This article examines Finnish pupils' views of religious education (RE) in a pluralistic educational context. The focus is on pupils' views of the aims and different approaches to RE in a multi-faith school. The study utilised a mixed method approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data. It employed a survey (n = 1301) and…

Religious diversity as a consequence of global immigration has become a cultural phenomenon of pluralism in society. The fear of indoctrination and the desire for religious freedom fuel the debate on whether to remove religion from school education. Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" offers a positive perspective on the debate by…

Recent scholarship claims that American colleges and universities give less and less attention to the meaning of life. In this article we critically evaluate the historical arguments for this claim, focusing primarily on the account given by Anthony Kronman. We argue that Kronman's history proves particularly problematic if one wants to…

Albeit fragmented and largely uncoordinated, there is currently considerable debate regarding the nature and rationale of university chaplaincy provisions in England and Wales. Clearly chaplaincies have repositioned themselves from an exclusively Christian ethical and service-based provider to cater for the challenging demands of a multi-faith…

The question of sustainability in multi-religious societies underscores interrelating theological, moral and cultural issues affecting the very process of social co-existence, cohesion and development. This article discusses Islam's understanding of the question of sustainability in multi-religious contexts while highlighting the contribution of…

Dealing with values and moral issues is recognised as an integral part of teachers' roles. Especially in culturally heterogeneous societies teachers face multiple values that students and their families may hold. The study reported in this article explores different conceptions of teachers' moral roles aiming to develop an instrument for assessing…

The problems that this article seeks to address are those that are raised in the context of the bilateralism that is established when we think in terms of secularism as primarily orientated towards reason and post secularism, towards faith. The objective of the article is to show that the distinction between the two can be collapsed. Post…

This is a response to Julia Ipgrave's contribution on the contextuality of young people's views on religion and religious diversity in this collection of essays on "Religion in Education". First I will highlight and reflect on methodological issues raised by Ipgrave's observations in the light of my own research. The first problem highlighted is…

This essay discusses the design of the quantitative component of the "Young People's Attitudes to Religious Diversity" project, conceived by Professor Robert Jackson within the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit, and presents some preliminary findings from the data. The quantitative component followed and built on the qualitative…

This paper reviews the concept of liberal education and shows how, from its beginnings in classical times, it has been socially influential in schools and universities. After the rise of science and the proliferation of technology in the nineteenth century, liberal education was threatened and this threat continued in the form of late…

In the wake of globalisation, multiculturalism, and the "marketisation" of schools the education-for-citizenship question in relation to state and independent schools seems increasingly relevant. This paper is based on a comparison of beliefs and values related to civic and moral issues among students in Swedish mainstream and Steiner Waldorf…

Pluralism is a notion that regularly appears in education literature regarding social injustice or teaching for democracy. Over the last decade, a new type of Jewish Day School has emerged, the Jewish Community School. These Jewish Community Schools distinguish themselves by adopting pluralism as one of their core values. What is unclear is how…

Sixth Form Colleges (along with the general Further Education sector) in England and Wales have of late begun to appoint new chaplains and to set aside space for quiet, prayer and reflection. This article explores this phenomenon as exhibited by three colleges in the English Midlands, utilising spatial theory and the sociology of "sacred" spaces…

This paper discusses the recent efforts by the Singapore government to construct a Muslim identity for the madrasahs in Singapore. By promoting a prescribed set of desired attributes for the Muslims and introducing new curriculum materials for the madrasahs, the government aspires to construct a Muslim identity that is compatible with the…

The curricular accommodation of religious education is almost always dissociated from the latter's political significance and the teaching of religious worldviews is often limited to serving social, (multi)culturalist and epistemological purposes. When RE is made relevant to political identity this occurs strictly within the confines of a liberal…