On 22nd November 2011 Wreru welcomed Professor Tsunenobu Ban, Professor of Sociology of Education at Naruto University of Education, and a leading figure in values education in Japan, and Mrs Ban, a specialist in comparative education together with Giovanna Caramagno, a researcher in religious diversity and education from the University of Torino (Turin), Italy. Our guests had discussions about each other's research programmes with members of the WRERU team, including PhD students Alice Pyke, Angela Quartermaine and Simeon Wallis, plus Prof Bob Jackson, Dr Julia Ipgrave and Dr Ursula McKenna.

(from left: Giovanna Caramagno, Angela Quartermaine, Dr Julia Ipgrave, Simeon Wallis, Alice Pyke, Professor Robert Jackson, Mrs Ban, Professor Tsunenobu Ban)

Secretary InterEuropean Commission on Church and School

In autumn 2010 Dr. David Lankshear, Research Fellow in WRERU, took over the Inter European Commission on Chruch and School (ICCS) secretariat for an interim period up to 2012. Dr Tania ap Siôn, Senior Research Fellow in WRERU and Director of the St Mary’s Centre in Gwynedd was welcomed as secretary designate. She will take over from David in 2012.

Toward Mutual Ground: Religious Education, Education and Diversity Conference

Professor Robert Jackson gave the main keynote lecture ‘Why Education about Religions and Beliefs? European Policy Recommendations and Research’ at the Irish Centre for Religious Education's conference, Toward Mutual Ground: Religious Education, Education and Diversity Conference, held at the Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin City University, 21^st October 2011. Professor Jackson concentrated on the dissemination of the Council of Europe Recommendation on the religious dimension of intercultural education and the issues it raises for an education system like that of Ireland. Ruairi Quinn, Minister of Education for the Republic of Ireland, gave a presentation encouraging educators to take close account of the country's religious and cultural diversity in developing religious education. Further news on this conference can be found here

(Professor Robert Jackson and Ruairi Quinn, Irish Minister of Education)

Hockerill/NATRE Prize for Innovation in RE Teaching

Anne Krisman a previous Farmington Fellow within WRERU was joint winner in the secondary section of the Hockerill/NATRE Prize for Innovation in RE Teaching. Her entry was for “The Five Keys into RE – a new way of planning for Teachers of RE in Special Schools”. Further information can be found at http://www.hockerillfoundation.org.uk/Prize2.aspx Anne is currently RE subject leader at Little Heath School in the London Borough of Redbridge.

(Anne receiving her award from Derek Humphrey Secretary of the Hockerill Foundation and Lat Blaylock editor of RE Today and an RE Adviser with RE Today Professional Services)

AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme Conference

The AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme with Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit hosted a conference ‘Religion in Education:Findings from the Religion and Society Programme’ 25-26 July 20011. The conference was organised as part of the AHRC/ESRC Religion & Society Programme, of which Professor Linda Woodhead is the Director. The conference brought together research teams which had been awarded grants within the youth call of the Programme as well as other related projects. The focus of the conference was on young people and presentations included topics related to religious education in schools and religious nurture or socialisation within families, communities or peer groups. Further information can be found here.

Religious Education: An Interpretive approach

Robert Jackson's interpretive approach is being used internationally as a tool for religious education and religious education research. It's recent use in St Petersburg, Russia is discussed by Professor Fedor Kozyrev; its use in the various countries of the European REDCo Project is discussed in Jackson, R (2011) The interpretive approach as a research tool: inside the REDCo project, British Journal of Religious Education, 33 (2), 189-208

WRERU seminar

WRERUs contribution to Celebrating RE (www.celebratingre.org )was a seminar ‘Religious extremism and religious education: some questions and answers for teachers’ presented by Dr Joyce Miller on Tuesday 1 March 2011.

 

(Julia Jewell, Sandra Arch and Joyce Miller – successive heads of RE at Stoke Park School, Coventry)

University of Warwick Alumni: Giving to Warwick Prize

Warwick Institute of Education selected Dr Oddrun Braaten to receive one of the University’s Giving to Warwick alumni prizes as the department’s most outstanding PhD student completing during 2009-2010. There were 34 doctoral graduates during the period and, among some excellent students, Oddrun was selected as the most exceptional, with her research already showing a high degree of impact on the educational research community.

