The Study of Religious and Worldview Diversity in Public Schools: Contributions from the Council of Europe

Abstract

This chapter outlines some issues in incorporating the study of religions, together with non-religious worldviews, into the curricula of publicly funded schools in Western democratic states. Attention is given to examples from work on this topic conducted within the Council of Europe since 2002, with a particular focus on Signposts: Policy and Practice for Teaching about Religions and Nonreligious Worldviews in Intercultural Education, a text published by the Council of Europe in 2014. Signposts is designed to assist policymakers and practitioners in interpreting and applying ideas from the 2008 Recommendation from the Committee of Ministers (the Foreign Ministers of the 47 member states) dealing with education about religions and non-religious convictions. Various issues raised by the Signposts document are considered. Towards the end of the article, recent UK and Council of Europe policies which emphasise the study of religions and beliefs as a means to counter-extremism, and which have appeared since the publication of Signposts, are summarised and discussed critically. Attention is drawn to the dangers of certain policies and also to the plurality of aims that studies of religions and non-religious worldviews need to have in providing a balanced educational programme. Finally, the work of the Signposts International Research Network is introduced.