This volume explores numerous themes (including the influence of ethnography on religious education research and pedagogy, the interpretive approach to religious education, the relationship between research and classroom practice in religious education), providing a critique of contemporary religious education and exploring the implications of this critique for initial and continuing teacher education.
'This book is relevant for the European reader who is concerned about RE. However, anyone can take away some lessons related to how teachers should deal with religion when it comes up either through the curriculum or because of world events.' - Thomas Lamborn, Journal of Education and Christian Belief
This is one of the most ambitious books on religious education that I have read in some time. Its importance lies in the challenging question that it raises. Patricia Hannam identifies ... shortcomings of current approaches to RE in England by focusing on its history as exemplified through the work of three key scholars. Her intention in doing this is to then provide a new, normative answer to the question 'what should religious education seek to achieve in the public sphere?' In her words, this book is intended as 'an interruption in current thinking about the relationship between religion and education' ... ... In an age when content is king, she is absolutely right to be asking penetrating questions about the relationship between the child and that content.- Professor Trevor Cooling, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK
1. Robert Jackson and Warwick Research: an Introduction Kevin O'Grady, Ursula McKenna and Joyce Miller Part 1: Ethnography, Religion and Education 2. Ethnography, Religious Education and The Fifth Cup Eleanor Nesbitt 3. Muslim Education and the Hifz Process: Some Images and Issues Bill Gent 4. State-funded Muslim Schools: Stakeholders and Legitimacy in the UK Context Damian Breen 5. Diversity and Citizenship - In a Context of Islamophobia Sissel Ostberg 6. Very Sad, But It Works: One Pupil's Assessment Career in Religious Education Part 2: Student Perspectives 6. Religious Education Influencing Students' Attitudes: A Threat to Freedom? Olga Schihalejev 7. The Language of Inter Faith Encounter among Inner City Primary School Children Julia Ipgrave 8. Very Sad, But it Works: One Pupil's Assessment Career in Religious Education Nigel Fancourt Part 3: RE and Pedagogy 9. Religious Extremism, Religious Education and the Interpretive Approach Joyce Miller 10. Action Research and the Interpretive Approach to Religious Education Kevin O'Grady 11. The Interpretive Approach and Bridging the 'Theory-Practice Gap': Action Research with Student Teachers of Religious Education in England Judith Everington 12. Can You Be a Muslim and Not Believe in God? How Fluid or Solid Are Religions? Introducing Viscosity to the Interpretive Approach Lars Laird Iversen Part 4: Theoretical Perspectives 13. Comparative Studies in RE: The Issue of Methodology Oddrun M. H. Braten 14. Reflections on the Future of Religion in Education Joyce Miller, Kevin O'Grady and Ursula McKenna