Open research questions in Religious Education and Schools

What the literature leaves open

• Hence, this study aims to address an incessant gap in understanding how in-service primary school teachers perceive and deliver ToE, specifically in backgrounds where religious/cultural beliefs may be opposed to scientific knowledge, as teachers can largely influence their students’ understanding and acceptance of scientific issues (Brickhouse, 1990).

  Religiosity and evolution: Exploring Greek primary teachers’ attitudes toward theory of evolution · 2026 · DOI

• Based on the findings, this article proposes several key recommendations for enhancing religious studies education. Firstly, interactive teaching methods should be prioritised to encourage critical SOTL in the South 2026 | https://journals.uj.ac.za/SOTL/index.php/sotls/index ISSN 2523-1154 115 SOTL in the South 10 (1): April 2026 Vencatsamy reflection and facilitate meaningful peer discussions. These methods should integrate students' lived experiences while challenging their preconceptions about religious traditions. Secondly, a thematic approach focusing on contemporary issues and examining intersections with culture and society proves more effective than traditional paradigms. Finally, critical engagement should be encouraged through carefully designed learning activities that challenge assumptions and biases while promoting an understanding of religious diversity. These recommendations aim to transform the lecture hall into a space for meaningful intellectual exchange while preparing students for engagement with religious diversity in South Africa's pluralistic society. The evidence pointedly suggests that this approach enhances learning and better serves the broader goals of decolonial education in the South African context.

  Decolonising Religious Studies through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A South African Perspective · 2026 · DOI

• Once again, however, further research is required with students and parents in order develop a more complete picture of the facts on the ground. Further research is required in this area. The data from the small BME sample in our research is consistent with other research that has pointed to the very differing experiences of BME and White British communities in counter terrorism policies,111 however, further research is needed to understand the extent to which the experience of BME (and perhaps Muslim) staff differs from that of White British staff in schools/ colleges. It is likely to be some years before we are able to truly assess the impact of the Prevent duty and further research on this ground- level implementation experience is needed.

  Teachers’ attitudes towards surveillance in Kenyan secondary schools · 2026 · DOI

• • Institutionalise Luwum-inspired values in school life by embedding Luwum’s holistic intellectual, Christian humanism (spiritual, moral, social, civic) into vision and mission statements, codes of conduct, assemblies, and religious co-curricular activities, not education lessons. Similar value frameworks have been utilised to shape inclusive school culture and identity elsewhere (Watson et al., 2025; Kizza & Mubiru, 2023; Fincham, 2025).

  The Silent Educational Legacy of Archbishop Janani Jakaliya Luwum: An Empirical Review · 2026 · DOI

• The argument will present and contextualize the work of Wagenschein and Klafki, educational theorists who are not well known among Anglophone theorists of RE, but who offer insightful considerations of the holistic formation of the person to which RE can make a vital contribution.

  After religious education: lessons from continental pedagogy · 2023 · DOI

• Finally, I outline what in particular the teenagers themselves believe is lacking in the RE classroom and what they regard as the key features of their Hindu faith.

  The lived religious beliefs and experiences of English Hindu teenagers at home and at school · 2023 · DOI

• The survey revealed a lack of consensus across programme leaders as to how the NOS relating to values and beliefs should be interpreted and whether their graduates are being sufficiently equipped to work with diverse religious communities.

  The ‘Secular Culture’ of Youth Work Training: Are English Universities Equipping Youth Workers to Work with Diverse Religious Communities? · 2023 · DOI

• Amidst some public concerns about these schools and as so little is known about them compared with other school sectors, a new heuristic device is offered to support leadership practice in supplementary and mainstream schools, and to encourage research particularly in the areas of governance, leadership and management.

  Supplementary schools with connections to religious organisations in the United Kingdom: A heuristic device for school leaders and researchers · 2020 · DOI

• The articles affirms that in the theological system of knowledge the phenomenon of information culture should be studied in view of the systems-based approach according to which society is an integral interaction system of social institutes – economic, political, social, faith-based institutions that guarantees its self-development basing on gained social and cultural experience.

  INFORMATION CULTURE OF TEACHER IN THE SYSTEM OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION · 2020 · DOI

• MPA curricula and public affairs research have rarely addressed contemporary antisemitism, yet we argue for including conversations about antisemitism in MPA classrooms.

