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ISREV 2010 - COLLEGIAL PAPER ABSTRACTS

Change 12/07/10: Karin Sporre & David Lifmark abstract replaced by different Karin Sporre abstract.

INDEX OF PRESENTERS, in surname order.   Click on a name to go to their abstract.  Or click on ABSTRACTS to go to the first abstract.

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COLLEGIAL ABSTRACTS, in Presenter's surname order.   Click on Top after any abstract to go back to the INDEX OF PRESENTERS.

Raphael Zvi Aaronson - The issue of the educational objectives of religious education and their measurements from the point of view of a curriculum planner

Religious education is one of the main issues that engage those involved in research and practice in the ISREV community. In this paper, I wish to examine the following questions regarding curricular aspects of religious education, based on Ralph Tyler's approach to curriculum planning:

A. What are the aims of religious education? Or in other words what are the expected changes in the behaviour of learners as a result of their participation in religious education? Will the expected changes be identical in the study of the three main religions (in historical order) Judaism, Christianity and Islam, or will they be differential and if so according to what parameters, what content or what specifications?

B. How do we cause these changes to occur and which are the learning experiences needed to ensure the achievement of these changes? I will claim that the Commandments, Creeds and the Shahada should be treated as learning experiences. Are these learning experiences intellectual, cognitive, affective behavioural, or even psychomotor?

C. How do we measure these expected changes in behaviour? How will we logically classify educational objectives?

I will end my presentation by pointing out the intricate relations that exist between these three topics. I will also address possible educational problems that could arise in religious education of the type described above. Top

Hanan Alexander - Receiving Tradition: Autonomy, Faith, and Reason in Religious Initiation

This paper builds on my contribution to Faith in Education: A Tribute to Terence McLaughlin entitled "Autonomy, Faith, and Reason: McLaughlin and Callan on Religious Initiation," which addresses a philosophical debate between Terry McLaughlin and Eamonn Callan concerning religious upbringing and liberal values. Callan denied parents the liberal right to raise their children in a religious faith because it undermines the autonomy required of democratic citizens. McLaughlin responded that children are not born into any particular values so parents have the right to educate them in a primary culture which may be religious. This results in a version of autonomy which he dubbed 'autonomy via faith'. Callan rejoined that parents have a weak right to expose their children to religion with the understanding that they remain agnostic until they have grown but not a strong right to raise them in faith since autonomy requires that religious belief be subjected to the rigors of mature rational judgment. This can be called 'autonomy-via-reason'. I maintain that Callan has confused belief that something is the case with belief (or trust) in another subject. McLaughlin's notion of 'autonomy via faith' entails the later -- the self-control required to put one's own interests aside in order to receive and learn to trust another subject or tradition. Nel Noddings calls this engrossment. In this paper I explore the connection between engrossment and what Michael Oakeshoytt called engagement with a tradition of practice, which yields precisely the sort of autonomy required of democratic citizens. Top

Stefan Altmeyer - New Empirical Ways of Analysing Religious Language

It only takes a brief look at the etymological roots of the word ‘theology’ to state the obvious: theology has to face linguistic questions. To what extent is human language capable of speaking of a reality that is believed to be radically transcendent? And vice versa: how can we imagine this transcendent entity to let us know of its existence? Does God address us in human terms? Though Christian theologians have for a long time resisted adopting the Greek philosophy’s label ‘theology’ for what they were doing, they have always been concerned with this fundamental linguistic problem.

Starting with the biblical idea of God who addresses man in a way that everyone can understand (cf. 1 Sa 3, Psa 19:2–7), theologians throughout history have developed various theories on religious language that share but one aspect: they all are deductive theories. Each would develop from some a priori assumptions about the nature of religious language (e.g. its metaphorical character) and then formulate normative rules for its practical use.

Religious Education has been deeply influenced by these ideal conceptions. This paper argues that by means of introducing empirical linguistic methods we need to reconsider the classical approach to religious language learning. Religious language can no longer be exclusively regarded from a theoretical point of view, there is more to it: ‘empirical religious language’, language which is actually used, must be focused on. A corpus linguistic study that investigates the language secondary school students use in writing about God illustrates this conceptual change. Top

Elisabeth Arweck - Mixed-faith families in the UK: Where does religious education come in?

Both survey and census statistics suggest that the number of mixed-faith families is rising, both in the UK and in other countries. However, this section of the population remains relatively unresearched, with the focus of scholarly attention generally on individuals and families from a mixed-race rather than mixed-faith background. The paper will draw on a recent study of mixed-faith families in the UK, which sought to contribute to knowledge about such families. The paper will use ethnographic data from the three-year research project (2006–2009), which was carried out in the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU) at the University of Warwick.

The focus of the study was to investigate how young people growing up in the UK with parents from different faith backgrounds (for example, with a Christian mother and a Sikh father) come to identify themselves in relation to their parents’ respective religious traditions. One of the aspects the study examined was the role which religious education, both in school and outside it, played in shaping young people’s religious beliefs and identities. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted with both the adults and young people, the paper will report the parents’ views of religious education in their children’s upbringing as well as the young people’s perceptions of what contribution, if any, religious education made to the way in which they formed their beliefs and attitudes towards religion. The paper will also show how religious education is placed within the triangle of school, home, and wider community. Top

Jeff Astley - What can religious choice really mean? Some philosophical and theological concerns and their implications for religious education

The paper will seek to explore some aspects of the debates in philosophy and theology on our freedom of belief and their relevance for the freedom of religion, drawing out their implications for the theory and practice of religious education.

There is a considerable literature in philosophy and the philosophy of religion devoted to the issue of the role of the will in belief; the topic has also been of historical concern to Christian theologians. Some speak of ‘the will to believe’, while many others have assumed some volitional element in belief – particularly in religious belief – and a duty to believe certain things and not to believe others.

In exploring these ideas I shall argue against certain assumptions that are widespread in the debates concerning religious education, especially those that utilise the concepts of intellectual autonomy, decision and choice in ways that imply, or even directly assert, a radical freedom of belief.

Against this, I will develop the claim that we possess no more than an indirect freedom in our believing, and that the employment of the language of choice is misleading, in that in this context we can only exercise choice at the level of choosing to examine the grounds for our beliefs. We may choose our path to belief; we cannot directly choose our beliefs.

What these claims mean for the philosophy and practice of both nonconfessional and confessional religious education, and for the notion of religious freedom, will be the major concerns of the paper. Top

Karen Aylward - Young people’s conceptions of Jesus

This paper reports some of the findings of a religious education empirical study conducted in England investigating young people’s conceptions of Jesus. The study, which adopted a qualitative approach, employed an open ended questionnaire completed by over five hundred students, and follow up semi-structured interviews with twenty four of those students. For the purposes of this presentation, the paper will report key findings from the interview data.

As in previous research in the field, the majority of young people in this sample expressed generally favourable views towards Jesus; emphasised Jesus’ humanity rather than his divinity; and expressed reservations regarding the miracles of Jesus and the reliability of the Gospel accounts. In addition, this study extended the findings of previous studies by demonstrating that the conceptions of Jesus held by participants were largely determined by their predominantly scientific world-views. Moreover, responses from young people participating in this study indicated that students were often unaware that the views they held were contingent and grounded in particular ontological and epistemological assumptions. So whilst religious beliefs were subject to critical scrutiny, the assumptions underpinning the students’ own positions were not.

Consequently, this paper argues that to engage fully with the beliefs of others, students need to be more cognisant of the principles underlying their own beliefs, religious or otherwise. Furthermore, this paper proposes that commitment to genuine dialogue should be at the heart of contemporary religious education. Top

Philip Barnes - Representating Religions, Developing Respect for Others and Interpretive Religious Education

The aim of this paper is to address two issues: (i) that of the extent to which interpretive religious education faithfully represents the nature of religion, and (ii) that of how successful interpretive religious education is in developing respect for those who are perceived as different, where this denotes those who belong to different cultural, ethnic, racial and religious communities or groups. The nature of interpretive religious education is explored and discussed: its genealogical origins; its intellectual and educational commitments; its interpretation of religion; and its distinctive approach to challenging religious intolerance and to developing social cohesion. Much of the discussion will focus on the writings of Robert Jackson, though reference will be made to other religious educators who identify their work as contributing to and expressing the commitments of interpretive religious education. Jackson’s account of interpretive religious education has been widely influential, and he is justly regarded as one of Europe’s leading religious educators. An attempt will be made to trace the development of Jackson’s position, particularly as this relates to the way in which he believes interpretive religious educations facilitates inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue and challenges religious discrimination and intolerance. The paper concludes by raising a number of critical questions for advocates of interpretive religious education that centre on its interpretation of the nature of religion, its understanding of the relationship of religion to culture, and finally its contribution to community cohesion.

The paper draws upon the disciplines of analytical philosophy, anthropology, religious studies and (religious) educational theory. Top

Doug Blomberg - An inclusive conception of religion as condition for freedom of religion and belief

The Conference Theme evokes the apparent contradiction between being educated in a religious tradition and being free to make decisions about ultimate beliefs; the presupposition is that people thus educated are disadvantaged, whereas the autonomy of those merely educated about religion remains unscathed.

This philosophical paper assumes that humans are seekers of meaning, and defends the claim that this quest leads toward commitment to a source of meaning, a final “court of appeal” in human affairs. The beliefs one refuses ultimately to abandon, whether with or without the forms of institutionalised religion, may be properly regarded as religious. Thus, a commitment to rationality, majority opinion or physics as the final arbiter, for example, is religious.

Teachers, proffering the gift of cultural meaning systems and helping people develop their own gifts for creating meaning, rely on conceptions of relative and ultimate value as they select from experience for educational purposes. Freedom of belief requires articulation of these conceptions so that their influence is overt, enabling both self-critical reflection on their validity and more respectful and fruitful dialogue between those of divergent convictions (cf., Haidt et al. on moral foundations/social intuitionism; Dooyeweerd et al. on interreligious dialogue). Where human life is acknowledged to be religiously rooted and the values embedded in one’s own and others’ worldviews are conscientiously identified and empathically understood, education will be more hospitable to the nurture of freedom of religion and belief than when some perspectives are regarded as agnostic on questions of ultimate value. Top

Lorna Bowman - Freedom of Religion and Publicly-Funded Religious Schools in Canada

Canada is recognized by the United Nations as the most multicultural country in the world. The colonizers were Britain and France. On becoming a dominion in 1867, the British North America Act enshrined rights of publicly-funded religiously-sponsored education for Roman Catholics because parents insisted on having Catholic schools. Without this provision, the BNA Act would not have occurred.

Education in Canada is the responsibility of each province. Following the growth of secularism during the 1960's in Quebec, in 1976 Bill 101, The Charter of the French Language, reorganized education according to linguistic background. In Ontario, from 1867 onwards, the Jewish community expressed concern that the public system was in fact a “Protestant” system. Today, many parents of various religious traditions send their children to private religious schools in Ontario for which they have requested governmental funding and/or questioned the public funding of Ontario’s Catholic schools as provided for in the Constitution Act of 1982 (repatriated BNA Act).

This paper falls into the disciplines of both Church and Educational History, with particular attention to the relationship between the Church and State in Canada. Primary and secondary resources are utilized in the writing of the narrative to provide an overview of the history of publicly-funded religious schools in Canada and the social and political forces at work, particularly in Ontario and Quebec. The paper concludes with an analysis of the contemporary religio-cultural context to raise questions about the rights of all religious groups in Canada vis-à-vis the intent of the 1867 BNA Act. Top

Catherine Bowness - Standing Up To Hatred For A Legacy of Hope; our students as role models for community cohesion.

From 2008-2010 Students and their teachers worked together, whilst influencing others in the wider community, to create a society that acknowledges and respects difference. This paper explores the links between belief ,collective memory, history, Religious Education and community action, through focusing on the writings of Samuel, Portelli and Benjamin and by examining present day communication between young people and survivors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.

Through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, workshop reports and observation, it follows the progress of young people, from diverse cultural backgrounds, as they encounter eye witness accounts from survivors of atrocity and work for Legacy of Hope projects created in the build up to 27th January 2010. This date marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and central to the projects was the desire of ageing Holocaust survivors to create, with young people, a ”legacy of hope” for the future. Students met survivors of atrocities, discovering how crimes against humanity are compiled of individual acts of hatred. Different generations, with both shared and diverse beliefs and values, assisted by Religious Education teachers and specialist creative artists worked together to remember, reflect and react to the challenge of building a fairer future.

The paper demonstrates individual and shared exploration of personal reactions to crimes against humanity and shows how gaining knowledge and skills, through personal encounter, enables students to become proactive champions of community cohesion, challenging adults to take positive action to stand up to hatred and create a more inclusive society Top

Oddrun M H Bråten - A methodology for comparative religious education (RE) from a study of England and Norway

In my paper I will present a suggested template for comparative religious education together with experiences of applying it to a study of RE in England and Norway. I have looked at how comparative studies in related fields can be of assistance in formulating a framework for comparative religious education, and have also considered pioneering works in comparative RE. This template is a synthesis of two sets of ideas. The first is an idea of three dimensions in comparative education: supranational, national and sub-national processes. The second is the idea of levels of curriculum: societal, institutional, instructional and experiential.

The societal level is seen as political, and includes public as well as professional debates about RE. The institutional level in England is represented by the law, the Non-Statutory National Framework for RE (QCA 2004) and Local Agreed Syllabuses, while in Norway it corresponds to the law, the National Curriculum (from 2005), and local work in schools. The instructional level includes how teachers plan and deliver the curriculum, while the experiential level corresponds to how learners receive the curriculum and make it personal.

The thesis chapters explore these levels looking at how they are affected by sub-national, national and supranational processes. The societal and institutional levels are explored through theory and documentary studies; while empirical studies are part of the material for the chapters where the instructional and experiential levels are discussed. I suggest that this methodology provides a framework for capturing different levels of national processes within a supranational context. Top

Halldis Breidlid - Inclusion and exclusion in Norwegian RE Curriculum for Primary and Lower Secondary School, with a special focus on Sikhs and Sikhism

This paper discusses the Norwegian RE curriculum concerning the exclusiveness of the selected five “world religions” and the lack of serious inclusion of other religious traditions. The main focus is on Sikhs and Sikhism since this tradition is not included as a world religion, and is nearly invisible in the curriculum, despite being a global religious tradition and a visible religious tradition in Norway. The classification of “world religions” is a challenge for most RE curricula, and most academics of religion seem to reject the term since the conceptualization itself tends to be “arbitrary, exclusionary and controlling.”

In contrast to Norway there are six “world religions” in English syllabuses: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism. The paper discusses the meaning of the concept of “world religions” in the Norwegian educational context, which is considered an important issue since these religions tend to be favoured in the curriculum. For instance, only in connection with the selected “world religions” is space given to inner diversity within these religious traditions.

The paper further discusses classroom experiences from the perspective of freedom of religion and belief given the fact that for instance Sikhism is nearly excluded from the RE curriculum. This exclusion may prevent the implementation of the principle guidelines stating that “the different world religions and world views should be introduced with respect, equal pedagogical principles shall be applied, and all religions shall be treated in an academic and objective way according to their features and their diversity.” Top

Michael T Buchanan - The significance of peer review upon the professional growth of pre-service religious education teachers

In recent times peer review strategies have been incorporated into the learning and teaching plans of many tertiary education courses across a variety of disciplines. Literature emanating from recent studies have found that the inclusion of peer review strategies have increased student motivation (Topping, 1998), promoted collaborative learning, improved academic skills (Malone & Riggsbee, 2007), fostered constructive feedback from peers (Bernstein, 2008) and improved learning outcomes for students (Van Weert & Pilot, 2003).

This paper reports on some of the key findings pertaining to the inclusion of peer review strategies in a religious education subject undertaken by pre-service teachers enrolled in a postgraduate diploma in secondary education at Australian Catholic University (Melbourne campus), Australia. The study involved sixty pre-service participants who were undertaking a curriculum and teaching religious education class. Each participant was involved in the peer review process and then invited to share their perceptions by participating in a focus group as well as completing a questionnaire. This study was located within a constructivist paradigm and drew upon Glaser and Strauss’ (1967) original principles of grounded theory to identify the key findings.

This paper reports on the key findings of the study drawing upon the perspectives of pre-service teachers of religious education. These showed that there was a significant alignment between the benefits of peer review strategies in other discipline areas, and religious education. Furthermore the study found that the peer review process contributed to the pre-service teachers’ ability to critically self-reflect and enhanced their professional growth as religious educators. Top

Mette Buchardt - Theology and Comparative Religion Studies in the Danish state school curriculum

In the development of so called ‘school subjects of Humanities’ – also named ‘subjects of culture’ and ‘identity’- during the 20th Century, the categories ‘culture’ and ‘experience’ has appeared in different ways, but nevertheless persistent. How this is played out in text surrounding the school subject Religion/Kristendomskundskab is the topic of this paper, which is part of my research project in the disciplinary field of History of Curriculum. Here the aim is to study the birth of the school subjects of Humanities as a place for the pedagogical production of ‘humanity’, ‘humans’ and ‘population’. The analytical focus on curricular forms of knowledge as ‘culture’ and ‘experience’ is thus an approach to study the genealogy of differentiated and pedagogised ‘types of population’ as it appear in contemporary school, e.g. ‘the Muslim pupil’, ‘the socially and culturally deprived pupil’ and ‘the culturally appropriate individual pupil’. ‘Curriculum’ is understood as social processes which select and produce ‘knowledge’ and ‘identities’ (Bernstein, Lundgren) and ‘History’ as an approach to study of ‘the present’ (Foucault, Baker, Stoler).

The paper deals with how positions from the Academic field of Theology and Comparative Religion Studies is recontextualised in reform concerning school subjects between1910-1937. Here the interests of the two competitive academic disciplines appears surprisingly similar – opposed to what contemporary debate on Kristendomskundskab presuppose – in a combined academisation and humanisation strategy which produce a certain kind of state piety and preach a modern form of chastity to ‘the population’, and at the same time creating and differentiating ‘population’. Top

Marian de Souza - Promoting multifaith education in the classroom: Exploring the perennial philosophy as a useful strategy to encourage freedom of religious practice and belief

The beginning of the twenty-first century has witnessed the emergence, globally, of multi-faith, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic societies which, in some ways, have ‘grown’ more inclusive and interactive communities with increased tolerance levels. Nonetheless, recent global events in the political, cultural and religious spheres have resulted in division, discrimination and distrust, often between different religious groups.

