We Need to Talk about Religious Education

PART I: Context. 1. The contemporary threat from violent and non-violent extremism, fundamentalism, identity politics, and hate speech. 2. The continuing process of educational reform, with its effect on school ethos and governance, curriculum expectations, teacher training, and examinations. 3. Changing religious and secular belief patterns, such as the rise of the 'nones' (spiritual, but no religious affiliation), and the challenges faced by moderate religious institutions. 4. The crisis of identity for the subject's purpose and field of knowledge, including community schools and faith schools. 5. Short joining section: the implications for the future of RE. PART II: Futures. 6. The foundation of pedagogical purpose. 7. The place of core knowledge in RE. 8. RE as a safe place for discussing unsafe ideas. 9. The religiously literate classroom in civic society. 10. What 'good' RE looks like and how 'good' teachers of RE are and should be created and sustained. 11. The educational, policy environment and the legal mechanisms for RE, and their impact on the quality of teaching. 12. Teachers as researchers. 13. Making progress in RE: what do parents want to know? 14. Abrahamic and Dharmic perspectives on curriculum design. 15. How changing technology could affect learning in RE. 16. Faith communities as stakeholders in RE. Case study 1: curriculum design. Case study 2: developing RE in an academy chain. Case study 3: RE, dialogue, and peaceful coexistence. Case study 4: successful teacher training. Conclusion: proposals on RE.

This wide-ranging and very readable set of contributions is highly recommended to all involved with or interested in the subject of religion education or religious education in schools, and its future. As well as making an excellent introduction to relevant issues for those preparing to teach religious education or to develop policy, it will be of interest to many working with issues of religious/religion education in a variety of national settings.