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Society for Educational Studies Annual Book Prize winner: 2nd PrizeThis 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.>
About the author
James C. Conroy is Vice-Principal (Internationalisation) and Professor of Religious and Philosophical Education at the University of Glasgow, UK, where he is International Lead for Social Sciences and was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Education.David Lundie is Senior Lecturer in Education at Liverpool Hope University, UK.Robert A. Davis is Professor of Religious and Cultural Education at the University of Glasgow, UK, where he is Head of School of Education.Vivienne Baumfield is Professor in Professional Learning at the University of Exeter, UK. She is editor of the British Educational Research Journal and British Journal of Religious Education.L. Philip Barnes is Emeritus Reader in Religious and Theological Education at King's College London, UK.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 a Research Fellow at the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) Centre, School of Education, University of Glasgow, UK.Nicole Bourque is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Glasgow, UK. Karen J. Wenell is Associate Professor of New Testament and Theology at the University of Birmingham, UK.