This paper, then, argues that what is needed is multi-faith education for all students that promotes dialogue and engagement and which reflects the perennial philosophy, as discussed by Huxley (1945) where two thought patterns prevail in all the main religions: the esoteric and the exoteric. The first subscribes to the metaphysic of a divine Reality at the core of being; it is the spiritual, almost secretive face of religion and is practised by only a few adherents. The second is the exoteric form which is the public form by which the religion is usually identified, that is, through its rituals, practices, architecture and so on. Arguably, it is this form in today’s world that tends to exclusivity; it provides a boundary around its followers which promotes a sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Thus, the exoteric form encourages divisiveness but the essence of esoteric thinking is connectedness. Education programs that address these two dimensions may lead to a change in consciousness where respect for and Acceptance of Other is paramount and, therefore, more appropriate for the contemporary world. Top

Mario O. D’Souza - Pluralist Societies, First Principles, and the Freedom of Religion and Belief

Educational systems in Western societies accommodate religious differences in a variety of ways. One way, as in Canada, is to allow religious traditions to operate their own school systems, with the usual qualifications and safeguards. Such freedom to operate different religiously based schools seems to assume that a country like Canada has sufficiently articulate democratic institutions that act as foundations in bringing its religiously diverse citizenry together for the communal living of political life, with all the ensuing rights and responsibilities. From the perspective of education, however, what remains unconvincing is whether the state has the intellectual principles and democratic elasticity to accommodate religious differences (particularly enveloped in sometimes radically different cultures) as well as ensuring political harmony and unity in light of these differences.

This paper will examine the importance of philosophical first-principles, especially for educational institutions, as an essential means to give unity to a diverse citizenry, particularly in the accommodation of varying forms of religious education. Creedal and doctrinal statements and claims are of their nature distinct, but they can also be divisive in ways that can tear at the fabric of a democratic society. Could an agreement upon certain fundamental philosophical first-principles widen the arena where distinct traditions of religious education can be freely and integrally practiced? Could the agreement on such principles enable a healthy freedom of religion and belief but also a healthy freedom for religion and belief? Top

Petro du Preez - Morality, human rights and freedom of religion and belief in Religion Education

In South Africa, a major part of the Religion Education curriculum suggest that moral and human rights issues applicable to the social, religious and cultural context of the school and society should be addressed. It requires a hands-on approach that is characterised by dialogues and cooperation. This implies that teachers and learners should, at times, offer moral judgements regarding social, religious and cultural matters. Offering moral judgements might infringe on another persons freedom of religion and belief. For example, should a teacher feel free to offer a judgment or criticise a religion for infringing upon its members’ basic human rights, when she knows that a learner in her class is a member of such a religion? (This question could in many ways be shuffled to create even more problems and contradictions.) Kibble argues, yes, such a teacher should offer her judgment and that moral judgments should be made in relation to the values and practices of modern society so that learners could become aware of the shortfalls of certain values and practices. In South Africa there is a tendency amongst some to return to more traditional and fundamental interpretations of their religions and cultures in an attempt to counter the universalisation of values and practices. These traditional interpretations are often in stark contradiction to the values and practices of modern society. Therefore, this paper will explore the intricacies, contradictions, moral dilemmas and implications for the freedom of religion and belief that arise when teachers and learners pursue moral judgments. Top

Leona M English - Adult education of the lay faithful: responding to the call of the document on the laity

In North America the most significant adult religious education is occurring in lay formation programs or adult lay education programs, as they are variously known. These programs supersede the Rite of Christian Initiation in their scope and reach, and yet they receive far less attention, despite the fact that there are hundreds of graduates. Furthermore, the leaders of these programs formed their own professional association at least 15 years ago. The program directors and leaders, many of whom are employed by Catholic dioceses, are working in a nonformal education format to address the intellectual, spiritual and formational needs of adult laity. As adult religious educators they are responding to the call of Vatican II, particularly the Document on the Laity (Apostolicam Actuositatem), to educate adults for fuller participation in the life of the church and the world. To understand and evaluate how Roman Catholics have interpreted this document, the writer will conduct a textual analysis and complement it with the relevant adult educational theory and practice.

This topic is important in understanding not only the response to the document but in setting future directions for adult religious education. The writer will argue that although Roman Catholics have developed a partial understanding of the education of the adult faithful through subsequent writing such as Adult Catechesis in the Christian Community, a particular focus on the nonformal format and audience of lay ministry education programs is largely missing. To develop her ideas, the author will discuss the foundation of adult lay education, its grounding in Vatican II, and its current position outside formal schools, seminaries and theologates. In examining this emergent theological practice, and articulating a theology that undergirds it, our theory and our practice of adult religious education will become stronger. Top

Lars Laird Eriksen - Fluid and Solid: Representing Religious Groups and Boundaries in the classroom

Educators and policymakers of Religious Education would do well to distinguish between different levels of fluidity and stability when thinking about the “groupness” of religious groups. The paper presents further analyses of the classroom observations conducted in three Norwegian secondary schools in 2007-2008. It addresses sociological questions relevant to educators and educational policy makers.

Groups with identity claims are constituted by their boundaries, made material through action and speech in the classroom. These boundaries can usefully be described as “fluid” and “solid”. Furthermore, actions and practices can usefully be described as “fluidising work” or “solidifying work” - implying that the speed of change with which religious (and other) groups with identity claims appear to individuals, is the result of human effort and power, past and present.

This has implications in terms of the representation of religions in the classroom. How are religions best described? The paper is intended as an extension of the debate between Robert Jackson and Andrew Wright, most clearly evident in their exchange in the British Journal of Religious Education (Jackson 2007, Wright 2007).

Furthermore, this raises normative questions for educational policy-makers. In a context of religious plurality, the way the state treats religious groups may fluidise or stabilise their boundaries. I shall conclude the paper by discussing how the metaphor of fluidity and solidity is useful, and is “good to think with”, when considering some of the dilemmas discussed in academic debates about multiculturalism (Joppke 2004, Parekh 2006, Modood 2007, 2008, Phillips 2007, 2008). Top

Mireille Estivalezes - Teaching ”Ethics and Religious Culture” in Québec: restricting religious freedom or opening students to their new social realities?

In September 2008, a new program called ”Ethics and Religious Culture” has been implemented in all of Québec’s primary and secondary schools. By encouraging the development of skills needed for improving intercultural dialogue, the curriculum focuses on two main objectives : promoting the knowledge and recognition of others, as well as seeking common good. The learnings provides special attention to freedom of religious convictions and the need for living in social harmony. In the process, students are encouraged to open their minds to major questions of ethics as well as to religious diversity.

Yet, several interest groups are against this teaching, some arguing that it introduces severe limitations to religious freedom, while others argue that the program, on the contrary, contains too much religion. On one side of the spectrum, the Coalition pour la liberté en éducation, a group of mainly catholic parents pushing to restore what they consider the parent’s right to choose their kid’s religious education in school, argue that confessionnal teaching, whether catholic or protestant, should be maintained, seeing with great suspicion what they regard as the relativistic character of the program’s cultural approach. On the opposite side of the spectrum, laical movements such as the Mouvement laïque québécois maintains that religious teaching in schools, even when limited to a neutral cultural perspective, should be suppressed altogether.

This paper will examine the two main opposing arguments and confront them to a sociological and pedagogical analysis of the program itself, which should reveal how important inadequacies in the group’s criticisms weakens the effectiveness of their positions. Top

Judith Everington - What kinds of knowledge do RE teachers need?

The Council of Europe has recognised an urgent need to increase the number of teachers able to provide ‘impartial’ multi-faith religious education. In England and Wales, a solution to this problem has been found in a drive to attract graduates in a wide range of subjects. In 2007-8, 40% of trainee RE teachers had degrees other than Theology/Religious Studies, although a significant number were from minority ethnic/religious backgrounds. Some view this drive as providing an RE workforce able to respond flexibly to the diversity within teaching groups and the RE curriculum: others see it as weakening the body of specialists equipped to promote understanding of the theological and spiritual dimensions of religions and their internal diversity.

Recent research on RE teachers in six European countries indicates wide variation in requirements for entry to the RE profession and in how teachers acquire and develop their knowledge. However, in all countries, teachers’ life experiences and personal beliefs were found to have more influence on their aims and strategies than formal training.

Against this background, I address the questions: What kinds of knowledge do specialist teachers of RE need ? What weight should be given to knowledge of religions, knowledge of learning theories and pedagogy, personal knowledge ? What are the implications for increasing the number of RE teachers and for their training ? My paper draws on a range of theoretical and empirical research including a study of a 2009/10 cohort of English trainee teachers from diverse academic and cultural/religious backgrounds. Top

Nigel Fancourt - International inter-religious dialogue: evaluating the ‘face to faith’ project

A group of educational researchers at University of Warwick have been carrying out evaluation research on the ‘Face to Faith’ project. This project was set up by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (‘TBFF’). This foundation was set up by the previous British prime minister after he stepped down from office, and seeks to promote the place of religion in public life. One strand of its work is in school education, and one part of this is the Face to Faith project. This seeks to encourage discussion between pupils in different countries from different religious backgrounds through video-conferencing and email -exchange. It is rooted in a respect for individual rights.

The evaluation research was structured around 6 case-studies of participating schools around the world, e.g. in UK, Canada, India, Singapore and Lebanon. The paper will describe the rationale for this approach. It will also discuss the findings, in terms of how different factors encourage or impede the development of international inter-religious dialogue, for example, school ethos, the pupils’ religiosity, the nature and place of religious education within the curriculum. It will also consider the implications for pedagogies of dialogical religious education. Top

René Ferguson - Teachers and communities of practice: encountering the unexpected with narratives of religious diversity

This paper forms part of a wider study which investigated how participation by teachers in a learning community, a community of practice, would contribute towards improving their professional knowledge base for democratic citizenship education in which religion education is a key component. The paper tells a story of how qualitative research may produce the unexpected.

Forty five kilometres west of Johannesburg, South Africa, a small mining town lies tucked away. The Group Areas Act in which different ethnic groups were forced to live separately during the apartheid era is still in evidence, fifteen years after liberation. Four people, a researcher and three willing secondary school teachers who live, or lived, in these segregated areas encountered one another here, in this out-of-the-way town, in a participation action research project designed to influence teacher learning about religion and religious diversity. What was the nature of the unexpected?

Three narratives, arising out of conversation and reflection of personal histories and experiences of religion and belief that contribute towards understanding regional differences in religious expression, tradition and belief in South Africa, experiences which are largely undocumented. Hence, the paper investigates how situated knowledge provides examples of religious diversity as a valuable resource for democratic citizenship education. Top

John W Fisher - Students’ views on relating with God

This presentation focuses on some psychological aspects of school students’ spiritual well-being (SWB).

My spiritual well-being questionnaires assess students’ levels of relationship in four domains, one being with God. The 16-item ‘Feeling Good, Living Life’ instrument was used with primary pupils and the 20-item SHALOM with secondary school students.

Initial reports from 1850 students indicated relations with God were highest in Christian Community schools (CCS) slightly lower in Catholic schools and independent schools with religious bases, and lowest in government schools.

As religious education is not part of formal curriculum in Australian government schools, only non-government school students in Victoria, Australia, participated in subsequent studies reported here.

As well as measures of SWB, another 1372 students reported how much different entities helped them develop relationships. Levels of perceived help for relating with God (from mothers, friends, themselves, teachers, RE teachers and God) varied significantly between schools, in line with students’ self reports of relationship with God, i.e., CCS> Catholic>independent schools. Lower levels of help were also reported at higher levels of schooling, which reflected the lower levels of SWB among senior students.

Students’ contentions that God and RE teachers provide most help for them relating with God do not always match students’ reported levels of this relationship. Factors other than school have greater impact on this relationship, and variations in students’ responses on Eysenck’s Lie scale raise questions about whether students feel free to express their own views or feel constrained by schools’ ethos. Top

Kari Flornes - Promoting professional and personal development in initial teacher education through religious education

This paper presents a model of teacher education developed in the framework of a compulsory RE course as part of the first-year curriculum in initial teacher education (ITE) in Norway. In order to promote both personal and professional development, the model seeks to enhance a holistic approach to the education of RE-teachers by identifying and promoting the following core competencies: RE-knowledge, self-organized-learning, self-study, autonomy, collaboration, reflective practice, digital and information literacy, learning and learning to teach, and ethical awareness. The theoretical framework of this model is based on the living theory of practice developed by Jack Whitehead at the University of Bath. Whitehead holds the view that theory is an outcome of practice and that the practitioner, being an expert of her/his practice, is capable of improving practice by systematically acting, observing, reflecting, evaluating and theorizing about her/his practice.

Student teachers who have successfully taken part in this RE course are asked, as part of their exam portfolios, to write a text in which they reflect upon and describe their professional and personal development during this course. Accordingly this paper does not only present the course model but also the analysis of the texts in which student teachers of 2009 share their experiences and views on their personal process of learning and learning to teach RE. Top

Leslie J Francis - Personality and the happiness of others: a study among 13- to 15- year- old adolescents

This study was designed to assess the level of concern for the happiness of others (as a key value in life) displayed among a sample of 13- to 15- year-old adolescents in England (N= 3057) and to test the theory that concern for the happiness of others occupies a different psychological space (within Eysenck’s three dimensional model of personality) from the space occupied by personal happiness. Eysenck’s dimensional model of personality maintains that individual differences in personality can be most adequately and economically summarised in terms of three higher order orthogonal dimensions characterised as introversion-extraversion, neuroticism-stability, and tender-mindedness-tough-mindedness (psychoticism).

A significant research tradition started by Eysenck’s own research has consistently found that personal happiness is located within the stable extraversion quandrant of the dimensional model, leading Eysenck to claim that ‘happiness is a thing called stable extraversion.’ These new data demonstrated a high level of concern for the happiness of others, with 84% of the adolescents saying that, ‘It is important to me to make other people happy’. While high levels of personal happiness are generally shown to be associated with low neuroticism and high extraversion (stable extraversion), these data demonstrated high levels of concern for the happiness of others to be associated with high neuroticism and low psychoticism (unstable tender-mindedness). The significance of these findings is discussed for understanding individual differences in adolescents’ concern for others. Top

Rob Freathy & Stephen Parker - “Freedom from religious beliefs: A case-study from the history of English Religious Education”

This paper provides an historical case-study of curriculum change in Religious Education (RE) in English schools between 1969 and 1979, with a focus on the Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Instruction (1975) (BAS). The BAS has been referred to by Hull as a “major breakthrough” (1984: 29) and by Priestley as bringing about “a totally new orthodoxy” (Priestley, 2006: 1012). It gained coverage in the local Birmingham and national British press; provoked debates in both British Houses of Parliament; and was the focus of publications, a conference and a nation-wide campaign. Despite this, no detailed historical case-study of the syllabus has ever been undertaken.

This paper draws upon ongoing research that seeks to address this lacuna in the historiography of British RE by (i) providing a narrative of the events surrounding the formation and implementation of the BAS based upon an analysis of the academic and public discourse in published primary sources, and (ii) setting the BAS in its historical context on both a national and local level through an analysis of secondary sources.

The paper focuses in particular on (i) the BAS’s recognition that society contained many people with no deep religious commitment of any kind; (ii) its promotion of critical understanding rather than fostering particular religious standpoints; and (iii) its requirement that pupils should compare and contrast religious and non-religious stances for living. The historical factors underlying these points will be considered, for example, the processes of secularization and the influence of secular humanist individuals and pressure groups. Top

Brian Gates - 'Conscience' – rhetorical convenience or wellspring for freedom?

Conscience is a concept which is central to national and international law, with both constitutional and transcultural references. Conscience is also used positively in religious traditions – evidenced from Abrahamic, Chinese and Indic religious texts. It is also found commonly in social science usage in characterisations of human behaviour, as ‘shame related’, ‘guilt induced’ or ‘conviction led’. Throughout, however, an evident degree of ambivalence is involved.

Cumulatively, there is a strong case that it is a legal, psychological and theological fiction:
• lawyers commonly encourage clients to plead guilty or not guilty, not according to what actually is true, but in the interests of achieving the minimum possible punishment
• sociologists cite evidence of its cultural relativism
• for some psychologists it is no more than the expression of introjected parental inhibition
• philosophers raise questions as to the consistency and adequacy of its meaning, especially as associated with reference to ‘voice of God’.

This presentation will explore the relative strength of such criticisms. It will then go on to consider just how dispensable the term actually is, and what connections there might be between the notions of ‘conscientisation’ and ‘growing in conscience’. It will conclude with the claim that for both children and adults the education of conscience must be a fundamental priority for public education in religion. For in a sense of 'oughtness' lie the pointers to individual and collective freedom and fulfilment, but at the same time a lurking propensity for self-deception and distortion. Top

Adrian Gellel & Michael T Buchanan - The impact of cultural religious values upon pre-service teachers perceptions of their role as educators in catholic religious schools

It is plausible to assume that the particular history, politics, social milieu and size of the islands of Malta made it possible to form specific values and identity. In particular, the very strong Catholic Community together with a language gave identity to the community.

This paper reports on the initial findings of an on-going comparative study about the perceptions of pre-service teachers from Maltese decent regarding their role as educators in Catholic schools. Participants were pre-service secondary teachers of Maltese descent from two universities across two nations, namely from the University of Malta and from the Australian Catholic University. The study sought to identify the similarities and differences between their perceptions.

The paper will seek to analyze historical, political and sociological documents in order to investigate the Maltese identity in the Maltese and Australian context. This will hopefully help understand better the pre-service teachers’ motivations and perceptions of their role as educators in Catholic schools. The paper draws some initial conclusions about the influence of religious cultural values upon the pre-service teachers. Top

Peta Goldburg - Religious Education a foundation for freedom of religion and belief

Foundational to the teaching of religion in Australian schools were a series of Education Acts passed by various Australia States in the late 1800s which eventually initiated free, compulsory and secular education for all children. While Australia openly promotes freedom of religion and belief, there is no formal Religious Education program for students aged between five and fifteen in government schools other than an optional thirty minute, faith-based class taught by volunteers from local religious groups.

