contribution proposes a ‘hermeneutical-communicative’ (HCM) paradigm for RE through the development of a twofold reflection: (a) a critical (re-)evaluation of the theological and anthropological foundations for RE in light of (b) a context marked by religious and philosophical diversity, disaffiliation and ‘areligiosity’. In this way, the HCM approach proposes an identity for RE that lies at the intersection of ‘hermeneutical’ and ‘dialogical’. Drawing upon theologies of interreligious dialogue, this contribution first analyses four paradigms for RE (exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism, particularism) and then advocates for a hermeneutical-communicative approach characterised by an emphasis on interreligious ‘literacy’, philosophical and religious hospitality and inter-hermeneutical dialogue. Such a paradigm results in a number of implications for practice, including sensitivity to ‘big questions’ in life, engagement with the Gospels and the faith tradition, respect and appreciation for other avenues in the search for meaning and identity, and attention to the personal growth of young people.     

Let the captives speak for themselves! More dialogue between religious education in England and Germany

This article offers a German response to John Hull's recent article on ‘religious education in Germany and England’ (in BJRE, volume 27, issue 1). The author claims that recent developments have brought religious education in both countries much closer together than in the past and that the differences between the respective systems should be understood contextually. In his view, more complex approaches to comparative research in religious education are needed. Agreement should be sought in terms of criteria for quality religious education rather than in terms of a unitary model because religious education in different countries needs a pluralism of different models.     

Narthical religious learning: redefining religious education in terms of pilgrimage

Religious education at school should be more than just the acquisition of knowledge. It should not only provide cognitive facts on how religious people act according to their moral and religious convictions, but also on how learners can gain as much profit as possible from these facts in order to build their own identity as religious ‘tourists’. Good religious education challenges them also to become ‘pilgrims’ and to allow the ‘slow questions’ of religion to enter into their own life, in all their vulnerability and provisionality. This paper discusses the recent orientation towards religious experience in religious didactics in Western Europe and makes out a case for a mystagogical‐communicative or ‘narthical’ approach to religious learning. This argument is presented against the background of individualisation, pluralisation and detraditionalisation of religion, which is the typical context for young people in their search for meaning today.     

Human rights education and religious education: from mutual suspicion to elective affinity

What are the prospects for joining religious education and human rights education? (1) Human rights educators may cite good historical and philosophical reasons for teaching about human rights without making any reference whatsoever to a religious foundation. (2) For their part, many religious communities have resisted opportunities to form alliances with human rights organisations, citing one form or another of ‘incommensurability’ between their faith and rights. (3) However, there also appear to be some occasions and some projects in which these two communities of discourse can embrace each other, and work for similar goals. How can we come to a better understanding about these regions of ‘elective affinity’ and their implications for religious education and human rights education?     

The meanings,risk factors and consequences of religious extremism: The perceptions of Islamic education teachers from Israel

This multiple case study examines the attitudes of 14 Islamic education teachers from Israel towards the meaning, causes and consequences of religious extremism among students in their Arab and Muslim-majority middle and high schools. These teachers define religious extremism as belief in absolute religious truth, inflexibility in religious interpretation, or strict adherence to Islamic teachings. In addition, the teachers distinguish the personal (adolescence, family problems and psychosocial needs), religious (unquestioned following of extremist imams or religion scholars; adopting of selective, literal and decontextualised readings of the religious text; influence of partisan teachers) and socio-political factors (students' feelings of fear and anger towards Israel and its unjust and oppressive role in the Palestinian–Israeli conflict) that push students towards religious extremism. Religious extremism, the teachers conclude, may lead to hatred or violence against followers of other religions, antagonism between Muslims and Jews in Israel, increased Islamophobia in Western societies, the rejection of Islam, the oppression of female students and reduced student achievement and diminished future prospects.     

Critical religious education: highlighting religious truth-claims in non-confessional educational contexts

In this article, a religious education, which combines a respect for relevant critical demands, when analysing religious truth-claims, and a sensitivity to the need to avoid unwarranted criteriological constraints in the analysing process, is examined. Starting with an analytical comment upon Andrew Wright’s critical realist approach in terms of a ‘pursuit of truth’, the question of how to motivate epistemological analyses within religious education is raised and discussed with reference to three relevant sceptical arguments. These arguments are made objects of critical comments, and an illustration of pedagogical and methodological consequences is presented with reference to the new syllabuses for religious education in Sweden. Finally, a constructive re-interpretation of Wright’s approach is elaborated, and a critical position in relation to it is outlined.     

The new evangelisation and adult religious education in Slovenia: challenges and possibilities

The Catholic Church in Slovenia is facing the challenge of the new evangelisation in the area of religious education which, at present, is mainly confined to the parish catechesis. She recognises the urgent need to pass from the religious education of children to adult catechesis. The latter is already being implemented in various forms by a number of movements and new realities, which are mostly addressed to adults, indicating new catechetical approaches in a dechristianised environment.     

Examining some aspects of the worldview of students in Australian Catholic schools: some implications for religious education

Abstract

Religious education always takes place within a cultural context. In recent decades, this context has changed significantly and Catholic schools now engage with a world that is very different from the immediate post-Vatican 2 era. This changed cultural context shapes the views, beliefs and practices of students in Catholic schools. One way of exploring this contextualisation is to describe the worldviews of young people and to discuss some of the major features of these. This paper reports on an ongoing study of students in Catholic schools. It records how they see themselves, their involvement in Church and their religious expression. Results indicate nuanced responses that invite sophisticated analysis of young people and worldview. One clear trend to emerge is the changing perception of students as they progress through the school system. This finding is in accord with a view that describes religious engagement of young people reaching a plateau at a relatively early age. Some of the implications of this study for religious educators in Catholic schools will be drawn out and discussed with a number of recommendation made for practitioners.     

Contextual religious education and the actuality of religions

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

The other partition: religious and secular education in British Palestine

The recent critical turn toward post-secularism, particularly on behalf of theorists working from the perspective of Christian societies, has highlighted the difficulty of approaching the history of the Middle East through the binary of religion and secularism. This article argues that such terms are of little explanatory value in and of themselves, but rather must themselves be explained as unique historical objects. Through an analysis of the Arab public school system created by the government of Mandatory Palestine, this study demonstrates how the transformation of Islamic education occurred within a matrix of colonial domination that promoted its unique understanding of religion as a universal standard. By tracing the emergence of ‘religion’ as a distinct category of knowledge and human experience in modern Palestine, this article draws attention to the factors that distinguish the development of colonial secularism from phenomena observed in the Euro-American context.