Language does not only play an active part "in all processes" of comprehension, recognition and learning, it is also essential for "specific religious learning processes." Religious experiences and traditions have their own characteristic linguistic forms, and religious education has come to realise the necessity for an…

This article argues relational consciousness of Self and Other is influenced by multiple significant relationships--what are termed "Spiritual Friends". The research on which this article is based explores the spirituality of children within the context of British urban secondary education, and identifies significant relationships in…

The aim of this study was to assess the self-evaluations of Finnish secondary school students' (N?=?549) interreligious sensitivity. The data were collected from 12-16-year-old young people with a 15-item Interreligious Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire (IRRSSQ). The IRRSSQ is based on Abu-Nimer's Developmental Model of Interreligious…

Religion Education teaching in post-independence Zimbabwe has remained bible-oriented and confessional at a time when most Religion Education stakeholders expect an "open", plural and authentic multi-faith Religion Education curriculum. Despite curriculum innovation initiatives aimed at introducing new approaches such as experiential…

In England and Wales, religious education (RE) in non-faith schools has gradually changed from Christian education to the study of many religions and philosophies. However, the core values of RE have continued to be related to concerns about social cohesion and the building of shared values. The article briefly discusses changes in RE since 1944…

This study builds on the research tradition modelled by the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity, the Katz-Francis Scale of Attitude towards Judaism, the Sahin-Francis Scale of Attitude towards Islam and the Santosh-Francis Scale of Attitude towards Hinduism to propose a generic instrument concerned with attitudes towards theistic faith.…

This paper addresses the question: is self-assessment in religious education unique? It first presents an overview of some challenges for assessment from subject differences, and then reviews the generic literature on self-assessment. It builds on earlier empirical research on self-assessment in religious education, carried out in an English state…

Recent studies have increasingly favoured contextualisation of religious education (RE) to pupils' home faith background in spite of current assessment methods that might hinder this. For a multi-religious, multi-ethnic sample of 369 London school pupils aged from 13 to 15 years, this study found that the participatory, transformative and…

This paper explores the experiences of secondary school students from religious backgrounds in Religious Education (RE). A total of 16 loosely structured, group, pair and individual interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 34 school-age members of four religious communities: one Jewish and three Christian. The findings make a useful…

Structural modelling offers an overall pattern of relationships; this paper looks at differences in students' attitude structures between England and Estonia. Where different coherent sets of beliefs exist in a national sample, factor analysis, which focuses on sets of responses which differ between groups, should be able to separate them out.…

Focusing on the results of the REDCo (Religion in Education: a Contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict in Transforming Societies of European Countries) research, this publication sets out how French pupils conceive of "laicite", both generally and in school. It also explores pupils' perceptions of the 2004 law banning the wearing of…

Both in academic and public discussions, there is an ongoing debate about the pros and cons of religious diversity in education. Until recently, many arguments used in this debate have not had a strong theoretical basis and often lack empirical underpinning as well. In this paper I go further into the reasons why researching the impact of…

The REDCo project addressed the question of how study of religions and values in schools could contribute to either dialogue or tension in Europe. Researchers in the humanities and social sciences co-operated in order to gain better insight into how European citizens of different religious, cultural and political backgrounds could enter into…

This paper builds on and develops the English findings of the qualitative study of European teenagers' perspectives on religion and religious education (RE), part of "Religion in Education: a Contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict in Transforming Societies of European Countries?" (REDCo) project. It uses data gathered from 27 pupils,…

A sample of 10,851 pupils (5493 males and 5358 females) attending Year 9 classes (13- to 14-year-olds) and a sample of 9494 pupils (4787 males and 4707 females) attending Year 10 classes (14- to 15-year-olds) in non-denominational state-maintained secondary schools in England and Wales completed questions concerned with conventional Christian…