In the late 1980s Studies of Religion programs, which were educational and multi-faith in nature, became available but not mandatory for senior secondary students in all Australian states and while they are popular in religiously affiliated schools they are not readily available in all government schools.

The educational challenges of a rapidly growing multi-cultural society are beginning to be felt in Australia. Therefore, it is important to re-open discussion regarding the teaching of religion in all schools for all students with the aim of developing a multi-religious curricula which is child-oriented and acknowledges plurality.

Australia is currently embarking on developing a national curriculum therefore it is timely to revisit the teaching of religion in all schools and to develop a broader understanding of free, compulsory and secular education. This paper promotes the teaching of religion to all children and, building on current research in Europe and the United Kingdom, presents a case for how this might be achieved in Australia. Top

Jan Grajczonek - Acknowledging Religious Diversity and Empowering Young Children’s Agency and Voice in the Religion Classroom

Young children are often denied a voice concerning their thougts and beliefs regarding religion, particularly in single-faith schools where they are presumed to be, and taught as, believers or members of that particular faith. This paper reports on research conducted in early years classrooms in Australian Catholic primary schools, wherein all children were constructed through teachers’ classroom interaction, as if they were members of the local faith community. The specific analytic tools of Membership Categorisation Analysis and Systemic Functional Linguistics afford key insights into how young chilren are constructed as all belonging to, and sharing, the same religious beliefs. These students were held accountable regarding their faith development, rather than the knolwedge they had attained in the lessons.

Contemporary early childhood theory and practice advocates young children’s agency and voice rejecting the notion of the ‘universal child’, that is, every child as being the same. Children today come from diverse and pluralist backgrounds and their socio-cultural contexts shape their views and perspectives on all kinds of issues including religious beliefs and views. Those children who come from diverse religious backgrounds that are different from the dominant religion of the school they attend, are often silenced and denied a voice about their own religious beliefs or about their own questions regarding religious content and/or beliefs. The time is now here: contemporary religion classrooms in faith schools must acknowledge the religious diversity of their students by empowering young children’s voice and agency. Top

Bruce Grelle - An Emerging Consensus on Religion Education in Public Schools? Human Rights and Religion Education in the Toledo Guiding Principles

This paper identifies what appears to be an emerging international consensus or “global ethic” regarding the rationale and guidelines for a non-religious and pluralistic approach to religion education in public schools. The basic features of this emerging consensus are best summarized and exemplified by the Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools, promulgated in 2007 by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and its Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

Proceeding from the disciplinary perspectives of religious studies and comparative religious ethics, this paper will explore the Toledo Guiding Principles’ assumptions and arguments about the relationship between human rights and pluralistic approaches to religion education. It will also assess criticisms that have been directed against some of the recommendations set forth by the Toledo Guiding Principles regarding teacher education, curricula and pedagogy, and the appropriate role of various “stakeholders” (parents, religious leaders and communities, and government officials as well as religion scholars and professional educators) in shaping religion education policies.

Finally, the paper will consider whether public school religion education should be justified primarily on the basis of its alleged contributions to the promotion of human rights – especially respect for everyone’s right to freedom of religion or belief – and to the promotion of social cohesion, tolerance, and a culture of peace? Or is there a non-instrumental, “scientific,” or more purely educational rationale that should be offered in support of the academic study of religion in state schools? Top

Gunnar J Gunnarsson - Living in a field of tension: A study on Icelandic teenagers life interpretation and values

What do teenagers recount about themselves and their interpretation of life and values, and what characterises individual teenagers’ perceptions and statements? What is the relation between teenagers’ life interpretation and values and social circumstances? These questions were central to a qualitative study on Icelandic Teenagers’ Life Interpretation and Values.

The purpose of the study was to investigate some central elements in teenagers’ life interpretation so as to discuss the results in terms of social circumstances in Iceland and of school religious education. The background is that Icelandic society, having been relatively homogeneous, has changed during the past few years with increased plurality. The theoretical framework consists of a hermeneutical approach and central concepts such as life interpretation, life philosophy and existential questions.

The material the study was based on consists of interviews with Icelandic teenagers. The main result showed that the teenagers were in a field of tension between homogeneity and plurality on the one hand and security and insecurity on the other. The main trends in the material indicate a common reference framework at the same time as plurality emerges in the teenager’s verbal expressions; and while most spoke of their happiness and security, there was also awareness of the risk and threat that can transform the situation. The paper will present and discuss some of the findings in the interviews with Icelandic teenagers. Top

Caroline Gustavsson - Life questions among young adults in a Swedish context

My research is based on questions related to my studies in both theology and education, concerning the “informal religious learning process” among young adults, both those with and those without a recorded relation to organized religiousness. I have asked myself; what do young adults do with their life experiences, their longing for a comprehensive understanding, their beliefs and their doubts? My thesis has come to focus on what I call the participants’ “interpretation of life”. How do young adults between 19 and 29 interpret their lives?

My object of the study is to make the life interpretations visible and possible to understand. Which life questions are central in a young person’s life? How do they think about questions concerning the meaning of life and death and is it of interest to them to find some answers to those questions? How, if possible, can we describe the learning process in relation to a young person’s life interpretation and which components seem to be of importance?

I have a hermeneutic approach but my study is first and foremost an empirical study. During the last year I have interviewed 20 young adults aged 19 to 29. The interviews I have conducted may be seen as “in-depth interviews” or “life stories”. My paper during ISREV 2010 will focus on some of the interpretations I have made so far in relation to my data concerning young people’s life questions. Top

Elisabet Haakedal - To Sing or Not to Sing: A discussion of the freedom of religion and belief in a Norwegian primary school context based on sources of earlier and contemporary educational practice regarding religious lyrics, singing and music

What functions do religious lyrics, singing and music have in the contemporary Norwegian primary school? What are the main differences of contemporary functions and earlier (i.e. from the 1950s and onwards) types of functions based on a variety of source material? In the context of recent political discourses of freedom of religion and belief, the paper first presents contemporary cases regarding the learning of religious lyrics, singing and music. The paper then presents some source material of similar learning after the World War II. The academic discipline is interpretive social science. A normative question is then added: How may the contemporary functions with their historical background be evaluated in the light of the judgement of Norwegian RE in 2007 by the European Court of Human Rights?

Empirical studies will be referred to as well as recent school observations. The source material varies from academic studies to textbooks, pupils’ workbooks and field texts. Some basic concepts and arguments from secularisation theory and collective memory theory have been applied for interpretation.

Regarding results, it seems that contemporary functions of religious lyrics, singing and music in Norwegian primary schools are about constructions of local school identities and meeting the pupils eagerness to express themselves. As a contrast, the function of some similar activities in the 1950s, 60s and even 70s dealt with nation building. With this background an argument based on contextual moral philosophy is put forth: Local and national identity building should allow for cultural roots as well as variety while respecting the human rights of individuals and groups. Top

Sven Hartman - Human rights for children? Janusz Korczak and children’s right to freedom of belief

The years following the First World War are a fascinating period. Social and educational innovators around the world sought to combat the problems of the twentieth century with new ideas and working methods. The Polish Jewish physician and educator Janusz Korczak (1878-1942) not only lived for his children, he also lived with them.

The humanist basis of Korczak’s work could be described thus: in his writings the reader meets a natural-scientist’s and mystic’s fascination for mankind and for life. Korczak approached the human with reverence and curiosity, sometimes also with melancholy and resignation. He was interested in mankind’s wrestling with the mysteries of life. He was not alien to religious ideas, but he was not committed to any of the institutionalised systems of belief.

Korczak worked for what we today call “the Modernity project”. He was one in a long row of socially dedicated doctors that invested their professional skill to re¬form society. He was in charge of two orphanages, one for Jewish children and one for catholic children. To day he is best known for his international work for the child’s rights, and for his martyrdom during the Holocaust.

In my collegial paper I will claim that Korczak’s commitment to “the modernity project” was subordinated to the freedom of belief and the personal moral of the individual. I will also discuss in what extent there are contradictions between the values of modernity and Korczak’s commitment for the child’s right. Top

Hans-Günter Heimbrock - Freedom of religion and restrictions of the constitution: On the way to Islamic RE in German state schools

Due to migration and demographic changes, in Germany, as in almost all European countries the Muslim population has greatly increased during the last decades. In many European countries there is an ongoing debate about the appropriate consequences of religious and world view pluralisation of culture in public schools' curriculum. This struggle has reached new heights, especially after the growth of Islam, in its different denominations and cultural sectors within western societies.

The paper provides an overview of the current situation in different parts of Germany. Based on this, the main issue of the paper will be an analysis of efforts of Christian and Islamic groups to establish an approved system of Islamic RE in schools as well as to initiate academic training courses for Islamic RE teachers.

Political authorities in “post-Christian societies” maintain neutrality of the state, demand the teaching of general educational principles only, some even argue for a non-confessional approach to religion in education in order to prevent traditional Muslim faith-based RE. On the other hand many Islamic groups vocally demand, sometimes through appeals to law courts, official recognition of their religion. They further demand that Islam be taught in schools where their children are educated on the basis of legitimate needs in these democratic societies.

The paper will pay special attention to relevant legal German constitutional prescripts regarding the authorities responsible for RE. The authorities although granting religious freedom, "are used" by politicians to restrict Islamic RE. The paper will indicate that the underlying conflict is about the interpretation of the constitutionally guaranteed concept of “freedom of religion”. Top

Mark Keith Hillis - Threat, promise or opportunity? Perceptions emerging from submissions to Human Rights and Freedom of Religion and Belief proposals in Australia

During 2008-09 Australian citizens have been invited to partake in two separate yet related processes investigating the need or otherwise for federal freedom of religion and belief legislation and statutory human rights legislation.

Publications over this time have offered arguments for and against the proposals. Moreover, individuals and community groups, including religious organisations, have all been invited to make submissions. Relating to the issues about freedom of religion and belief, this paper seeks to lay out some of the significant questions and arguments concerning human rights and freedom of religion. The particular focus is upon submissions from religious organisations that are associated with independent schooling in Australia.

The methodology for this exploration will incorporate: analysis of the core documents and some of the public submissions; and interviews with key leaders of religious organisations. The following questions indicate the direction of this research.

What concerns emerge as prominent amongst religious organisations that responded to the 2008-09 Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century discussion paper? To what extent have religion-based education providers perceived this process, and that of the broader “National Human Rights Consultation,” as threat, promise or opportunity? How may the processes of argument and consultation enrich the religious education of students concerning religious freedom? What implications for religious and values education in schools may emerge from these processes? Top

John M Hull - Training for prophetic ministry: practical theology in action for social justice

The distinction between relationship to God and to other human beings is sometimes expressed in terms of a vertical dimension and a horizontal one. In the biblical prophetic tradition, however, the vertical is collapsed into the horizontal, as God is no longer accessible as an independent reality but only through justice and love extended to the neighbour. Thus the paradox that images of God are forbidden and yet human beings are themselves in the divine image is resolved, and similarly the paradox of the two commandments, one of which is the greatest while the other one (love of the neighbour) amounts to the same thing is also resolved.

Ordination training in the UK emphasises mission. Five marks of mission are recognised by the Church of England and The Methodist Church. The fourth mark deals with exposing and resisting the unjust structures of society, and the final one has to do with the protection of the global environment. Earlier marks, dealing with encouraging individual discipleship and extending loving care to the community, seem to find a ready response from most Christian congregations but the final marks are more difficult. Not only are the issues very complex, without offering immediate advantage to the church, but there seems to be a lack of clergy training in this area.

The Queens Foundation in Birmingham, England, is an eccumenical theological seminary. In the last two or three years the prophetic tradition in the bible has become the inspiration for a series of activities which may in general be regarded as examples of transformative education. This has required the working out of a theoretical approach which is, in effect, a Christian philosophy of action, during which a series of criteria have been created for the assessment of suggestions for prophetic action. The evidence of an evaluation carried out by independent researchers, plus the statements of participating students, indicate that taking part in these activities of public protest has a life-changing impact upon many. The paper will provide examples of some of these activities and will discuss some of the critical problems facing clergy training in the area of social justice as churches increasingly adopt counter-cultural positions. Top

Brendan Hyde - Unfinished business: A case study of how the 'Godly Play' process might nuture children’s spirituality.

Godly Play is an approach to religious education which has particular relevance to early childhood contexts. Devised by Jerome Berryman in carrying forward the work of Maria Montessori, Godly Play has been utilized by many Christian denominations in Sunday school contexts, and it is currently influencing the design of early years’ religious education curricula in a number of Catholic dioceses, particularly in Australia. One of the appealing qualities of the Godly Play process, and a valid reason for its current popularity, is that it is understood to nurture the spiritual dimension of children’s lives. However, questions remain in terms of how exactly the Godly Play process achieves this in practice.

In drawing upon the author’s own research into the spirituality of children in an Australian context, this exploratory paper examines, through a case study, the way in which four particular characteristics of children’s spirituality – the felt sense, integrating awareness, weaving the threads of meaning, and spiritual questing – were brought to the fore and were nurtured during the Godly Play process. The paper highlights the necessity of children having agency in their choice of the Godly Play materials with which they choose to work so that they can return continually to images that bear meaning for them, and which enable them to confront and cope with their existential limits and ultimate concerns. In this way, the paper thereby attempts to demonstrate how, in a practical sense, the Godly Play process may nurture the spirituality of children who engage in this process. Top

Shira Iluz & Yisrael Rich - Religious sanctity and civil sanctity: a comparative study of national commemoration days in the Israeli junior high school

This research analyzes educational beliefs of Israeli teachers towards the concepts, religious and civil sanctity. Sanctity is generally perceived as a religious concept that contrasts with secularity. However, certain non-religious values, norms and events which enjoy special status in society may elicit a special respectful and dignified attitude and be characterized by little criticism towards their representations. These then attain the status of civil sanctity.

This research focused on two commemoration days mandated by Israeli society that don't stem from religious origins: The commemoration day for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish citizen, and Holocaust Day commemorating the Holocaust and bravery of those who resisted. Is religious or civil sanctity attributed to events associated with these commemorations? Thirty interviews were held with educators in six secular and religious public junior high schools catering to students of varying socio-economic background. We also systematically observed twelve ceremonies in the six schools on the two commemoration days.

Initial analysis shows that teachers have difficulties attributing civil sanctity to non-religious events because they see all forms of sanctity as stemming from a divine, transcendental origin. Additionally, virtually all teachers characterized Holocaust Day as having greater sanctity than the Yitzhak Rabin commemoration day. Alternative explanations provided by teachers and others for attributing sanctity to events will be considered. These explanations also reflect on their understandings of religious sanctity.

The paper draws upon the disciplines of analytical philosophy, anthropology, religious studies and (religious) educational theory. Top

Robert Jackson - Education about Religions and Beliefs within a Human Rights Framework: European Policy Recommendations and Research in Relation to Policy Development and Teacher Training at State Level

The events of 9/11 and their ongoing consequences have accelerated a process whereby religion is increasingly accepted as a topic for discussion within the public sphere. Various inter-governmental bodies, including the United Nations, through its Alliance of Civilizations programme, have recognised the importance of public education as a means to inform young people about religions and beliefs and to increase tolerance of religious and ‘philosophical’ difference within a human rights framework. This presentation introduces the complementary work of the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in developing generic recommendations about policy and practice which, together with research findings, can be utilised at individual state level when considering education about religious and philosophical diversity.

The Council of Europe’s Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on the Dimension of Religions and Non-Religious Convictions within Intercultural Education (2008) and the OSCE’s Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools (2007) will be linked to findings of recent mixed methods empirical research conducted in eight European countries as part of the EC Framework 6 REDCo project. The role of the Council of Europe-related European Wergeland Centre, based in Oslo, will be discussed in facilitating the use of research findings and generic policy documents as sources for policy development and teacher training in individual states. Top

Elisabeth Tveito Johnsen - “Some think God is evil when he lets him die, he is after all the father” An analysis of how redemption are communicated to children participating at faith education.

This paper will discuss how church based faith education for children communicates the Christian doctrine on redemption and the biblical texts about Easter. The main research questions are; 1: What is communicated about redemption to children? And how is redemption communicated? 2: How do children respond to faith education on redemption?

The questions will be discussed through an analysis of empirical material that contains observations of faith-education in two Lutheran congregations in Norway. The material consists of observations from four gatherings about easter, and interviews with the responsible educators.

The first main question will investigate both the redemption theology that dominates the faith education in the two congregations, and the pedagogical methods that are applied to communicate the theological content. Some of the questions that will be discussed are connected to the three main theories of redemption.

The analysis on pedagogical methods will include discussions on the presupposed horizon of understanding expected by the educator, and whether the educator invites the children to identity or distance themselves from the Easter narratives.

The second main question will be to discuss how the children respond to the faith education about redemption and the Easter narratives. This question is of high importance since the paper is part of a child theological research project. The paper will look into the questions and comments which the participating children raised during the Easter gatherings. The intention is to analyze whether the faith education on redemption contributed to the children`s interpretation of life. Top

Arto Kallioniemi - Religious education and human rights: a Finnish perspective

Religious Education is provided in Finland according to the pupil’s own religion, which means that there are different forms of religious education. The Board of Education has accepted 13 different curricula for RE (e.g. Lutheran, Creek Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim RE curricula). If there are three pupils who belong to a particular religious community and the Board of Education has accepted that community's curriculum, pupils have the right to receive RE according to their own religion if their parents so wish.

The Finnish model of RE is unique because it strongly emphasises parental rights that their children in state schools are provided with RE according to their own religion. In may other countries there has been a shift in the nature of RE, e.g. in other Scandinavian countries there is a common RE curriculum for all pupils despite their belonging to any religious community.

The Finnish society has changed significantly in recent years significantly and the acceptance of diversity is one of the key aspects of this change.

My presentation is based on the on going research. The main focus is to investigate the role of RE in the multicultural context. One aspect of my research is an examination of RE at the school level. Headmasters of comprehensive schools in the Helsinki area were interviewed and their conceptions of RE from the human rights point of view was examined. The key question is whether they perceive separate RE lessons for children of different religious denominations as a part of human rights. Top

Eunice Karanja Kamaara - Religious education and freedom of religion and belief: some perceptions on religious education in Kenya

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 18 affirms: “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have a religion or whatever belief of his [her] choice.” In spite of this and other human rights instruments, Religious Education may affront this right; a relationship exists between Religious Education and the right to religion because while a common understanding of the ends of Religious Education may exist, what and how to teach and what and how not to teach is controversial due to prevailing perceptions.

