L. Philip Barnes – författare

Crisis, Controversy and the Future of Religious Education sets out to provide a much-needed critical examination of recent writings that consider and respond to the crisis in religious education and more widely to a crisis in non-confessional forms of religious education, wherever practised.The book is critical, wide-ranging and provocative, giving attention to a range of responses, some limited to the particular situation of religious education in England and some of wider application, for example, that of the role and significance of human rights and that of the relevance of religious studies and theology to religious education. It engages with a variety of positions and with recent influential reports that make recommendations on the future direction of religious education. Constructively, it defends both confessional and non-confessional religious education and endorses the existing right of parental withdrawal. Controversially, it concludes that the case for including non-religious worldviews in religious education, and for the introduction of a statutory, ‘objective’ national religious education curriculum for all schools, are both unconvincing on educational, philosophical and evidential grounds. Timely and captivating, this book is a must-read for religious and theological educators, RE advisers, classroom teachers, student teachers and those interested in the field of religious education.

Crisis, Controversy and the Future of Religious Education sets out to provide a much-needed critical examination of recent writings that consider and respond to the crisis in religious education and more widely to a crisis in non-confessional forms of religious education, wherever practised.The book is critical, wide-ranging and provocative, giving attention to a range of responses, some limited to the particular situation of religious education in England and some of wider application, for example, that of the role and significance of human rights and that of the relevance of religious studies and theology to religious education. It engages with a variety of positions and with recent influential reports that make recommendations on the future direction of religious education. Constructively, it defends both confessional and non-confessional religious education and endorses the existing right of parental withdrawal. Controversially, it concludes that the case for including non-religious worldviews in religious education, and for the introduction of a statutory, ‘objective’ national religious education curriculum for all schools, are both unconvincing on educational, philosophical and evidential grounds. Timely and captivating, this book is a must-read for religious and theological educators, RE advisers, classroom teachers, student teachers and those interested in the field of religious education.

"In this thoughtful and provocative book Philip Barnes challenges religious educators to re-think their field, and proposes a new, post-liberal model of religious education to help them do so. His model both confronts prejudice and intolerance and also allows the voices of different religions to be heard and critically explored. While Education, Religion and Diversity is directed to a British audience the issues it raises and the alternative it proposes are important for those educators in the United States who believe that the public schools have an important role in teaching students about religion." Walter Feinberg, Professor Emeritus of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "Philip Barnes offers a penetrating and lucid analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of modern religious education in Britain. He considers a range of epistemological and methodological issues and identifies two contrasting models of religious education that have been influential, what he calls a liberal and a postmodern model. After a detailed review and criticism of both, he outlines his own new post-liberal model of religious education, one that is compatible with both confessional and non-confessional forms of religious education, yet takes religious diversity and religious truth claims seriously. Essential reading for all religious educators and those concerned with the role of religion in schools."Bernd Schröder, Professor of Practical Theology and Religious Education, University of Göttingen."What place, if any, does religious education have in the schools of an increasingly diverse society? This lucid and authoritative book makes an incisive contribution to this crucial debate."Roger Trigg is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick, and Senior Research Fellow, Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford.The challenge of diversity is central to education in modern liberal, democratic states, and religious education is often the point where these differences become both most acute and where it is believed, of all curriculum subjects, resolutions are most likely to be found. Education, Religion and Diversity identifies and explores the commitments and convictions that have guided post-confessional religious education and concludes controversially that the subject as currently theorised and practised is incapable of challenging religious intolerance and of developing respectful relationships between people from different communities and groups within society.It is argued that despite the rhetoric of success, which religious education is obliged to rehearse in order to perpetuate its status in the curriculum and to ensure political support, a fundamentally new model of religious education is required to meet the challenge of diversity to education and to society. A new framework for religious education is developed which offers the potential for the subject to make a genuine contribution to the creation of a responsible, respectful society.Education, Religion and Diversity is a wide-ranging, provocative exploration of religious education in modern liberal democracies. It is essential reading for those concerned with the role of religion in education and for religious and theological educators who want to think critically about the aims and character of religious education.

