Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society 3030679683, 9783030679682

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Zehavit Gross Suzanne D. Rutland

Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society

Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society

Zehavit Gross · Suzanne D. Rutland

Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society

Zehavit Gross School of Education Bar-Ilan University Ramat Gan, Israel

Suzanne D. Rutland Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies University of Sydney Sydney, NSW, Australia

ISBN 978-3-030-67968-2 ISBN 978-3-030-67969-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the support of the Pratt Foundation for our earlier study of Jewish Education in Australia. Better Balanced Futures (BBF), the multifaith umbrella organization established in New South Wales to support Special Religious Education provided ongoing support for the last two years. In particular we would like to thank its Director, Mr. Murray Norman, who assisted by writing to the six main faith providers inviting directors, teachers, and graduates to volunteer for the study, as well as organizing the transcriptions. We would also like to thank other members of the BBF team including Paul and Michelle Green for their assistance. We are indebted to the volunteers (the teachers, directors, policymakers, and graduates) who willingly shared their experiences with us in their interviews. We would like to thank all those who hosted us during our trips to Australia in Sydney (New South Wales), Brisbane (Queensland), Melbourne (Victoria), and Hobart and Launceston (Tasmania). Mrs. Miri Rubinstein and Mr. Boaz Polcheck, librarians at Bar Ilan University, provided us with invaluable assistance throughout. As well, we would like to thank Mr. Mark McCrindle for permitting us to use the graphs and diagrams from the two visual reports that his company prepared and Mrs. Roni Rajasingham for her designs of other diagrams we used in the book. Zehavit Gross Suzanne D. Rutland

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Contents

1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 The Challenges: A Rapidly Changing World and Decline in Religious Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 Major Societal Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 Multiple Religious Discourses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Secularisation and the Decline in Affiliation to a Specific Faith Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Growing Religious Diversity in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.2 Research Population and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.3 Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.4 Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.5 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.6 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Part I

1 1 3 3 5 6 9 13 13 15 17 19 19 20 21

The Australian Background

2

Historical Background and Structure of SRE in Australia . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Religious Education in the State Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Religious Education: The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 The “Right of Entry” System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 State Aid to Government Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 Initial Challenges to Right of Entry Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27 28 29 33 34 37 39

3

Current Challenges for SRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 The Australian Academic Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Organisation and Scope of SRE/RI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 The New South Wales 2015 Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

41 42 47 48 vii

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3.2.2 3.2.3

Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teacher Accreditation, Professional Development and Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.4 Curricular Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.5 New Modes and Patterns of Delivery Using Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.6 Complaints Procedures and Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.7 Registration of SRE Boards, Associations and Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 The Department of Education’s Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Advantages of SRE/RI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 Parental Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.3 Challenges of SRE/RI Organisational Structure . . . . . . . 3.4.4 Teaching in an Age Appropriate Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.5 Time Allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.6 Problems of Discipline and Lack of Professional Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.7 Essentialist, Authoritarian Teaching Styles . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.8 Accreditation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.9 Reasons for Opposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.1 Advantages of SRE/RI and Christian Privilege . . . . . . . . 3.5.2 Importance of Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.3 GRE, Secular Religion and Ethics, or Worldview Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.4 Debate Over Left-Wing Bias in Universities . . . . . . . . . . 3.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part II 4

49 49 50 50 50 51 51 53 53 54 55 57 57 58 58 59 60 61 61 61 62 62 64 64

The Advantages of SRE in the Post-modern Period

Values Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Values Education and Its Importance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 The Intrinsic or Extrinsic Dimension of a Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 The Theoretical Development of Understandings of Values Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Family/School Partnerships and Values Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Parental Values, Religiosity and School Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 The Search for Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7 National Framework for Values Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7.1 Nine Values for Australian Schooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9 Major Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9.1 Respect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

69 70 71 72 75 76 78 78 79 80 82 82

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4.9.2 Loving Kindness, Care and Compassion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9.3 Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9.4 Righteousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9.5 Being Good Citizens and Part of Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10 Key Factors in Teaching Values in SRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10.1 Belief in God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10.2 Role of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11 Advantages of Teaching Values in SRE/RI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11.1 Benefits for Government Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11.2 Meaning of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11.3 Reinforcing Parental Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.12 Discussion and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.12.1 SRE/RI Complements and Strengthens Secular Values Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.12.2 Differences of Emphasis Between the Faith Traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.12.3 Differences in the Religious and Secular Approaches and Contributing Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.12.4 Developmental Stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.12.5 Advantages of Teaching and Learning Values Through SRE/RI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

83 84 85 85 86 86 87 88 88 90 92 92

Cultural and Religious Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Identity Formation Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 The Concept of ‘Identity Capital’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Religion as an Element of Identity Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Sense of Belonging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6 Multiple Identities, Pluralism and Religious Identities . . . . . . . . . 5.6.1 Pluralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6.2 Individuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.7 The Role of the School in Fostering Cultural and Religious Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8.1 Role of SRE/RI in Developing a Coherent Identity . . . . . 5.8.2 Spiritual Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.9 Multiple Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.10 Sense of Belonging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.11 Providing a Supportive Environment for Religious Identity Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.12 The Importance of Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.13 Parental Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.14 Difference Between Western and Eastern Religious Understandings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

103 104 106 108 108 109 110 110 112

93 94 94 95 96 98

113 115 115 116 117 117 118 119 120 120

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5.15 Discussion and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 6

7

8

Spirituality, Health and Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Spirituality, the Integrative, Non-confessional Approach and Confessional Religious Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Wellbeing and Positive Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 Wellbeing: The Focus on the “Greater Good” and Giving to Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 The Concept of ‘Wholeness’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.3 Health and Religious Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.4 Wellbeing and Values Education: Australian Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 The Importance of Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 Positive Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.3 The Role of Prayer and Meditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.4 The Significance of Giving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.5 Sense of Belonging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.6 Countering Youth Suicide and Other Negative Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 Discussion and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Educating for Multiculturalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Can Liberal States Be Culturally Neutral: Multiculturalism and SRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Defining Multicultural Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Catering for Religious Diversity in Education Policy . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Models of Religious Education and Australian Multiculturalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5 Australian Government Schools and Integrated Schooling . . . . . . 7.6 Countering Fundamentalism and Extremism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.7 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.8 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.9 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Countering Religious Bullying in the Playground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Background to Australian Racism and Antisemitism . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Racial and Religious Bullying in the Schoolyard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Background Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.1 The Types of Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.2 Student Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.3 Creating a Safe Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

127 128 129 130 132 133 134 136 136 138 139 142 143 143 145 149 153 156 157 158 159 162 164 166 171 173 174 177 178 179 181 183 184 188 189

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8.4.4 Affiliation and Sense of Belonging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.5 Role of SRE/RI Teachers as Caregivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5.1 Social Cohesion and School-Based Prejudice . . . . . . . . . 8.5.2 Issue of Denial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6 Conclusions and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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191 191 192 194 195 197 199

Part III Bringing SRE into the Twenty-First Century 9

Pedagogic Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Current Educational Theories and Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.1 Socialisation and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.2 Essentialist vs Constructivist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3 Experiential Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.4 Informal Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.5 Reflective Teaching and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.6 Differences Between Instrumental and Reflective Teaching Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.7 Religious Education: Which Teaching Style Is Better? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.8 Religious Education: An Interpretative Approach . . . . . . 9.2.9 Pedagogic Bricolage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 Pedagogic Issues: The New South Wales 2015 Review . . . . . . . . . 9.4 SRE Teaching as a Profession and/or a Vocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6 Teachable Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.7 Socialisation and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.8 Experiential Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.9 Exploration and Expressing Doubt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.10 The Role of the Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.11 Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.12 Moving On-Line with COVID 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.13 Discussion and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.13.1 Indoctrination vs Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.13.2 Accreditation, Monitoring and Transparency . . . . . . . . . . 9.13.3 Educating Against Fundamentalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.14 Pedagogical Bricoleurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

203 203 205 205 206 207 209 211

213 215 216 216 218 218 220 221 221 222 224 225 226 228 229 230 230 231 232

10 Thematic Curriculum Analysis: Teaching Care and Compassion in SRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1 Introduction and Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

237 238 246 247

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10.4 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 11 Conclusion and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1 Implications for Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

267 272 274 275

Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract In the postmodern world, there have been radical changes in human society. This is an era of globalisation. The traditional boundaries that separated ideologies and communities are being broken, creating a change in the “sense of place.” The digital innovations—Facebook, Twitter, the internet, smart boards—are transforming the education scene. With the internet and Kindle, the whole notion of literacy has changed. The values that may have been context-specific and unique in particular social milieus are being challenged in the light of a global perspective and increasing secularisation. In addition, a key characteristic of “fluid modernity” is individuation, where each individual constructs, confirms, and maintains her/his identity according to her/his choice, desires, and tendencies. The current era brings with it a breaking and blurring of all kinds of boundaries—national, social, political, technological, and in communication. Within this complex picture, the validity of religion is being questioned and the percentage of the population which is affiliated with a specific faith group is declining. Yet, many people thought that with secularisation, religion would die, but this is not the case, and religion is still a very important actor in contemporary society. This creates significant challenges for religious education in government schools. As such, we seek to explore generational differences to help to illuminate the broader generational shifts and to highlight how, within the challenges of the post-modern world, current research highlights that it is still meaningful to teach values education within the framework of Special Religious Education (SRE) in the government school system.