In this paper, we present some perceptions on Religious Education in Kenya to illustrate how Religious Education affronts the right to religion. Qualitative data collected from teachers and students of Religious Education and from existing curricula in primary, secondary and college levels of education in Kenya are compared, contrasted and assessed against the set objectives of Religious Education to identify specific perceptions. The possible and actual impacts of these perceptions on the right to religion and belief will be explored. In line with the aims of ISREV, we propose development of quality Religious Education that does not only promote respect for peoples rights and freedoms but also promotes objectivity and critical thinking in both learning and teaching. It is envisaged that such Religious Education will lead to positive human relations and development. Top

Yaacov J Katz - Religious education in the state religious educational sub-sector in israel: no room for freedom of religion and belief

State education in Israel is divided into a number of autonomous sectors consisting of state Jewish religious education, state Jewish secular education, and state Arab (Moslem and Christian) education. Religious and heritage education is a compulsory feature of the curriculum studied by all sectors but has different aims and goals in each sector. In the state Jewish secular sector religious education deals with knowledge about Jewish tradition, heritage and culture; in the state Arab sector religious education offers focused education on either Islam or Christianity without being confessional. In both sectors religious education is accepted as being part and parcel of the mandatory school curriculum but is perceived to be of secondary importance when comparing it to subjects such as language (Hebrew, Arabic, English), mathematics, or science.

In the state Jewish religious sub-sector religious education is accepted as the central focus of the school curriculum and is perceived to be the raison d'etre of the existence of schools belonging to this sector. Students study religious education in order to become familiar with the religious beliefs and precepts that they are expected to unquestioningly accept and observe and all other subjects, such as language, mathematics or science, however important they may be regarding their bearing on scholastic achievements, are considered to be of secondary importance when compared with religious and heritage education.

This leads to a situation where, a priori, there is no room for freedom of religion or belief in the state religious educational sub-sector. All students are expected to accept and practice a doctrinaire orthodox Jewish religious lifestyle, failing which, they are expected to withdraw from schools belonging to the state religious sector and to attend schools belonging to the state Jewish secular sub-sector. Top

Chae Young Kim - Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Bernard Lonergan and religious education: special reference to faith dimension

In this paper I will try to articulate the possibility of faith based religious education through revisiting the works on faith of the well-known Canadian thinkers, Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Bernard Lonergan.

For faith based inter-religious education, we could reflect once again on Smith’s and Lonergan’s fundamental theme of the human heart serving as the location of faith and its ultimate reference “point”. Smith and Lonergan both thought that the perspective of faith dimension would comprehensively provide more opportunities for all human beings to meet authentically whether they are religious or non-religious persons. This meeting should lead to a converging solidarity and community in modern fragmented and divisive communities, improving on the situation that permeates traditional perspective of cumulative traditions such as belief systems, doctrines, rituals and so on.

In terms of cumulative traditions, all religious and non-religious traditions seem to be very different and thus unable to engage in finding a commonality of religions and non-religious tradition. But by utilizing faith based religious education, we could find similarities between religious and non-religious tradition and sensitively be aware of “us” not as simple empty mechanical human beings but as faith embodied human beings irrespective of different religious or non-religious traditions. Furthermore, this dimension could also provide us with an opportunity to “see” each other as the carrier of the ultimate reference “point” or “reality” in our concrete historical struggle to become more human. Top

Thorsten Knauth - Teenage perspectives on religious pluralism in school and lifeworld: Results of a qualitative study

In the paper I will present an qualitative empirical research study of religion in the lives and schooling of young people in the federal state of Hamburg, Germany. The study was conducted among 150 pupils between 14-16 years and was part of a international comparative study in the framework of the REDCo-project. The questionnaire included questions on the individual and the societal dimension of religion and has also targeted the issue of religion in school.

One of the most important results of this study is that students appreciate the advantages of learning about religions in school to enhance the mutual knowledge and understanding of one another. School is an important place for encountering religious pluralism because the students usually do not meet in religiously mixed groups in their daily lives after school. In school, especially in RE-lessons, they have the opportunity to encounter a variety of religious orientations and enter into a dialogical exchange with classmates from different religious backgrounds.

In terms of cumulative traditions, all religious and non-religious traditions seem to be very different and thus unable to engage in finding a commonality of religions and non-religious tradition. But by utilizing faith based religious education, we could find similarities between religious and non-religious tradition and sensitively be aware of “us” not as simple empty mechanical human beings but as faith embodied human beings irrespective of different religious or non-religious traditions. Furthermore, this dimension could also provide us with an opportunity to “see” each other as the carrier of the ultimate reference “point” or “reality” in our concrete historical struggle to become more human. Top

Valentin Kozhuharov - Religious education and freedom of religion: confessional or non-confessional approach to RE for Bulgarian state schools?

In 2007, two Concepts on introducing RE in Bulgarian state schools were considered by the Ministry of Education: an educational commission of the Ministry and one of the Church. Both failed and no RE was introduced at state schools in the country. Four main opponents struggled over the type of RE to be introduced: church, state education administration, theological faculties at universities and teachers' union.

Today, with the election of the new parliament and the new ministerial body at the Ministry of education (mid-July 2009), new initiatives have been undertaken to define the type of RE which should be most appropriate for state schools in Bulgaria.

The paper turns to the traditional discussions about the type of RE at state maintained schools in a democratic society: confessionally oriented, or non-confessionally oriented. Taking the example of the “Bulgarian case”, it deals with the question of socially-accepted RE in democratic countries where all layers of society and of political ideology agree on the type of RE presented at state schools. It is correct to say “agree” because we need to examine in practice how they actually agree in defining the extent of freedom, both of being religious or non-religious, for pupils and students at state maintained schools. Top

Bernd Krupka - Do confirmation teachers have success with their aims for confirmation classes? Some results from a study of confirmation classes in seven european countries.

In 2007/2008, researchers from seven european countries conducted a joint survey on confirmation classes in their respective protestant churches The survey included questionnaires to confirmants and confirmation teachers at the beginning and the end of confirmation classes with questions on their motivation, aims, expectations and their experiences. The study included appr. 2200 members of confirmation staff from the seven countries, along with 18500 confirmants.

The results show differences in the approach of confirmation staff members concerning aims of confirmation work, their priorities in terms of content and their choice of teaching methods. A comparison between these orientations and the national curriculums for confirmation classes show how individual aims of confirmation workers are informed by their national curriculums. While this interdependence makes up for some national differences in the sample, there are other similarities and differences in the perspectives of the staff that seem to be independent from the curriculums in their churches. Differences in orientation linked to gender, age and professional background will be shown. A possible connection between the national curriculums and the personnel structures in confirmation work will be discussed.

Our data show an interdependence between curricular orientation and how confirmation work is organized and what kind of staff it attracts. Our data on confirmants' experiences also allow us to look at the relations between the didactical orientations of the staff and satisfaction and change of attitude amongst their confirmants. Significant national differences can be linked to differences in staff structure and the way confirmation work is organized. Top

Arniika Kuusisto - Religions and beliefs in the Finnish day care context

With the increasing multiculturalism particularly in the Helsinki area, the previously rather monocultural Finnish day care system is facing new challenges when it comes to dealing with the diversity of faiths and cultures among both the children and the adults caring for them. This study takes an educational perspective into looking at how this diversity is taken into account in the multicultural kindergartens in the Helsinki area; aiming to find functional approaches for dealing with the multi-faith and multicultural issues in Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). One of the topics that have raised continuous debate is the role of religion(s) in kindergartens, especially as the National Curriculum Guidelines on ECEC (2003) include a religious orientation (non-confessional).

These issues were pursued through a mixed method action research carried out with the children, parents and day care personnel in four multicultural kindergartens in the Helsinki area. The data was gathered with focus group interviews of the personnel, fieldwork data, and parental interviews. This paper will present some results from the perspective of religious education and the encountering of religious diversity in the Finnish day care setting; e.g. finding that religious education is nearly non-existent in these kindergartens, and how the ‘other’ (than the predominant Lutheranism) religions are perceived by the personnel despite the limitations of everyday practices. Top

Manfred Kwiran - Can tolerance and first amendment education assure religous freedom?

A few years ago eighty-three percent of Americans questioned in a poll indicated that the right to practice religous freedom was essential. Religious freedom is an inalienable right and especially mentioned in the first Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Also in Canada freedom of religion is a constitutionally protected right.

The “U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom” investigates the practice of religious freedom throughtout the world . The annual human right report provides national profiles on religious freedom in the different countries. Even though many countries accepted the Universal Human Rights Declaration (1948), with the emphasis on religioous freedom in the preamble and clearly in article 18, religious freedom is again and again under assault. A “First Amendment Center” tries to increase the consciousness of citizens as to this special right. “Religious Freedom Day” recognizes the importance of religous freedom. Is tolerance and and human rights education a core subject in all public and private educational endeavours? Can one compare the profiles of the different countries in this context, paying special attention to their own cultural and value traditons? Can the examples given by the nonpartisan Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center and their educational efforts be an example for others countries as well? “For more than 200 years, the First Amendment has protected our religious freedom and allowed many faiths to flourish in our homes, in our work place and in our schools. Clearly understood and sensibly applied, it works.” ( President Clinton 1998) Top

Johannes Lähnemann - Jesus breaking limits - the relevance of the Gospel for religious freedom and interrreligious learning

This paper will be based on the central chapter in my book ”Evangelische Religionspädagogik in interreligiöser Perspektive” in which I show that central to Christian identity there is a great openness for breaking traditional limits, for freedom of argument and for learning in new horizons. This is a theological and pedagogical concept which derives from traditional alternative of Christian Dogma on the one hand and from unlimited religious plurality on the other.The paper will combine fundamental reflection and describe ways to realize the concept in formal and informal learning.

The paper will explain how principles of the gospel are of central relevance
• for understanding the meaning of life, and for being rooted in a faith which provides the individual with confidence and guidance for different experiences in life
• for the foundation of ethics
• for learning in community, in exchange and in mutual respect with people of different faiths and convictions.

The basis of the paper is the conviction that it is possible to gain a historically sound impression of the historical Jesus.

The paper will outline how Jesus broke limits
• as a Jew living in Galilee during the Roman occupation
• in his teaching of God’s will
• in his acts representing the signs of the coming kingdom of God
• in his solidarity with the weak and the suffering, and the way to the cross and to new life at Easter. Top

David W Lankshear - Clergy and schools: a study of the relationship

Between 2006 and 2009 the Church in Wales undertook a major review of its involvement with education in Wales. As part of this review all Church in Wales Clergy of incumbent status were surveyed. The questionnaire focussed on three issues

a. the amount of time that they commit to work with schools in their parish
b. the roles that they play in these schools
c. their views on education and the importance of the work that they do.

Of the 446 incumbents in post at the time 61.6% returned completed questionnaires. This study was one of eight undertaken as part of the work of the review.

This paper will report the findings of this survey in the context of both of other research in this field and the other studies undertaken for the review. The results demonstrate that Church in Wales clergy are involved with all types of school in their parishes, although much of their work is focussed on the primary schools. At least two thirds of the clergy responding regularly lead worship. 36% are members of the governing body of Church in Wales schools and while this might be expected only a slightly smaller proprtion are members of the governing body of community schools in their parish.

The paper will reflect on how the results were used in the final report and reflected in its recommendations. The Church in Wales report is due for publication in September 2009. Top

Rune Larsson - Religious Education as an academic discipline: Who needs Religious Education in academe?

Behind the title stand experiences from the Swedish context and from other parts of the world. The discipline has serious problems – on the national as well as the international level – to describe its identity and define a common language for its terminology and tasks. Thus far the answers to the question: “Who needs RE?” vacillate. Is it churches and their teaching? Is it the society and moral education in schools? Is it the ordinary people, who need help to interpret their life and the world? Does the political society want to support the RE research as an important contribution for peace and justice, freedom and solidarity?

My paper starts with two fundamental questions: Who needs RE as a discipline in academe? May it be identified and seen as a demand from the political level, from religious communities or from somewhere else? Does RE fulfil or correspond to scientific (and other) criteria used by academe?

The paper continues with a preliminary definition of RE as an academic discipline, its most fundamental sections and its relation to other disciplines of academe. This leads to a discussion about the often disparate terminology in RE and some proposals for the future. The paper ends with some notes on the many actual challenges for RE, such as the importance for RE to be an accepted discipline in academe; and the ability to develop RE as a trustworthy scientific profession, which has the potential for constructive international, interreligious, intergenerational, interinstitutional and interdisciplinary communication (Moran). Top

Heid Leganger-Krogstad - The Hidden Curriculum of World Views in different School Subjects. Knowledge on Religions as a key to reveal them.

The paper will bring reflections on the hidden curriculum of linear world views in most school subject curricula in the Western World in comparison with the utmost contrast: circular world views of other cultures. These more general reflections will be done based in a longitudinell field study from teacher education in a Norwegian Sami context where the old Sami Shamanistic Sun religion were influential. A renewed interest for the Sami Circumpolar, pre-Christian religion was part of these students attempt to protect their indiginous Sami culture. The old Sami Sun religion conveys holistic, circular and collectivistic ideas and will in the paper be used as an example to state the unbridgeble gap between different logics in circular and linear world views in general.

The paper intends to demonstrate how compulsory education in the Western world is based in a linear logic conveyed in most school subjects areas to enhance a further discussion on religions as keys to “the collective programming of minds.” The individuals right to education is a stated in the Human Rights, to be able to make education an available good to all children, however, it is necessary through knowledge on religions and religious diversity to reveal and contest the monolitic linear world view in school subjects in educational and didactical theory. The hidden curriculum of world views in subject areas need both to be made more transparent to academics, teachers, parents and pupils and to be presented along with other world views in culturally diverse classrooms. Top

Sidsel Lied - Students in research

This paper’s main research question is: how may teacher education approach challenges in the pluralistic classroom?

My methodological solution in pursuing this question is to, at first, give a short outline of the diverse situation in the field of religion and beliefs in Norwegian elementary school for which teacher education prepares its students. I do this by presenting how plurality manifests itself in the religion and beliefs (RE) subject of the Norwegian state elementary school, and in elementary school pupils’ utterances made during lessons in this subject. I then outline the presence of plurality in the national curriculum of the RE subject in teacher education and in texts written by teacher students. After a short presentation of two projects in which students (with different cultural and national backgrounds) took part as co-researchers, I discuss how students’ participation in research may be one part of the answer to the question of how teacher education may approach challenges from the pluralistic Norwegian classroom.

The presentation combines results from five qualitative research projects which I have carried out in Norwegian state primary schools, in Christian independent primary schools, and in teacher education respectively. The presented material is drawn from texts and drawings from eight selected pupils (grades 5 – 7), and short texts, book chapters and articles from teacher students in their basic RE course. The framework of analysis in use combines theories of pupils’ writings and drawings and theories of socialisation. Socio-cultural theory serves as the overriding theoretical framework. Top

Hefziba Lifshitz & Yaacov J Katz - Religious concepts among individuals with intellectual disability: a comparison between adolescents and adults

The goal of the study was to explore behavioral (fulfillment of religious commandments), cognitive, and emotional components of religiosity among 51 Jewish adolescents (ages 13-21) and 52 adults (30-60 years) with mild (IQ = 55-70) characterized by moderate learning disabilities and mental retardation (IQ = 40-54). A special questionnaire based on Goldman (1965), Reiss (2000c) and others was constructed for use in this study and administered to the participants.

Analysis of the data indicated the existence of different cognitive and emotional patterns pattern among members of the different age groups. The adolescents fulfilled Jewish commandments to a greater extent than the adults. On the other hand the levels of prayer efficacy and providence of God were significantly higher among the adults than among the adolescents. The adults also exhibited more mature motives of fulfilling commandments (dependence on God) than the adolescents. Regression analysis indicated that among the adolescents, mental age contributed to the explained variance of the behavioral and cognitive components, while among the adults chronological age contributed to the explained variance of the above components.

Social psychology theories regarding change or stability in religion over the lifecycle can serve as an explanation for the results of this study. The findings reveal that religion plays an important role among individuals with learning disabilities and that these individuals are capable of participating in religious education. While cognitive concepts regarding religion can be developed by these individuals, it may be preferable to base religious education on an integration of experiential-emotional components of learning which is easier for such individuals to comprehend and internalize. Top

Heike Lindner - The meaning of religious liberty in educational systems and their relationship to European constitutions

Religious Education in the modern constitutional state means to gain the competence of using the fundamental right of freedom of religion and belief in a conscious and active way. This contribution wants to explain what kind of freedom or liberty is mentioned within European educational systems, which can be related to the European constitution and to the constitutions of the member states. The pedagogical outcome of this correlation has to be a measurable support in becoming a responsible citizen, who can be a self-conscious and tolerant participant of the modern pluralistic society.

The first part of my lecture points out the pedagogical question, how European educational systems understand the religious liberty within the context of the learning place "school".

Religious liberty and freedom of religion and belief is secondly interpreted and formed by the different European legal systems. This part will use an hermeneutical approach to the way of taking influence on these values by the administration of justice. The educational programmes of the European Union like the "Lisbon-" or the "Bologna-Process" also have an important influence on changes of the legal and the educational systems of the member states. Therefore this strong relation between EU and the member states has to be balanced.

The third part will offer an example of good practice concerning liberty in Christian tradition and in the inter-religious dialogue. Top

Roseanne McDougall - Service learning: actualizing freedom of religion and belief

During the 2009-2010 academic year a group of faculty at La Salle University in the US formed a reflective practice peer group whose purpose was to develop critical reflection in service learning components for new or already existing courses.

During fall 2009 the reflective practice faculty peer group met monthly to explore methodologies for facilitating engaged learning; they also explored methodologies and skills for social analysis. During spring 2010, the faculty group taught service learning courses which included implementation of methodologies and skills, developed during the fall, in their courses.

Both reflection upon causes of injustice and work to alleviate unjust structures were integral to these activities and their application to service learning components of their courses.