"In this thoughtful and provocative book Philip Barnes challenges religious educators to re-think their field, and proposes a new, post-liberal model of religious education to help them do so. His model both confronts prejudice and intolerance and also allows the voices of different religions to be heard and critically explored. While Education, Religion and Diversity is directed to a British audience the issues it raises and the alternative it proposes are important for those educators in the United States who believe that the public schools have an important role in teaching students about religion." Walter Feinberg, Professor Emeritus of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "Philip Barnes offers a penetrating and lucid analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of modern religious education in Britain. He considers a range of epistemological and methodological issues and identifies two contrasting models of religious education that have been influential, what he calls a liberal and a postmodern model. After a detailed review and criticism of both, he outlines his own new post-liberal model of religious education, one that is compatible with both confessional and non-confessional forms of religious education, yet takes religious diversity and religious truth claims seriously. Essential reading for all religious educators and those concerned with the role of religion in schools."Bernd Schröder, Professor of Practical Theology and Religious Education, University of Göttingen."What place, if any, does religious education have in the schools of an increasingly diverse society? This lucid and authoritative book makes an incisive contribution to this crucial debate."Roger Trigg is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick, and Senior Research Fellow, Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford.The challenge of diversity is central to education in modern liberal, democratic states, and religious education is often the point where these differences become both most acute and where it is believed, of all curriculum subjects, resolutions are most likely to be found. Education, Religion and Diversity identifies and explores the commitments and convictions that have guided post-confessional religious education and concludes controversially that the subject as currently theorised and practised is incapable of challenging religious intolerance and of developing respectful relationships between people from different communities and groups within society.It is argued that despite the rhetoric of success, which religious education is obliged to rehearse in order to perpetuate its status in the curriculum and to ensure political support, a fundamentally new model of religious education is required to meet the challenge of diversity to education and to society. A new framework for religious education is developed which offers the potential for the subject to make a genuine contribution to the creation of a responsible, respectful society.Education, Religion and Diversity is a wide-ranging, provocative exploration of religious education in modern liberal democracies. It is essential reading for those concerned with the role of religion in education and for religious and theological educators who want to think critically about the aims and character of religious education.

Religion and Worldviews: The Triumph of the Secular in Religious Education provides the first serious analysis and review of the Commission on Religious Education’s proposed worldviews framework for the subject. It argues that religious education has an important contribution to make to the aims of liberal education and examines whether the shift to a worldview framework is capable of overcoming current weaknesses and initiating a new positive direction for the future. Chapters explore the role of worldviews in Religious Education, covering key debates including:Whether there is need for new legislation on REThe nature of professionalism and the role of ‘experts’The extent to which there is educational value in study of the personal worldviews of studentsThe role of the religious voice in REThe relation of religions to religious worldviewsThe aims of REThe relationship between the state and religionConsideration of the nature of a worldviewThe personal reflections of a member of the Commission on its proposalsThe chapters provide all that is necessary to understand and to evaluate the current debate on the appropriateness of a worldviews approach to RE.Bringing together leading names in the field, this is essential reading for trainee and practising teachers of Religious Education, RE advisers and schools’ leaders responsible for curriculum development.

Religion and Worldviews: The Triumph of the Secular in Religious Education provides the first serious analysis and review of the Commission on Religious Education’s proposed worldviews framework for the subject. It argues that religious education has an important contribution to make to the aims of liberal education and examines whether the shift to a worldview framework is capable of overcoming current weaknesses and initiating a new positive direction for the future. Chapters explore the role of worldviews in Religious Education, covering key debates including:Whether there is need for new legislation on REThe nature of professionalism and the role of ‘experts’The extent to which there is educational value in study of the personal worldviews of studentsThe role of the religious voice in REThe relation of religions to religious worldviewsThe aims of REThe relationship between the state and religionConsideration of the nature of a worldviewThe personal reflections of a member of the Commission on its proposalsThe chapters provide all that is necessary to understand and to evaluate the current debate on the appropriateness of a worldviews approach to RE.Bringing together leading names in the field, this is essential reading for trainee and practising teachers of Religious Education, RE advisers and schools’ leaders responsible for curriculum development.

