This book explores the advantages of and challenges concerning Special Religious Education (SRE) in multicultural Australia and argues for the need for General Religious Education (GRE) as well. Through the lens of the most recent scholarship, and drawing on an in-depth qualitative study and specific case studies, the book examines the current debate on the role of religious education within government schools. It addresses key concepts of values education, spirituality, health and wellbeing, and cultural and religious identity. It analyses why it is important to retain SRE, together with GRE, as government policy. It explores highly relevant, controversial and contested issues regarding SRE, including the 30% of Australia's population who declare themselves as having "no religion", and brings fresh insights to the table. While secularization has increased in both the national and international spheres, there has also been an increase in fundamentalism within religious beliefs. Events such as the September 11 terror attacks and the more recent mass shootings by white supremacists and eco-fascists in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Pittsburgh and San Diego in the USA are reminders that religion is still a major actor in the twenty-first century. This poses new challenges for the relationship between church and state, and demonstrates the need to revisit the role of religious education within government schools. While the importance of GRE is generally acknowledged, SRE has increasingly come under attack by some researchers and teacher and parent bodies as being inappropriate and contradictory to the values of the postmodern world. On the other hand, the key stakeholders from all the faith traditions in Australia wish to retain the SRE classes in government schools. The book addresses this burning issue, and shows that it is relevant not only for Australia but also globally.

This book explores the advantages of and challenges concerning Special Religious Education (SRE) in multicultural Australia and argues for the need for General Religious Education (GRE) as well. Through the lens of the most recent scholarship, and drawing on an in-depth qualitative study and specific case studies, the book examines the current debate on the role of religious education within government schools. It addresses key concepts of values education, spirituality, health and wellbeing, and cultural and religious identity. It analyses why it is important to retain SRE, together with GRE, as government policy. It explores highly relevant, controversial and contested issues regarding SRE, including the 30% of Australia's population who declare themselves as having "no religion", and brings fresh insights to the table. While secularization has increased in both the national and international spheres, there has also been an increase in fundamentalism within religious beliefs. Events such as the September 11 terror attacks and the more recent mass shootings by white supremacists and eco-fascists in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Pittsburgh and San Diego in the USA are reminders that religion is still a major actor in the twenty-first century. This poses new challenges for the relationship between church and state, and demonstrates the need to revisit the role of religious education within government schools. While the importance of GRE is generally acknowledged, SRE has increasingly come under attack by some researchers and teacher and parent bodies as being inappropriate and contradictory to the values of the postmodern world. On the other hand, the key stakeholders from all the faith traditions in Australia wish to retain the SRE classes in government schools. The book addresses this burning issue, and shows that it is relevant not only for Australia but also globally.

This book explores the concept of intercultural competence, focusing specifically on education. Intercultural competence can vary depending on the field of research or the context of application and has therefore developed over recent decades. As the world becomes increasingly global intercultural competence has become even more important but it is still not practiced satisfactorily. This book highlights views which are at odds with official and orthodox positions on intercultural competence to encourage fresh approaches to intercultural competence. It will be invaluable for researchers, practitioners and students interested in the global possibilities of education.

This volume represents the most comprehensive collection ever produced of empirical research on Holocaust education around the world. It comes at a critical time, as the world observes the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. We are now at a turning point, as the generations that witnessed and survived the Shoah are slowly passing on. Governments are charged with ensuring that this defining event of the 20th century takes its rightful place in the schooling and the historical consciousness of their peoples. The policies and practices of Holocaust education around the world are as diverse as the countries that grapple with its history and its meaning. Educators around the globe struggle to reconcile national histories and memories with the international realities of the Holocaust and its implications for the present. These efforts take place at a time when scholarship about the Holocaust itself has made great strides. In this book, these issues are framed by some of the leading voices in the field, including Elie Wiesel and Yehuda Bauer, and then explored by many distinguished scholars who represent a wide range of expertise. Holocaust education is of such significance, so rich in meaning, so powerful in content, and so diverse in practice that the need for extensive, high-quality empirical research is critical. Th is book provides exactly that.

