An Analysis of the Aims, Practices & Models of Effectiveness in Religious Education across the UK

Research Project Summary

Duration: December 2007 - December 2010

Funder and Value: Arts & Humanities Research Council’s Religion and Society programme, £365,326

Abstract: This three-year project is the first major research project undertaken by the Centre for Studies in Faith, Culture and Education at Glasgow University. The project is funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council’s Religion and Society programme and is intended to create the single most comprehensive study to date of the state of religious education across the combined jurisdictions of the United Kingdom.

The study will unpack the various kinds of claims made with respect to Religious Education in the very different contexts of England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Using a combination of philosophical, theological and detailed ethnographic approaches, we intend conducting a study of the local (school-focused) social, cultural and pedagogical practices which shape the delivery of Religious Education.