This paper is an examination of the history of Scottish religious education (RE). Focusing on 1962-1992, it distinguishes the temporal processes that unfolded during this period to identify the circumstances that led to a serious case of neglect of the subject, especially in the non-denominational sector. Next, it highlights the less emphasised…

The historical developments of infant schools in Great Britain and "salles d'asile" in France--both precursors of present-day preschools--were interconnected. However, historians have not yet analysed specifically how transnational exchange influenced the growth and nature of these institutions. Drawing on archival data and…

Religious organisations have long relied on education to transmit cherished values, working within society to preserve their worldview. Therefore, when a religious education system is restructured, it can act as a barometer of change, revealing societal values and reflecting negotiated roles. Like other faiths, the Church of Jesus Christ of…

With particular reference to religious education, this article provides an account of the campaigns of Secularists and Humanists in England in the 1960s and 1970s and locates them within their broader religious context. These campaigns, which have been both underplayed and overstated in the existing historiography, failed to garner the levels of…

The origins of modern schooling in early nineteenth-century Africa have been poorly researched. Moreover, histories of education in Africa have focused largely on the education of boys. Little attention has been paid to girls' schooling or to the missionary women who sought to construct a new feminine Christian identity for African girls. In the…

Many religious orders and congregations that were deported from France between 1904 and 1914 established themselves in neighbouring countries (Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Spain). One of the affected congregations was "Los Hermanos de las Escuelas Cristianas," which worked in the field of popular education. Many of its members found refuge in…

This article provides a detailed reconstruction of the processes leading to the formation of the widely influential Birmingham "Agreed Syllabus of Religious Instruction" (1975). This is contextualised within one of the most significant periods in the history of race relations in the United Kingdom. The authors discuss how this syllabus, and other…

This article aims to give an overview of the use and the meaning of images in two types of school textbooks used in Spain from the early twentieth century until the end of the 1960s: the textbooks "Lecciones de cosas" ("object lessons") and those used for the teaching of religion. For this analysis the iconographic-iconological method will be used…

This article presents the scope and range of Christian involvement in establishing the field of education in England as a distinct area for scholarship between 1930 and 1960. It advocates greater study of the range of various denominational positions held in the period. This paper also illustrates the public debates of the time by focusing on the…

Much of the debates in late nineteenth-century Britain regarding the education of deaf children revolved around communication. For many Victorians, sign language was unacceptable; many proponents of oralism attempted to "normalise" the hearing impaired by replacing deaf methods of communication with spoken language and lipreading. While debates on…

This article discusses how the Norwegian urban school system was developed during the eighteenth century. In the cities, there were laws for Latin as well as Danish schools. During the eighteenth century, schools for poor children were established, while towards the end of the century the importance of the school system in relation to the economic…

Historians have long presented France's "civilizing mission" within its colonies in secular terms ignoring women's presence as both actors and subjects. This is particularly true in Algeria where the colonial government's explicitly prohibited proselytism. This article emphasizes women's roles pursuing both secular and religious goals in Algeria.…

From its inception in 1922 the BBC pioneered a new medium in the education of children. This article traces the origins and development of a particular broadcast, "Children's Hour Prayers," a short worship time for children (appended to "Children's Hour") which began in wartime, and ended, along with the host programme itself, in the early 1960s.…

Grant regulations under the Education Minutes of 1846 prohibited ministers of religion teaching in aided schools. This article examines the background to this professional disability, the extent of its application and its survival for 112 years. The impact of changing social conditions and the creation of new justifications as the policy became…

Education became the central focus of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) following a disastrous and unsuccessful attempt to settle in Nyasaland (now Malawi). The aim of this article is to trace the UMCA educational policy from Zanzibar, where the mission became established in 1864, to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). From their…