The collegial paper summarizes methodologies, skills and forms of pedagogy learned and implemented in both semesters. It also discusses learnings from the project and suggests steps for future reflection and action.

This project in the field of education aimed to promote reflection in which faculty and students alike exercised freedom in bringing their respective beliefs and values to bear upon specific given situtations encountered at the service sites.

Credits: Louise Giugliano, Director of Service Learning at La Salle University understood the need, conceived the idea and developed the design for this project. I served as co-author with Professor Giugliano of a related grant proposal, and also as faculty in the reflective practice peer group during both semesters. Some of the language in this collegial offer form is derived from the grant proposal. Top

Eugene P. McElhinney - A comparative study of the religious practices and moral judgements of sixth-form students in a Catholic grammar school in 1996 and 2008.

In 1996 the author conducted a survey of the religious beliefs and practices of sixth formers in a co-educational Catholic grammar school in Northern Ireland. The research instrument was a fifty-item questionnaire which gathered data on students’ practice of religion and on their judgements concerning core moral issues. The research had a comparative dimension in that issues of moral judgement were examined alongside similar data from studies in England and Northern Ireland spanning thirty-five years. The present survey is a replication of the 1996 study. However, it goes further than the 1996 research in that it includes a comparative analysis of data from respondents concerning their practice of religion.

In recent years some researchers have noted the pedagogical shift and/or a catechetical drift that has occurred in religious education. This research attempts to detect any such shift and drift over the twelve years separating the original study and the current one.

Since the original questionnaire examined students’ religiosity at micro and meso levels, its findings are important in the context of similar research projects being carried out within the European Union which are collating data across individual member states.

A unique aspect of the current research was the inclusion of an open-ended question seeking respondents’ reactions to allegations of misconduct (sexual abuse of children; illicit love affairs) among some members of Catholic clergy. Preliminary analysis indicates that there has been a bigger negative shift in religious practice than in moral judgement. In the final analysis a comparison will be made between male and female perspectives. Top

Stephen McKinney - Measuring the service to the poor in Catholic schools

Christian Education (1965) clearly expressed the mission of Catholic schools to serve the poor. This later became reconfigured as the Catholic school contributing to the Catholic Church ‘preferential option for the poor’ (Dorr, 1992). This mission has prompted considerable research into the achievement and social mobility of pupils from poor backgrounds in Catholic schools (O’Keefe and Murphy, 2000, Polite, 2000, Sander, 2001). This achievement and social mobility is often matched to levels of free school meal entitlement and eligibility for Higher Education. This research has been useful and has provided strong educational and political arguments for the effectiveness of Catholic schools. There is, however, deeper research required that incorporates a more sophisticated and multi-levelled understanding of poverty and the effects of poverty on the school education of children and a co-related broader understanding of the measurement of service to the poor in Catholic schools.

This paper will explore the nature, and implications, of 21st century poverty for children, and, drawing primarily from research in America, will propose four key indicators of the continued service of Catholic schools to the poor: (1) presence and mission; (2) level of poverty matched to achievement; (3) pastoral response and (4) collaboration with other agencies for the well-being of the child. This paper will argue that, while (2) has been researched in a number of national contexts, (1), (3) and (4) also require considerable more focus. The paper will conclude with an initial exploration of these other (often neglected) three key indicators. Top

Paul McQuillan - “Who’s Coming to School Today?: An exploration of the beliefs, values and attitudes of students, parents and teachers in Brisbane Catholic schools”

In 2009 Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) conducted research in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Educational Research (ACER) across 112 primary schools and 33 secondary schools, among 18,000 students and their families and 8,000 school staff.

The project aimed to explore how teachers, parents and students define a mission and purpose of their Catholic schools. The survey intended to explore the core values, beliefs and spirituality of each of these groups.

Staff, parents and students were aligned in their positive assessment of what catholic schools acheive best – forming a caring community. Other aspects of the schools produced less unanimity among the groups. Parents and students want high academic achievement but are less committed to what staff and other stakeholders in the catholic community see as a core task, passing on catholic values and forming the faith of the next generation.

Traditional catholic values were found to be strong, in particular social justice values of concern for the poor and disadvantaged. However, faith values – belief in God, basing one’s life on the values of the gospel, were less strong and perhaps point to a significant disconnect between formal and practical religious expression. While the faith level and religous practice of the staff was very strong, that of parents and particularly students was weak. This raises the challenge for catholic education of succession planning. How will the next generation of teachers and school leaders be trained and recruited?

This paper will detail the major findings of the research project and explore response to the challenges identified. Top

Wilna Meijer - ‘Tenacious humility’. On the Ethos of Education

In 2006, Charles Melchert presented a paper on the moral aspects of (religious) education at ISREV XV (Driebergen, the Netherlands). I found that contribution very inspiring, and because Melchert was in turn inspired by David Hansen, I have in the meantime studied the work of this educational philosopher. I am especially intrigued by the idea of ‘tenacious humility’. Hansen introduces it as an ideal of personhood (as such, it also counts as an aim of education). When it is dubbed ‘moral’, that is to be taken in the Aristotelean sense of ‘eudaimonia’, i.e.: ‘happiness’ or ‘the good life’. In yet other words, it is about human flourishing.

In this paper, I will develop the idea of tenacious humility a bit further. I take it to the characteristic ethos of the educational practice or process - from Kindergarten up to the university level. It is the thoughtfulness, reflexivity and unhastiness that teaching and learning ideally embody. Love or a passion for something, be it a subject or a trade, is essential to it: the love or passion (Melchert spoke of ‘friendship with a subject’) that teachers bring to and learners take out of education. In addition to the work of Hansen and Melchert, coming from the US situation, I will also tap into recent work of philosophers (of education) from my own context, viz., Jan Masschelein of the University of Leuven (Belgium) and Ad Verbrugge of the Free University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). Top

Charles Melchert - What makes “religious education” religious?

This year’s theme evokes age-old issues: education, religion, freedom, belief - often deemed incompatible, now familiarly compatible. Yet I hear echoes of debates of fifty years ago, long since dismissed, though perhaps some underlying perplexities persist.

Today, many state-sponsored schools have curricular offerings designated “Religious Education” which are promulgated with the reassurance that those who teach such courses are not required to be religious and that the courses themselves do not intend to lead student participants to become religious or to be more religious. Similarly, these days there are also schools who prepare persons for leadership in religious institutions, whose curricular requirements include courses, for example, in biblical (textual) studies, with the clear understanding that their goal is to engage their students in knowing and understanding the religious texts of their tradition, though not to make those students more religious. Yet all agree that the biblical texts of all three major Abrahamic religions are themselves explicitly intended to engage their readers in becoming more religious, and more free by being more bound.

This collegial paper intends to reflect on these phenomena, and will try to understand how such uses of the term “religious” might function within in the centuries-long tradition of education and what might follow from that. Are there long-standing misconceptions which muddle the query? Can freedom, religion and belief intertwine pedagogically with integrity for each?

(In the interest of truth in advertising: I disclaim any interest in making any reader of this paper or any participant in this collegial session more “religious” than they might wish to be.) Top

Karlo Meyer - Learning Rituals in a Secular Society: Problems and Chances of the Teaching and Learning of Traditional Lutheran Rituals in the German Society

What are the cognitive and affective effects of teaching the traditional rituals of a Sunday service to 13 year old youngsters in the secular society of Germany? Which parishes are successful in their teaching, which not?

10 different Lutheran parishes, with different approaches to teach the Sunday service, were chosen for the research. They were observed for 1,5 years about their practice of teaching. The study used the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods. Girls and boys from confirmation courses were tested about their knowledge and asked about their affective experience. Increasing and decreasing of knowledge and affective engagement could be observed in a pre-, post and follow up-phase. Beside this, interviews were done with small groups of 5 to 7 youngsters focusing on the semantic constructions which are used to express their attitudes to the service.

In the reconstruction of the didactical arrangement and in the analysis of the quantitative and qualitative results, success and failure of different approaches can be shown. The research is based on the “grounded theory” (Strauß/Corbin). Therefore the aim is not to present representative figures about the German situation in general, but to distinguish different types of success and failure. The study can share experience with a complex triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods with the community of researchers concerning teaching religion.

The date for the follow up test will be March 2010. Therefore ISREV July 2010 is the first conference where the results will be presented. Top

Siebren Miedema - Liberal democratic societies and the need for religious citizenship education

From a philosophy of RE point of view, RE and citizenship education (CE) are to be combined as religious citizenship education (RCE) in liberal democratic societies. My claim is that RE should be interpreted as an integral part of CE, and that RE must form a structural and necessary component of CE in all schools.

This is combinable with McLaughlin’s ‘maximal interpretation’ of CE. Such a view emphasizes active learning and inclusion, and CE as interactive, values-based and process led. Thus, allowing students to develop and articulate their own opinions and to engage in debate.

Such a view is also compatible with inter-religious education when the aim of the subject no longer will be an education into a religion. The preferred prerequisite of educating about religions will then be conceptualised in function of an education from religions. It means enabling pupils to develop their own point of view, to gain their own experiences, and to take part in religious practices in plural contexts.

The pedagogy articulated by Walter Feinberg is fully in line with my view when he states that: “(S)harp boundaries between cultures are not desirable at all levels of interaction, and dialogue within and across cultural boundaries is the more desirable state of affairs”.

Taking this stance, there should be no fundamental differences between denominational (private) schools and common (state) schools, although the very practice of inter-religious education and learning in the school setting might be a different one but primarily based on contextual constraints and challenges. Top

Joyce Miller - Humanities teachers and their students: a comparison of their perspectives on religion and religious education

This paper is built on and develops the findings of the qualitative study of European teenagers’ perspectives on religion and religious education, which was part of the ‘Religion in Education: A contribution to dialogue or a factor of conflict in transforming societies of European countries’ (REDCo) project. It uses the data gathered from 27 pupils, aged 15-16, in ‘School C’ in the English study (by Ipgrave and McKenna) and compares those findings with data I gathered from ten teachers in the humanities faculty of the same school, using a slightly amended version of the original questionnaire. Further data, from the same group of teachers, were gathered as part of a linked REDCo project which formed my doctoral thesis - an evaluation of the transferability of the interpretive approach to teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD). A CPD programme was designed using the principles of the interpretive approach – representation, interpretation and reflexivity – which were then used to analyse the qualitative data that emerged from semi-structured interviews, participant observation, teachers’ reflective diaries and other written materials.

Comparisons will be drawn between the teachers’ and their pupils’ attitudes and values using the same structure as the European REDCo study:

• Personal views and experiences of religion
• The social dimension of religion
• Religious education in school.

The implications of the findings for promoting community cohesion and intercultural/interfaith understanding in schools will be considered. Top

Reinhold Mokrosch - Freedom of Religion in Hinduism and in India?

"India for Hindu-people only!" this is the political-religious slogan of political Hinduism, a small minority among 1,3 billion of Hindu people in India. And the respective followers will add: No tolerance or even religious freedom for Christians, Muslims, Jews or others who will destroy the holy caste system by supporting the caste-less Dalits. Should they enjoy freedom of religion?

How do Christians react in this situation in view of their Sermon on the Mount? And what is the attitude of Muslims in accordance with their non-violent teaching of jihad? When persecuted and killed, do they defend themselves with violence?

During my guest-professorship at the "United Theological College of Bangalore" I carried out interviews on the following questions: (1) Which is the factual freedom of religion that Hindu people, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists enjoy? (2) What kind of conflict exists amongst the religions in India? (3) What do the respective followers of religion think about violence? And (4) What kind of efforts for the promotion of peace are in effect? The outcome of my inquiry showed interesting results. India has completely different concepts of freedom of religion and political religion from those prevalent in Europe or the USA. - What should we learn from them? I discuss these questions in my presentation. Top

Diane L. Moore - “Situated Knowledges”: A Cultural Studies Tool to Promote Freedom of Diverse Religious Expressions in Secular Schools and Community Contexts

Historian of science Donna Haraway has coined the term “Situated Knowledges” to challenge what she calls the “God-trick” of objectivity in scientific research and discourse. The “God-trick” is the assumption that one can “see everything from nowhere.” Her assertion is that all knowledge claims are, in fact, “situated” in that they are local, partial, and constructed by human agents who represent particular perspectives that must be evaluated in context. The notion of “situated knowledges” is also relevant for religious studies scholars and educators who seek to represent theologically diverse perspectives accurately and respectfully without privileging some as more “true” than others. In this paper, I will explain this method as a foundation of a cultural studies approach to teaching about religion and demonstrate how this method was used in three diverse U.S. settings: 1) a secondary school course on Islam with students who self identified as atheist, agnostic, conservative Christian, Christian, Reformed Jew, Sunni, and “questioning”; 2) a middle school world history course where “religion” is directly covered in two days but represented in secondary ways throughout the term; and 3) an interfaith group of adults representing a wide diversity of religious traditions, diversities within those traditions, and humanists who are sceptical of religion who wanted to explore some of the more challenging dimensions of interfaith collaborations. This paper demonstrates how “situated knowledges” can be utilized as a valuable methodological and pedagogical tool to promote freedom of diverse religious expressions in secular schools and community contexts. Top

Mary Elizabeth Moore - Theological education and interreligious engagement: religious freedom, knowledge, and identity

Looking toward the future of theological education, some educational leaders have projected the urgency of interreligious learning for the transformation of theological studies; others have warned against the dangers of undermining distinctive religious identities. The first argument is grounded in the demographic realities of immigration, globalization, and social patterns in which people of diverse faiths increasingly live side by side, often in the same family, and need to learn to live well together. The second argument is that theological education cannot adequately foster depth in one tradition if enmeshed pedagogically and ideologically with others.

In the United States, with its tradition of separation between religion and government, and its often ignored “civil religion,” both positions are argued in a forced choice way. What is needed is a new conceptualization of theological education that engages people in the depths and complexities of one religious tradition in intimate relation with other cultural and religious traditions, all of which are embodied in dynamic narratives, practices, and values.

The paper will offer a critical review of recent literature and empirical studies focused on theological education in North America. The central purpose is to analyze the theological and educational assumptions of that work and to pose a reconstructed understanding of religious freedom, religious knowledge, and faith identity. This theo-philosophical reconstruction will form the basis for reconstructed practices of theological education. Top

Fred Sheldon Mwesigwa - Freedom of religion and belief in Uganda: a road block to joint religious education!

Following a long spell of un-democratic governments in Uganda, the ushering in of a new democratic dispensation in 1986, and, the subsequent promulgation of a new constitution in 1995 upholding freedom of religion and belief, there has been increased independence of religious denominations in the spirit of freedom of religion and belief. As a result there has been an absence of dialogue between different religious traditions.

In this paper, I will argue that unlike in most developed democracies, freedom of religion and belief in Uganda has triggered intense rivalry and competition for converts, and therefore made it difficult to realize joint effort towards religious dialogue and the formulation of a revised joint religious education syllabus. I will further argue that in response to the failure of religious denominations to have dialogue over joint religious education, the government has made attempts to side-line religious education from the curriculum and it has now made it an optional subject instead of a quasi-core subject that it was.

I will conclude by arguing that religious denominations in Uganda should consider freedom of religion and belief, as enshrined in Uganda’s constitution, an opportunity for joint religious education curriculum development. Joint effort towards religious education curriculum reform should be a step towards the promotion of ‘national unity and harmony’ which addresses Uganda’s two major social evils of religious and ethnic discrimination and intolerance. Revised joint religious education curriculum would be in line with Uganda’s first national goal of education ‘the promotion of national unity and harmony’. Top

Elisabeth Naurath - The development of 'sympathy' in RE as a key factor for the limitation of children's violence

In view of the discussion about the rising potential of violence among children, a concept is needed which will help to pinpoint the ability to limit the readiness to use violence. The natural disposition of children as well as their social environment might constitute the preconditions for violent behavior.. The major question is: how is it possible to promote resilience against violence? In order to achieve this aim, a change of perspectives is necessary and the development of ‘sympathy’ as an interpersonal skill could well be a constructive and critical contribution. Generally speaking: if children have the ability to sympathize with their fellows, they might restrain their predisposition to use violence against them. Since religious education aims, among other things, to counteract the growing readiness to use violence between children, the development of ‘sympathy’ offers a new perspective for RE.

'Sympathy', which corresponds with the term mercy, facilitates the dialogue between theology and other sciences such as psychology, philosophy and pedagogy. Furthermore the development of 'sympathy' can be seen as a key factor in the promotion of prevention of violence among children therefore could be an efficient approach to be considered within RE.

Therefore studies on the psychology of emotions in general and on the role of 'sympathy' in particular, are significant for religious education. Gender differences should also be taken into account when examining 'sympathy'. This paper will address the use of 'sympathy' as a potential factor in the limitation of violence perpetrated by children. Top

Tove Nicolaisen - “Hindu Children’s” experiences with Religious Education (RE) in Norway

In Norway there is a constitutional right of freedom of belief. Still we should critically examine how RE is practiced, and ask whether the main religious traditions are treated equally. Are they all considered “normal” and of the same quality? In classroom teaching, is the Hindu concept of God granted the same status as monotheism in Christianity? And what about attitudes to Hindu iconography and to Hindu views on salvation?

The paper presents dialogues from a project about “Hindu children” in Norwegian RE, and discusses “Hindu Children’s” attitudes and opinions compared to Norwegian hegemonic discourses and the constructed normality we find in the Norwegian RE-subject “Religion, Philosophies of Life and Ethics”. The paper presents examples of how “Hindu children” are opposed to hegemonic discourse, how they use hegemonic discourse, and how they adapt to hegemonic discourse.

A crucial question is whether “Hindu children” eventually will have to adapt to the constructed normality to fit in, and be successful and integrated in school. Will the outcome of RE be that they are granted freedom of belief to be like “us”? Will they continue to be “the other”? Or will they have impact on hegemonic RE discourses and create a more diverse understanding of religion? Could their role be that of a challenging and necessary contrast to “our” normality, creating – in Bhabha’s (The Location of Culture, 2008) terminology – a “third space” of RE normality? Top

Lucinda A. Nolan - Freedom of religion in the thought of William Rainey Harper

The concept of freedom in religion has itself evolved over time. In the decades preceeding the first World War, ideas about what constituted religious freedom were challenged and transformed by many of the developments which subsequently came to be paradigmatically associated with modernity.

