Many trainee primary teachers are uncertain as to the place and purpose of RE in primary schools. This book is designed to alleviate such fears and give trainees the security and confidence to teach RE effectively. Trainees are encouraged to recognise their own religious position and understand how they handle their own beliefs and commitments in the classroom. In addition, they will learn how to be sensitive to children′s religious viewpoints, allowing children to share their beliefs in a secure and supportive environment. A range of strategies help readers to provide engaging and appropriate RE across the primary age phase.

Dilemmas surrounding the role for religious beliefs and experiences permeate the school lives of teachers and teacher educators. Inspired by the need for teachers and students to more fully understand such dilemmas, this book examines the relationship between religion and teaching/learning in a democratic society. Written for pre-service and in-service teachers, it will engage readers in thinking about how their own religious backgrounds affect their teaching; how students’ religious backgrounds influence their learning; how common experiences of school and classroom life privilege some religions at the expense of others; and how students can better understand diverse religious beliefs and interact with people from other backgrounds. The focus is specifically on classroom issues related to religious understandings and experiences of teachers and students, and the implications of those for developing democratic citizens. Grounded in both research and personal experience, each chapter provides thought-provoking evidence related to the role of religion in schools and society and asks readers to consider the consequences of varied ways of responding to the dilemmas posed.

Religion and Education: The Forgotten Dimensions of Religious Education? explores fundamental questions about the role of religion and education in contemporary religious education. Drawing from a range of educational and religious traditions and perspectives, it investigates the future of religious education for all.

This reference book is intended to help teachers, teacher administrators, policy makers and others deal with the important issue of religious diversity in Europe's schools. The religious dimension of intercultural education is an issue that affects all schools, whether they are religiously diverse or not, because their pupils live and will work in increasingly diverse societies. The book is the main outcome of the project 1The Challenge of intercultural education today: religious diversity and dialogue in Europe', developed by the Council of Europe between 2002 and 2005. It is in four parts: theoretical and conceptual basis for religious diversity and intercultural education; educational conditions and methodological approaches; religious diversity in schools in different settings; examples of current practice in some member states of the Council of Europe.

An historical analysis of religious education in the public sphere -- The root of the problem -- Influential theoretical positions -- Some contemporary responses to old problems -- Addressing assumptions -- Reconceptualising education -- What does it mean to be religious? -- New possibilities for religious education? -- What should religious education aim to achieve in the public sphere? -- Practical considerations : what might this mean for the teacher? -- Epilogue and some practical considerations : what might this mean for a religious education curriculum?

Intended for the use of primary head teachers, class teachers and teachers in training, this book examines the requirements of the 1988 Education Reform Act in respect of religious education in schools. It offers guidance on ways in which religious education can be developed successfully.

This Handbook is based on the conviction of its editors and contributing authors that understanding and acceptance of, as well as collaboration between religions has essential educational value. The development of this Handbook rests on the f- ther assumption that interreligious education has an important role in elucidating the global demand for human rights, justice, and peace. Interreligious education reveals that the creeds and holy books of the world’s religions teach about sp- itual systems that reject violence and the individualistic pursuit of economic and political gain, and call their followers to compassion for every human being. It also seeks to lead students to an awareness that the followers of religions across the world need to be, and to grow in, dialogical relationships of respect and understa- ing. An essential aim of interreligious education is the promotion of understanding and engagement between people of different religions and, therefore, it has great potential to contribute to the common good of the global community. Interreligious education has grown from the interfaith movement, whose beg- ning is usually identi?ed with the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. This was the ?rst time in history that leaders of the eastern and we- ern religions had come together for dialogue, and to consider working together for global unity.

This book presents the theoretical basis and practical steps involved in using Statement Archaeology, an innovative method that enhances understandings of policy development, exemplifying its use in relation to one curriculum subject, Religious Education. The book is the first of its kind to fully describe the theoretical foundations of Statement Archaeology and the practical steps in its deployment, acting as a methodological handbook that will enable readers to use the method subsequently in their own research. Further, the book offers an unparalleled contribution to the historical account of the development and maintenance of compulsory RE in English state-maintained schools and uses this to engage with key current debates in Religious Education policy. It unearths important insights into how the present is built, informs future policy direction and potential implementation strategies, and helps prevent the repetition of unsuccessful past endeavours. This book will be of great interest for academics, researchers and post-graduate students in the fields of religious education, educational policy and politics, and research methods in education.

This timely volume addresses current debates surrounding the transition from the teaching of religious education (RE) to the more holistic subject of Religion and Worldviews (R&W) in England, and posits criteria for best practice among educators in varied settings and in a broader international context. By examining empirical sources, governmental reports, and in particular the 2018 final report from the Commission on Religious Education (CORE), the volume suggests key principles needed to guide the transition and ensure that R&W is effectively integrated into curricula, pedagogy, and teaching resources to meet the needs of all student groups. By effectively conceptualising R&W, the volume gives particular attention to the intersections of the subject with democratic citizenship education, intercultural competence, and religious literacy. This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in religious education and teacher education as well as the philosophy and sociology of education more broadly. Those interested in education policy and politics, as well as citizenship and schooling in the UK, will also benefit from this volume.

Religious education in schools continues to be a subject of debate and is especially topical in our multicultural society. This text is designed to give students and teachers a contextual and theoretical background to this subject.