This essential book provides a comprehensive introduction to current debates in religious education. Exploring the rich variety of opinions and ideas that constitute and impact upon religious education, both novice and experienced teachers will benefit from deepening their theoretical knowledge and understanding through reading Debates in Religious Education. This second edition has fully updated all chapters and included an additional thirteen new contributions, providing a provocative yet informative introduction to current debates and allowing teachers to reach informed decisions about how they approach this subject.Responding to recent controversy and challenging assumptions about the place of religion in education, expert contributors cover key topics such as: The aims of religious education Religious education in the United Kingdom and Ireland Agreed syllabuses and the role of Standing Advisory Councils Educational issues, such as the right of withdrawal, collective worship, and faith schools Teaching and learning in religious education Multi-faith religious education Relating science and religion.With its combination of expert opinion and fresh insight, this essential text is the ideal companion for any student or practising teacher engaged in initial training, continuing professional development or Master's-level study.

This essential book provides a comprehensive introduction to current debates in religious education. Exploring the rich variety of opinions and ideas that constitute and impact upon religious education, both novice and experienced teachers will benefit from deepening their theoretical knowledge and understanding through reading Debates in Religious Education. This second edition has fully updated all chapters and included an additional thirteen new contributions, providing a provocative yet informative introduction to current debates and allowing teachers to reach informed decisions about how they approach this subject.Responding to recent controversy and challenging assumptions about the place of religion in education, expert contributors cover key topics such as: The aims of religious education Religious education in the United Kingdom and Ireland Agreed syllabuses and the role of Standing Advisory Councils Educational issues, such as the right of withdrawal, collective worship, and faith schools Teaching and learning in religious education Multi-faith religious education Relating science and religion.With its combination of expert opinion and fresh insight, this essential text is the ideal companion for any student or practising teacher engaged in initial training, continuing professional development or Master's-level study.

The third edition of Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School draws together insights from current educational theory and the best contemporary classroom teaching and learning, and suggests tasks, activities and further reading designed to enhance the quality of initial school experience for the student teacher. This third edition has all new content and contributors, which take account of recent developments in the subject.Key themes addressed include:the aims and place of religious education in the curriculum;recent policy developments;developing lesson plans and schemes of work; the role of language and talk in religious education;spirituality and spiritual development;assessment in religious education;religious education at both Key Stage 4 and at A Level;religion education in relation to moral education;the role of computers;inclusion;professional development.Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School is designed to provide student teachers with a comprehensive and accessible introduction to teaching religious education in the secondary school.

The third edition of Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School draws together insights from current educational theory and the best contemporary classroom teaching and learning, and suggests tasks, activities and further reading designed to enhance the quality of initial school experience for the student teacher. This third edition has all new content and contributors, which take account of recent developments in the subject.Key themes addressed include:the aims and place of religious education in the curriculum;recent policy developments;developing lesson plans and schemes of work; the role of language and talk in religious education;spirituality and spiritual development;assessment in religious education;religious education at both Key Stage 4 and at A Level;religion education in relation to moral education;the role of computers;inclusion;professional development.Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School is designed to provide student teachers with a comprehensive and accessible introduction to teaching religious education in the secondary school.