This volume represents the most comprehensive collection ever produced of empirical research on Holocaust education around the world. It comes at a critical time, as the world observes the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. We are now at a turning point, as the generations that witnessed and survived the Shoah are slowly passing on. Governments are charged with ensuring that this defining event of the 20th century takes its rightful place in the schooling and the historical consciousness of their peoples. The policies and practices of Holocaust education around the world are as diverse as the countries that grapple with its history and its meaning. Educators around the globe struggle to reconcile national histories and memories with the international realities of the Holocaust and its implications for the present. These efforts take place at a time when scholarship about the Holocaust itself has made great strides. In this book, these issues are framed by some of the leading voices in the field, including Elie Wiesel and Yehuda Bauer, and then explored by many distinguished scholars who represent a wide range of expertise. Holocaust education is of such significance, so rich in meaning, so powerful in content, and so diverse in practice that the need for extensive, high-quality empirical research is critical. Th is book provides exactly that.

The immense changes that the world is undergoing in terms of globalization and migration of peoples have had a profound effect on cultures and identities. The question is whether this means shifts in religious identities for women and men in different contexts, whether such shifts are seen as beneficial, negative or insufficient, or whether social change actually means new conservatisms or even fundamentalisms. Surrounding these questions is the role of education is in any change or new contradiction. This unique book enhances an interdisciplinary discourse about the complex intersections between gender, religion and education in the contemporary world. Literature in the social sciences and humanities have expanded our understanding of women's involvement in almost every aspect of life, yet the combined religious/educational aspect is still an under-studied and often under-theorized field of research. How people experience their religious identity in a new context or country is also a theme now needing more complex attention. Questions of the body, visibility and invisibility are receiving new treatments. This book fills these gaps. The book provides a strong comparative perspective, with 15 countries or contexts represented. The context of education and learning covers schools, higher education, non-formal education, religious institutions, adult literacy, curriculum and textbooks. Overall, the book reveals a great complexity and often contradiction in modern negotiations of religion and secularism by girls and boys, women and men, and a range of possibilities for change. It provides a theoretical and practical resource for researchers, religious and educational institutions, policy makers and teachers.

The immense changes that the world is undergoing in terms of globalization and migration of peoples have had a profound effect on cultures and identities.The question is whether this means shifts in religious identities for women and men in different contexts, whether such shifts are seen as beneficial, negative or insufficient, or whether social change actually means new conservatisms or even fundamentalisms.Surrounding these questions is the role of education is in any change or new contradiction. This unique book enhances an interdisciplinary discourse about the complex intersections between gender, religion and education in the contemporary world.

Literature in the social sciences and humanities have expanded our understanding of women s involvement in almost every aspect of life, yet the combined religious/educational aspect is still an under-studied and often under-theorized field of research.How people experience their religious identity in a new context or country is also a theme now needing more complex attention. Questions of the body, visibility and invisibility are receiving new treatments. This book fills these gaps.

The book provides a strong comparative perspective, with 15 countries or contexts represented. The context of education and learning covers schools, higher education, non-formal education, religious institutions, adult literacy, curriculum and textbooks.

Overall, the book reveals a great complexity and often contradiction in modern negotiations of religion and secularism by girls and boys, women and men, and a range of possibilities for change.It provides a theoretical and practical resource for researchers, religious and educational institutions, policy makers and teachers.

This book brings together new thinking and research on religious education’s complex and evolving role in the multicultural, diverse postmodern era. It facilitates new realism and understanding of the current situation from empirical and reflective accounts relating to a variety of countries and political contexts, as well as providing innovative methodological approaches to the study of education and religion. In different contexts around the world, at different levels of education, and from different theoretical lenses, religious education occupies a contested space. The ongoing, changing nature of the world due to increasing secularization, rapid technological change, mass immigration, globalization processes, conflict and challenging security issues, from inter to intra state levels, and with shifting geopolitical power balances, generates the need to reconceptualize where religious education is positioned. It claims that religious education on its own can be an agent of moral, social and spiritual transformation are disputed. There is significant controversy about whether special religious education, that is in-faith education, still has a role within the post-modern world.

This book deals with the challenges of academic teaching in higher education with regard to quality, mobility, and globalisation. The articles reflect a unique interdisciplinary effort at collaboration, generated by colleagues and partners who joined together to form a community that aimed to chart the course of academic teaching. The book is divided into five parts: Part One - Academic teaching and learning; Part Two - Academic teaching and learning in the humanities; Part Three - Teaching and learning in engineering and architecture; Part Four - New approaches and technologies in physics instruction: Inquiry-based education in a post-industrial society; Part Five - Teaching and learning in the health sciences.

