Religion and Education Bibliography

The Religion and Diversity Project has created and made available a large bibliographic reference list of research about religion and education in Canada. To access this bibliography, please click on the image below.

The Workshop – Whose religion:  Education about religion in public schools

The workshop, “Whose religion:  Education about religion in public schools,” was held at the University of Ottawa on November 4-6, 2013. The goal of the workshop was to examine the complex intersection of religion and education from a variety of theoretical and transnational perspectives. While there are unique features to the Canadian scene where education is a matter of provincial jurisdiction, the controversies in Canada have their parallels in other countries where the role of religion in education is also being contested by educators, policy makers, religious groups and parents.

Workshop Themes

The workshop presentations were organised around five themes which invited consideration of religion and education from a number of theoretical perspectives:

  • current controversies and challenges;
  • theoretical and methodological issues in the examination of “education about religion”;
  • religious literacy;
  • religion, education and citizenship;
  • resistance and minority voices.

Participants

Learn more about the participants by clicking on their names and reading their biographies.

Workshop Report

Find out more about the Whose Religion?: Education about Religion in Public Schools workshop by reading the report written by Student Team Member Leo Van Arragon and Jessica Ford.

Videos

View the videos of the presentations that were offered as part of the workshop by clicking on the links below. The videos are approximately 20 minutes and showcase each participant’s expertise. You can also access the complete list of videos on the Religion and Diversity Project‘s Youtube channel.

Videos

Topics

Themes

Anna Halafoff
Part 1 | Part 2

The Religion in Schools Debate in Victoria.

♦ Secular instruction
♦ Religious instruction
♦ Australia

Catherine Byrne
Part 1 | Part 2

Religion, the elephant in the Asia-focused Australian classroom.

♦ Instruction and education
♦ Role of the state in education and religion
♦ Education and religion in a diverse society
♦ Australia

Solange Lefebvre
Part 1 | Part 2

Religious education in Québec: neutrality and spirituality.

♦ Religious neutrality in education
♦ Spirituality and religion
♦ Role of education in spirituality
♦ Québec

Donald Boisvert
Part 1 | Part 2

Whose approach to the study of religion? The academic origins of Québec’s ERC curriculum.

♦ Religious culture
♦ The role of the state in religion
♦Homogenization of religion in society
♦ Québec

Sonia Sikka
Part 1 | Part 2

What is Indian religion?

♦ Defining religion
♦ Reductionism
♦ Western and Indian perspectives
♦ India

Heather Shipley
Part 1 | Part 2

The spaces in between: religious and sexual intersections in education.

♦ Sexual citizenship
♦ Religious citizenship
♦ Power and public policy
♦ Ontario

Pamela D. Young
Part 1 | Part 2

Sex and religion in Canadian schools.

♦ Religion
♦ Sexuality
♦ Youth
♦ Canada

Damon Maryl
Part 1 | Part 2

Minority Faiths and Religious Education Policy: The Case of Australian and American Jews, 1945-1980.

♦ Minority religious group responses to majoritarian pressures
♦ Social and legal factors
♦ Communal factors
♦ Jews, Australia, US

Geir Skeie
Part 1 | Part 2

What does conceptualization of religion have to do with religion in education?

♦ Multifaith religious education and religion as culture and in public education
♦ National, international, academic and practical perspectives
♦ Norway

Lori G. Beaman
Part 1 | Part 2

Law’s entanglements: Resolving questions of religion and education.

♦ Courts, law, education and religion
♦ Stakeholders in education
♦ Canada

Bruce Grelle
Part 1 | Part 2

Theory and politics of religious education in public schools.

♦ Human rights
♦ Secularism, religion and neutrality
♦ Education and indoctrination
♦ Civic values
♦ United States
♦ International

Alison Mawhinney

Protecting freedom of thought in schools: The case of Ireland.

♦ International law and national policies
♦ Religious education
♦ Religious freedom and opting out provisions
♦ Europe
♦ Ireland

Stéphanie Gravel
Part 1 | Part 2

Le programme québecois Éthique et culture religieuse :  Enseignants et impartialité.

♦ Neutrality and impartiality
♦ Teacher training
♦ Professional judgement in the classroom
♦ Common values
♦ Québec

Asha Mukherjee
Part 1 Part 2

Religion as a separate area of study in India.

♦ Defining religion
♦ Secularism
♦ Alternative modernities
♦ Teaching about religion in India

Mathew Guest
Part 1 | Part 2

Christianity and the university experience:  Student faith in contemporary England.

♦ Secularization and desecularization
♦ “Christian experience”
♦ Negotiation of faith in public space
♦ United Kingdom

Leo Van Arragon
Part 1 | Part 2

Religion and education in Ontario public education:  contested borders and uneasy truces.

♦ Law and religion
♦ Education about religion and religious education
♦ Critical thought
♦ Religious neutrality
♦ Ontario