Many approaches within subject didactics have in common that they highlight the importance of perspective taking, precisely describe the benefits of this skill and develop didactical scenarios in which this skill is crucial. Nevertheless, there is a diagnosed lack of a differentiated didactical model on how to teach perspective taking step by…

The focus of this article is on religious transmission in families and other religious influences among young adults and their linkage to changes in faith in transition to adulthood. The special interest lies in the question of what happens to those with no religious upbringing at home: are there other factors which may turn out as meaningful and…

This paper attempts to look at the Colombian case of secularisation, touching on the current state of religion and Religious Education from three perspectives: the law, the Catholic Church, and the wider society, to determine the challenges acquired by the gap developed between religion, religiosity and secular legislation. With this in mind, the…

Focusing on Indonesia's case, this research discusses how booming internet use impacts students' faith, functioning as both threat and opportunity concerning students' religious inherency and sustainable religious education (RE). This qualitative study analyses six public junior high schools and 48 interviewed participants. To reveal various…

"Catechesis of the Good Shepherd" and "Godly Play" are the two best known variants of Montessori style Religious Education programmes. While they have much in common, there are also obvious differences. This article offers a brief outline of the distinctive features of each programme, including some analysis of their…

Inspired by the comparative method for RE as outlined by Bråten, this article elaborates on some similarities and differences between the present RE system in Flanders (Belgium) and the past RE system in Québec (Canada). After a brief outline of the societal level, the focus will be on the institutional level, where international, national and…

This paper explores what some have described as a 'crisis in meaning' in religious education (RE). One region, Northern Ireland, is chosen as a focus for exploring the question of meaning-making as it provides an example of 'agreed ambiguity' -- where a common syllabus for RE is believed to be ascribed different meanings by different schools. The…

This paper deals with the disclosure of subaltern thinking in current German-language textbooks for religious education. For the hermeneutical framing of this analysis, the approach of a postcolonial reading is particularly profitable. Obvious hierarchical relationships from clearly up and down can consequently be made visible and their presumed…

This article reflects on the place of RE in a pillarised education context, taking into account the fact of religious diversity and pluralisation among the school population on the one hand, and the freedom of religion and education of faith-based schools on the other. Particular attention will be given to Belgium and the Netherlands, which do not…

In Ireland primary RE is a fractured, contested, complex and changing territory devoid of a common language and characterised by a proliferation of syllabi and curricula generated for increasingly diverse school types. For centuries the dynamic decolonising process has led to a questioning of former orthodoxies and an attempted de-linking of the…

During the second half of the twentieth century, faithful followers of non-Western religions immigrated into Western European countries. Their children were a challenge for the respective educational system in the host countries. In the Dutch context, the educational system consists of public and private schools in which religion is the most…

Religious education (RE) is a persistently "hot topic" in contemporary Spain. Although nominally Catholic, majority Spanish society tends to be sharply divided with regard to the issue of religion in education: more conservative and Church-attending parents approve of the still overwhelming presence of Catholic teachers, trained and…

This article contains the results of how a selected group of Finnish upper secondary students understand Lutheranism. The data consisted of 63 students' responses to a writing task together with complementary interviews of 11 students. The outcomes of phenomenographic analysis of variation in the students' understanding of Lutheranism are…

The aim of the present study was to build on John Greer's systematic set of studies concerned with teenage beliefs and values conducted among samples of sixth form students attending County and Protestant voluntary schools in Northern Ireland in 1968, 1978 and 1988. The present study replicated the earlier surveys for a further time in 1998. The…

This paper considers the tension that can exist in the aims of religious education between the desire to encourage open-minded, critical thinking through exposure to diverse traditions, ideas and cultures and the encouragement, overt or otherwise, into uniformity whereby learners take on the values of a particular tradition, culture or ideology…