  Talking about antisemitism in MPA classrooms and beyond · 2019 · DOI

• While an overwhelming majority of people in the USA support some form of school-based sexual education, the specific content and context for that instruction varies widely, making it difficult to assess support for particular types of programmes.

  Evangelical Christian parents’ attitudes towards abstinence-based sex education: ‘I want my kids to have great sex!’ · 2016 · DOI

• Whilst schools in England and Wales are legally obliged to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of children, little is known about how initial teacher training providers prepare trainees to do so.

  Losing the whole child? A national survey of primary education training provision for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development · 2015 · DOI

• In the advancement of our understanding of the nature and development of student learning, learning approaches (LA) take center stage, usually differentiated These styles are conditioned by aspects of the context and the student, but religion has not been studied.

  IS RELIGION INDEPENDENT OF STUDENTS’ APPROACHES TO LEARNING? · 2013 · DOI

• In order for the distinctively anthropological attitude not to be limited to a criticism of the often essentialising and reifying conceptual and ideological uses of the concepts of ‘religion’, ‘culture’ and/or ‘identity’ in this domain, I hold that ethnography can contribute to overcoming this gap by empirically analysing the interwoven and often dialectic relationship between the discourses of the pedagogical-intellectual sphere and daily educational praxis.

  A doubly reflexive ethnographic methodology for the study of religious diversity in education · 2011 · DOI

• The authors suggest that the topic of religions should be studied where it naturally arises and differentiate what can be taught in elementary grades (study of family, community, various cultures, the nation, and other themes and topics may involve some discussion of religion [76]) and in secondary grades (literature, social studies, the arts, and electives - particularly using primary sources).

  Annotated Bibliography of Materials for Spirituality in the Classroom: Fostering Social and Emotional Learning and Developing Moral Schools · 2011

• Yet, the sad saga of priestly child abuse of young men and boys, a dilemma that, tragically, is not limited to the United States, to Catholic clergy, or religion generally, has been reasonably well-chronicled in the secular press but has not been subject to much in the way of independent academic or empirical scrutiny.

  The Impact of Pedophile Priests on American Catholic Education: Reflections of a Cradle Catholic¹ · 2010 · DOI

• These remain to be studied. Generalizations of a high order which religion, interactions among consider politics and educational administration are unavailable—perhaps because of lack of data; perhaps because of inadequate research tools to handle cultural diver- sities; perhaps because of lack of interest in such generalizations due their limited applicability; or perhaps because of a possibility that there could not be any.

  Religion Through Politics In Israeli Education · 1972 · DOI

• 197-198) The Outline further indicates that "As many basic selections as possible should be studied in the original Hebrew, most of them intensively, and some of them, perhaps, through cursory translation.

  An Analysis of Selected Courses of Study of Conservative Congregational Schools Part I · 1970 · DOI

• 1. It is urged that public school co- operation be obtained and information secured about religious school students, and that accurate pupil records be kept in the religious school. 2. There is a necessity to re-think and improve the type of reporting to parents prevalent in religious schools. 3. That eighty-two per cent of the Junior Life Adjustment Booklets{%), of a secular, general nature, dealing with aspects of human behavior and person- ality, were borrowed should point out the need for this type of literature for the eleven-year old child in the religious school, even if such materials be made available in public schools. 4. The time spent in the children's homes and the public schools totaled one hundred hours. If an entire school popu- lation were to be counseled, a full-time guidance counsellor is required. The ideal situation requires every teacher to assume the responsibilities of counseling each child in his classroom. This is the cur- rent theory in guidance — employing teacher-counselors. Then the work of the professional guidance worker or coordi- nator is greatly reduced. The author recommends teacher-counselors and pro- fessional guidance workers for religious schools. 5. At least one I.Q. measurement for each child, no matter how it is obtained — if secured from reliable sources, is a necessity. It is currently an unmet need in Jewish schools. 6. To meet an unmet need in the reli- gious school, group meetings for accelera- tion and for remedial work should be introduced. Group meetings should not be indiscriminate, separate functions of the religious school, as has been hitherto established. They should be an integral part of an organized guidance program, which holds that the total development of each individual is paramount. 7. Parents must be readied to accept guidance testing before it can be intro- duced successfully. The proportion of parents endorsing testing in this study was sufficient to merit its widespread usage in other schools. Guidance testing must have a place in the religious school. Above all, a trained person must be put in charge of administering, grading, and interpreting the tests. Downloaded by [Universitaetsbibliothek Dortmund] at 08:54 14 October 2014 A GUIDANCE EXPERIMENT 57 8. According to the reaction of the students and their parents, the experi- ment laid the foundation for introduc- ing group orientation into other schools. 9. The study pointed out the necessity of early recruitment of potential teachers. 10. Public school work takes prece- dence over religious school work. The conclusion should be taken into considera- tion in curriculum construction. "Frills," which might not be construed primary or necessary, should be eliminated. Only those experiences relevant to enriching and strengthening the student's identifica- tion with Judaism and developing positive attitudes toward it, through self-under- standing and problem solving, should be the underlying objectives of the curricu- lum in the Jewish school.