The short, yet remarkable life of William Rainey Harper, both in deed and writing, reflects the progressive, liberal thought of the period and offers insight into his vision for the University of Chicago and the Religious Education Association which he founded in 1903.

This paper summarizes the events that shaped Harper’s thought, including the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893, and examines abstracts from his papers, writings and lectures in order to understand how freedom of religion ultimately benefits the university and other educational institutions. The intent of the research is not so much to seek implications for freedom in religious education today, but to understand as fully as possible Harper’s perspectives on the topic at that time in history.

Sources for this paper include Harper’s Prospects of the Small College (1900), lectures collected in a text entitled, Religion and the Higher Life (1904), Proceedings of the Religious Education Association (1903-1906), papers from the William Rainey Harper Collection at the University of Chicago, as well as several secondary sources. All the above will be addressed in the paper. Top

Karin Nordström - Can we educate for freedom? Ethical perspectives on the pedagogic paradox

To educate means to restrict freedom. The intention of one generation to influence another generation in certain ways creates a pedagocic paradox, if this intention is ariculated in relation to an ideal of freedom. Religious education in a pluralistic and democratic context is inevitably confronted by aspects of this paradox. How can religious identity pedagogically be articulated plausibly and in hamony with an ideal of religious freedom and freedom of belief? In the presentation (which is based on my doctoral dissertation) I present an analysis of the way the pedagoic paradox is traditionally handled by focusing on education as consisted of pedagogic situations in which normative claims are made. I argue that an underlying idea has been that the pedaogic goal of freedom or individual autonomy functions as a counterweight, balancing the pedagogic situations as situations of restricted freedom.

Such an argument is problematic, mainly because it is built on unrealistic assumptions concerning the efficiacy and the potential of educational influence. Instead, I propose a coherence oriented model of argumentation which deals with the ideal of freedom and autonomy as oriented towards coherence with the pedagogic situation.With regard to freedom and autonomy, this implies an understanding of freedom within dependencies, containing various aspects of relational and contextual aspects.The ideal of freedom of religion and freedom of belief must in consequence be dealt with as relational and contextual terms. Top

Kevin O’Grady - Freedom of belief for English religious education pupils: some findings from the Warwick REDCo community of practice.

This paper presents some findings from the Warwick REDCo community of practice, selected because of their relevance to the main theme of the seminar. The Warwick REDCo community of practice was the English strand of Religion in Education: A Contributor to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict in Transforming Societies of European Countries? (REDCo), a three-year European Commission-funded project (2006-9). The community of practice was a team of nine researchers collaborating on action research into related aspects of religious education: pupil motivation, assessment, gender issues, teacher education and teaching gifted and talented pupils.

As with the wider REDCo project, the interpretive approach to religious education formed the background to its work. The community of practice’s findings were wide-ranging. However, this paper focuses on the experience of secondary-age religious education pupils and how they might exercise freedom of belief during lessons. The action research and ethnographic orientations of the community of practice meant an emphasis on pupil voice. Pupils’ views on religious education were documented and became an element in pedagogy; in several of the studies, there was an iterative process where pupils’ views influenced planning for subsequent teaching.

The integration of pupil perspective within religious education pedagogy was an aim of the interpretive approach as originally formulated, but the action research methodology embedded ways to realise it in practice. The paper contains illustrations of these outcomes, whilst also attending to the paradoxes inherent in teachers’ attempts to provide pupils with autonomy. Top

Üzeyir Ok - Religiosity and human rights: an enquiry into the perception of civil rights by a sample of Turkish secondary school students with different religious backgrounds

An international project on relations between human rights and religiosity among secondary students was initiated by Prof Hans van der Ven from Radboud University, Netherlands. The project was conducted by the author in a rural district in Turkey in 2008. 422 students filled in the questionnaire in two secondary schools selected as a convenient sample, namely, students who attended school on that day served as the research sample and responded to the survey questionnaire which focused on the relationship between religiosity and civil rights.

16 items regarding civil rights tapped 6 themes: freedom of moral speech, freedom of religious speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of press, freedom of life style, rights to privacy, separation of religion and state. Independent variables included praying, reading the Koran, religious saliency, traditional interpretation of the Koran, contextual interpretation of the Koran, gender, age, and political preference (right or left).

In general, it was found that traditionally more religious students tended to be less supportive of civil rights in general while they particularly supported freedoms regarding religious matters. Interestingly, while left oriented students and students who interpret the Koran contextually were more supportive of civil rights in general, they were found to be reluctant in their specific support of religious freedoms. This indicates that whilst the first results represent religious pressure the latter results point to implicit secular pressure. The results of the survey reflect the general picture of sociological tendency of Turkish students in terms of the ongoing conflict between strict laic tendency and persevering religious orientations. Top

Bernadette Eyewan Okure - Discovering Photos’ Hidden Resources for Religious Education, Transformation, Solidarity and Revitalizing Freedom: A Methodology

Personal photos are hidden treasures that if explored, using appropriate methodology could become powerful tools for religious education, transformation, solidarity and revitalizing newness. Individuals, groups, seminars, families have great favour for photos of particular situations, encounters or occasions. Nigerian people in particular believe that photos are not only decorative memory devices but that they also contain the spirit of the person and context in the photo; a human-spiritual doorway for creative mutuality. Much spending and energy go into photo-making? What is it that motivates this vigour and how could this be harnessed into creative methodology for religious education, theological formation, transformation, solidarity, freedom?

This is similar to the Christian understanding of icon, which serve relevant sacred images and play significant role in inspiring worship. It is because of incarnation, they are called images because they are true signs of the Divine presence and mercy. When treated with reverence, and prayed with, images come alive and serve as an entry way to the Divine. This is an indication of the continuous process of incarnation. This paper is based on findings of ongoing participatory empirical research with selected women leaders in three different parts of Lagos metropolis of Nigeria. The intent to explore these resources with the women by means of familiar visuals to which they attach great but often unreflective importance has been very revealing. The methodology focuses on participants’ personal, contextual stories, leading to a deepening of the sense of mysticism in everyday situations and to draw from the Scriptures. Top

Hideko Omori - Jinzo Naruse’s educational theory based on Concordia, Kiitsu

This paper aims to consider the holistic dimension and the inter-religious dialogue approach in the educational theory of Jinzo Naruse (1858-1919), both the pioneer of Japanese women’s education and the promoter of the Concordia movement (1912-1941), by analyzing how he adopted American thoughts, such as from Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, and John Dewey.

Naruse, whose first religious stance was what Inazo Nitobe called Bushido, converted to Christianity and eventually adopted the thinking of the Association Concordia (Kiitsu Kyokai), free from dogmatic religion. The Chinese Character, ‘Ki’ means returning to or founded on and ‘Itsu’ meaning one. According to Naruse’s understanding of Concordia (Kiitsu), it indicates the harmonious state of religions, where the grand symphony of the world’s sacred ideals is played. He formed his educational theory based on Concordia, absorbing Transcendentalism and Pragmatism into his thought. The three principles of Japan Women’s University he established in 1901 were ‘True Conviction’, ‘Creativity’, and ‘Cooperation and Service’. It is significant that all of them were related to religious education. Naruse expected that students would reconstruct their own religious values by making full use of reflective thinking and with each person expected to unite his or her spiritual life as a part of the whole. Top

Christina Osbeck - Aims, methods and language of Swedish RE teachers of teenagers

In the Swedish field of religious pedagogy there hasn’t been much attention paid to teachers’ perspectives of teaching. Most research has focused on pupils. Since teachers are influential actors in the domain of RE, we need to know more about their experiences, intentions and strategies. How the knowledge that the teachers develop during their careers can be understood and described, is an intertwined issue.

This paper draws on two RE teacher studies conducted during 2008 about their aims and methods. One is a quantitative international survey which has been led by H.G. Ziebertz. The other one is a small qualitative interview study where the RE teachers are compared with some teachers in history, geography and political science. Here focus has also been directed to the teachers’ comprehension of how their perspectives, late in their careers, have been formulated.

Questions that arise in the paper consider how the patterns of teachers’ answers about aims and methods can be described, how the tensions that the teachers navigate between can be described (what are the main poles), how can experienced teachers’ knowledge of their teaching be described. In addition the paper will attempt to describe intentions of the teachers to develop young peoples’ language of religion and life as well as the knowledge of experienced teachers which to observe, think, speak and act in the discursive practice of RE classrooms. Top

Anthony M. Ozele - Re-imagining religious education for social engagement (contextualizing challenges of inculturation in sub-saharan Africa)

The theological foundation of inculturation is the conviction that the word of God transcends the cultures in which it has found expression and has the capability of being spread in other cultures in a way that reaches all human beings in their cultural context. However, the procedure of inculturation is as important as the content. Munachi Ezeogu argues there is an uncertainty in understanding inculturation whether it seeks to ingrain the values expressed in the texts with African values or whether it meant appropriation of the text from the perspective of the African culture.

As Sub-Saharan Africa witnesses massive changes which alter the dynamics of existence in the region, the essential values of the cultures need to be inculturated for religious education to become both effective and efficient. Thus, re-imagining the task of religious education becomes an urgent pertinent task.

Employing the qualitative methodology, this paper hypothesizes that Religious education, as formed in and through cultural exigencies, must be a process whose pedagogical style encourages and shapes imagination, fosters cooperative activity, and moves people toward transformation of themselves, the faith community, and the world. Christian religious education should challenge attitudes that undermine human dignity, and propose alternatives, powerful and valid enough to expose the individual to other counter—cultural views of reality. Such education would bring the faith community to a place where the faith content is both creative and active. Top

Heon-Wook Park - State and religious education: reviewing the political educational thought of Shigeru Nambara

As a Christian political scientist, Shigeru Nambara (1889 to1974) has exercised leadership in re-establishing educational administration and shaping educational thought over a period of 25 years, from the end of World War II (1945) until the 1970s. He served as president of Tokyo National University for 7 years from 1945 until 1951 and contributed as a draftsman to establishing the Fundamental Law of Education in 1947. He was born and grew up in a Buddhist home in the countryside of Shikoku Island, Japan. He familiarized himself with Christian thought and spirit when young, by encountering two great teachers: Uchimura Kanzo, who was a Christian of the “non-church movement,” and Nitobe Inazo, who was a Quaker. In his opinion, “national culture”, which is grounded in universal religious values and which is carried out through the idea of “peace and freedom”, should be anchor of the state essence. From this viewpoint, he criticized Japanese radical nationalism during World War and warned against restorationistic, namely re-nationalistic tendencies. He thought that Japanese should shape their own national character on the basis of universal and religious values. Therefore he appealed for a spiritual revolution of the whole people of Japan. This appeal impressed people, especially many students.

Looking back to Nambara’s educational thought, I will attempt to pursue a desired model of education and a peaceful state. Top

Glynis Parker - What does Religion mean to South Africans? A cross cultural sample.

South Africa has a heterogeneous demographic and is often called The Rainbow Nation. It has a population of 48.7 million people of diverse origins, cultures and languages. As a result of this the religious demographic of South Africa is very diverse as can be seen below:

According to the 2001 census: Christian 79.8%; Muslim 1.5%; Hindu 1.2%; Jewish 0.2%; African traditional religion 0.3%; No religion 15 %; undetermined 1.4% and other beliefs 06%.

This paper will consist of an empirical study of the religious philosophies of South Africans. It will take place as personal interviews of forty people from the areas of Johannesburg and Parys (a small town situated in a rural area 100km from Johannesburg). The interviewees will consist of people from different age groups, languages, religions and cultures in order to get a profile of the South African population.

The interviews will take the form of asking a number of questions. In analysing the interviews the following areas will be investigated:

1. How religious are South Africans and what are their beliefs?
2. How important is their religion in everyday life?
3. What type of Religious Education did they receive at school, home or in a faith community?
4. What parental influence has there been on their religious beliefs?
5. What they know about other religions and how they perceive them?

The aim of the study will be to answer the above questions and to get some understanding of what religion means in South Africa and the importance of Religious Education at school. Top

Manfred L Pirner - Freedom of religion and belief in faith schools? A Christian-pedagogical perspective

Over the past decades, schools with a religious or world-view profile appear to have become ever more attractive to parents in the German society. Faith schools seem to offer what most state schools lack: a coherent basis of common values, a special focus on social and moral education, and teachers whose professional ethos is rooted in personal (religious) commitment. However, empirical research draws attention to various problems and tensions in faith schools which have to do with the freedom of religion. Perhaps the most crucial of them is the tension between coherent world-view-based education on the one hand and the danger of indoctrination on the other. Another is the question of how religiously homogeneous the teachers and the students at faith schools can and should be.

Drawing on empirical data and theological deliberations a theory of Christian education will be advanced which allows for the combination of religious profile and religious tolerance in the field of education. At its core lies the empirically supported proposition that basic principles and concepts of a Christian education – in Germany and probably in other western countries – refer to elements of a kind of ‘Civil Christianity’ which is widely acknowledged in society beyond church boundaries. Making ‘Civil Christianity’ the starting-point and common basis of Christian education at faith schools corresponds with the theologically and educationally founded necessity to distinguish between faith and education. It also underlines the importance of combining an ‘insider perspective’ with an ‘outsider perspective’ for successful reflective education. Top

Margaret Myrtle Power - Contemporary religious education curriculum in catholic schools in Canada: Hermeneutical considerations

This paper examines the religious education curriculum in Catholic Schools in Canada today and briefly traces its historical development leading up to and following the Second Vatican Council. It focuses on the emergence of a practical hermeneutics and how it inserts itself in the religious education curriculum and applies itself to the Canadian cultural context. The paper supports a narrative hermeneutical structure as occasion for revelation in the curriculum, and introduces a new initiative in narrative research currently being designed for implementation in early childhood and primary classrooms in Catholic schools.

The research will investigate the role of narrative fiction in shaping the ethical imagination of the young, and in fostering the spiritual dimensions of children’s lives. A contextual framework for this action research is provided, along with its theoretical underpinnings, basic parameters, participatory nature, and salient themes. The perspectives of Canadian teachers, educational leaders and practitioners will be considered and incorporated in designing the first phase of this research.

The study is situated within the growing body of contemporary scholarship that supports affective orientations in educational processes, the forging of new frameworks to foster the aesthetics of teaching and learning, and the imagination as an invaluable ingredient in education and religious education. Overall, the paper addresses the relational power and transformative contribution of narrative hermeneutics in education and bridges together theology and religious education in an interdisciplinary approach. Top

Jack G. Priestley - Images of God: Have they changed fifty years on?

It is nearly fifty years since a very influential British newspaper carried a full-page article under the headline, “Our Image of God Must Go”. It related to a new book entitled Honest to God, written by the Bishop of Woolwich, a diocese which covered most of that part of London, south of the River Thames. The article caused a sensation in that the first edition sold out completely within 24 hours and subsequently sold over a million copies and was translated into seventeen languages.

Within three weeks the furore was such that the Bishop published another newspaper article entitled, “Why I Wrote It” which included the statement, “It’s love that makes the world go round …but we have spoken as though what really makes the world go round were an old man in the sky. Of course, we don’t take that literally. It helps only to make God easier to imagine. But it can also hinder.”

Does it still hinder in our multi-cultural world where children are presented with all sorts of images of God? This small piece of research was to ask one simple question to Secondary School children in south-western England: “When you hear the word ‘God’ what picture comes into your mind?”

Edward Robinson, brother of the late Suffragan Bishop of Woolwich, now in his nineties, was formerly a member of ISREV and has been a close friend over recent years. Top

Antti Räsänen - The interplay between theory and observation – fact or fable in religious development

This paper presentation has three aims. First, the purpose is to describe the theory of development of religious judgment that is constructed by Fritz Oser. Oser’s theory is famous of five developmental stages of religious judgment. Second, the Religious Judgment test (RJT) will be introduced. It is an experimental questionnaire based on the Oser’s theory. And finally empirical data will be examined. A total of 661 Finnish 8th and 9th graders girls (47 % of respondents) and boys (53 %) from four different localities participated in the survey where they replied RJT.

The frame of reference of the study processes shortly the background of test development process of RJT and characteristics of religiousness in adulthood according to latest research findings.

On the basis of the Theory of Religious Judgment five sum variables were made to describe the five developmental stages. We can call them dimensions of religiousness created by the theoretical grounds. According to an explorative factor analysis only three dimensions were found in adolescents’ religiousness. These dimensions are empirical dimensions. Group differences will be investigated using Student’s T-test and one-way ANOVA complemented with Scheffe’s test.

The presentation ends with conclusions where the contents and interplay between theoretical and empirical dimensions are discussed. The questions of the relevance of stage models are considered as well: Do young people have different kind of judgments in different situations? Do adolescents assimilate characteristics of many stages of religious judgment to their religious thinking? The reliability and competence of the test developed are considered too. Top

Lynn Revell - Faith, professionalism and objectivity

This paper considers the extent to which student RE teachers understanding of the nature of professionalism is shaped by their definition of objectivity. It discusses the findings of a research project into the possible relationship between the faith position of student RE teachers and their approach to issues relating to objectivity and the discussion of personal religiosity in the class room.

126 student RE teachers from three different UK universities were interviewed as part of the research. The research suggests that students who identify themselves as belonging to a religious community are less likely than their agnostic or athiest peers to discuss their faith position as part of a lesson and are more likely to see mentioning their religious background as problematic or as constituting a ‘lack of objectivity’. Students who identified themselves as atheist or agnostic were not only more likely to share their persoanl views on faith but were more likely to identify their approach as part of a pedagogy designed to engage and encourage pupils to particpate in RE.

The paper suggests that ‘objectivity’ and ‘professionalism’ are viewed by student RE teachers through the lens of their own religious backgrounds and the dominance of secularism as a prevailing and embedded part of the curriculum. In this context many RE students with a faith seek to hide their beliefs but students with no or uncertain religious beliefs often feel free to discuss and explore their world views in the class room. Top

Yisrael Rich - Identity Education in Jewish Religious Secondary Schools: Instrumental and Exploration Motives

In the 2008 ISREV I presented information defining Identity Education (IdED), explaining its central features and describing the rationale for an inventory measuring IdEd components ("Dyokan"). Since then, the IdEd concept evolved considerably and the Dyokan has been administered to 15,000+ students. The proposed presentation focuses on a significant distinction between Israeli and American Jewish educators regarding their perceptions of IdEd which arose in a recent interview study of school leaders in six American Orthodox Jewish high schools. Whereas Israeli educators relate to IdEd as a concept or means to promote student exploration and identity development for adolescents' emotional, religious or personal growth and largely ignore instrumental aspects of identity development, such as career and family, American educators tend to emphasize these instrumental qualities while paying scant attention to personal exploration or emotional themes.

