In this article, I examine the secular dynamics of Quebec's controversial and ultimately short-lived "Ethics and Religious Culture" curriculum (ERC). I argue that the conflicting criticisms the ERC attracted over the course of its brief existence emerged from the tensions inherent in its conceptualisations of religion, learning, and…

In this article, I discuss the potential of developing a kind of worldview education that has the purpose of enabling teachers and students to understand how worldviews are formed. I explore how suggestions of Ann Taves can be helpful towards such an aim and pay special attention to research into self-defined 'non-religious people. It seems their…

Pedagogue's fallacy occurs when epistemological principles are applied by educators that in fact do not tell of, or explain, or help understand, the subject at hand. It is identified and introduced in this article to raise an important issue in the construction of pedagogical models of religious education: knowledge is reduced and/or distorted to…

"Life Design-Ethics-Religion Studies" (LER) is the only non-confessional form of religious education (RE) in Germany. Six years after German reunification, the federal state of Brandenburg introduced LER with its dimension of non-confessional RE into the school curriculum. In this contribution, LER will be elucidated in three steps.…

In France, there is no religious education in state schools. "Convictional education" appeared by drawing its perimeter around three educational subjects: philosophy, teaching about religions, and moral and civic education. Today, the French school is facing new challenges in a highly secularised society on which religion is laying new…

There are many pitfalls associated with teaching about religions. One such pitfall entails the risk of presenting religions as stereotypical monolithic systems; that is, all who belong to a particular religious tradition think and act in the same way. I like to call this sort of stereotyping the "robotic tendency" because it has a habit…

This article interacts with a recent article by Denise Cush and Catherine Robinson in which they call for a new dialogue between religious studies in universities and religious education, and identify a number of developments in religious studies that have implications for the practice of religious education in schools. Cush and Robinson are…

The article provides an overview of the book "Integrative religious education in Europe: A study-of-religions approach" (2007). It introduces the notion of "integrative religious education (RE)", relating to education about different religions in religiously mixed classrooms, as opposed to separative confessional approaches.…

The place of religion in higher education has been and remains a complex issue internationally. This article aims to outline the nature and development of Religious Studies at the University of Zambia in Lusaka (UNZA) as an instance of how religion entered higher education in an African setting. In doing so, it will also provide perspectives on…

The paper addresses the relationship between the twin tasks of enabling pupils both to learn about and learn from religion in the state education systems of Finland and the UK. Recognising that the relationship between these two tasks is the subject of considerable confusion, it is argued that the most appropriate way to view the connection is…

The new National Framework for Religious Education (RE) suggests, for the first time in national advice on agreed syllabuses, that atheism can be included in the curriculum alongside world religions. This article counters objections to the inclusion of atheism in RE and argues that children and young people can learn from atheistic beliefs and…

The article deals with the impact of Lebensphilosophie on Danish RE in the elementary and lower secondary school--an impact which is subjected to a critical analysis with special attention given to anti-intellectualism, criticism of reason and criticism of modernity as well as the romantic view of the child. The thesis of this article is that…

This article argues that of the various approaches taken in state education internationally, the inclusion of a discrete academic subject dealing with religious traditions and spiritual or secular alternatives is the most effective way of addressing religious plurality in education. It examines the increasing presence of religion in public…

In China, from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, it was thought that religion would disappear with the development of society and the freedom not to believe in religion was stressed. During the Cultural Revolution religion became the object of oppression. However, from the end of the…

This article examines phenomena of late modern religiosity that have been called a "return of the sacred", especially in relation to the life experience and religious experience of adolescents. The article starts with information about recent pilot studies within religious education, and moves on to evaluate developmental theories as well as ideas…