Does Religious Education Work?
Society for Educational Studies Annual Book Prize winner: 2nd Prize
This ground-breaking volume draws upon a rich and variegated range of methodologies to understand more fully the practices, policies and resources available in and to religious education in British schools. The descriptions, explanations and analyses undertaken here draw on an innovative combination of policy work, ethnography, Delphi methods, Actor Network Theory, questionnaires, textual analysis as well as theological and philosophical insight. It traces the evolution of religious education in a post-religious age from the creation of policy to the everyday experiences of teachers and students in the classroom. It begins by analysing the way in which policy has evolved since the 1970s with an examination of the social forces that have shaped curriculum development. It goes on to explore the impact and intentions of a diverse group of stakeholders with sometimes competing accounts of the purposes of religious educations. It then examines the manner in which policy is, or is not, enacted in the classroom. Finally, it explores contradictions and confusions, successes and failures, and the ways in which wider public debates enter the classroom. The book also exposes the challenge religious education teachers have in using the language of religion.
James C. Conroy is Professor of Religious and Philosophical Education at the University of Glasgow, UK.
David Lundie is a Lecturer in Education at Liverpool Hope University, UK.
Robert A. Davis is Professor of Religious and Cultural Education and Head of the School of Education at the University of Glasgow, UK.
Vivienne Baumfield is Professor of Pedagogy, Policy and Innovation at the University of Glasgow, UK.
L. Philip Barnes is Reader in Religious and Theological Education at King's College London, UK, where he is Programme Director of the MA Degree in Religious Education.
Tony Gallagher is Professor of Education and Pro-Vice Chancellor at Queen's University Belfast, UK, where he was previously Head of the School of Education.
Kevin Lowden is Research Fellow at the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) Centre, University of Glasgow, UK.
Nicole Bourque is a senior lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Glasgow, UK.
Karen Wenell is Lecturer in New Testament and Theology at the University of Birmingham, UK.