Religion, Education, Dialogue and Conflict analyses the European Commission-funded REDCo project, which addressed the question of how religions might contribute to dialogue or conflict in Europe. Researchers in education from eight countries - the UK, Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Norway and Spain - studied how young Europeans of different religious, cultural and political backgrounds could engage in dialogue in the context of the school.
Empirical studies conducted with 14-16 year old students included them offering their own perspectives and analyses of teaching and learning in both dialogue and conflict situations. Although there were some different national patterns and trends, most students wished for peaceful coexistence across differences, andbelieved this to be possible. The majority agreed that peaceful coexistence depended on knowledge about each other's religions and worldviews, sharing common interests and doing things together. The project found that students who learn about religious diversity in school are more willing to discuss religions and beliefs with students of other backgrounds than those who do not.
The international range of expert contributors to this book evaluate the results of the REDCo project, providing examples of its qualitative and quantitative studies and reflecting on the methods and theory used in the project as a whole.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal of Religious Education.
Preface Bruce Grelle 1. Religion, education, dialogue and conflict: an introduction Robert Jackson 2. Reflections on the REDCo project Wolfram Weisse 3. Young people's talk about religion and diversity: a qualitative study of Norwegian students aged 13-15 Marie von der Lippe 4. Under the shadow of Al-Andalus? Spanish teenagers' attitudes and experiences with religious diversity at school Aurora Álvarez Veinguer, F. Javier Rosón Lorente and Gunther Dietz 5. Laďcité in practice: the representations of French teenagers Bérengère Massignon 6. Religion and religious education: comparing and contrasting pupils' and teachers' views in an English school Joyce Miller and Ursula McKenna 7. The interpretive approach as a research tool: inside the REDCo project Robert Jackson 8. The 'contextual setting approach': a contribution to understanding how young people view and experience religion and education in Europe Thorsten Knauth and Anna Körs 9. Influences on students' views on religions and education in England and Estonia Sean Neill and Olga Schihalejev 10. European religious education teachers' perceptions of and responses to classroom diversity and their relationship to personal and professional biographies Judith Everington, Ina ter Avest, Cok Bakker and Anna van der Want 11. Russian REDCo findings in support of dialogue and hermeneutics Fedor Kozyrev 12. Investigating the impact of religious diversity in schools for secondary education: a challenging but necessary exercise Gerdien D. Bertram-Troost
