This chapter investigates the link between educational inequality and the school curriculum of religious education. The main aim is to analyze the presence and representation of the different religions and worldviews in programs (local agreed syllabuses in the United Kingdom, national programs in Italy) and teaching aids (school textbooks and other educational media) of two different countries in a comparative perspective, namely England and Italy, from the 1970s to today. On the one hand, we will see how the different religions and worldviews are pictured; on the other hand, we will focus on the approaches and methods that are able to deal with the complexity of the religious phenomenon in the contemporary landscape, anchoring religions and worldviews to specific contexts. The lack of multiple perspectives in religious education can generate educational inequalities and religious illiteracy, which is widely spread in Western societies (Moore, Overcoming religious illiteracy: A cultural studies approach to the study of religion in secondary education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2007, Religious literacy in policy and practice. Policy Press, London, pp. 27–38, 2015; Melloni, Rapporto sull’analfabetismo religioso in Italia. Il Mulino, Bologna, 2014). The religious phenomenon, far from having lost its influence and centrality in society, requires new theoretical and empirical tools for teaching religious education at school. The questions of the chapter are: how can inequality be defined in the teaching of religious education in the two contexts considered? Could the lack of representation of multiple religions and nonreligious worldviews in school education cause inequalities? How can the different methods and approaches in teaching religious education foster the development of citizenship skills that are indispensable for educational equality?

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Inequalities in the Teaching of Religious Education: Multiple Perspectives and Methods to Overcome Religious Illiteracy

  • Maria Lucenti

摘要

This chapter investigates the link between educational inequality and the school curriculum of religious education. The main aim is to analyze the presence and representation of the different religions and worldviews in programs (local agreed syllabuses in the United Kingdom, national programs in Italy) and teaching aids (school textbooks and other educational media) of two different countries in a comparative perspective, namely England and Italy, from the 1970s to today. On the one hand, we will see how the different religions and worldviews are pictured; on the other hand, we will focus on the approaches and methods that are able to deal with the complexity of the religious phenomenon in the contemporary landscape, anchoring religions and worldviews to specific contexts. The lack of multiple perspectives in religious education can generate educational inequalities and religious illiteracy, which is widely spread in Western societies (Moore, Overcoming religious illiteracy: A cultural studies approach to the study of religion in secondary education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2007, Religious literacy in policy and practice. Policy Press, London, pp. 27–38, 2015; Melloni, Rapporto sull’analfabetismo religioso in Italia. Il Mulino, Bologna, 2014). The religious phenomenon, far from having lost its influence and centrality in society, requires new theoretical and empirical tools for teaching religious education at school. The questions of the chapter are: how can inequality be defined in the teaching of religious education in the two contexts considered? Could the lack of representation of multiple religions and nonreligious worldviews in school education cause inequalities? How can the different methods and approaches in teaching religious education foster the development of citizenship skills that are indispensable for educational equality?