This paper discusses the issues and challenges involved in the teaching of religious knowledge in Singapore schools, where it is taught in a historical, descriptive and non-evaluative fashion, adopting the phenomenological approach. The government in Singapore hopes that the teaching of religious knowledge will help to inculcate moral values and…

My study explores a curriculum development project for Israel education in a liberal Jewish high school. Through an action research framework, I investigate the tensions between teaching about Israel to achieve critical thinking goals and to facilitate students' development of positive affinity for Israel. I also explore the affordances and…

There are currently over 100 independent and seven state-funded Muslim schools in Britain yet their place within the British education system remains a hotly debated issue. This article argues that Muslim mobilisations for the institutional and financial incorporation of more Muslim schools into the national framework are best understood as an…

In this article, the author shares a few points of clarification to amplify the argument he puts forth in his article titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." The author argues that socialization and education are two social processes that often overlap and reinforce one another. The purpose of…

The phenomenon of Catholic Studies cannot adequately be understood without a prior consideration of certain fundamental tensions that mark modern higher education as a whole. These broader tensions characterize Catholic universities in specific and important ways. At the University of St. Thomas, Catholic Studies has proven to be a remarkably…

This article deals with the question what pedagogical and religious educational contributions have to offer to the debate on citizenship. Some historical background and theoretical conceptualisations of nowadays political focus on citizenship are described particularly focusing on the Dutch case. Explicit attention is given to the role of religion…

This article presents the author's response to Joseph Reimer's essay titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." The author considers herself as the embodiment of an informal Jewish education practitioner now responding to Reimer's educational theory about the work she has spent her adult life…

While identity has long been a prominent focus of education, and religious education, in Europe and Britain, little explicit attention has been given to it in Australia, even though its importance as an educational goal is implied. This paper reports on a project concerned with "education in identity" which attempted to address this…

The philosophy of schooling and the pedagogy of schooling over the past two to three centuries has been in a state of constant flux. As we enter the 21st century, the age old debate between religious education pundits and those who advocate humanistic education rages on. The debate, then, centers around those who will or should have the right to…

Informal Jewish education can and must put greater focus on the goals of education. While socialization is a key component, it is not its sole goal. Informal Jewish education must make more central deep, serious Jewish learning in which learners can experience moments of transcendence, connection, and transformation. A key to reaching this goal…

This article builds on the foundations and evaluations laid recently by Symes and Gulson in their 2005 article, "Crucifying Education: The rise and rise of new Christian schooling in Australia." It evaluates the warrant of Christian schooling within a liberal democracy and offers a rejoinder for defending the rights of Christian…

Why has it been so difficult to define the goals of Jewish informal education? Often informal educators define their work in terms of the goals of Jewish socialization. Those terms have worked to attract funders' support, but also limited the educational creativity of this field. This article argues for a dual defining of goals: socialization and…

The following is a translation of the introduction to "Medabrim Chazon" (Jerusalem: Keter, 2006), the Hebrew translation of "Visions of Jewish Education," edited by Seymour Fox, Israel Scheffler, and Daniel Marom (Cambridge, 2003). "Visions of Jewish Education" is an effort by leading scholars to improve the quality…

The development of the National Catechetical Director for Catholics of the United States presents a challenge to Catholic teachers and catechists to make the concept of total religious education a reality. Its intent was to make the universal catechetical principles of the General Catechetical Directory (A Roman document) more specific and…

This paper puts forth an argument for new lines of inquiry and deliberation in the process of professionalizing Orthodox Jewish education. Using professionalization to describe a process that emanates from within the profession and its practitioners, and not issues (such as salary, benefits, and status) which are largely controlled by those…