This volume on ""Education towards a Culture of Peace"" is a timely undertaking, since the United Nations has proclaimed the years 2001-2010 as the ""International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World."" A culture of peace as defined by the UN is ""a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations"". (UN Resolutions A/RES/52/13 1998: Culture of Peace and A/RES/53/243, 1999: Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace). Most of the chapters in this book are based on lectures that were presented at the International Conference, ""Education towards a Culture of Peace"". This conference was convened on 1-3 December 2003, by the The Josef Burg Chair in Education for Human Values, Tolerance and Peace - UNESCO Chair on Human Rights, Democracy, Peace and Tolerance School of Education, at Bar Ilan University, Israel. This international gathering was attended by prominent scholars of Human Rights and Peace from Canada, Chile, Croatia, Germany, Mauritius the Netherlands's, The United States, the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Australian, Indian, Jordanian and Moroccan colleagues also submitted papers. This conference was held under the auspices of Israel National Commission for UNESCO and supported also by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem, The office of Public Affairs of the US Embassy Tel Aviv, Fulbright - United States - Israel Educational Foundation

This volume on ""Education towards a Culture of Peace"" is a timely undertaking, since the United Nations has proclaimed the years 2001-2010 as the ""International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World."" A culture of peace as defined by the UN is ""a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations"". (UN Resolutions A/RES/52/13 1998: Culture of Peace and A/RES/53/243, 1999: Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace). Most of the chapters in this book are based on lectures that were presented at the International Conference, ""Education towards a Culture of Peace"". This conference was convened on 1-3 December 2003, by the The Josef Burg Chair in Education for Human Values, Tolerance and Peace - UNESCO Chair on Human Rights, Democracy, Peace and Tolerance School of Education, at Bar Ilan University, Israel.This international gathering was attended by prominent scholars of Human Rights and Peace from Canada, Chile, Croatia, Germany, Mauritius the Netherlands's, The United States, the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Australian, Indian, Jordanian and Moroccan colleagues also submitted papers. This conference was held under the auspices of Israel National Commission for UNESCO and supported also by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem, The office of Public Affairs of the US Embassy Tel Aviv, Fulbright - United States - Israel Educational Foundation

Collaborative engagement between activist academics from Israel and Northern Ireland highlighted the challenges and potential of working through education to promote shared learning and shared life in divided societies. Following these initial explorations, the volume brought together educationalists from Europe, the United States and South Africa to widen the range of experience and insights, and broaden the base of the conversation. The result is this book on the role of shared education, not only in deeply divided societies, but also in places where minorities face discrimination, where migrants face prejudice and barriers, or where society fails to deal positively with cultural diversity. Together, the contributors challenged themselves to develop theoretical and practical paradigms, based on practical knowledge and experience, to promote activist pedagogies. Their shared purpose was to work for more humane, just and democratic societies, in which education offers genuine hope for sustained transformational change. The four main themes around which the book is organized are: educating for democratic-multicultural citizenship, models of shared learning, nurturing intercultural competencies, and reconciling dialogue in the face of conflicting narratives. The book draws on a wide range of international perspectives and insights to identify practical strategies for change in local contexts.

Collaborative engagement between activist academics from Israel and Northern Ireland highlighted the challenges and potential of working through education to promote shared learning and shared life in divided societies. Following these initial explorations, the volume brought together educationalists from Europe, the United States and South Africa to widen the range of experience and insights, and broaden the base of the conversation. The result is this book on the role of shared education, not only in deeply divided societies, but also in places where minorities face discrimination, where migrants face prejudice and barriers, or where society fails to deal positively with cultural diversity. Together, the contributors challenged themselves to develop theoretical and practical paradigms, based on practical knowledge and experience, to promote activist pedagogies. Their shared purpose was to work for more humane, just and democratic societies, in which education offers genuine hope for sustained transformational change. The four main themes around which the book is organized are: educating for democratic-multicultural citizenship, models of shared learning, nurturing intercultural competencies, and reconciling dialogue in the face of conflicting narratives. The book draws on a wide range of international perspectives and insights to identify practical strategies for change in local contexts.