This paper examines the recent shift towards the dominance of the study of philosophy of religion, ethics and critical thinking within religious education in Britain. It explores the impact of the critical realist model, advocated by Andrew Wright and Philip Barnes, in response to prior models of phenomenological religious education, in order to expose the ways in which both approaches can lead to a distorted understanding of the nature of religion. Although the writing of Emmanuel Levinas has been used in (...) support of the critical realist model by Wright, I will consider how his and Slavoj Žižek’s writings on the nature of religion might challenge the dominance of the critical realist approach and provide a conceptual framework through which it might be possible to develop an alternative approach to religious education that attends to the complexity, ambiguity and demanding nature of engaging with religious traditions. (shrink)

Religious education (RE) has often found itself at the centre of debates about education's role in promoting social cohesion in contemporary multi-religious societies. The paper considers RE's relationship to religious plurality within the broader context of politics of curriculum and debates on pluralism. Drawing upon the recent works on the history of religion and using the teaching of the histories and cultures of Muslims in RE as a case study, it argues that RE has yet to fulfill its potential in (...) this regard. The paper examines reasons for this and recommends alternative approaches to content which may help RE rise to the challenges posed above. (shrink)

In a recent article, L. Philip Barnes critiques the Commission on Religious Education (CoRE) Final Report by scrutinising its text and by responding to my interpretation of that text. His particular, but not exclusive, focus is CoRE’s proposal that the idea of worldview should be central to RE. His conclusion is that: ‘The collective force of these criticisms counsels against implementing the proposals of CoRE. Religious education needs to look elsewhere than to a worldview curriculum to overcome its current travails’. (...) This article responds by arguing that Barnes fails to justify his conclusion because his critique does not meet the standards of a fair and responsible treatment of his chosen focal texts. In particular, it misrepresents and misinterprets the CoRE Report and overlooks the alternative interpretation that I and others offered. (shrink)

This article considers the proposals of the final report of the Commission on Religious Education (CoRE 2018) and its controversial conclusion that the law should require religious education to include teaching about non-religious worldviews alongside religions, presumably in equal measure. Attention is given both to Trevor Cooling’s recent defence of CoRE’s proposals against already expressed criticisms and to additional criticisms, that of the abstract nature of a worldview as a highly ramified, philosophical concept, which is educationally ill-suited to the interests (...) and intellectual capabilities of many pupils, and that of the failure of the proposals to indicate in what ways they overcome current systemic weaknesses. It is concluded that religious education should not be reconceptualised as the study of religious and non-religious worldviews nor should it adopt a framework that construes religions primarily as worldviews. (shrink)

The word 'paradigm' appears in a number of Cornelia Roux's published works (Roux 1998; 1998a; 2003; 2008; 2009; 2011). This article re-examines her use of 'paradigm' in the light of Thomas Kuhn's (1996) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on recently published work on religion and education (Gearon 2013; 2014), I elaborate why researchers and educators alike require a more rigorous theoretical conceptualisation of the underlying paradigms of contemporary religious education. Outlining how a satisfactory understanding of the paradigms in religious (...) education require an understanding of the epistemological grounds of each, the article presents, by way of demonstration, a critical outline of six such paradigms: the scriptural-theological; the phenomenological; the spiritual-experiential; the philosophical-conceptual; the socio-cultural; and the historical-political. (shrink)

Çocukluk dönemi din eğitimi birçok ülkede farklı gerekçelerle tartışılmaktadır. Bu dönemde din eğitiminin gerekli olup olmadığına, eğer gerekli ise hangi yöntemlerle verilmesine bağlı olarak birçok bakış açısı söz konusudur. Konuyla ilgili tartışmalar devam ederken İngiltere'de okul öncesi ve ilkokul döneminde din eğitimine yeni bir bakış açısı kazandırmak amacıyla 'Gift to the Child' yaklaşımı geliştirildi. Bu yaklaşımda erken çocukluk döneminde din eğitiminin çoğulcu bir toplumda mümkün hatta gerekli olduğu savunulur. Araştırma projeleri çerçevesinde şekillenen bu yaklaşım çocuğu fırsat verildiğinde kendi teolojilerini üretebilecek (...) yetkin bireyler olarak ele alır. Bu çalışma, projelerin uygulama sürecini, çocukların din eğitiminin temel prensiplerini ve bu süreçte edinilen eğitimsel kazanımları açıklayarak diğer eğitimsel yaklaşımlarla karşılaştırmayı hedefler. (shrink)

The place of religion in society is under scrutiny. Increasing local and global religiously marked conflict calls for deeper enquiry into its causes and possible solutions. Inter-religious ignorance may be contributing to rising intolerance. Philosopher Peter Singer claimed that interactions with an increasing variety of cultures will require humanity to develop a more tolerant approach to those once considered outsiders. This thesis proposes that comparative religion education may contribute to a possible remedy. The study combines qualitative and quantitative research methods (...) to explore the relationship between comparative religion knowledge and cultural diversity capability. It argues that comparative religion education may assist in the development of inclusive attitudes towards religious and cultural difference and thus make a positive contribution to social cohesion and democratic citizenship. It includes a survey of Australian Year 11 students enrolled in the comparative Study of Religion course. The results are not conclusive but may be interpreted as showing some support for the hypothesis. The study raises important questions regarding the nature of religion education in Australia and highlights opportunities for further research. (shrink)