1.1 Introduction This book seeks to analyse the role, importance and value to society of maintaining Special Religious Education/Instruction (SRE/I) in government schools in Australia. The study focuses on the main faith communities in Australia and issues relating to how this system of Religious Education (RE) operates in the different Australian states. It includes the main Abrahamic monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as the Baha’i faith, and the Eastern religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. It also aims to discuss ways that the present system can © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_1

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1 Introduction

be improved through greater transparency and accountability, and by understanding current thinking and pedagogy in relation to religious education. This section, Part I, presents the introduction and background. In Part II, the book will discuss the major reasons as to why SRE is still of value to contemporary society. Part III will then discuss ways to improve the provision of SRE, so that its overall framework and pedagogy is relevant and appropriate for the twenty-first century. This part will include a thematic curriculum study with an analysis of the teaching and learning by the different faiths in SRE on the theme of “care and compassion”, one of the key elements of the Australian Government’s values framework document. The final part, Part IV, will summarise the main conclusions and recommendations of this in terms of our findings. The starting point for this book is that Australian schools are entering a new era: one of continuous change and renewal, restructure and reconstruction, reform and transformation. The current era brings with it a breaking and blurring of all kinds of boundaries—national, social, political, technological, and in communication. The validity of religion is being questioned and the percentage of the population which is affiliated with a specific faith group is declining. This creates significant challenges for religious education in government schools. As such, we seek to explore generational differences to help illuminate the broader generational shifts, and to highlight how, within the challenges of the postmodern world, current research highlights that it is still meaningful to teach values education within the framework of religious education. It is important to differentiate between beliefs and values, as they are not synonymous terms. Values are based on a rational premise, so it is important to be able to justify the reasons behind a value. On the other hand, beliefs are not rational, but emotional—something one feels intrinsically within oneself, which can be influenced by cultural transmission and the nature and temperament of a person or impulse (Hill 2010). In recognising the importance of emotional and social factors for student learning both from empirical and neurological research, in the last two decades there has been a greater focus on developing these skills through Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) so that the focus has shifted from just cognitive learning to affective engagement (Singh and Duraiappah 2020; Kress and Rotstein 2018). The aim of this study is to argue that there is a confluence between ethics/moral education and religious education, and that it is still very important to enable parents within the government school sector to have the choice of SRE/RI for the education of their children. This relates both to the major societal changes taking place and to ensure that those who want a religious approach for their children will still have that opportunity. At the same time, this study will argue that there is significant value in religious education for society, provided that it is offered within a reflective rather than a dogmatic framework. Currently, there is polarisation towards SRE and its value to our contemporary society, both at the global level and in Australia. Those opposed to SRE/RI give examples of problematic elements in Christian SRE that are due to the failure to ensure professional development for all providers (Byrne 2009, 2013, 2014; Bouma and Halafoff 2009; Maddox 2014), while those who support SRE/RI are

1.1 Introduction

3

worried about the closure of these classes, which they passionately believe should be maintained. Objective research has demonstrated the importance of religious belief to health and wellbeing, a key aim within the Australian state government curricula. Our aim in this book is to argue for a system of SRE for those families who choose SRE classes where students will be immersed in their own religious and cultural heritage and values, while at the same time having respect for all other faiths and cultures. The teaching of General Religious Education (GRE) is, therefore, also very important and we argue for a combination of the two, in what has been termed “cooperative education” (Schweitzer and Boschki 2004).

1.2 The Challenges: A Rapidly Changing World and Decline in Religious Practice We live in time of rapid change. The way we make sense of our context and what society values is increasingly being shaped by a more global perspective. This section will first discuss the major societal changes that are taking place, then the emergence of multiple religious discourses and finally, the decline in specific institutional affiliations to a faith community.

1.2.1 Major Societal Changes In the postmodern world, there have been radical changes in human society. This is an era of globalisation. The traditional boundaries that separated ideologies and communities are being broken, creating a change in the “sense of place.” The digital innovations—Facebook, Twitter, the internet, smart boards—are transforming the education scene. With the internet and Kindle, the whole notion of literacy has changed. The values that may have been context-specific and unique in particular social milieus are being challenged in the light of a global perspective. In addition, a key characteristic of fluid modernity is individuation, where each individual constructs, confirms, and maintains her/his identity according to her/his choice, desires, and tendencies (Bauman 2000, 2004). We live in a highly materialistic society. With the effects of globalisation and transnationalism, there has been “the commodification of educational programmes whose purposes are underwritten by economic forces” (Swanson 2010, p. 137). Resulting from this neoliberal agenda, vital considerations embedded in human nature relating to spirituality and wellbeing have been neglected. Pluralism is another key concept in modern society, but it is a complex one with a multiplicity of meanings. It incorporates three major elements: methodological, political, and cultural, which are separate but overlapping. The methodological or philosophical element refers to different points of view in contrast to monism or

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1 Introduction

absolutist approaches; political refers to the individual’s right to choose between different strands of thought or identification; and cultural relates to the development of multicultural theory and cultural pluralism (Conyer 2011). Another key process that has intensified is secularisation. The theory assumed that religion and traditional values would vanish with the progress of time and the advance of modernity, and this would pave the way to a stronger emphasis on, and prioritisation of, humanistic values. Well-known veteran Australian journalist, Greg Sheridan, has published an important eBook, God Is Good: A Defence of Christianity in Trouble Times (2018). In his introduction, he argues that this prioritisation of humanistic values is problematic because it removes the purpose of human existence and the transcendent nature of religions, whether it is Christianity or other religious beliefs and practices. He notes the ongoing removal of religion from the public space, with the state also starting to restrict religion: “These are small steps so far, but they will become bigger steps in time. It is very difficult now to teach scripture in a Victorian state school. Queensland education bureaucrats moved to discourage children from mentioning Jesus in the playground” (p. N/A). He argues that the growing secularisation and the potential “death of God” as having negative repercussions on the fabric of Australian society and aims in his book to demonstrate the importance and value of religious belief. Given that Australia is largely a Christian society, his book focuses on Christianity, but his message relates to all religious beliefs. Sheridan also points out that the loss of belief in God does not stop people from believing, but that their belief can include “a whole miscellany of ideologies and esoteric cults”, and can also lead to polarisation within society with “sudden outburst of hysterical sentiments” (p. N/A). While Sheridan is a controversial commentator, he does raise issues which are challenging in contemporary society. We have seen this in the increasing fundamentalism within religious belief, so that in fact, the opposite of secularisation has happened for some sectors of society. Events such as the fall of the Soviet Union where every effort was made to suppress religion but did not succeed and the current leadership has moved strongly in the direction of religious Christianity; the strengthening of fundamentalist religious beliefs and policies in Iran, Turkey and elsewhere; the attacks on 9/11; and the growth of religious evangelism in the United States with the election of Donald Trump all show that religion is still a major actor in the twenty-first century. We have seen a growing trend of terrorism in the name of God, which utilises modern technology to promote anti-modern agendas (Huntington 1996), and Australia has not been immune to these developments. This has blurred the dichotomous categories of traditionalism and modernity, and shows that multiple religious discourses have emerged with both negative and positive facets.

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1.2.2 Multiple Religious Discourses Australia’s development as a multi-faith society is a recent phenomenon. In the 2016 census figures, around 52% of the population identified as Christian. The newer faith traditions, such as the Hindus, Buddhists and Baha’i, are growing in size as is the Muslim population in Australia. As mentioned above, we live in a social context in which there are multiple agendas, discourses and interests continuously interacting with each other and with existing social patterns. Multiple voices of many groups are being heard in the current era. As a result, approaches to social processes in education, which may have been appropriate in past eras, are no longer relevant and new ways are being explored to deal with the challenges of the twenty-first century. When considering the concept of SRE/RI, educators are faced with multiple agendas and a plethora of interests, motivations, tensions and conflicts: what does being religious mean and how important is it to maintain religious beliefs, of whichever form, within our current society? This is the crucial question in terms of SRE/RI (Gross and Rutland 2015). Traditional religious approaches, for example within Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have rejected pluralism and have tended to be absolutist. Modernity has challenged this approach. SN Eisenstadt (2000) was the first sociologist to argue that modernity is not a simple, coherent unity, but contains many facets and interpretations: Modernity liberates individuals from the constraining bonds of tradition generating a multiplicity of options that give rise to choice and pluralism. Yet at the same time modernity imposes certain forms of discipline, uniformity, rationalization and social control that counters individual liberation. (p. 5)

This multiplicity is intertwined with Bauman’s (2000) notion of fluid modernity, which implies that our life is characterised by constant change and endemic uncertainty in which we have to be flexible. Modern life is fluid as opposed to the firm and solid life of the past. These challenges have been magnified in 2020 with the onset of the viral illness of COVID19 which has become a global threat, resulting in millions being affected and creating an even greater sense of change and uncertainty. A key characteristic of fluid modernity is individuation, where each individual constructs, confirms, and maintains her identity according to her choice, desires, and tendencies. Twenge (2009) has demonstrated that the major generational and psychological shift is to a focus on the individual (the “me generation”), rather than on broader social needs (p. 399). Clearly these developments are very relevant for contemporary Australian society and are particularly problematic for religious education in general and SRE/RI in particular because religion tends to focus on the community rather than the individual. Religion in general is traditionally communitybased; a key religious value is that community needs should take precedence over individual needs. This focus on community is seen in the charitable works conducted by Australian churches, with the Catholic Church in Australia being the second biggest deliverer of social services after the government (Sheridan 2018). This is one

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of the major challenges of contemporary society, because of the destructive element of focusing on the individual, rather than the community. The school is a major social actor that facilitates the journey into modernity through its crucial role in the formation of the moral development of its students. Therefore, given these negative trends with the declining influence of religion and its focus on community, the Australian government needs to recognise the importance of maintaining religion in the public space in general, and in our school system through SRE/RI in particular.