The intersection of education and religion raises complex questions and provokes heated—sometimes fraught—debates. Fundamentally, what is the role of religious education in national curricula? And how especially does religious education work in countries that seek explicitly to separate church from state? What is the relationship between research and classroom practice? And what of religious education in non-school settings? What place should so-called faith schools (such as Brooklyn’s Khalil Gibran International Academy) have in modern plural societies? And, more broadly, how far should publicly funded education officials seek to accommodate the views and feelings of religious communities?This new four-volume Routledge collection addresses these and other controversies. Edited by two leading scholars, Education and Religion meets the need for an authoritative reference work to codify and make sense of the field’s burgeoning literature. The editors have drawn on the most important and influential research from a broad range of countries and perspectives to create a one-stop ‘mini library’.With comprehensive introductions to each volume, newly written by the editors, Education and Religion is an essential addition to Routledge’s Major Themes in Education series. It is destined to be valued by educationalists and scholars working in related areas as a vital reference and research tool.

Society for Educational Studies Annual Book Prize winner: 2nd PrizeThis ground-breaking volume draws upon a rich and variegated range of methodologies to understand more fully the practices, policies and resources available in and to religious education in British schools. The descriptions, explanations and analyses undertaken here draw on an innovative combination of policy work, ethnography, Delphi methods, Actor Network Theory, questionnaires, textual analysis as well as theological and philosophical insight. It traces the evolution of religious education in a post-religious age from the creation of policy to the everyday experiences of teachers and students in the classroom. It begins by analysing the way in which policy has evolved since the 1970s with an examination of the social forces that have shaped curriculum development. It goes on to explore the impact and intentions of a diverse group of stakeholders with sometimes competing accounts of the purposes of religious educations. It then examines the manner in which policy is, or is not, enacted in the classroom. Finally, it explores contradictions and confusions, successes and failures, and the ways in which wider public debates enter the classroom. The book also exposes the challenge religious education teachers have in using the language of religion.

Religious Education: Educating for Diversity raises issues that are central to the theory and practice of education, and in particular religious education, in modern liberal democracies characterized by diversity in its different forms. What kind of religious education is best equipped both to challenge prejudice and intolerance in society and to develop responsible and respectful relationships between people from different communities or with different commitments? Two eminent educators address this question and propose contrasting answers. Attention is given to the aims of education and the contribution of religious education to the curriculum; historical forms of religious education; the nature of diversity in society; the roots of prejudice; different methodologies in religious education and their philosophical and religious commitments; and to positive strategies to enable religious education to realise its potential and contribute to the social and moral aims of liberal education.

Society for Educational Studies Annual Book Prize winner: 2nd PrizeThis ground-breaking volume draws upon a rich and variegated range of methodologies to understand more fully the practices, policies and resources available in and to religious education in British schools. The descriptions, explanations and analyses undertaken here draw on an innovative combination of policy work, ethnography, Delphi methods, Actor Network Theory, questionnaires, textual analysis as well as theological and philosophical insight. It traces the evolution of religious education in a post-religious age from the creation of policy to the everyday experiences of teachers and students in the classroom. It begins by analysing the way in which policy has evolved since the 1970s with an examination of the social forces that have shaped curriculum development. It goes on to explore the impact and intentions of a diverse group of stakeholders with sometimes competing accounts of the purposes of religious educations. It then examines the manner in which policy is, or is not, enacted in the classroom. Finally, it explores contradictions and confusions, successes and failures, and the ways in which wider public debates enter the classroom. The book also exposes the challenge religious education teachers have in using the language of religion.

What are the key debates in Religious Education teaching today? Debates in Religious Education explores the major issues all RE teachers encounter in their daily professional lives. It encourages critical reflection and aims to stimulate both novice and experienced teachers to think more deeply about their practice, and link research and evidence to what they have observed in schools. This accessible book tackles established and contemporary issues enabling you to reach informed judgements and argue your point of view with deeper theoretical knowledge and understanding. Taking account of recent controversy, and challenging assumptions about the place of religion in education, expert contributors cover key topics such as: Effective pedagogy in RE teaching Exploring thinking skills and truth claims The relationship of science and religion in the classroom The place of school worship in contemporary society The role of RE in spiritual and moral development Diversity in the RE classroom. With its combination of expert opinion and fresh insight, Debates in Religious Education is the ideal companion for any student or practising teacher engaged in initial training, continuing professional development and Masters level study.