Originally published in 1986, this book is based on research carried out in 102 County secondary and Church of England secondary and primary schools in London, the North West Region and the West Midlands. It analyses data collected from interviews with 102 headteachers, 67 religious education teachers and 139 parents whose children were attending Church schools. The book is divided into four main areas. First it examines pupil admission policies, illustrating their effect both with the schools and on the neighbourhood. Second, it outlines the policies and practices adopted by Church school governors in appointing teaching staff and discusses the implications of these policies. The third area deals with school worship, assemblies and religious education and their place in the life of the school. The study highlights important issues and challenges facing schools especially where there is considerable religious diversity among pupils. It discusses some of the difficulties of implementing the law relating to the daily act of worship and why some schools observe the law while others disregard it. Key issues are explored which are central to the teaching of religious education: How RE teachers respond to religious diversity; why Christianity may or may not be given a central place in RE classes; what parents and RE teachers hope RE classes will achieve for pupils by the time they leave school. The fourth area focusses on multicultural education and illustrates the divergent views of headteachers on the aims, purposes and relevance on multicultural education.

This book navigates the contours of cultural and theological hermeneutics in order to critique, affirm, as well as reconceptualise the vital underpinnings and subtleties of faith-culture intercourse and reciprocation. It questions claims to effective inculturation by theologians and church authorities, even as it acknowledges the inevitability of the tension between inculturation process and syncretic formations. It is an irresistible asset for teachers and students of theology, cultural and religious studies, for pastors and missionaries, and for all Christians in need of finding Christian beliefs and practices more meaningful to them in their daily lives. The hope is that it challenges the straitjacketed conceptual and pastoral frameworks that have often characterised the churchs evangelisation initiatives, and assists in making Christian faith a concrete and living possession of every age and culture. Michael Muonwe is a priest of the Catholic diocese of Awka, Nigeria. He holds Licentiate and Doctorate in Theology and Religious Studies from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He obtained Bachelors in Philosophy from Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu, Nigeria. Michael also holds Diplomas in Mass Communication and Education. He has authored a number of articles and is an editor of a book. His major research interest is the often-convoluted relationship and interplay between religion and the contemporary culture. His research on the relationship between Christianity, feminism and culture will soon be published in two volumes. On the present book, Prof. Annemie Dillen of the Catholic University of Leuven affirms: This is a must-read book for local church leaders, theologians and everyone involved in pastoral work. It challenges the reader to give up a longing for security and finding answers in fixed rules or the so-called universal truths, and invites him or her to an in-depth study of cultural practices and beliefs. The overview of the discussions on inculturation and the reality or sometime maybe phantom of syncretism is very illuminating and thought-provoking. Thomas F. Magill asserts: A timely and well-balanced study of the theology of inculturation as understood in the Roman Catholic tradition, offering new and fresh insights, situated in the cusp between the Benedict XVI's emphasis on the relationship between faith and reason and the problem of relativism and Francis I's desire for a poor church for the poor. (T.F. Magill, L.S.S., Ph.D, parish priest of the Diocese of Motherwell, formerly a Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of Glasgow).

Provides an accessible overview of the debates, issues and practicalities of faith-based education. It sets out the challenges and opportunities of different approaches to faith schools and addresses the choices faced by parents.

This volume is a path-breaking contribution to the study of efforts of diaspora, indigenous, and minority groups, broadly defined, to use education (formal and informal) to sustain cultural continuity while grappling with the influences and demands of wider globalizing, nationalizing, or other homogenizing and assimilatory forces. Particular attention is given to groups that use educational elements other than second-language teaching alone in programs to sustain their particular cultural traditions. The focus of the book on cultural sustainability changes the nature of questions posed in multicultural education from those that address the opening of boundaries to issues of preserving boundaries in an open yet sustainable way. As forced and elective immigration trends are changing the composition of societies and the educational systems within them -- bringing a rich diversity of cultural experience to the teaching/learning process -- diaspora, indigenous, and minority groups are looking more and more for ways to sustain their cultures in the context of wider socio-political influences. This volume is a first opportunity to consider critically multicultural efforts in dialogue with educational options that are culturally particularistic but at the same time tolerant. Academics will find this an excellent reference book. Practitioners will draw inspiration in learning of others’ efforts to sustain cultures, and will engage in critical reflection on their own work vis-à-vis that of others. Teachers will realize they do not stand alone in their educational efforts and will uncover new strategies and methodologies through which to approach their work.

The questions raised by government support for faith-based schools are now proving to be increasingly relevant and contentious. In one form or another they have a long history and are embedded in classical disagreements about the proper relationship between State and Church, or between secular power and religious freedom. They have been given a sharper edge by recent events, and by the emphasis laid by some governments on the importance of increasing public support for schools attached to different denominations and religions. Is it appropriate in a pluralist society to support some forms of religious expression and not others? What are the basic reasons for mingling (or indeed refusing to mingle) political and religious issues? What are the larger social effects of encouraging separate schooling for distinct sectors of society? These are among the questions raised and illuminated by this case study – historical and comparative in character – of the developing relationship between the State and the Catholic communities in three very different societies.

The United Kingdom General Election on 1st May 1997 gave a landslide victory to a re-vitalised Labour Party. Tony Blair became Prime Minister with a huge Commons majority of 179 over all other parties. Such a majority meant that extensive changes of policy could be implemented with little effective opposition. During the election campaign Tony Blair had repeatedly claimed that the top three priorities of a New Labour government would be 'education, education, education' , and on page two of the Labour Party's election manifesto a smiling Blair is seen with Nelson Mandela - the unacknowledged originator of the oratorical education triplet. Following a third Election victory in 2005 and after over ten years as Prime Minister, Blair finally stepped down to Gordon Brown in mid-2007, but only after a promotional ‘final tour’ that lasted several months. Towards the end, Blair devoted considerable efforts to try to ensure that his legacy would be positive and that he would be remembered for more than his role in the Iraq war. But what is his legacy in the field of education? This book brings together the assessments of key educational researchers who have been centrally involved with both the critique and implementation of various policy developments. It is now time to make a solid academic evaluation of his influence on education. This book is timely, and relates directly to the central policy themes of the last decade. It considers the relationships between theory and practice and examines the nature of policy and politics. Each contribution will review empirical data and policy changes relating to Blair’s period as Prime Minister and will make an assessment of the enduring effects of changes in policy. Each will assess the long-term and lasting effects as well as the shorter-term responses. This book was published as a special issue of the Oxford Review of Education.

A presentation of a radical but systematic approach to the study of some of the educational problems and issues which ethnic minority children and adolescents face within the context of urban schooling as we move into the 1990s.