Religious Education as a Dialogue with Difference Fostering Democratic Citizenship Through the Study of Religions in Schools Routledge Research in Religion and Education Series

Religious Education as a Dialogue with Difference addresses current issues over the study of religion in publicly maintained schools. Are liberal, inclusive approaches to the study of religion suited to the aims of education in a democracy? Do liberal democratic aims offer the right framework for the study of religion? By presenting research on English secondary school pupils' motivation in religious education, this volume argues that religious education is best understood as a democratic dialogue with difference. The book offers empirical evidence for this claim, and it demonstrates how learners gain in religious literacy, both through the exercise of democratic citizenship in the classroom and towards the goal of life-long democratic citizenship.

Introduction

1. Motivation in RE: beginnings

2. RE, adolescence and creativity

3. Action research, ethnography, epistemology and ethics

4. RE as a dialogue with difference

5. Democratic citizenship or religious literacy? Aims and values for RE

6. Dialogue and conflict in RE

7. Democratic citizenship and RE revisited

8. Does RE Work?

9. Review, recommendations, questions for the future and final remarks

Kevin O’Grady is an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Education Studies at University of Warwick, UK.