 

Oddrun Braaten PhD (Front row, second from right) won the University of Warwick award for the doctoral thesis in the Institute of Education making most impact on the educational community, 2009-2010

Oddrun receiving her award from Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Anne Caesar

 

Oddrun with some Warwick alumni, including Professor Robert Jackson (2^nd from left)

Further information on this award can be found here

BERA Annual Conference 2010

Three members of WRERU presented papers at the BERA 2010 annual conference. Dr Emyr Williams presented ‘Conventional Christian belief and unconventional paranormal belief among teenagers in Northern Ireland: a personality and individual differences approach’. Sean Neill presented ‘Assessing the effectiveness of religious education in Hamburg and Nordrheinwestphalia through structural modelling’. Dr Mandy Robbins presented ‘The teenage religion and values survey in England and Wales: an overview’.

Professor Robert Jackson, playing trombone with Spicy Jazz at the British Educational Research Association conference at the University of Warwick on 3rd September. The saxophonist is Zoltan Sagi, from the Big Chris Barber band.

 

Professor Robert Jackson giving the Inaugural Lecture at the launch of the new religious education and social science programme at the Norwegian School of Theology (MF), Oslo, August 17 2010

 

Record number of doctorates in religions and education at Warwick

At the graduation ceremony on 21st July, seven candidates received doctoral degrees in religions and education.

 

(left to right; Judith Everington, Oddrun Braaten, Sylvia Baker, Tania ap Sion, Mary Hayward, Joyce Miller, David Bone)

The graduates with WRERU colleagues (left to right) Dr Sean Neill, Dr David Lankshear, Dr Emyr Williams and Professor Robert Jackson.

New book out in the Religious Diversity and Education in Europe series

The book series Religious Diversity and Education in Europe, published by Waxmann, started in 2006 and is now a major source of European research findings on religious education, with no less than 19 volumes available. Titles can be viewed and ordered at: http://www.waxmann.com/?id=21&cHash=1&reihe=1862-9547

The latest volume, by Dr Olga Schihalejev, is out 16 April 2010. Entitled From Indifference to Dialogue? Estonian Young People, the School and Religious Diversity, the book is dedicated to the memory of Pille Valk. Olga was a visiting fellow at Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit in 2009.

Olga’s book contributes to discussions about religious education and its relation to young people’s concerns and to social cohesion in Estonia. However, it also makes an important contribution to the international debate about religions and education. It brings together empirical studies conducted in Estonia in the framework of a major European project, REDCo (Religion in Education: A contribution to Dialogue or a factor of Conflict in transforming societies of European Countries?) setting the research in the context of wider international debates.

The mixed methods research investigates the attitudes of 14-16 years old Estonians towards religion and religious diversity, exploring their views on the role of the school in promoting dialogue and tolerance among representatives of different worldviews, and establishing the ways in which their experience of religious education affects their views on these issues. Grounded in the findings of three empirical studies, Olga explores dialogical pedagogies for non-confessional approaches to religious education and discusses policies for strengthening active tolerance in the school context.

An order form can be downloaded here

Professor Robert Jackson meets the Dalai Lama in Montreal

Ethics and Religious Culture is a new course (introduced in 2008) taught in all elementary and high schools in Quebec province, Canada. It replaced denominationally based forms of religious education in public schools and is compulsory in all schools, private as well as public. The aim of the subject is to promote and understanding of the religious heritage of Quebec. The programme's key principles are Recognition of Others and Pursuit of the Common Good. The course also aims to promote a ‘culture of dialogue’ among students. The fact that the course is compulsory has caused some controversy.

In order to place the course in an international context, an international symposium for educators, scholars and policymakers was held by McGill University’s Faculties of Education and Religious Studies on October 2^nd 2009. Professor Robert Jackson, Director of the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit at the University of Warwick, UK, and Professor of Religious Diversity and Education at the European Wergeland Centre, Oslo, gave the opening keynote presentation. Professor Jackson set the Quebec course in a wider international perspective, giving reasons why a knowledge and understanding of different religious traditions and secular philosophies is important in the public education of all societies that embrace the human rights principle of freedom of religion or belief. Other presentations were made by Professor Diane Moore of Harvard University, USA, Dr Isabelle Saint-Martin, of the Sorbonne in Paris and Dr Spencer Boudreau of McGill University.

On Saturday 3^rdOctober, His Holiness the Dalai Lama met Professor Jackson and Dr Isabelle Saint-Martin together with the Principal and senior staff from McGill University before speaking to and answering questions from a large audience, including 500 students from universities in Quebec who are training to teach the Ethics and Religious Culture programme.