1.3 Secularisation and the Decline in Affiliation to a Specific Faith Community There is a substantial literature on the theory of secularisation. In this section we shall only give a broad outline to some of the major developments in the theory of secularisation, since this is beyond the scope of this study and deserves a separate study. The focus of this book relates to religious education, but a brief overview helps to position this research within the broader Australian societal context. According to the secularisation theory, which emerged in the late 1960s with the writings of Peter Berger, traditional religious belief and practice would disappear in the face of modernity, and secularisation would prevail. This process began with the period of the Reformation, which promoted the concepts of rationality and individualism. These forces, together with the concept of freedom of religion and belief, completely changed the role of religion in society. Bruce (1996) argues that “individualism threatened the communal basis of religious belief and behaviour, while rationality removed many of the purposes of religion and rendered many of its beliefs implausible” (p. 230). This was a slow and complex process, which took place over four centuries and was also connected to the rise of the nation-state where the Church no longer had the same power and control (Davie 2000). With the emergence of democratic political structures and a focus on egalitarianism in the modern world, people have freedom of religion, but also the freedom not to be religious (Davie 2000). This has resulted in the shift to a secular lifestyle, particularly in the Western World. This has further undermined the power of religious institutions. José Casanova (1994), another scholar who addresses the secularisation theory, has proposed a more complex approach. He has delineated three different areas relating to the theory: firstly, secularisation which separates secular spheres from religious institutions and norms; secondly, the decline in religious beliefs; and thirdly, religion being marginalised to the private sphere. Davie (2000) posits that this categorisation allows for a more accurate analysis of religion in different parts of the world. With the turn of the twenty-first century, two scholars, Richard Dawkins (2006) and Christopher Hitchens (2007), wrote books which are highly critical of institutionalised religion. Dawkins is a Professor of Evolutionary Biology, who is a well-known

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public intellectual and has written widely on issues relating to science and philosophy. In his book, The God Delusion, Dawkins argues strongly for the secular case as a “staunch” atheist. As he explains in his preface, he chose the title for his book because the definition of delusion is “a persistent false belief in the face of strong, contradictory evidence” (p. 5). Dawkins’ aim in his book is to dispel the God myth and instil pride in being an atheist by raising “consciousness to the fact that to be an atheist is a realistic aspiration, and a brave and splendid one” (p. 1) and to ensure that “religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down” (p. 5). He argues that the “vice” of religion is due to “childhood indoctrination” (p. 6) and in the subsequent chapters he sets out to explain why religion is so harmful to society, focusing on the irrationality of religious belief; the absurdity of creationism; difficulties due to religious opposition to homosexuality and abortion; and the problems of fundamentalism, which he claims is fostered by non-fundamentalist religion “by teaching children, from their earliest years, that unquestioning faith is a virtue” (p. 286). He complains about the privileging of religion in otherwise secular societies, and quotes from an article he wrote for the New Statesman that while religious advocates are not required to explain the rational basis of their beliefs “the rest of us are expected to defend our prejudices. But ask a religious person to justify their faith and you infringe ‘religious liberty’” (p. 23). As such, in a highly readable text, he seeks to deconstruct religion and to highlight all the problems of the traditional biblical texts and the belief in a personal God. In his book God Is Not Great: How Religions Poisons Everything, journalist Christopher Hitchens (2007), also argues that religion is harmful to society and advocates for secularism. In his introductory chapter, he outlines his main reasons for rejecting religion: There are four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos; that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum of servility with the maximum of solipsism; that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression; and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking. (p. 4)

In the subsequent chapters he outlines the violence and death that have resulted from religious conflicts, discredits the major religious texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and then deals with his other strong objections to religion. As with Dawkins, he sees religion as a man-made construct built on the indoctrination of children, which he argues is a form of child-abuse. The arguments for the secularist theory and the negative effects of religious beliefs have also been taken up strongly within the field of educational theory, with many scholars arguing against special religious education. Particularly since the beginning of the twenty-first century secular scholars have argued about the irrationality of religion and the dangers of fundamentalism and religious education, and against special religious education whether in faith schools or government schools. For example, Hand (2003) published an article arguing for the abolition of faith-based schools because he claimed that all in-faith religious education is indoctrination. In response to critical articles by Siegel (2004), who supported his conclusions but disagreed with his process, and Short (2003) and Groothuis (2004) both of whom

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rejected his basic arguments and conclusions, he published a further article by Hand (2004). Again he focused on the statement that “no religious proposition is supported by rationally decisive evidence… Religious beliefs do not qualify as knowledge precisely because the evidence in support of them is not sufficient to settle the question of their truth or falsity for rational people” (pp. 344–345). Hand adds to the charge that religious education is indoctrination of children, which he claims does injury to children because it interferes “with their minds in the most serious way possible” and “prevents them from thinking rationally about their lives” (p. 352). These views are supported by both Dawkins (2006) and Hitchens (2007) in their arguments that religion is not rational. The increasing violent fundamentalism since September 11, in 2001, has led to further concerns being expressed about religious fundamentalism. In her book, Unsafe Gods (2014), Lynn Davies argues in support of a secular approach in education for security and safety reasons, including taking a critical approach to the holy texts. She believes that traditional, institutionalised religion has led to fundamentalist violence and as such has negative ramifications for contemporary society. As part of these radical changes there has been a significant decline in organised religion across the Western world and also in Australia, especially since Dawkins and Hitchens published their books advocating a secular agenda. Over the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of Australians nominating “no religion” on the census, with almost one in three Australians (32%) not identifying with any religion (McCrindle 2017; Bouma and Halafoff 2017). The percentage of non-believers has increased with the younger generations, who are also more likely to change their religious beliefs from those of their family. The decline of belief in Christianity is very clear, with almost two thirds of the generation born between the interwar period and World War II (1925–1945) believing in Christianity, compared with the current generation where less than a half of the population are believing Christians (Fig. 1.1). In 2017, the research firm, McCrindle, undertook a study of faith and belief in Australia. They used a mixed method approach, with a quantitative national survey

Fig. 1.1 Graph indicating Australia’s changing religious landscape from 2017 census, McCrindle 2018 (Source ABS)

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of 1,024 Australians, and three focus groups encompassing a total of 26 interviewees who did not identify as Christians. In their survey, the question on religion was tightened to “What religion do you currently practise or identify with?” They also provided an option for participants to indicate if they were “spiritual but not religious.” They found that 45% identified with Christianity with a further 14% identifying as spiritual but not religious, making a total of 59% (p. 7). This compared with the 2011 census findings of 61% identifying as Christians. As the graph above illustrates, while religions other than Christianity have been gradually increasing their proportion of the population, Christianity has been decreasing from 61% in 2011 to 52% in 2016. There has been a particularly steep increase in the “nones” between 2001 and 2016 with the numbers describing themselves as “no religion” doubling from 15% in 2001 to 22.5% in 2011 to 30% in 2016. These figures reflect significant social changes within Australian society in the twenty-first century. It is possible that there is some under-numeration because some small Christian groups instruct their members not to answer the question on religion, so that the true figure for Christians may be 55% not 52%. Demographers of the Jewish community also argue that there is significant under-numeration. However, when analysing the figures according to age, the decline is even more obvious. It is important to note that whilst the number of believers is declining, there is still a substantial number of Australians who have some form of religious belief, even if they are not active participants in that faith’s religious practices, such as attending church. Thus, as the McCrindle Report argues, “religion in Australia is not dead” (p. 11), but it certainly is being challenged in Australia. We analyse these trends in more detail in our chapter dealing with religious identity. Reassessing the role, importance and value of SRE against this background of rapid societal change and the emergence of diverse populations is of central importance. Religious beliefs, including the non-Christian faiths that are growing in size in Australia, can contribute to societal well-being and it is important to maintain some confessional teaching within the public space of our schools in New South Wales for those parents and children who wish to maintain their religious beliefs and practices (Norman 2019). Opposition to religion and the increasing secularisation of contemporary society has led a polarisation where there is, on the one hand, radical atheism, and on the other hand, emerging religious fundamentalism, and this is seen across the religious faiths as will be discussed in the next section.

1.4 Growing Religious Diversity in Australia With the end of the White Australia policy, immigration, first from Asia and more recently from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has resulted in greater religious diversity in Australia. As a result, Australian society is becoming an increasingly multi-faith society. In the 2016 census figures, around 52% of the population identified as Christian and another 10% not stating their religious identity (Fig. 1.2).

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Fig. 1.2 Diagram of the religious spread from the 2016 Australian census, McCrindle 2018 (Source ABS, Census 2016)

The newer faith traditions and faiths, such as the Hindus, Buddhists and Bahá’í, are growing in size as is the Muslim population in Australia (Gross and Rutland 2018). With their increase in size, we have included the smaller, non-Christian faiths in our study, because together they now represent around 10% of Australia’s population and are increasing not only numerically but also proportionately (Figs. 1.3 and 1.4)

Fig. 1.3 Diagram of the increase of the minority religions, showing in particular the significant increase of Muslims from 1.6% in 1991 to 5% in 2016 (Source ABS, Census 2016)

Fig. 1.4 Schemata indicating the increase in each of the religions other than Christianity and Judaism since 1991 (Source ABS)

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due to current migration trends and a tendency to have larger families than established Australian citizens. The concept of increasing secularisation has been challenged and the concept of “a massive secularisation of international and national politics seems to be far away” (Skeie 2006, p. 19). The theory assumed that religion and traditional values would vanish with the progress of time and the advance of modernity, and this would pave the way to a stronger emphasis on, and prioritisation of, humanistic values. Whilst we have seen increasing secularisation on the one hand, we have seen increasing fundamentalism within religious belief on the other hand. So, in fact, the opposite to secularisation has happened in some sectors of society. As in Europe, for many of the newcomers, “religious identification takes on a unique status in supporting their efforts to establish their identity as minorities” (Mitchell 2005, p. 414). As a result, in-faith religious education which fosters a reflective and dialogical approach can play a key role in the social integration of the different religious groups in Australia. The re-emergence of religion in the public sphere creates new challenges in terms of the relationship between the state and religion. It is a complex issue that involves many different layers. In the light of these developments, the role of religious education within the state system needs to be revisited and new approaches found to meet this educational challenge. This is important in terms of countering antisocial behaviour and fostering better interethnic relations. Indeed, Gearon (2012) has argued that “one of the implications of this has been the ‘securitization of religion in education’, where religion in education is put not simply to political but security issues” (p. 164). Furthermore, it is important in terms of countering antisocial behaviour and fostering prosocial interethnic relations (Fig. 1.5). In addition, global immigration has increased religious diversity creating significant demographic changes, and this includes Australia. So, with this increasing religious diversity and the emergence of religion as a security issue (Gearon 2015), “religious education needs to remain on the agenda of state-funded education” (Sakaranaho 2018, p. 112). Wang (2013) also argues that “educators should recognise religious diversity as a cultural phenomenon in society” (p. 152). Australia is not unique in needing to recognise that religion and religious education is a public issue which needs to be managed, despite the number of Australians who identify themselves as “no religion” or “nones” (Bouma and Halafoff 2017). This has become a global issue, with different approaches and solutions being trialled. Thus, the key questions for the government to consider in terms of multiculturalism are: 1. Should the state provide religious education in schools or should this be left to the religious communities? 2. Should religious education be a confessional, in-faith approach (as with SRE/RI) or should it be more general religious education offered in a secular fashion with a focus on ethics and philosophy? 3. Who should be involved in organising religious education—only the states or should religious authorities also have a role to play?