  A GUIDANCE EXPERIMENT IN THE RELIGIOUS SCHOOL · 1962 · DOI

• Who can assail the thesis that a study of the Book of Job so presented is ex- tremely relevant and meets a definite felt need of the student and constitutes a sig- nificant experience? Study and Practice Does this mean that the program of adult Jewish studies must be limited to the past? No, not at all.

  Moral and Spiritual Values in Adult Education From a Jewish Standpoint · 1953 · DOI

• T o t al resP°nses The present writers have included in the tables only those suggestions which were mentioned most frequently. All ideas were o r igi n al w i th t he s e n i o rs themselves. Some We have considered the replies of students s t u d e n ts m a de onty o ne of the recommeda- to questions concerning church attendance and prayer. The last topic to be considered t l o ns l l s t e d: o t h e rs m a de m a ny: w h l le &** • is the recommendations seniors made for w e re s o me of t he 5 0° s ^ e ne w h o se r e c o m" home, school, and church in promoting mendations were not listed at all because of growth in the understanding and practice of t he ^frequency with which the suggestions moral and spiritual qualities. You will re- w e re mentioned. The third item of Table 6, recommends that schools should make greater call that seniors were asked to write separate, e f f o rt t0 s t r e ss m o nd a nd ^ " t u al values, anonymous discussions on each of the topics mentioned above. Students who made this suggestion elaborated i the point considerably. They added such / j j i- • -, , -, • • 1 ,- • „. Five hundred of the discussions which , . c , gave recommendations for home, school, and church in promoting growth in moral and spiritual qualities were selected on the basis of length in order to get comments from the most articulate students. Tables 6, 7, and 8 classify the recommendations made by these 500 students. 1 1 t- i , 1 1 j statements as these: r ' ' h°o1 u rSe b°ys a nd ^i r ls t0 £° t0 c h u r c h, [n s c u »Emphasize t he f a ct ±eIe dfess of h ow o ne w o r s hi H i m,. is a G o d> re_ "Children aren't satisfied to just be trained to be great athletes, or singers, or what have you, when thirteen years, at Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 14:00 11 November 2014 THE FAITH OF YOUTH 341 least, are ahead of them before reach- ing that goal." A boy summed up a general idea when he wrote, "Somewhere along the line, a factor in our daily living is lacking. The trouble, in my opinion, lies in the absence of the correla- tion of the churches' preachings . .. the schools' teachings and "The schools can teach, but not preach, just as they teach government, but not politics." The number of requests for a class in the various world religions was not impressive in numbers, but was in respect to earnestness. Closely associated with this request was that of 38 students who expressed the wish that the church, school, and home work to- gether for mutual respect for all religious creeds. In Table 7, which offers recommendations for the home, the largest number of students, 303, or three-fifths of the 500 discussions which were analyzed, pleaded for parents to help their children while young by sending them to Sunday school, teaching them pray- ers, and giving general religious guidance. There seemed to be some confusion in the minds of young people as to this early reli- gious training. In spite of the fact that they paid tribute to its value, 112 of them pro- tested against parents' forcing religious train- ing or conviction on children. The wish that parents would set the example in church attendance was expressed negatively, "I don't go because my parents don't go," or, "Why should parents send their children off to church and not go them- selves?" On the other hand, some of the boys and girls would say, "it means so much when the whole family goes to church." There were few suggestions for the church. The writers were interested to note the fre- quently repeated statement that church ser- vices should be dignified and spiritually up- lifting. The wish behind thought seemed to be a desire to carry something away from church itself, that was spiritually sustaining. this Quite a contrast, but not a contradiction was the recommendation of fifty-five people, one-tenth of the total number of people whose papers were considered, that the church should take an active interest in pro- viding good recreational activities. Church clubs seemed to mean a great deal to young people, and were mentioned as a source of attraction to get boys and girls to come to church. In considering the responses to the last question one point seems clear. The fact that 468 responses were made on the home, in comparison with 176 on the school, and 115 on the church, would seem to indicate that these young people felt the importance of the home in their religious attitudes to be strong.