British Journal of Religious Education on Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index

Professor Robert Jackson, Editor of the British Journal of Religious Education, published by Routledge, is delighted to announce that the journal has been selected for inclusion in both the Social Sciences Citation Index® (SSCI) and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index® (A&HCI) from 2008 onwards.

The Social Sciences Citation Index® and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index®, accessed via Web of Science®, use “100% objective journal selection standards: Content is carefully evaluated and selected, meeting high standards in areas such as impact, influence, timeliness, peer review, and geographic representation. These standards assure users of superior results that cannot be matched by a free search engine or less selective database.“ – Thomson Reuters

The recent inclusion of British Journal of Religious Education reflects the high quality of articles published in the Journal and marks an important milestone in its continued development.

The journal publishes articles on religious education from around the world, many of them relating to themes such as citizenship education, intercultural education, human rights education and peace education.

For more information about the Journal, including information on how to submit an article, visit the British Journal of Religious Education homepage at:www.tandf.co.uk/journals/BJRE

Professor Robert Jackson and Tony Blair at the Face to Faith Launch

The launch of the Face to Faith Programme in London on June 9, 2009. From left: Robert Stead (Polycom), Terry Culver (Global Nomads), Professor Bob Jackson, Tony Blair, Simmi Kher, Principal of The Indian Heights School in New Delhi, Mahdu Gupta, Chair of The Indian Heights School, Kanta Vadhera (British Council India) and Jo Malone, (Head of Citizneship and PSHE, Westhoughton Technology College)

Face to Faith is designed to improve young people's religious literacy, which is a vital skill in an increasingly complex, global society. It also offers an authentic and meaningful environment in which students can develop key 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem-solving.

Face to Faith is being evaluated by a team of researchers from Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit led by Professor Robert Jackson, Professor of Education at the University of Warwick. The team includes Dr Nigel Fancourt, Dr Julia Ipgrave and Dr Mandy Robbins.

Tony Blair said: “The Face to Faith programme provides students with a unique opportunity to interact across continents, to talk about their own faith, and learn more about other religions and cultures. It is only by discussing different cultural and religious perspectives that young people can build their awareness of the role of faith in today’s world.”

Designed by an international group of education experts and piloted with more than 1,000 students on three continents, Face to Faith uses video conferencing, an online community and a course syllabus to support encounter, exploration and exchange between young people of different faiths.

The programme has already been taken up by schools in India, Pakistan, Singapore, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Thailand, Indonesia, the US, the UK and Canada, who have recognised the programme’s potential to improve young people’s religious literacy, which is a vital skill in an increasingly complex, global society. Schools who have participated in the pilots are already reporting increased awareness by their students of the role of faith in today’s world as well as improved communication, critical thinking and problem-solving skills from collaborating with those of different faiths and cultures.

Annika Small, Director of Education, Tony Blair Faith Foundation: “Drawing on educational best practice, Face to Faith promotes active participation, collaboration and personal reflection which helps students to explore diversity both within and between religious traditions. By encouraging young people to enter into genuine dialogue with each other, Face to Faith leads students to a deeper understanding of their own beliefs and worldviews as well as those of others. The pilots have shown there is real enthusiasm for this sort of encounter and exchange within a structured framework, which supports collaborative learning and respect for difference.”

New Publications by WRERU staff

Jackson, R. (2010) Religious Diversity and Education for Democratic Citizenship: The Contribution of the Council of Europe, in K. Engebretson, M. de Souza, G. Durka, and L. Gearon (Eds.) International Handbook of Inter-religious Education, Volume 4: Religion, Citizenship and Human Rights (Dordrecht, the Netherlands, Springer Academic Publishers).

Archived News

Next summer, from July 16 to August 3 2012, the Interfaith Center of New York will hold, in conjunction with Union Theological Seminary, a three-week institute for secondary school teachers entitled, “Religious Worlds of New York: Teaching the Everyday Life of American Religious Diversity.” Further details.

 

 

During his study leave in 2006-7 Professor Jackson made various visits to the Far East and to Australia, as well as taking part in a wide range of research and conference activities in Europe. To see more photographs follow this link

 

Professor Bob Jackson has written an article for the Bulletin of the British Association for the Study of Religions about the international dimensions of his recent work in Europe and beyond