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Fig. 1.5 Diagram indicating the relationship between SRE/RI, multiculturalism and security

Whilst religious freedom is recognised as a key right within a democracy, there is a great deal of debate within Australia about the questions listed above. This book argues that Australian multicultural society will be the poorer with the exclusion of religious education from the public sphere, that students need to be grounded in their own religious faith and identity, and that a partnership is needed in religious education, rather than a top-down approach. Such a partnership between the state and religious communities allows for a shared responsibility, producing more effective results. As Valk and Tosun (2016) have argued: Exploring one’s beliefs and values (one’s worldviews) requires a journey into one’s “inner territory” – into one’s heart, soul and mind (Knowing Self ). But… Knowing Self requires Knowing Others, imperative in an increasingly global world. (p. 105)

The concept of worldview education has been discussed in recent scholarship due to the changing religious profile, with the increasing numbers defining themselves as “nones” as shown in Fig. 1.1. Van der Kooij et al. (2017) have defined worldview education as having three main characteristics: firstly, combining religious and secular views because of the changing religious landscape, meaning that it is more inclusive; secondly, being “organised” in that it draws on a tradition of texts; and thirdly, as dealing with existential questions relating to issues such as the meaning of life (pp. 172–173).

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The issues relating to General Religious Education (GRE) and Worldview Education relate to contemporary debates on these broader concepts which involve “learning about” and “learning from” (Jackson 2014; Valk and Tosun 2016; Van der Kooij et al. 2017; Halafoff and Bouma 2019), but the focus of our research has been Special Religious Education/Instruction (SRE/RI), which is different from the GRE/Worldview approaches. We posit that while both approaches are necessary since religion is still a major player in the contemporary world, this book examines SRE/RI. We seek to investigate the advantages and challenges of the voluntary system SRE/RI within government schools in Australia through a qualitative research study as discussed in the next section.

1.5 Methodology This book has developed from a previous research project carried out from 2009 to 2015 within Jewish SRE/SRI and the current, broader project, which has included six main faith communities in eastern Australia, operating across Bronfenbrenner’s ecological system, as discussed in this section.

1.5.1 Background The research for this book emerged from a previous ethnographic study which used grounded theory methodology, a qualitative research method that aims to investigate systematic social processes existing within human relations and actions (Strauss and Corbin 1997). This study was conducted between 2009 and 2015 in the two major Jewish centres—Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney, New South Wales—and included the triangulation of interviews with all key stakeholders (principals, teachers, students and parents); class observations; and analysis of major curricula documents and information on the relevant websites (Gross and Rutland 2014, 2015). We found that SRE provided a “safe place” for Jewish children because of playground antisemitism, that the students loved to come to these classes and that they added positive value to the Jewish children’s government school education. At the same time, beginning in 2010, we participated in the deliberations of the Religion, Ethics and Education Network of Australia (REENA) relating to the debate about the value of SRE and we were dissenting voices in the final “Statement of Principles” which was published in 2013 (https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/4483185/reena-statement-ofprinciples-and-actions-religion-ethics-and-) as discussed in Chapter 3. Based on this research, the resultant publications and our participation in REENA, we were invited in June 2018 by the newly established, multi-faith group, Better Balanced Futures (BBF), then active in New South Wales and currently developing a national profile, to write a report for the New South Wales government on the value of SRE, to be presented to the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian.

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Over the subsequent five months we worked on an extensive literature research on all the key issues relating to both SRE and GRE (World Views RE) on which we based the report presented to the premier. We also spoke at a major event held at Parliament House in November 2018 in Sydney, together with then Minister of Education, Rob Stokes, and Shadow Minister Jihad Dib. This function was attended by representatives of all the major faith groups in New South Wales with around 500 participants, illustrating the importance attached to the maintenance of SRE in the state. We were also invited to the northern state of Queensland and met in its capital, Brisbane, with representatives of the major faiths, when we presented our research findings, as well as key bureaucrats from Queensland’s Department of Education. This led to our being invited to be external assessors for their major review of Religious Instruction (RI) curricula and the establishment of clear guidelines for the teaching of SRI. SRE/RI has been maintained in both these states but as discussed in Chapter 3, Victoria ceased offering SRI in curriculum time after 2015. Building on that experience, BBF then invited us to write a second research report on the advantages of SRE/RI for the federal minister of multiculturalism. This report was presented as well to the New South Wales Minister of Multiculturalism at Parliament House in May 2019. This presentation was attended by the key leadership of the different faith communities. The meeting took place shortly after the mass shooting attack at the mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, by Brenton Tarrant, who grew up in the town of Grafton in northern New South Wales. The Bishop of Grafton participated in the intense discussion as to how to combat such fundamentalist extremism and the role of religious education in combatting such prejudice. Our report stressed the importance of a combination of SRE and GRE in what is termed “cooperative education” (Schweitzer 2007; Schweitzer and Boschki 2004) to foster social cohesion in multicultural and multi-faith Australia. In both our original research into Jewish RE and then this broader study we form an insider/outsider team. Research has shown that “the researcher’s background inevitably affects every aspect of the research, from research questions to conduct of data collection to analysis. But it is the participants’ voices we seek, their meaning we must discover” (Court and Abbas 2013, p. 481). In our case, Suzanne Rutland was the insider researcher who was born and grew up in Australia and has firsthand knowledge of attending SRE classes, or as is colloquially known as “scripture classes”, and of the nuances of the local education scene. Zehavit Gross grew up in Israel and so is the outsider researcher. However, we both share commonality with our European Jewish origins, with family Holocaust backgrounds, religious orthodox beliefs and at the same time a broad, liberal perspective which includes a desire for gender equality, inclusiveness and recognition of the intrinsic worth of all religious beliefs and the importance interfaith dialogue. Working together, we have become close friends and understand “what each of us brings to the table and how we complement each other” (Court and Abbas 2013, p. 484). Rutland is an historian and brings an historical perspective to our research and Gross has an international reputation in the field of religious education, its theory and practice. Our joint perceptions are like seeing an object with binoculars—the two of us are able together to magnify an issue and this enables a better understanding of the situation

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than if we were working by ourselves. Flores posits that “the insider/outsider debate is also consistent with ‘emic’ versus ‘etic’ perspectives where the ‘insider’ researcher is better positioned to develop theory from the ground up (emic), rather than from an ‘outsider’ top-down approach of applying theory to qualitative data (etic)” (Flores 2018, p. 3), but in our case our experience is not as binary. Our positionality is much more fluid and fits more in the constructivist understanding of the insider/outsider debate. Based on the research documents utilising an extensive research literature search that we wrote for the New South Wales government in 2018 and 2019, we decided to broaden our initial study of Jewish SRE for this book to include six major faith groups in Australia: Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and the Baha’i faith. We again used grounded theory methodology and drew on material from oral interviews including all six faith communities, as well as meetings with political and religious leaders and key stakeholders in the various faith communities during an intensive visit in August 2019, which included all four eastern states: New South Wales, where we again had a major presentation in Parliament House, Sydney, with the Minister and Shadow Minister for Education speaking; Brisbane, Queensland; Hobart and Launceston, Tasmania; and Melbourne, Victoria. The interviews and meetings enabled us to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and advantages of SRE/RI, as discussed in the next section.

1.5.2 Research Population and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory The research population for this study drew on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) multisustained ecological theory, which was inspired by both Vygotsky’s theories that child development can be analysed either within a limited or broader context of the environment in which it occurs. The environment is impacted by a number of micro, macro, meso and exo systems and these, in turn, have a significant impact on the child’s world, values and education. Our interviewee population is illustrated in Fig. 1.6, which draws on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory. The immediate (micro) environment includes the nuclear or extended family, the peer group and their relationships such as parent–teacher relationship, parent and peer group, nuclear family and extended family. The experiences of the child in the immediate family, the religious community, youth group and place of worship (Gross 2013; Waghid and Davis 2014) have a far-reaching impact on the child’s religious beliefs and values (Francis 2005), especially when combined with the education that their parents want to give them and the values they impart, as discussed in Chapter 4. In regard to this ecological level, our interviews included graduates of SRE/RI classes, and some of the teachers who were also parents. In addition, there is the impact on values development of the wider political and social (macro) context, which can also have far-reaching influences on the shaping

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Fig. 1.6 Diagram of SRE/RI and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory

of the student’s religious identity, values, and religious education within which the child grows. In relation to this ecological level, we met with key politicians in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, in the latter two states in focus groups and in the former also on a one-on-one basis with the newly elected Opposition Leader of the Labor Party, Jodi Mackay and with a key member of the state’s Department of Education. As well, the mesosystem, namely the relationship between the connections in the immediate environment and the existing institutions, such as schools and SRE/RI providers, the residential area, and the exosystem, in terms of the community and religious institutions, can be seen to have a far-reaching impact on religious identity, values and education. This level was included in terms of the interviews, both individual and focus groups; formal meetings with individuals and groups; and informal meetings, with two dinners organised by the Muslim leadership in Sydney, one consisting of representatives from the Abrahamic faiths and the second with a key Muslim personality and a former police commissioner who was very involved with the faith communities; an informal lunch meeting with Christian leaders in Hobart and dinner with the rabbi of Tasmania in Launceston. These social meetings provided the opportunity for informal and in-depth interviews and focus group discussions which enabled us to gain a deeper insight into the broader meso- and exosystems in terms of the Australian religious communities and their institutions. As such, these informal social meetings were a research technique organised by BBF and ourselves. The restaurants where these meetings took place became research sites which helped to validate our findings and increase our understanding of this complicated and challenging issue. They created a synergy between the researchers and the field of research.