These differences stem in part from different developmental trajectories of students in the two settings. Most American students devote one post-high school year to religious studies and then begin their college education and career preparation. Israeli students spend one or two years devoted to religious studies, two to four years of military service and often a year of travel before beginning college and career training. Thus, the lengthy emerging adulthood period allows Israeli high schools to emphasize exploration of religious and other personal alternatives whereas the relatively short emerging adulthood period among American students directs their educators to more practical concerns and less exploration. Additional implications for religious and personal exploration are discussed. Top

Norman Richardson - Opting Out or Opting In? Conscience clauses, minority belief communities and the possibility of inclusive religious education in Northern Ireland.

Recent increases in the presence in all kinds of schools in Northern Ireland of children from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds have created significant challenges for a schooling system that formerly catered mainly for traditional Catholic and Protestant confessional models of Religious Education. Drawing on sociological research this paper will examine the experiences and attitudes of members of minority belief communities (religious minorities and people of no religious belief) in relation to RE and other religious practices in Northern Ireland’s publicly funded schools, and in particular to the provision of ‘opt-out’ or conscience clauses.

The paper will note and reflect on the views and concerns of a range of individuals and communities, also taking account of relevant international case-law. It will be argued that when these perceptions and experiences are matched against the ideals expressed in various human rights instruments and other international agreements and statements (including, for example, the UN Consultative Conference on School Education in relation with Freedom of Religion or Belief, Tolerance or Non-Discrimination [Madrid, 2001], and the Toledo Guiding Principles [ODIHR/OSCE, 2007]) serious questions arise about the adequacy of “opting-out” as the principal legal means of respecting and protecting the freedom of religion and belief of people of minority belief.

Current approaches to the teaching of religion increasingly emphasise the importance of inclusion and of developing intercultural competences. This paper will assess what lessons may be learned locally and internationally that might encourage more inclusive policy and practice in teaching about religion and belief. Top

Mandy Robbins - The Teenage Religion and Values Survey in England and Wales: an overview

The Teenage Religion and Values Survey was conducted throughout the 1990s among 13-to 15-year-old young people. A total of 33,982 young people took part in the survey. As the next phase of this research begins for the twenty-first century this paper looks back at the survey conducted in the 1990s and considers two aspects of the research. First, this paper considers the methodology behind designing such a survey and explores issues such as questionnaire design and measurement. This paper also considers the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative research of this nature. This paper then explores the contribution of the ‘individual differences approach’ to designing a questionnaire of this nature. The method of data collection and analysis are explored, including some of the problems in building up such a large dataset of young people.

Second, this paper considers some of the insights generated by the survey under the headings, personality; spiritual health; religious affiliation; belonging without believing; and church leaving. In each case an overview of the findings from the survey is presented including details on the theory that underpins each heading. For example, religious affiliation is considered in relationship to school-related experience, while church leaving is considered in relationship to attitudes toward sexual morality. Finally the paper considers collecting a dataset of similar numbers in the 21st century. The new survey, currently underway, has been broadened to reflect a much wider view of spirituality including paranormal belief. Top

Cornelia Roux & Christelle Roux - Freedom of religion and belief: Religious Space: interreligious education and tourism education.

The concept “freedom of religion and belief” has been interpreted differently through the ages by politicians, historians and educators. In our information age with internet-access and the impact of globalization on society, religions, its philosophies, places of worship, rituals and descriptions on daily lives opened a world with unfamiliar images to many people. In many of these images the interaction between devotee/believer and her/his Religious Space is portrayed. Religion and religious places of worship are no longer only Religious Space for the believer. Places of worship have become educational information centers, where students take note of “the other” and an income for the religious community where the commodity of the religion is performed. First, Religious Space can be seen for its educational value to promote respect and understanding for “the other” and secondly, it has become tourists’ attractions with substantial income for religious places of worship. For many years religious educators convinced education authorities and institutions of religions, that visiting Religious Space can add value to the principles and values of interreligious learning and enhance respect and tolerance for “the other”.

In this paper the theoretical underpinning for the importance of Religious Space as private and public domains will be discussed. The experiences and narratives of two educators, one in interreligious learning and the other in tourism education will be emphasized. A pedagogical framework for visiting and understanding “Religious Space” in interreligious learning and tourism education will be given. Top

Linda Rudge - The Pandora Project: Opening the box again - the aspirations of teachers in relation to freedom of religion and belief in schools

What do teachers of Religious Education in the UK hope for when they enter the teaching profession? Are their aspirations (and anxieties) based on a conviction about the subject’s aims and intentions, its value to the wider community and/or to the personal development of themselves or their pupils - or are they more concerned about the transmission of knowledge? Do they ‘just want a job’? Through the voices of a small number of student teachers engaged in an initial secondary teacher training course, and their qualified teacher mentors in schools, this paper discusses some of these aspirations and relates them to educational aims underpinning (or challenging) the freedom of religion and belief in English schools.

The findings in the paper are from a small case study, based on life history methods, by an individual research/author. The principal concerns and the enduring experiences articulated by many of the student participants in the pilot stage of the project (2004-06) were those associated with the concept of the teacher’s responsibility and scope – how far should you go? What are the boundaries? What is and is not acceptable in teaching (RE)? These concerns have emerged again in the new cohorts of volunteers to the project (2007-2009) and the question How can teachers make RE work? has also been heard again in focus groups and interview settings. The paper’s conclusion reflects on the key role of the newly qualified teacher in making RE work for the freedom of religion and belief in secondary (high) schools. Top

Richard Rymarz - “We Do Sunday School and First Communion Mostly” : What Ukrainian Greek Catholic Catechists Can Tell Us About Religious Education.

This paper begins with a range of on-going empircal findings arising out of studies with Ukrainian Greek Catholic catechists from parishes within the Eparchy of Edmonton, Alberta. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is in full communion with Rome and follows a Byzantine Rite. There are between 5 and 10 million Ukrainian Greek Catholics in the world, with a relatively large population in Western Canada. The work done by catechists represents religious education in one of its most unadulterated, and almost classical, forms and as such has great conceptual interest. The catechists in this study are highly motivated individuals who work within the structures of a faith community. Their major tasks are to prepare children for first communion (or “solemn” first communion) and to teach in Sunday school. The group values its role but is faced with significant challeges as many of the assumptions that surround their work, such as the background of the children they encounter, are being questioned.

The paper explores a number of critical and very current theoretical issues from a range of related disciplines such as theology, sociology and education. Three particular areas that will be discussed in greater detail are: the religious education of Eastern Catholics in a religious landscape that is largely dominated by Roman Catholics, the approaches to learning used by catechists in their interaction with children, and the evolving cultural landscape which changes the traditional role of the catechist from providing catechesis to one where a more broadly based religious education is offered. At least two outcomes from the study are anticipated. Firstly, gaining a clearer understanding of the work of Ukrainian Catholic catechists and, secondly, developing strategies to assit catechists working in parishes Top

Cristoph Th. Scheilke - “Schulseelsorge” (Pastoral care in schools) – a new special service within the domain of Religious Education offered to all students and schools in Baden-Württemberg

Religious education as a subject in German state schools is not only concerned with religious instruction. From the very beginning pastoral care played a important role for RE teachers. However, during recent years the pastoral care of RE began to fade out. Due to curriculum development RE tends more and more towards religious instruction. Secondly, many classes are crowded. So there is neither space nor enough time for pastoral care such as individual talks. 5-minutes-breaks, typical for German schools, don’t allow for talks about personal concerns. RE teachers, sometimes even secular heads, experience a growing need for pastoral care in their schools to support the personal development of their pupils, their search for advice, special counseling or even treatment.

In 2007 a pilot project “pastoral care in schools” was established to develop means and look for ways to support RE teachers in developing pastoral care as an innovative contribution to the school where they work. Almost all the teachers in this project (over 100 RE teachers) participated in a one-year long modularised training course. participants. After particpating in the training course almost all participants responded positively to the program and reported benefits for individual students, classes and schools, and as a result the next courses to be held are overbooked. In all schools that participated in the pilot project the status of RE has stabilized or has become more prestigious because of the special service RE teachers contribute to the school. But, as usual, critical questions arose as well. This paper will report about aims and outcomes of the pilot project and discuss some central issues. Top

Olga Schihalejev - Religious education influencing students’ attitudes to religion: a threat to freedom?

The controversy over religious education (RE) in Estonia has continued since the country re-gained independence in 1991. One of the arguments against it is a concern that RE would convert students to Christianity. To what extent does such a worry have empirical proof? The paper looks at empirical results of qualitative and quantitative studies done in Estonia in the framework of the research project REDCo (“Religion in Education: A contribution to Dialogue or a factor of Conflict in transforming societies of European Countries”) in 2006-2009, targeting students aged 14-16 years. The studies looked into students’ own perceptions of religion and religious diversity, with their potentials for dialogue or conflict.

There are different models of RE found in other ways in similar schools of Estonia: the schools with no RE whatever, the schools with RE as an elective subject or a compulsory subject, the schools which teach the subject only in primary school, only in upper secondary school or throughout all the years. This makes the Estonian case as a “natural laboratory” for studying impact of RE on the way religious diversity is viewed and how tolerance is valued under the influence of different models of RE. By triangulating results of the studies the article covers the questions: how do students with different models of RE differ in their perception of religion, and religious diversity? And how do they value tolerance? Top

Peter Schreiner - Religion in the context of a Europeanisation of education: theoretical and methodological concerns

Processes of European integration are investigated under the perspective of a Europeanisation of education and the role of religion. First, there is new recognition of the value and potential of religion for living together in an increasingly pluralistic Europe. Second, education plays a crucial role in meeting the many socio-economic, demographic, environmental and technological challenges facing Europe and its citizens today and the years ahead. This includes also ensuring the personal, asocial and professional fulfilment of all citizens in Europe.

A chief research question is if, how and when religion is mentioned in the context of an educational policy discourse on the European and national level.

As main actors in this field the European Union and the Council of Europe have developed initiatives and published documents that encourage the development of a European Education Policy and a European Education Space. Both fields increasingly influence national education policy but have also an independent European dynamic. During the last years religion and the teaching about religions are recognized as important elements in areas such as intercultural education or citizenship education.

The main purpose of the research is to work out the place and relevance of religion in this context. Special emphasis is given to the place of religion in political documents of the mentioned organisations and to the role of religious education. From a theoretical perspective the concept of Europeanization is discussed to see if it is valid for the research.

From a methodological perspective discourse analysis and grounded theory is used to analyse selected documents that can prove a shift of perspectives of European institutions concerning the role of religion in education. Top

Bernd Schröder - Freedom of religion in France and Germany – different readings and their implications for RE

In history, the right of religious freedom has been established in the Western world as the right of not to be obliged to become a member of the church. In other parts of the world religious minorities are nowadays often striving for the right to display religious beliefs and practices of their own, i.e., in the Arab Muslim world and China. Protection against religious indoctrination and the right for expressing one’s own religious persuasions, both, are the two sides to religious freedom.

Depending on which side is to be stressed there are different chances for and restrictions on Religious education. My paper will work out those differences by comparing the dealing with religion in public schools in France, traditionally seen as barrister of the so called “negative” reading of religious freedom, and Germany, one of those states which are fostering a “positive” reading of religious freedom: Whereas in Germany religious communities are invited to engage in public schools by offering religious instruction, pastoral care and youth work, in France the separation of state and religion lends to the prohibition of any confessional instruction as well as any ostentatious use of religious symbols in school.

Living in Saarbrücken, about five km next to the French border, I would like to summarise and compare some recent developments in thinking about and organizing RE in both countries. My paper raises the question, which conception of RE enables pluralistic societies better to cope with ethical conflicts and any problems emerging from religious diversity of citizens. Top

Ulrich Schwab - Has there been an European Pattern of Religious Education? A historical view

If one reviews the current situation on Religious Education in Europe, there are a number of different conceptions of the subject. While Germany and Austria are mainly confessional in form, other countries like UK and Scandinavia have developed an interreligious approach. Some countries in the east of Europe have returned to confessional education after a period of socialist atheism. Some others did not.

This paper will discuss this new diversity from a historical viewpoint. What are the historical reasons why in the beginning of the 19th century Religious Education became in most European countries an ordinary subject at school, but not in the USA or Asia, for example? Was there a common conception of Religious Education in Europe and if so, what have been its principles? When and where did it start to change - and why? How important was the relation between church and government for the development of such a conception in different countries? Is the idea of Religious Education as catechizing comparable to the idea of education at all in the 19th century? What differences are there between the European countries? And why did Religious Education start to change so rapidly in some countries at the beginning of the 20th century?

The question behind these questions is as simple as it is complicated: Is there a common European History of Religious Education - or is it just a national affair? Top

Friedrich Schweitzer - Christian Education in Comparative Perspective: Researching Confirmation Work in Seven European Countries

This paper is based on the work of an international group of researchers (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland). The aim of this group was to research confirmation work in different countries where this program offered by the Protestant churches reaches substantial parts of the adolescent population (every year, about 500.000 adolescents participate in confirmation programs in the seven countries, typically for at least several months, for one year, or even for longer periods of time). The study brought together experiences and resources from earlier surveys conducted at regional or national levels in the participating countries, and attempts to carry them to a new level of international comparative research. The methodology is quantitative statistical but it also includes contextual and hermeneutical parts.

The present paper will focus on the methodological challenges of this study and of this kind of research in general. In this respect, it will also refer to other comparative research projects (among others, RedCo; the TRES study on teaching religion; the international studies on youth and religion/Ziebertz, Kay et al.).

The following questions will be addressed: What are the possible benefits from comparative research in the field of (Christian) religious education? How can we interpret data from different national or regional contexts? What obstacles have to be faced? Top

Mualla Selçuk - A definition of “Jihad” and its relationship to RE in a world of religious diversity

Since the tragic 9/11 event, Jihad has become a household concept among those who are involved in the question of violence in both the scholarly and popular domains.

This paper aims to provide an inside view into the issues currently debated regarding the concept of Jihad. One view presents Jihad as “the first obligation for Muslims that comes after İman Billah (Belief in God)”. Another view translates it as “Holy War”. One of the explanations is that “Jihad is the striving for the good and the struggle with the evil”. Yet another view is that “Jihad is the name of every attempt to purify one’s soul”.

What response should education make to those different definitions? The proposed paper will consider this question by reference to the relevant verses of the Holy Qur’an and the sayings of the Prophetic Tradition.

The paper will claim that in a world of religious diversity, researches on the main concepts of religions are of vital importance. Learning in inter-religious terms must include learning about the conceptual schema of one's own and other religions as well. Obviously more awareness about each other is needed in education. More conceptual studies can help to improve the flow of information, analysis and guidance regarding the challenge of violent extremism. Top

Shan Robyn Simmonds - Learners’ perceptions of human rights in shaping their understanding of freedom of religion and belief

The South African Schools Act (SASA) 1996 acknowledges that public schools are entitled to freedom of conscience and religion. The SASA act falls in line with article 15 of the 1996 Constitution which proclaims that everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion. This paper acknowledges the legal implications regarding freedom of religion and belief in South African education however a moral position of human rights will be adopted. Therefore, this paper will present a theoretical exploration of the possible positions influencing the perspectives learners’ hold of human rights from a moral human rights in education perspective. Thereafter reference will be made to an empirical study conducted with learners in the North-West Province, South Africa. Two rural schools were used in this environment, one school being a multicultural and multireligious public school and the other being a Christian private school, where learners are from diverse backgrounds but teachers are mono-cultural and mono-religious.

Narrative theory and narrative methods were employed with the intent of recognising how learners’ make sense of experiences through their stories. In this study the researcher draws on learners’ stories to reveal how they believe religion influences human rights. In this way learners were provided with a voice and their viewpoints acknowledged. A stance such as this one, gives rise to questions and challenges of what the role of South African education entails when it comes to the moral dimensions encompassing aspects such as freedom of religion and belief in classroom contexts. Top

Geir Skeie - Religious education in the academia: A case for theology or religious studies?

The position of religion in education in European Countries and elsewhere may be in transition due to the increased political relevance of religion since 9/11, and the growing preoccupation with the religious dimension in international human rights circles as well as in intercultural education exemplified by recent initiatives by Council of Europe and the EU. These developments and initiatives are in some ways bypassing the traditional debates about religious education related to the church-state relationship, and by this are opening up new agendas in academia.

Academic theology has traditionally had a close, if not harmonious relationship with religious communities, while Religious Studies / History of Religion usually has kept more of a distance from living religion, insisting on a descriptive approach. Within universities, the relationship between the disciplines has often been one of tension or even isolation. As the position of religion in education may change, so the relationship between these two disciplines may change in their perception of the connection between religion and education.

The paper will investigate signs of such changes, and renewed debates with a focus on Scandinavia, but will also take into account experiences and debates coming from increased comparative research in religious education, and the REDCo project in particular. It appears that there is an increased interest in religious education among Religious Studies / History of Religion researchers, and it is argued that the controversies between the two disciplines can be seen as a mixture of a power struggle and epistemological issues as well as a debate about lasting pedagogical dilemmas in religious education. Top

Nam Soon Song - Sunday School Revisited: An alternative to Christian Education of the Church today?

What brought about the establishment of the Sunday school movement in England in the 18th century? What was Sunday school for?

In this presentation I will clarify that the Sunday school movement was an answer of Christian humanitarians to the intellectual, moral and religious conditions of society brought about by urbanization and the industrial revolution, which effected a change in the family, church and society as a whole. It was established for poor and neglected children, to educate and to nurture religiously by teaching the Scriptures.

