This paper introduces existential configuration as a concept possibly used to describe, talk about and discuss peoples' meaning-making, not least in religious education classrooms. The article builds on an interview study of 21 Swedish young adults from 19 to 29 years of age. Many of these young adults displayed complex methods of meaning-making…

This paper explores a conflict a pre-service physics teacher experienced while completing a teaching practicum at a religious high school that supported creationism. As a result of the conflict, the pre-service teacher was scapegoated by the staff and students at the school. An analysis of the projective dynamics involved in this conflict are…

What are controversial issues? Who decides whether something is controversial, and how does it affect how a subject is taught whether a topic is presented as either controversial or not so? Although there has long been a lively debate within educational research on what criteria should be used to determine whether or not an issue is controversial,…

To live is to be vulnerable. The fact of our fragility has been laid bare in some of the crises we face in public life in the United States: an uncontained pandemic, relentless racist violence, and persistent and worsening ecological loss. This essay argues that although education has sometimes promised (even obliquely) an economic, political, or…

Student-teachers are exposed to different approaches to teaching Religion Education in South Africa. Amongst these have been the phenomenological-reflective-dialogical approach of Cornelia Roux and the empathetic-reflective-dialogical approach of Janet Jarvis. These different approaches made immeasurable contributions as they started to shift how…

In this article we offer reflections on the final report of the Commission on Religious Education (CoRE) that was published in England in 2018. We expose and problematise the prominent place of understanding in the report, not only as an educational method, but also the underlying world view of the report itself, a world view which we characterise…

Experiences of withheld and of granted recognition constitute an integral part of everybody's learning biography, as the experience of recognition is crucial to all processes of socialisation and identity formation. In consequence, the last two decades have seen a considerable interest in recognition theories, initially particularly in the field…

The article addresses questions about the conditions of education for forgiveness, analysing them in terms of philosophy of education. The first part provides a review of the philosophical discussion on forgiveness. Revolving around the essence and moral value of forgiving, it is a debate which offers no explanations as to why people decide to…

Religion has been taught in Romanian public schools since 1864, only discontinued during the communist regime. The decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court in November 2014, through which attending religion classes had to be confirmed through written request by parents or high school students aged 16 triggered fiery debates in the Romanian…

This study examines the associations between frequency of personal prayer, frequency of worship attendance and spiritual wellbeing among 468 students attending fourth, fifth and sixth classes within 18 Church of Ireland schools located in one diocese in the Republic of Ireland. Spiritual wellbeing is measured by a modified form of the Fisher…

This paper explores Anatheism as a pedagogically justifiable theory for teaching our learners how to acquire new memories about life- and worldview diversity, as well as religious diversity, and also how to accompany each other so that whosoever wants to, may return home to a more credible God after they might have started to doubt the credibility…

Given the increasing diversity of religious beliefs and outlooks in the United States, John Dewey's proposals regarding "a common faith" can help educators provide the tools for their students to think critically about these and other issues related to the changing religious landscape. Particular attention is given to three groups of…

Neo-liberal voices are still very strong in education broadly speaking and have a marginalizing impact on normative pedagogies like religious, worldview, moral and civic education. But there are clear and hopeful signs that pedagogy is coming back. After sketching the current situation and its antecedents, the author addresses the views and ideas…

This article explores the history of the Marist Institute in Brazil. It is justified on the basis of the Marist wide-ranging mission in the country for more than a century. The text begins with a discussion of the institution's historical context and the reasons for its foundation in Brazil. Then it suggests the main causes of its success until…

This panel presentation focuses on the complex relationship between Asian/Asian Canadians and Canada's Indigenous peoples (First Nation, Meti, Innuit). In spite of many commonalities the two sets of communities share while being racialized as "visible minorities" with histories of oppression and exclusion, the former are still settlers…