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As well, we were interviewed on public radio in Brisbane (Austin 2018; Prater 2019) and Sydney (O’Doherty 2018), articles were published in the general press and this created significant debate within the community (Bennett 2018; Caldwell 2018; Rinaudo 2018; Sandeman 2018; and Sheehan 2019). After our radio interview in August 2019 in Brisbane with Vision Radio, the Queensland Parents for Secular State Schools created a petition for the Queensland state parliament against the SRI program. In a Facebook post encouraging people to sign the petition, they wrote: We’ve previously posted a radio interview they did with Steve Austin on ABC radio which was pretty eye-opening for the anorexia and body harming (sic) are because of a decline in faith, and for the barely concealed disdain for those who don’t have a religious faith. Well, here’s another interview, except this one’s on Christian radio 20Twenty and they are even less guarded about their dim view of the lives of those who don’t have religious beliefs; Non-religious people have meaningless lives, apparently. And the way they go on about how important religion is to have in schools you’d be forgiven for thinking that non-religious students simply don’t exist, or at least are not worthy of consideration.

To support their argument, they quoted from the critique of Professor Marion Maddox, whose book we discuss in Chapter 3. She stated: The claims made about the need for values education have little connection to the actually existing Christian SRE programs that I examined (see my previous analysis of ACCESS Ministries curriculum). Both the explicit and hidden curriculum in Christian SRE programs that I and my research assistant Cathy Byrne examined proved to embody values significantly at odds with the principles of inclusion, toleration and value for everyone that underlie public schooling. (Facebook Post 2019, August 27)

This petition in which they advocated for a worldview religious education program and requested a Queensland parliamentary review of RI was submitted to the parliament on September 15, 2019, with 4198 signatures (https://www.parliament.qld. gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/petition-details?id=3145). In Victoria, a newspaper article by well-known religious scholars, Anna Halafoff and Gary Bouma, highlighted the Queensland debate and also argued in support of GRE/World Views education, criticising our arguments in support of SRE/RI, without specific reference to our research (Halafoff and Bouma 2019). However, neither the Queensland petitioners nor the other advocates for GRE/World Views acknowledged the fact that we argued in our report on multiculturalism for a combination of GRE and SRE, which we shall elaborate on in Chapter 7. These community debates were part of the research field, fitting into Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory at both the macro and exo-levels (Norman 2019).

1.5.3 Tools We prepared a semi-structured, open ended questionnaire with the following questions being approved by the human ethics procedure of the University of Sydney:

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1. Tell us about yourself. {Possible: Which faith tradition to you belong to? Where do you live? How do you define yourself? How did you become involved with SRE/RI? What role do you play?} 2. What do you see as the advantages of maintaining SRE/RI in government schools? 3. What do you see as the major challenges of teaching and learning for SRE/RI? 4. How does SRE contribute to values education? 5. How does SRE foster the spirituality, health and wellbeing of students at both the primary and high school levels? 6. How does SRE help to strengthen students’ individual identities? 7. How does SRE educate for multiculturalism? 8. How does SRE assist students in responding to any prejudice against religion? 9. What was your most meaningful experience in teaching SRE, including teaching on-line? The responses to these questions formed the basis for the “finding” sections in Chapters 3–9 and provided very rich data for this study. SRE/SRI teachers in the government schools consist of three main groups: retired teachers, who retain an interest in teaching; university students, who are also young graduates of the system currently studying at university; and young mothers who do not wish to take on full-time work while they have young children at home. Most work in a voluntary capacity, although Christian SRE teachers in New South Wales high schools are mainly salaried and work full-time. Jewish RE teachers are also paid, mainly on a casual basis. The graduates we interviewed come from varied backgrounds, both in terms of religious observance and their wider ethnic backgrounds. Most of the directors of the providers either work full-time in SRE/RI or are in full-time positions within their religious institutions. In terms of the individual and focus group interviews, we had a total of 58 participants. These consisted of seventeen Christian interviewees: one from Queensland; three from Victoria in a focus group, and two individual interviews; and eleven individual interviewees in New South Wales, two of whom were graduates. There were twelve Muslim participants: two individual interviews from Queensland; three in a focus group in Hobart; and five in a focus group in New South Wales, two of whom were teacher/graduates and another two graduates, as well as two individual interviewees. With Jewish RE there were six individual interviewees in New South Wales, two of whom were graduates/teachers; and one individual interview with the Victorian director. Buddhist RE had nine individual interviewees in New South Wales; Hindu RE had seven individual interviewees from New South Wales, one of whom was a graduate/teacher and later moved to Queensland and one Hindu leader from Tasmania; and Baha’i RE had five individual interviewees from New South Wales, two of whom were graduates. In a few cases some of the teachers were converts, especially to Buddhism, and spoke about their conversion. The phenomenon of Christian children joining Buddhist RE is discussed in Chapter 9.

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1.5.4 Procedure We first received ethics approval from the Human Ethics Committee of the University of Sydney, including stressing the voluntary nature of the participation and promising full confidentiality and anonymity. According to the ethical requirements of the University of Sydney, the principal researchers cannot recruit participants directly, in case they feel that they are being pressured to participate. We requested the director of BBF to write to the providers within the six faith communities researched and they then contacted their teachers and graduates requesting all volunteers to contact us directly if they were willing to participate in this study. This opt-in process was conducted according to the ethical procedure of recruitment required by the University of Sydney. Once a volunteer contacted us, a time was organised for the interview, which initially was conducted in person and then, because of the geographical distance, permission was received to conduct interviews by Skype. This proved very helpful with the onset of lockdowns due to COVID 19, when the last question relating to pedagogy was revised to allow for information relating to teaching and learning online to be added to the pedagogy question listed above. For Chapter 10 we used a different methodology of content analysis. For this chapter we examined and analysed the lesson plans dealing with the core values of care and compassion of seven different religious providers operating within the SRE framework: Anglican, Baha’i, Baptist, Buddhist, Catholic, Islamic and Jewish. The plans were chosen by the providers and sent to the BBF director as part of our 2018 New South Wales study. In our analysis of the discourse we drew on the theories of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and the threshold concept, as discussed in the chapter. The goal of this research approach to the specific curricula material being used by the different faith communities added to the oral interviews and formal and informal meetings we conducted to produce an integrated, holistic description of real-life events, and to establish a framework for discussion and debate relating to SRE/RI pedagogy (Lovat 2003).

1.5.5 Analysis Using a grounded theory approach according to the constant comparative method (Strauss 1987), data from the three sources (interviews, observations, and documents [official curricula from providers]) were analysed, thus enabling triangulation (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Strauss and Corbin 1997). The analysis consisted of five stages: (1) open coding, in which recurring topics were identified and defined (e.g. relevance, choice); (2) axial coding, involving the formulation of categories defining criteria and continuing theoretical sampling (the challenges and advantages of SRE/RI, including

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values education, identity formation, spiritual health and well-being, multiculturalism, discrimination and the pedagogical issues of informal and experiential education, interactive learning, relevance, stimulating, quality, fun and social and emotional learning); (3) selective coding, which consists of refining and finalising criteria to include a series of categories (such as values, identity, well-being, multiculturalism and core curriculum); (4) formulating the hierarchy and identifying core categories (for example analysing the most meaningful teaching and learning experiences of SRE/RI teachers); and (5) creating a category-based theoretical structure linked to the literature and proposing theoretical models.

1.5.6 Limitations A limitation of this study is that we could not use a fully random sample for our interviews. The human ethics requirements of the University of Sydney stipulate that all interviewees had to volunteer for the study, so that as the researchers we were dependent on those interested in contacting us. It is highly probable that the volunteers included the more reflective teachers, who were willing and indeed very keen to speak about their experiences with teaching and learning SRE/RI. As well, since BBF began its activities in New South Wales, the numbers of interviewees is skewed to this state, although we do have representatives from the other three eastern states of Australia. Due again to ethical considerations and time limitations, we were unable to conduct classroom observations in the government schools, a process which is fairly complicated in terms of gaining approval, as we did for our longitudinal study of Jewish SRE/RI in Melbourne and Sydney. Despite these limitations, this qualitative methodology, with its detailed description, provided us with rich data, enabling us to elicit the relevant information and reaching a better understanding of the current Australian SRE/RI government system, with all its tensions, dualities and complexities. This is one of the few studies which moves beyond the Abrahamic faiths, to include the smaller eastern religions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Baha’i, which are growing in size in Australia as discussed in this chapter. Whereas quantitative research is product-oriented, qualitative research is an ongoing process where data is collected in a sensitive and thoughtful manner in a spiral, rather than linear, process. In this process, the researcher can create a multi-layered picture in what has been termed a “thick description” (Geertz 1973). In qualitative research in general, and in particular in research covering such a sensitive and complex topic as in-faith, confessional religious education, the researchers are the main instrument of the research (Lincoln and Guba 1985) because of the way they listen to their interviewees, construct and deconstruct the data and take time to develop an understanding of the full picture vis-a-vis the central theories that constitute part of the research field (Eisner 1981; Silverman 2017). Thus, qualitative interviews become “sites of joint production of meaning” due to “the social and interactional nature of the research interview” (Asplund and Pérez Prieto 2020) so that interviews can operate as “sites of interaction” (Potter and Hepburn 2005), as

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occurred in our research, enabling triangulation which strengthens the reliability and validity of the research. Our discussion of the challenges and advantages of SRE/RI is further developed in Chapter 3 using this methodology, while Chapters 4–10 draw on the methodology discussed above shining a more focused light on the specific issues relating to our research and analysis of SRE/RI. The following Chapter 2 sets out to create an understanding of the historical context, both during the colonial period, where the different Australian colonies under British rule developed their separate education policies relating to religious education and, after the 1901 federation of Australia, as the different state systems evolved over the twentieth century. It is important to have a background knowledge of the intense historical debates and controversies around special religious education and government support for religious schooling to enable us to better understand contemporary developments, the focus of our qualitative research. The challenges that SRE poses are existential questions that have relevance to historical developments as well as to the postmodern world, and they can also impact on the future.