After merging with the church, the Sunday school evolved into a church institution, thereby losing the spirit of humanitarianism on which it was grounded, along with its quintessential function as a school on behalf of society. Today, most Christians and churches still use the term “Sunday school” when referring to Christian education for children in the church, albeit devoid of the same spirit and societal functions described by its founders.

In searching for the spirit of the Sunday school from its origin, the paper will address the following questions: a) Do Sunday schools provide a realistic version of church-based Christian Education in the “super-high-tech” and globalization era, within society defined by transnational migrants seeking better opportunities? b) If Sunday schools are the answer of the church to the transnational migrant world, then what models of Sunday schools could be suggested as best suited to cope with this world? Who are those who would choose to attend Sunday schools in this society? Top

Karin Sporre - Human dignity in educational practice

What does it take to emphasize your own value given circumstances where the value others ascribe to you is low? How is the value of a human being expressed and conceptualized in such situations? And further, within an educational context: How can efforts of finding/defending one’s own value be strengthened in an educational practice? What characterizes educational processes where this can be achieved?

African-American ethicist Katie G Cannon develops in her ethics (1988, 1995) an ethic “from below” where issues of what it takes to defend your value when it is regarded by others as close to nothing. Evaluations of the value foundation of Swedish schools point to a lot of violations taking place. In the ethics of Cannon and other womanist/feminist theologians (cf. Sporre 1999) one’s human dignity as something that is regained when fought for comes to the fore.

In the paper the framework for a new research project is presented. It attempts to link understandings of human dignity as something to strive for with educational practices where this could take place. As part of the presentation an overview is given of the Swedish school system when it comes to values and their realisation. Aspects of the discussion of human dignity from a South African context are also included in the presentation. Top

Julian Stern - Liberating music: Using music in schools to express religious diversity and to resolve religious conflict

This research investigates the dialogic role of music. More specifically, it investigates the possible uses of music to promote cultural and religious understanding (by communicating religious and cultural diversity) and to resolve conflict, especially religiously-based conflict. The paper explores the use in religious education of religious music, music of personal liberation and of political liberation. As well as personal and political liberation, the paper also explores how music itself can be liberated, liberated from being treated as no more than entertainment, liberated from being no more than ornament. Music can be a source of inclusion and a form of personal and political dialogue, and music can be seen as ‘an instrument for the exploration of all possible worlds’ (John Macmurray).

Dialogue and educational creativity is theorised from the philosophy of Martin Buber, and it is his approach to religious diversity and the creation of social justice through dialogue, that underpins the research. The research question raised by his philosophy, is whether music-based pedagogy in schools is or can be dialogic, and whether this approach does or could be used to promote social justice.

Results of this research are being developed into a series of strategy and pedagogic documents, promoting the pedagogic use of music to promote the understanding of religion and the resolution of conflict. It is hoped that the outcomes of this research and professional work will put music at the centre of debates on social justice in education, through its pedagogic use in intercultural dialogue and religious education. Top

Heinz Streib & Constantin Klein - From Xenophobia to Xenosophia: New empirical evidence

It is necessary, but not sufficient to assess frequencies of xenophobia of adolescents and adults. One of the problems here is individual suppression of latent prejudice. Although it is a step forward to correlate xenophobic attitudes with mono- or inter-religious preferences, this is also not sufficient when our aim is the understanding of causes and biographical background of xenophobia, and especially when we desire change and inter-religious learning. Here it is important to investigate psychological and sociological correlates and predictors of xenophobia (such as personality, tolerance for ambiguity, social location), but even more important to identify specific types of religiosity (religious styles; God representations; religious experiences, spiritual and religious self-identification etc.) and investigate their relation to xenophobia. This may then allow for the discovery of what hinders and what promotes learning processes toward the readiness for inter-religious dialog.

In this paper we present new empirical results about correlates and predictors of xenophobic attitudes and their counterpart: xenosophic attitudes. Our research is based on the conceptualization of ‘xenosophia’ and on the model of inter-religious negotiation styles (Streib, 2001; 2006a; 2006b; also presented at ISREV XV) which suggests, as counterpart of xenophobia, the prescriptive positioning of xenosophia - the wisdom in the encounter with the strange. We report results from two different research projects: a reaction time experiment investigating latent xenophobic attitudes in and among the Abrahamitic religions and a survey among adolescents about religion and attitudes. We claim that our results meet all the criticisms which we have outlined above. Top

Howard Summers - Does Religious Education at South African Catholic schools lead to tolerance of other religions?

To answer this question, an empirical investigation will be carried out at four Catholic schools situated in different socio-economic contexts:
1. An upmarket school equal to the best private schools in South Africa (predominantly white).
2. A school in a middle-income area (mainly white, but with a high-percentage of students from other racial groups).
3. A township school (Soweto - predominantly black).
4. A rural school (totally black).

Ten final-year students at each school will complete a questionnaire. They will be divided into two groups - Catholic and members of other faiths, or no faith (5+5).

The questionnaire will comprise:
i.   Questions relating to students’ own beliefs.
ii.  A simple test to gauge their knowledge of other religions.
iii. Five different scenarios which students will examine and give their opinion on. Their responses will be analysed in an attempt to gauge their level of tolerance towards other religions.
iv. Questions such as the following:
    • What is the greatest factor influencing your belief: Home, school, or faith community?
    • Do you agree that other religions should be taught at school?
    • Have you found teaching of other religions more helpful, or more destructive to your own beliefs?

A comparison will be made between the two groups and a conclusion drawn as to whether students who have been exposed to similar, but not necessarily identical Religious Education, differ in their attitudes towards other religions or not. The reasons for any differences will be analysed. Top

Ulrika Svalfors - Religious education in a popular Christian setting in Sweden: a story about gender, sexuality, class and ethnicity

The Christian magazine Pilgrim has become a quite influantial voice in Sweden when it comes to Christian spirituality and how to live a genuinly Christian life. The magazine is an example of a Christian movement in touch with societal, or cultural, “trends”, but at the same time an example of a movement in conflict with society which it consider to be superficial. The magazines main task is “to give spiritual guidance”. A closer look makes clear that what is at stake is a sort of religious education into a specific world and human view where some subjects will be bearer of the values established in normality, and some will be rejected to the margins. The criteria for this process will be a mix between religious and social norms.

This presentation will discuss the mechanisms and the results of the type of religious education that the magazine Pilgrim promotes, out of my thesis in theology: “The order of spirituality. A discursive reading of the Christian magazine Pilgrim”. The theoretical background is found in Michel Foucault’s discourse concept and the concept of intersectionality from feminist theory. The presentation will show how values are formulated in the “Pilgrim discourse”, how religious education makes them possible by discipline (“spiritual guidance”) and the positions that emanate out of the discipline. By identifying different exclusion practices, discursive strategies and normative statements in relation to social categories as gender and class, I will show that not all subjects will be able to grow to spritual maturity. Top

Martin Ubani - Becoming a RE teacher: A study of Finnish teacher trainees during their pedagogical training

The purpose of this study is to explore the professional development of RE teacher trainees (N = 96) during their one year pedagogical training. The concrete research questions are: (1) How do the perceptions of competence in general and their personal competence change during their pedagogical training and (2) How do their perceptions of the profession of RE teacher (RE subject, Personal professional development, and professional identity and calling) evolve throughout their studies.

The data includes quantitative questionnaire based on Eraut (1994) (research question 1) and qualitative interviews of 9 students at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of their studies (research question 2). The data was gathered in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 and some results have already been reported. This presentation sets to combine the different studies into a synthesis.

Results of the study did not show statistically significant changes in their perceptions of competence. However, there was a change in their perceptions of personal competence (question 1). The interviews showed some key themes throughout the year among the students such as their relationship to faith, relationship to calling, and contemplation of personal skills and professional fears (question 2). According to the interviews, the RE teacher trainees tend to concentrate on their professional growth which is reflected upon during the year in the lessons they attend, their teaching practices and during their free time. Top

John Valk - Religious Education in a Changing World

In today’s changing world religious education is neither assured nor uncontroversial. Ironically, as issues regarding the freedom of religion and belief surface in an increasing manner, religious education finds itself undergoing challenges and changes. Religion and its symbols have become divisive, in education as well as in the public square. At the very moment that knowledge, awareness and understanding of religion are most needed the educational venues for transmitting it are often under threat, marginalized or in need of change.

But might this signal more opportunity and optimism than dismay and disenchantment? A changing society offers new challenges that may require doing things differently. When it comes to religious education perhaps we need to change some of our terms, pedagogical strategies, and curricular parameters, in light of a changing world.

This presentation suggests approaching religious education in a new way. It will present a pedagogical/curricular model that seeks to do the following: 1) expand our terminology from religion to worldviews to level the playing field, 2) become more inclusive of both religious and secular worldviews, 3) increase our frameworks of understanding to see worldviews as both visions of life and ways of life, 4) examine worldviews as impacting all aspects of life, 5) invite students to wrestle with their own worldviews (knowing self) while they increase their knowledge and understanding of others (knowing others), and lastly 6) reflect on the model’s interdisciplinary implications. Top

Bas van den Berg - Imagine! On the relationship between the engagement of imagination and meaning making to biblical narratives by primary school pupils.

In RE, imagination plays an important role, since in religion(s) utterances and rituals are imbued with symbolization. And symbolic expressions presuppose human imagination in order to understand such utterances.

On the other hand, both in natural and social sciences imagination is qualified for a long time as a weak human ability to understand both the physical, the social reality. (Kearney,1988; Egan, 1997,2005; Green, 2000).Reason and emotion are dominant tools in a lot of studies about the construction of meaning to cultural and religious experience. Studies about the role of imagination of pupils of primary schools in the process of meaning making to religious stories are rare.

In my paper will argue, in the footsteps of the Canadian researcher and designer of educational programs K.Egan (1997,2005,2007), that imagination is the crucial mental tool for pupils to make sense to reality in all his dimensions. Also in relation to sense making to cultural and religious resources imagination (in the form of memory and of creation of new images) takes a key role.(Bruner, 1996; Kearney, 2000; Alma, 2002,2005,2007; Boschki, 2008).

In my paper I will share some of my first findings of my research project. I will focus at some central conepts in my research project.The main question of my research project is: How the engagement of the imagination of school pupils will increase the quality of their personal meaning making to religious stories? Top

Jon Magne Vestol - Textbooks and Students’ Interpretation of Religious Text.

This paper is a pedagogical investigation of how Norwegian religious education textbooks prepared for secondary school deal with interpretation and discussion of religious texts from the Christian and Islamic tradition. A Norwegian curriculum reform in 2006 has emphasized the development of basic skills and specific competences, such as the ability to read and interpret texts, and to interpret and discuss texts from different religions as well as from secular humanism. In this paper I present a brief overview of how texts and specific elements of competence occur in the different textbooks, and also analyze somewhat more in depth some of the specific strategies and tools for interpretation presented in the textbooks. All relevant passages from the 9 textbooks used in lower and upper secondary schools after the curriculum reform are included in the analysis.

The analysis is inspired by a Grounded Theory, bottom up conceptualization, and also draws concepts from Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to identify possible tensions between artifacts, objects, rules and division of labor in the activities implied in or suggested by the text passages analyzed. The study identifies tensions between, on the one hand, activities where knowledge and skills are ministered by textbooks and teachers and reproduced by students and, on the other hand, activities where students are enabled to develop competences in a more autonomous way. Top

Kerstin von Brömssen - Governmentality; normalising technologies in a new “moral economy”

This paper draws on the theoretical works of Foucault (1977), Nicolas Rose (1999/1989) and Stephen J. Ball (2006) to discuss constructions of subjectivity, governmentality and normalising technologies in education. The Foucauldian framework will be used to discuss a relatively new “subject- area” in Swedish schools with different names such as “Life skills education” and/or “Social and emotional training” (SET). The empirical data for the paper consists of analyses of schools’ policy-documents, books and manuals for the subject-area, as well as ethnographic data from education in the field. This kind of policy-ethnography is a methodological approach used to look at the detail of policy implementation by studying a single case through ethnographic methods (Walford, 2003).

The analyses show how “policy entrepreneurs” (Ball, 2006) colonise the Swedish school arena with educational programmes, usually in response to the discourse “the common value basis”( sv. “värdegrund”). This discourse has been frequently articulated in Swedish society during the last decade. The educational programmes available on the "educational market" usually consist of a mixture of methods in a behaviouristic and/or cognitive behavioural tradition, which I describe as therapy rather than instruction. My argumentation, inspired by Rose (1999), will point to changing methods of fostering children and youth; traditionally in the name of ethics and moral, now in the name of “psy”; i.e. psychological techniques. Top

Nancy Walbank - Catholic schools in a country of many faiths

Historically Catholic schools existed largely to serve a community of Catholic pupils. How can these institutions respond to the many faith dimensions of contemporary British Society? My research asks how Catholic schools in an area of the North West of England are open to children of all faiths and none and whether they are inclusive or exclusive in their approach to Religious Education and worship. My paper will look at this in the following 3 areas from an educational and theological point of view

• What makes a Catholic school distinctive? Outline the three fold nature of Catholic education in terms of nurturing faith, developing a community of education and serving the community. Look briefly at how this distinctiveness can be characterised through openess and dialogue with those of other faiths.

• Is there one model of a Catholic school, or is it possible to have a plurality of models of Catholic schooling whilst still being ‘Catholic.’ From a theological perspective I am going to look at if and how a Catholic school can serve students not of the Catholic faith and still retain its Catholicity.

• Conclude by looking at how my research has looked at how leaders and managers in Catholic schools address Catholic education for a diverse society by describing some of my findings uncovered through using questionnairres and semi structured interviews and comparing the ‘real picture’ with the academic and theological viewpoint. Top

Kevin Partick Win Wanden - Challenges facing classroom religious educators in Catholic secondary schools in New Zealand

This paper addresses a number of challenges facing religious educators in Catholic secondary schools in New Zealand identified in a doctoral research study on teachers’ perception of the purpose of classroom Religious Education. A survey that collected both quantitative and qualitative data was distributed to 37 of the 49 Catholic secondary schools in New Zealand that agreed to participate and resulted in 173 responses.

This study found that teachers worked out of a Subject-Oriented approach to the teaching of Religious Education that was consistent with the Understanding Faith curriculum. Teachers perceived Religious Education as a complex subject with multiple purposes. As a subject in a Catholic secondary school, Religious Education teachers believed the primary purpose was to teach knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith tradition. Classroom Religious Education was found to comprise two subsidiary aspirational purposes of faith formation and personal development.

This paper reports and analyses the results of one of the open-ended questions, “I find that the most difficult aspect of teaching religious education is...”. The challenges identified in the research included the perceived relevance of the subject by students, parents and other staff members; the role of teacher witness in pedagogy; the low level of teacher qualifications; a perceived lack of support; and the spiritual and religious dimensions of evangelisation, catechesis and faith formation. Top

Wim Westerman - RE on the road from the private to the public domain

This paper presents a historical as well as a comparative exploration of RE as pedagogical support for the development from child to adult. Adults have to participate in the surrounding culture, inclusive religions and worldviews, and society of their surrounding public domain, without loosing their selfs. Good politicians and good teachers are future-oriented and oriented towards the public domain.

Political urges to use or misuse or even deny RE are usually strong in times of social and cultural instability as in periods of (de)colonization, globalization, revolution and war. This is i.e. illustrated by the Greek enkyklios paidea that triggered the Maccabees to an uprising; Protestant ‘education for all policies’; the French revolutionary philosopher De Condorcet’s proposal for a neutral school; the introduction of RE as a compulsory subject in 1944 in the UK; discussions about the role of RE for nation building in former colonies; and the interests of the Council of Europe for RE after ‘Nine Eleven’. Politicians promote ‘neutral’ and ‘objective’ RE to prevent religious disputes in the public domain.

However children's lives cannot be fragmentarized in objective and non-objective sectors. Children come to school and bring from home private, not objective, cultural and religious heritages. Teachers have to guide them to use these for their development, to participate as adults of the future in the public domain respecting their own and others’ religious and cultural selfs.

So RE should not teach religion objectively, but has to stimulate the children to become religiate. Top

Yaacov Yablon - Religious based dialogue as a way to enhance positive intergroup relations between conflict groups

Considering the meaningful contribution of religion to human kind and its importance in both social and individual life it is suggested that different aspects of religious culture, which are usually associated with conflicts, may be used to enhance intergroup dialog.

The proposed paper is based on empirical quantitative and qualitative results of encounters between religious and secular Jewish high school students in Israel, and has two aims: To illustrate the role that religious culture can play in enhancing dialogue between conflict groups, and the place of religion-based intervention programs in enhancing positive intergroup relationships.

A randomized control trial research design was used to study the contribution of religion to the enhancement of positive relations between religious and secular Jewish high-school students in Israel. The 242 11th-grade (17 year old) students were randomly assigned into three groups: the first group experienced encounters based on religious content, the second group participated in encounters based on social content, and the third served as a control group. Findings revealed that the religion-based intervention was more effective than the social-based one. However, the social-content encounters did slow down the deteriorating relationships between the groups.

Therefore it is suggested that religion and religious meaning systems can serve as a common denominator for different national and social groups and can be used for enhancing tolerance and understanding between conflict groups. Implications for peace education will be discussed. Top

Hans-Georg Ziebertz - Christian and Muslim Youth in Germany about Freedom of Religion

Within the three generations of Human Rights, the right of freedom of religion is not only historically a right of great importance, it is essentially connected with the development of the modern concept of a democratic state and claims universal acceptance.

The message is twofold: Believers should have the right to express and practice their faith; people who do not share a faith should not be opressed by religious convictions.

The question I want to research in my paper is how Christian and Muslim youth in Germany evaluate the right of freedom of religion. From 82 million inhabitants of Germany about 65 percent belong to one of the Christian Churches and about 4 percent are Mulims. Do adolescents who belong to the religious majority or minority differ in their evaluation of this right? Do both groups differ in their attitudes when they talk about their own religion or the religion of others? Is freedom of religion a right which should be equally valid for the in-group and the out-group? Are there significant differences between students who practice religion and those who define themselves as being non-religious?

The empirical questions will be answered by the analysis of a data set about Human Rights. The study took place in 2008 and the questionnaire was distributed among 1780 students aged 15-17. The paper discusses whether students have an universal perspective on the right of freedom of religion and if so, is this right equally accepted by students of both religions? Top

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