Religious Education: Educating for Diversity(Key Debates in Educational Policy)

Religious Education: Educating for Diversity raises issues that are central to the theory and practice of education, and in particular religious education, in modern liberal democracies characterized by diversity in its different forms. What kind of religious education is best equipped both to challenge prejudice and intolerance in society and to develop responsible and respectful relationships between people from different communities or with different commitments? Two eminent educators address this question and propose contrasting answers. Attention is given to the aims of education and the contribution of religious education to the curriculum; historical forms of religious education; the nature of diversity in society; the roots of prejudice; different methodologies in religious education and their philosophical and religious commitments; and to positive strategies to enable religious education to realise its potential and contribute to the social and moral aims of liberal education.

Table of Contents:
Notes on Contributors Series Editor's Preface Foreword, J. Mark Halstead Part I – Religious Education: Taking Religious Difference Seriously, L. Philip Barnes Part II - Religious Education: A Pluralist Approach, Andrew Davis Afterword, J. Mark Halstead Bibliography Index

About the Author :
L. Philip Barnes is Emeritus Reader in Religious and Theological Education at King's College London, UK. Andrew Davis is Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Education, Durham University, UK. He is the author of a number of books, including Educational Assessment and Accountability (2008). J. Mark Halstead is Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Huddersfield, UK. He is the author of a number of books and co-author of Values in Sex Education (2003) and Citizenship and Moral Education (2006).

Review :
It is not difficult to agree that religious diversity should impact educational policy, especially in respect of religious education, but it is much more difficult to reach agreement on the nature of this impact. Acknowledging diversity about educational approaches to religious diversity is as important as acknowledging religious diversity itself. Putting Barnes, Davis and Halstead side-by-side is an excellent method for displaying the importance of this debate.