References Asplund S-B, Pérez Prieto H (2020) “Approaching life story interviews as sites of interaction” integrating conversation analysis with a life story approach. Qual Res J 20(2):175–187 Austin S (2018) Study says teaching values in school is not enough. ABC Drive, 21 Nov. https://www.abc.net.au/radio/brisbane/programs/drive/religious-leaders/10591766. Accessed 30 Nov 2019 Bauman Z (2000) Liquid modernity. Polity Press, Cambridge Bauman Z (2004) Identity. Polity Press, Cambridge, UK Bennett S (2018) Leaders have faith in change. Courier Mail, Brisbane, 11 Dec 2018 Bouma GD, Halafoff A (2009) Multifaith education and social inclusion in Australia. J Religious Educ 57(3):17–25 Bouma GD, Halafoff A (2017) Australia’s changing religious profile—rising nones and pentecostals, declining British protestants in superdiversity: views from the 2016 census. J Acad Stud Religion 30(2). https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.34826 Bronfenbrenner U (1979) The ecology of human development experiments by nature and design. The Harvard Press, Cambridge, MA Bruce S (1996) Religion in the modern world: from Cathedrals to cults. Oxford University Press, Oxford Byrne C (2009) Public school religion education and the “hot potato” of religious diversity. J Religious Educ 57(3):26–37 Byrne C (2013) ‘Free, compulsory and (not) secular’: the failed idea in Australian education. J Religious Hist 37(1):20–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9809.2011.01163.x Byrne C (2014) Religion in Secular Name: What in heaven’s name are we teaching our children? Leiden, Brill Caldwell F (2018) Faiths unite to review religious instruction in Queensland schools. Brisbane Times, 11 Dec. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/faiths-unite-to-review-rel igious-instruction-in-queensland-schools-20181211-p50lge.html Casanova J (1994) Public religions in the modern world. Chicago, University of Chicago Press Conyer B (2011) Pluralism in Jewish education. In: Miller H, Grant L, Pomson A (eds) International handbook of Jewish education. Springer, Dortrecht, pp 267–284

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Court D, Abbas R (2013) Whose interview is it, anyway? methodological and ethical challenges of insider-outsider research, multiple languages and dual-researcher cooperation. Qual Inq 19(6):480–488 Davie G (2000) Religion in modern Europe: a memory mutates. Oxford University, Oxford Davies L (2014) Unsafe Gods: security, secularism and schooling. Trentham Books, London Dawkins R (2006) The God delusion. Houghton Mifflin, Boston Eisenstadt SN (ed) (2000) Multiple modernities. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ Eisner EW (1981) On the differences between scientific and artistic approaches to qualitative Research. Educ Res 10(4):5–9 Flores D (2018) Standing in the middle: insider/outsider positionality while conducting qualitative research with opposing military veteran political groups. SAGE Research Methods Cases Part 2. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526437181 Francis LJ (2005) Independent Christian schools and pupil values: an empirical investigation among 13–15-year-old boys. Br J Religious Educ 27(2):127–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/014162004200 0336620 Gearon L (2012) European religious education and European civil religion. Br J Educ Stud 60(2):151–169 Gearon L (2015) Education, security and intelligence studies. Br J Educ Stud 63(3):263–279 Geertz C (1973) Thick description: toward interpretive theory of culture. In: Geertz C (ed) The interpretation of culture. Basic Books, New York Glaser B, Strauss AL (1967) The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research, Chicago, Aldine Groothuis D (2004) On not abolishing faith schools: a response to Michael Hand and Harvey Siegel. Theory Res Educ 2(2):177–188 Gross Z (2013) The attitudes of Israeli Arab and Jewish high school students towards extrinsic and intrinsic values. J Moral Educ 42(1):88–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2012.685803 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2014) Combatting antisemitism in the school playground: an Australian case study. Patterns of prejudice. London, Taylor & Francis Online, 48(3):309–330 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2015) Creating a safe place: SRE teaching as an act of security and identity formation in government schools in Australia. Br J Religious Educ 38(1):30–46. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/01416200.2015.1025699 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2018) Applying Montessori principles in China: the impact of being a situational minority on a particularistic Jewish heritage school. J Jewish Educ Halafoff A, Bouma GD (2019) It’s time to replace religious instruction with worldviews education in Australian schools. ABC religion and ethics, 26 Sept. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/replacereligious-instruction-with-worldviews-education-in-aust/11549050?fbclid=IwAR0zr1m3Jo9VF C36XKWUp-7HUl7ITuGUcFSvXzXzpj47xyDIIkgha41dPeA. Accessed 29 Sept 2019 Hand M (2003) A philosophical objection to faith schools. Theory Res Educ 1(1):89–99 Hand M (2004) The problem with faith schools: a reply to my critics. Theory Res Educ 2(3):343–353 Hill B (2010) Values education, mental reality constructs and student wellbeing. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 645–658 Hitchens C (2007) God is not great: how religion poisons everything. Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW Huntington SP (1996) The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. Simon and Schuster, New York, NY Jackson R (2014) Signposts: Policy and practice for teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews in intercultural education. Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg Kress JS, Rotstein E (2018) Promoting social, emotional, and spiritual learning in congregational, and day schools. J Jewish Educ 84(3):266–283. https://doi.org/10.1080/15244113.2018.1478530 Lincoln YS, Guba EG (1985) Naturalistic inquiry. Sage, Beverley Hills Lovat T (2003) The relationships between research and decision-making in education: an empirical investigation. The Australian Educational Researcher 30(2):43–56

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Maddox M (2014) Taking god to school: the end of Australia’s Egalitarian education?. Allen and Unwin, Sydney McCrindle M (2017) Faith and belief in Australia. Retrieved from the McCrindle website. https:// mccrindle.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Faith-and-Belief-in-Australia-Report_McCrin dle_2017.pdf Mitchell G (2005) Religion, theology and multiculturalism in universities: a case study of a European University. High Educ Policy 18:413–417. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300102 Norman M (2019) The critics are wrong: religion has a place in the classroom. Sydney Morning Herald, 29 Apr. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-critics-are-wrong-religionhas-a-place-in-the-classroom-20190428-p51hwp.html. Accessed 30 Apr 2019 O’Doherty S (2018) SRE helps children understand themselves and others. Open House Podcast. https://hope1032.com.au/stories/open-house/2018/sre-helps-children-unders tand-themselves-and-othes/. Accessed 21 Dec 2018 Potter J, Hepburn A (2005) Qualitative interviews in psychology: problems and possibilities. Qual Res Psychol 2(4):281–307. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088705qp045oa Prater M (2019) Vision Radio, Christian Media, Brisbane, 22 Aug REENA: Statement of principles—the Toledo guiding principles and the Council of Europe’s recommendations, 2013. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/4483185/reena-statement-of-pri nciples-and-actions-religion-ethics-and-. Accessed 18 Oct 2018 Rinaudo A (2018) SRE helps children understand themselves and others. Open House Interviews, 20 Dec. https://hope1032.com.au/stories/open-house/2018/sre-helps-children-understandthemselves-and-othes/. Accessed 21 Dec 2018 Sakaranaho TH (2018) Encountering religious diversity: multilevel governance of Islamic education in Finland and Ireland. J Religious Educ 66(2):111–124 Sandeman J (2018) Queensland’s state school students will get access to improved religious instruction (RI) in school as a result of faith groups coming together to form a peak body for RI in Queensland’s state schools. Eternity News, 11 Dec. https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/religionsunite-to-make-sure-students-get-world-class-religious-instruction/. Accessed 12 Dec 2018 Schweitzer F (2007) Religious individualization: new challenges to education for tolerance. Br J Religious Educ 29(1):89–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200601037551 Schweitzer F, Boschki R (2004) What children need: co-operative religious education in German schools: results from an empirical study. Br J Religious Educ 26(1):33–44 Sheehan C (2019) Wollongong Bishop defends religion in public schools. Catholic Weekly, 6 Feb. https://www.catholicweekly.com.au/wollongong-bishop-defends-religion-classes-in-pub lic-schools/. Accessed 6 Feb 2019 Sheridan G (2018) God is good: a defence of Christianity in trouble times. Allen & Unwin, Sydney Short G (2003) Faith schools and indoctrination: a response to Michael Hand. Theory Res Educ 1(3):331–341 Siegel H (2004) Faith, knowledge and indoctrination: a friendly response to Hand. Theory Res Educ 2(1):75–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878504040578 Silverman D (2017) “How was it for you?” The Interview Society and the irresistible rise of the (poorly analyzed) interview. Qual Res 17(2):144–158 Singh NC, Duraiappah A (2020) Rethinking learning: a review of social and emotional learning for education systems. UNESCO MGIEP, New Delhi Skeie G (2006) Diversity and the political function of religious education. Br J Religious Educ 28(1):19–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200500273612 Strauss AL (1987) Qualitative analysis for social sciences. Cambridge University, Cambridge, MA Strauss AL, Corbin J (1997) Grounded theory in practice. Sage, London Swanson DM (2010) Value in shadows: a critical contribution to values education in our times. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 137–152 Twenge JM (2009) Generational changes and their impact in the classroom: teaching generation me. Med Educ 43(5):398–405

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Valk J, Tosun A (2016) Enhancing religious education through worldview exploration. Discourse Commun Sustain Educ 7(2):105–117. https://doi.org/10.1515/dcse-2016-0019 Van der Kooij JC, de Ruyter DJ, Miedema S (2017) The merits of using “worldview” in religious education. Religious Educ 112(2):172–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2016.1191410 Waghid Y, Davis N (2014) Muslim education and its (in)commensurability with multiculturalism: some thoughts on the imaginative madrassah. Policy Futures in Educ 12(1):124–130. www.www ords.co.uk/PFIE Wang C-H (2013) Fostering critical religious thinking in multicultural education for teacher education. J Beliefs Values 34(2):152–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2013.802127

Part I

The Australian Background

Chapter 2

Historical Background and Structure of SRE in Australia

Abstract The aim of this chapter is to discuss the historical development of Special Religious Education, that is in-faith or confessional religious education, in order to provide background and create an understanding of the historical context. From the late nineteenth century the various colonial governments decided to move from a denominational school system to a system of free, secular education. This change was introduced in 1872 in Victoria and in New South Wales in 1880. One SRE/RI lesson a week, known then as “Right of Entry Classes”, but referred to colloquially as “scripture classes”, was introduced when ministers of the various religions were permitted to enter into government schools to teach students of their own denomination their specific religious beliefs. With the Australian federation in 1901, each state retained control of their own education system and the Right of Entry system was introduced into the six Australia states at different times and with different conditions as is discussed in this chapter. More recently these classes were renamed Special Religious Education (SRE) or Special Religious Instruction (SRI) with parents in each state being given the option of opting out of these classes and choosing either Special Ethics Education (SEE) in New South Wales or No Religion in both New South Wales and Queensland where the system has been retained. This chapter will discuss these developments into the twenty-first century and address the differences between each of the Australian states and territories.

