An essential compendium for practitioners and researchers which makes accessible in one place original and innovative research originally published in the British Journal of Religious Education over a fifteen-year period. The twenty chapters demonstrate the contribution made to religious education by ethnographic fieldwork, practitioner research, life-history approaches to research, psychological scales and measures, and large surveys. Topics covered include teacher education and teacher experience, student understanding, attitudes and values, varieties of religious schooling, and worldview and life interpretation. The book draws together papers published during Professor Robert Jackson's term as Editor.

Mandy Robbins is Reader in the Psychology of Religion at Glyndwr University, UK. She is also an associate fellow in the Centre for Education Studies, University of Warwick, UK.

Leslie J. Francis is Professor of Religious Education and Director of the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit at the University of Warwick, UK.

Contents

Preface

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introducing the empirical science of religious education

Part 1. Ethnographic fieldwork

1.1 Bridging the gap between young people's experience of their religious traditions at home and school: The contribution of ethnographic research

Eleanor Nesbitt

1.2 Issues in the delivery of religious education to Muslim pupils: Perspectives from the classroom

Julia Ipgrave

Part 2. Practitioner research and community of practice

2.1 Researching religious education pedagogy through an action research community of practice

Kevin O'Grady

2.2 'I'm less intolerant': Reflexive self-assessment in religious education

Nigel Fancourt

Part 3. Educating religious educators

3.1 Becoming an RE teacher: A life history approach

Pat Sikes and Judith Everington

3.2 The experience of Black African religious education trainee teachers training in England

Nick Mead

Part 4. Students imaging beginnings and endings

4.1 Children's concepts of an afterlife

Sandra Frangoulis, Netta Jordan and Richard Lansdown

4.2 Insights from children's perspectives in interpreting the wisdom of the biblical creation narrative

Howard Worsley

Part 5. In search of meaning and purpose

5.1 Weaving the threads of meaning: A characteristic of children's spirituality and its implications for religious education

Brendan Hyde

5.2 Exploring the role of religion and spirituality in the development of purpose: Case studies of purposeful youth

Kirsi Tirri and Brandy Quinn

Part 6. Life world and life interpretation

6.1 Islamic nature and identity management: The lifeworld of Pakistani children in Norway

Sissel Östberg

6.2 Life interpretation and religion among Icelandic teenagers

Gunnar J. Gunnarsson

Part 7. Religious schooling

7.1 Islamic schools in The Netherlands: Compromising between identity and quality? Geert Driessen and Pim Valkenberg

7.2 The case of the Jewish high school in Berlin: A denominational school dealing with diversity

Christine Mueller

Part 8. Developing scales and measures

8.1 The Loman Index of Biblical interpretation: Distinguishing between literal, symbolic and rejecting modes among 11 to 14 year olds

Susan E. Loman and Leslie J. Francis

8.2 Internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the Attitude toward Muslim Proximity Index (AMPI): A measure of social distance

Adrian Brockett, Andrew Village and Leslie J. Francis

Part 9. Shaping and testing theories

9.1 Promoting positive attitudes towards science and religion among sixth-form pupils: Dealing with scientism and creationism

Jeff Astley and Leslie J. Francis

9.2 Personality, conventional Christian belief and unconventional paranormal belief: A study among teenagers

Leslie J. Francis, Emyr Williams and Mandy Robbins

Part 10. Large scale surveys

10.1 A nine-country survey of youth in Europe: Selected findings and issues

William K. Kay and Hans-Georg Ziebertz

10.2 The teenage-religion and values survey in England and Wales: An overview

Mandy Robbins and Leslie J. Francis

Contributors