Introduction to Section Four: Educational Policy and the Religious, Spiritual and Moral Dimensions of Education

Abstract

Section four of this handbook considers some of the many influences that determine policy towards the provision of religious education in schools worldwide. The chapters are arranged into three parts according to the dominant focus of their authors. Part one considers the legal, philosophical and theological foundations of policy. Part two deals with the increasingly important issue of religious education and the public space. Part three provides a selection of case studies concerning multi-faith syllabuses for religious education, proposals to introduce some form of ‘objective’ study of religion in countries in which religious education is prohibited in State schools, and research into the attitudes of religious educators towards issues of gender and equality.