Special Religious Education (SRE), that is confessional religious education, was introduced in Australia in the late nineteenth century when the different colonial governments decided to move from a denominational school system to a system of free, secular education. In Victoria this change was introduced in 1872 and in New South Wales in 1880. One SRE lesson a week, known as “Right of Entry Classes” (colloquially “scripture” classes), was introduced when ministers of the various religions were permitted to enter to schools to teach students of their denomination their specific religious beliefs. With the Australian federation in 1901, each state retained control of their own education system, but the Right of Entry system was maintained or introduced later in the various states. More recently these classes were renamed Special Religious Education (SRE) or Special Religious Instruction (SRI) with parents in each state being given the option of opting out of these classes and © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_2

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choosing No Religion, or, in New South Wales, Special Ethics Education (SEE), as alternative options, based on parental choice in an “opt-in” system. This replaced the previous “opt-out” system, where parents had to actively request that their children attend the “No Religion” option. This history of religion and religious education is reflective of Australia’s broader social and cultural changes. This chapter will discuss these developments until the twenty-first century.

2.1 Religious Education in the State Context There are different forms of religious education in the state schooling context, depending on the country’s beliefs as to whether religion and education should be completely separated or not. A focal point in the literature on religious education is the role that the state plays vis-à-vis religious education (Ziebertz and Riegel 2009; Gross 2003). Specifically, scholars are concerned with the different ways in which countries accommodate religion within their educational systems. Three types of states have been identified (Arthur et al. 2010; Leirvik 2010; Thobani 2010; Feinberg 2006; Knauth 2008; Jackson 2004, 2007; Cush 2007; Grimmitt 1994). The first type refers to countries, such as the United States, in which neither confessional nor non-confessional religious education is provided in state schools. This is based on the belief of the need for total separation of church and state. The second type refers to countries with a pluralist approach, where teaching of religion is included in the state curriculum, taught from a non-confessional and multifaith perspective (that is General RE or Worldview RE). In this type of country, private religious confessional schooling is an option and may even receive state funding, such as in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The third type refers to countries where confessional teaching of religion is authorised by the state, and state schools utilise confessional modes of religious instruction. This instruction may be aligned with the dominant faith in the country, such as Iran, or may be split along denominational lines according to the prominence of different faiths, as in the case of Israel, where the Jewish and the Islamic religious traditions each belong to a separate state-funded school system. Interestingly, in Australia, the SRE/RI component of state education has an element related to this third type of religious schooling, since it offers confessional religious education within the government schools along denominational lines, albeit only for one short period a week, with this teaching not being funded by the state. Within these three different state models of religious education one can have education about religion, education for religion and/or education through religion. General RE is education about religion, whilst SRE is education both for and through religion. However, education for religion has a fundamentalist focus, whilst education through religion means understanding morals and values within a religious framework.

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2.2 Religious Education: The Colonial Period A number of scholars have written about the history of education in Australia, and have touched briefly on religious education, within their broader approach (Barcan 1980; Campbell and Proctor 2014; Ely 2008; Hyams and Bessant 1972; Austin 1972). Other scholars have focused on the situation in specific Australian states (for example, Hyams 1988 [South Australia]; Mossenson 1972 [Western Australia]; Davis 1969 [Tasmania]; Turney 1969 [New South Wales]; Wyeth 1957 [Queensland]). The focus on the broader history of religious education is much more limited, with only a few scholars writing specific works relating to religious education (for example, Maddox 2014; Rossiter 1981). With the beginnings of the British colonial project in Australia in 1788, the prominence of the Anglican church in schooling was initially maintained with the colonial government assisting with funding schools within the Anglican system. The approach was conservative with the aim “to facilitate the civilizing and christianizing of the lower orders of society. In the particular Australian context this involved the associated objective of seeking to cancel the pernicious influence of profligate parents upon the children of the community” (Hyams and Bessant 1972, p. 9). This Anglican theological approach was fostered during the period of Governor Macquarie (1810–1821) who was a strong evangelist, and played a key role during his decade of leadership in developing the key state institutions. The Anglican monopoly was formalised in 1824 with the creation of a Church and Schools Corporation, but this approach was not very successful. In response to strong campaigns by the non-Anglican denominations, led by Catholics’ Father Joseph and Presbyterians’ Dr. John Dunmore Lang, Governor Bourke (1831–1837) was the first governor in New South Wales to try to change the system. He proposed extending government funding to the non-Anglican denominations and introducing what was known as the “Irish National Scheme”, which was based on a non-denominational Christian curriculum and removed the daily bible readings. However, Bourke was not successful due to strong opposition to the Irish system from the Anglican leadership, particularly Sydney’s Anglican Archdeacon, William Broughton, an Anglican evangelist. Broughton managed to win the support of Dr. Lang, who believed that the Irish system was a concession to the Catholics. In 1839, Bourke’s successor, Sir George Gipps, tried again but he faced the same opposition and failed due to “the rock of Anglican intransigence” (Hyams and Bessant 1972, p. 21). It was only in 1848, under the leadership of Governor Fitzroy, that the system was changed. This was partly due to the fact that Broughton had modified his position, due to the impact of the severe depression that hit the colony in the 1840s and his acceptance of the need for state aid (Austin 1972). Under the new act, a dual system was introduced, with government funding for parents choosing the public, secular system based on the Irish model, and state aid to the denominational school system. The management of the latter school system and its funding was in the hands of a Denominational Schools Board, which consisted of four members representing the

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four major Christian denominations (Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Roman Catholic). The Board was in charge of distributing the government funding on a proportional basis, using the numbers identifying with a particular denomination in the previous census to calculate the proportions (Barcan 1980). This system ended any preferential treatment for Anglican education. As the other colonies developed, the Anglican monopoly was also gradually replaced by the denominational school system, so that, by the late 1840s, all the colonies had moved to the dual system. Initially, this system provided funding for the different Christian denominations, but due to campaigns by the Jewish community, denominational Jewish schools were also established in both Sydney, New South Wales, and Melbourne, Victoria (Rutland 2001). Then, in 1866, New South Wales changed the dual system with the Public Instructions Act of 1866, which ended the dual system by establishing one Council of Education which would be responsible for both government and church schools. State aid to denominational schools was continued, but only if the school had substantial enrolments and agreed to be under the control of the Council of Education, including its inspection system (Austin 1972). This change was introduced due to the advocacy of [Sir] Henry Parkes, who served as the first president of the Council, was a strong advocate of state schools and later became premier of New South Wales, filling the position over five different terms as the colony’s longest non-consecutive serving premier between 1872 and 1891. After 1889, he played a key role in the federation of the colonies, leading to the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. Supporting Parkes’ advocacy for state schools, various groups began to campaign for free, secular compulsory state funded education, so that between 1870 and 1908 all the Australian colonies/states had passed legislation which ensured that primary education was compulsory with a free government school system which was controlled centrally by a department of education, under the government’s minister (Campbell and Proctor 2014; Austin 1972). Queensland, which separated from New South Wales in 1859, was the first colony to abolish all fees for public schooling in 1870. Victoria followed with the introduction of free, secular government schools in 1872, although school buildings could still be used for religious education outside of school hours. George Higinbotham was the key figure in the new law, and he was a strong secularist, but the full exclusion of religious education in class time only lasted for six years, with some walk back in 1878. South Australia, founded as a free settlement, introduced universal, compulsory schools for four years for primary school children in 1875, although government schools did not become completely free until 1892. From 1875, private religious schools no longer received state aid in the colony. New South Wales’ 1880 Public Instruction Act introduced compulsory, secular public education, ending the denominational schooling system and state aid to private schools. It was significant in moving public education from being aimed at “civilising” the lower classes, into a system for all citizens without social class distinctions, and also introducing state-funded secondary schools (Barcan 1980). However, the system only became fully free in 1906.

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Tasmania, which was the first state to introduce secular education in 1854, and making elementary education compulsory in 1868, was slower in introducing a full, free, education system, which was only done in 1908 (see table, Barcan 1980, p. 151). Thus, by the time of federation in 1901, “all the colonies had education acts enshrining free, compulsory and secular education” (Maddox 2014, p. 54). It meant that although “some formal links between religions and the state continued, financial links between colonial churches and the legislatures had been severed. The public colonial treasuries no longer paid clerical salaries, nor subsidised church building, nor supported church schools” (Ely 2008, p. 16). There has been significant debate as to the causes that led to this radical change in schooling policies. Hastie (2017) has delineated a number of hermeneutic approaches in explaining the reasons for this change. The pragmatic explanation is that the legislators introduced the new system due to their desire that the illiterate lower classes should be provided with some education to ensure literacy because the denominational system then in operation was chaotic and was not achieving this goal. As such, the concept of “secular” education was not the dominant motivation in the new approach. A more ideological explanation is that the removal of state aid fits into the theory of the liberal, secular progress in Australian history and culture, what Hastie (2017) calls the “Whig social history” explanation. For example, Austin argued that this was because of the “long-term influence of agnosticism, voluntaryism and liberalism” (Austin 1972, p. 174). This argument was extended by well-known Australian educator and historian, Barcan (1980) and more recently by Byrne (2013) and Maddox (2014). Within her argument, Byrne analyses the two key figures involved in introducing the new legislation in the two most populated colonies: Higinbotham in Victoria, who she sees as a true secularist, and Parkes who, she claims, “aborted the secular principle” (Byrne 2013, p. 32). However, Hastie (2017) argues that the older historians of the Whig school provided a more nuanced argument than Byrne and Maddox in that they also recognised the importance of the divide between Protestants and Catholics. Jean Ely (2008) provides a more complex explanation, discussing the various factors including the neo-Marxist perspective. She argued that: Politics is about power. In this period, this often meant power to serve economic and social ends… the political problems which progressively arose involved conservation, rather than radical changes. The task of the colonial politicians was to keep a good thing going. To use an industrial metaphor, politicians were “social engineers”. To use a commercial metaphor, politicians were the board of directors elected by the stockholders. (Ely 2008, p. 13)

Thus, from this point of view the new legislation was based on the desire of the Protestant mercantile class to control the lower classes and ensure stability (Hastie 2017). Free, compulsory education was limited to around four years of primary school education, which enabled a limited form of education. However, Ely argues that the word “secular” meant a non-sectarian approach to education, rather than a religiously neutral approach to state education. Others have explained that it was due to a crisis of patriarchy, with new means being needed to control women and children (Campbell and Proctor 2014).