  The Faith of Youth As shown by a Survey in public Schools of Los Angeles · 1949 · DOI

• The complex link between religion and COR mirrored the contradictory findings in earlier research [22, 43, 56].

  Establishing the moderating and mediating roles of religiosity and demographic characteristics on the influence of secular morality on corruptibility of undergraduate students · 2026 · DOI

• 9 Study limitations This study focused on Filipino children and their perceptions of God in relation to their parents’ religious influence.

  Children’s perception of God and parents: basis for faith development framework · 2026 · DOI

• However, parallel exploratory efforts have been underreported for religious education except the limited pedagogical emphasis placed on visual aspects of religious objects.

  Olfactorizing religious education · 2023 · DOI

• The first phase of the investigation examined responses to an open question in which headteachers at a Catholic diocesan conference were invited to indicate their three most pressing challenges.

  Headteachers in Catholic schools in England: contemporary challenges. A follow-up research study: part 2 · 2022 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Religious Education and Schools

• Religious Socialization: A Test of the Channeling Hypothesis of Parental Influence on Adolescent Faith Maturity · Journal of Adolescent Research · 2003 · 95 citations
• The interaction of students’ scientific and religious discourses: two case studies · International Journal of Science Education · 1997 · 87 citations
• Do Street‐Level Bureaucrats Discriminate Based on Religion? A Large‐Scale Correspondence Experiment among American Public School Principals · Public Administration Review · 2020 · 81 citations
• Discrimination Against Muslim American Adolescents · The Journal of School Nursing · 2011 · 55 citations
• The Religiosity of Children of Immigrants and Natives in England, Germany, and the Netherlands: The Role of Parents and Peers in Class · European Sociological Review · 2014 · 51 citations
• A Longitudinal Study of Religious Doubts in High School and Beyond: Relationships, Stability, and Searching for Answers · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion · 2002 · 49 citations
• Self-Esteem and Religiosity: An Analysis of Catholic Adolescents from Five Cultures · Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion · 1979 · 47 citations
• Religion and Habitus: Exploring the Relationship Between Religious Involvement and Educational Outcomes and Orientations Among Urban African American Students · Urban Education · 2010 · 46 citations
• An In-depth Review of Conscientiousness and Educational Issues · Educational Psychology Review · 2022 · 44 citations
• Interfaith Learning and Development · Journal of College and Character · 2021 · 40 citations

Most recent work

• The role of Islamic education in promoting tolerance and interfaith dialogue: insights for Catholic educators · International Studies in Catholic Education · 2026
• Negotiating morality: Religion, education, and moral foundations in a dual-cultural context · Journal of Moral Education · 2026
• Which Characteristics Do School Boards Value When Hiring School Administrators? Experimental Evidence from American Christian Schools · Educational Administration Quarterly · 2026
• Teachers as facilitators of exploration in lower secondary religious education: classroom perspectives from Norway · British Journal of Religious Education · 2026
• From Filipino values to virtues: proposing a reflexive practice framework for religious teacher education in the Philippines · British Journal of Religious Education · 2026
• “We’re All for Spiritual Education, Just Don’t Call It That”: Spirituality in Secular State Schools in Israel – Between Conceptualization and Legitimacy · Religion & Education · 2026
• Educational Leadership Transformation in Traditional Settings: Policy Adaptation and Distributed Authority in Indonesian Pesantren · Leadership and Policy in Schools · 2026
• Religiosity and evolution: Exploring Greek primary teachers’ attitudes toward theory of evolution · Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education · 2026
• Muslim children as a threat · Contemporary Islam · 2026
• Enacting interreligious learning in Indonesian Islamic education: a phenomenological study of teacher practice · Frontiers in Education · 2026

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