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Even though the new legislation in the different colonies certainly marked the emergence of secularism in Australia, it was clearly a response to religious sectarianism (Hastie 2017; Ely 2008). The sectarian divide and anti-Catholic sentiments were stressed by speakers during the parliamentary debates, as outlined by various scholars. During and after the debates, there were different responses from the various Christian denominations. The Protestant churches supported the concept of voluntaryism so that they accepted the new, secular approach (Ely 2008), and only elite Protestant schools continued. On the other hand, the Catholics determined to continue their separate school system, a clear response of their opposition to the new legislation. When the 1872 Victorian Act for free, secular education in government schools was legislated, the Catholic Church was unprepared and was not sure how to react. In both South Australia and Queensland, the bishops were able to take action to ensure the continuation of the Catholic school system, but it was in New South Wales that the strongest campaign was run, led by Archbishop Vaughan, a Benedictine monk from England, who led the opposition during his term from 1877–1883. In 1879 Vaughan issued a pastoral edit, which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald. He warned Catholic parents against sending their children to government schools because they were founded on the “‘principle of secularist education’, designating them as ‘seedpots of future immorality, infidelity, and lawlessness, being calculated to debase the standard of human excellence, and to corrupt the political, social and individual life of future citizens”’ (Fogarty 1959, p. 250). Vaughan was not alone. In a Joint Pastoral Letter issued in 1879, the Australian Catholic bishops exhorted Catholic parents to send their children “exclusively to Catholic schools. Let them regard all other schools as no places for their children, who have to learn before everything else to save their souls; and who should be sedulously prepared by breathing a Catholic atmosphere, by living amidst Catholic teachers and companions, and by exclusively Catholic training, for encountering the perils of the world in which they will eventually be thrown” (as quoted in Rossiter 2011, p. 6). This led to the development of the Catholic systemic system, where Catholic children were educated in church buildings, with most of the teachers being members of the various Catholic orders for nuns and priests. A few elite Catholic schools also continued, where much higher fees were charged, but on the whole the Catholic system was run on the basis of minimal payment. Until the post-World War II years, these schools were able to maintain this system of providing basic, elementary education to Catholic children without state aid. However, as we will see, the decision to maintain a Catholic education system, where minimal fees were charged, was to have significant ramifications for the federal government educational policies from the 1960s onwards. The two Jewish schools in Sydney and Melbourne had different reactions: the Sydney Denominational School decided to close immediately, but the Melbourne school struggled on until it was forced to close in the 1890s due to the severe impact of the depression there (Rutland 2001). The development of a separate, private Jewish day school system had to wait until 1943, with the impact of European Jewish refugees, and later the Jewish Holocaust survivors (Rutland 2003).

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With the federation of the Australian states in 1901, responsibility for government schools continued at the state level, because states were not prepared to give up their control of the education system to the Commonwealth. The new states continued this dual system of education: what was known as the “public system”, which was fully funded by the governments; and what was known as the “private system”, mainly run by the churches and later by the Jewish and then the Muslim faiths. Yet, the separation of church and state was not total as Ely (2008) points out. Religious teaching was still permitted in the government system through the “right of entry” classes, although the government did not fund these classes.

2.3 The “Right of Entry” System With the exclusion of religious education from government schools, and the end of state aid, some form of compromise was needed. SRE classes began at the end of the nineteenth century, following the introduction of free, compulsory, secular education for all children to replace the denominational school system (Byrne 2013). In order to meet the needs of the different denominations, some of the colonial governments introduced a period for “separate, denominational, confessional teaching” with specific in-faith teaching by each religious denomination (Byrne 2009). Lovat (2010, p. 4) notes that “the rubric of ‘religious’, stressed the need for students to be inculcated into the values of their society, including understanding the role that religious values had played informing that society’s legal codes and social ethics”. The need to maintain religious values after the introduction of free, secular education was to be met through SRE. Initially called “Right of Entry” classes (known colloquially as “scripture”), the reasoning behind the introduction of these classes in New South Wales and Tasmania was, at the time, pragmatic, since the public had been accustomed to church-based education, and the reformers wanted to demonstrate that “state-based education was capable of meeting the same ends” (Lovat 2010). While the initial plan was for the compulsory scripture classes to be offered daily, once instituted, they were only offered on a weekly basis for half an hour. With the increasing secularisation of society in the second half of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, government education came to be seen as “values-neutral”. However, due to pressures from church groups, some form of religious education was gradually introduced in the other states, apart from New South Wales and Tasmania where it had been retained with the new Education Acts. In 1910, the Queensland government removed the word “secular” from its act, and introduced right of entry classes (later renamed “Special Religious Instruction”) and permitted the class teachers to give bible lessons, in what has been described as a response to “re-sacralise the curriculum” (Maddox 2014, p. 123). Victoria reintroduced religious education in 1878, although this was only formalised in 1950 in response to the Communist fears sparked with the Soviet conquests and the development of the Iron Curtain in 1949. In 1940, South Australia amended the Education Act to permit ministers of

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religion to enter public schools once a week to teach about their religion. In 1947, Western Australia introduced a policy permitting the schools day to begin with a prayer (Barcan 1980). Thus, by 1950 all states had introduced the right of entry system, permitting volunteers from the different denominations to enter school premises once a week to teach about their beliefs during class time for one period, which could range in time from 30 min to an hour. In Victoria, all Christian volunteers were trained under the rubric of the Council for Christian Education, which emerged from the Joint Council for Religious Instruction in State Schools founded in 1920 (https://trove.nla. gov.au/work/15012092?q&versionId=17671312). In 2007, it was renamed ACCESS Ministries, which was to face considerable criticism and controversy (Maddox 2014), as will be discussed in the next chapter. The other states were less coordinated in terms of Christian RE. The Jewish community also created central organisations for government right of entry classes, with the United Jewish Education Board being established in Victoria and the New South Wales Board of Jewish Education being formed in 1909, following the amalgamation of the Sydney Jewish Education Board, formed in 1880, and the Sydney Sabbath School (Kellerman 1979). Attendance at right of entry classes across Australia peaked in the 1970s, after which the strength of the right of entry classes began to wane, due to the weakening of the churches’ influence and the increasing secularisation, with the number of those identifying as “no religion” in the census increasing. As a result the number of “scripture” classes declined. The fact that the teachers operated on a voluntary basis and were often irregular in their attendance added to the problems, as did the large size of the classes (Barcan 1980). It was in this milieu that the private religious schools faced increasing challenges, especially in the Catholic systemic system. This led to the issue of state aid emerging once more in the 1960s.

2.4 State Aid to Government Schools When the 1880 Education Act was passed in New South Wales, the Catholic hierarchy thought that the end of state aid would not last long and that “justice would prevail”. In September 1879, Archbishop Vaughan had predicted that the new act was a “prelude to fair-play… We may, and possibly shall be worse off before we are better off. When we have lost everything, then our day will begin”, but this took much longer than he predicted. As Fogarty commented eighty years later in response to Vaughan’s 1879 statement: “a lapse of three-quarters of a century has so far failed to soften sufficiently those ‘kind feelings’ towards Roman Catholics and reverse the decision that went against them” (Fogarty 1959, p. 254). Fogarty’s 1959 comment was written two years before Vaughan’s prediction that when “we have lost everything, then our day will begin” eventuated. By the early 1960s, the Catholic systemic system faced an increasing financial crisis due to the demands due to the increasing body of knowledge and the larger numbers of children

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moving into secondary schooling as the compulsory school age increased, so that more professionally trained teachers were needed, as well as an expansion of school buildings and improvement of facilities at all levels. The church was not in the position to fund improving the school infrastructure and employing more professionally trained teachers within their systemic system, which only charged very low fees. This placed significant pressures on the government. The problem first emerged in regional New South Wales in the city of Goulburn. The provision of toilets in one of the Catholic primary schools did not meet government standards, and the school leadership was informed that they could not continue with the current situation. However, the school did not have sufficient funds to undertake the required changes and stated it would have to close. After a protest meeting held in the town, it was decided that it would not only close the school in question, but all six Catholic schools in Goulburn and send the children to government schools. However, the public school system could only accommodate about one third of the students, so that after a week the government relented and the schools reopened. As Maddox states they had “made their point” (Maddox 2014, p. 58). This event led to a political battle both in the Australian Labor Party, as well as between the two major political parties, the Liberal Party (which was really conservative), led by long-serving prime minister, Robert Menzies, and the Australian Labor Party. The latter had traditionally been very opposed to state aid, so that when the New South Wales branch, which was controlled by the more right-wing Catholic faction, proposed federal government funding for science blocks, the federal body opposed the suggestion. Instead, Menzies took up the proposal, offering to fund science blocks in non-government schools if he won the 1963 federal election, an obvious ploy to attract the Catholic vote. The Liberal Party was re-elected, and Menzies implemented the proposal, thereby introducing the policy of the federal government funding specific projects to non-government as well as government schools. In 1968, the federal Liberal government added library block funding for non-government schools on the same basis (Campbell and Proctor 2014). At the same time, there was a leadership battle within the Labor Party between Victorian based, octogenarian Arthur Calwell, who had been the party leader since 1950, and the young, ambitious Gough Whitlam, who was elected as deputy leader in 1960. Whitlam was a New South Wales politician and an advocate for state aid, in comparison to Calwell. Once he became party leader in 1967, he began a campaign in support of the federal government stepping into the breach of funding at state level and providing support for non-government schools on the basis of needs. Barcan (1980) described this change of policy as a “compromise” because “aid was to be given to the poorer (i.e., Roman Catholic) schools, but Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist Colleges would get aid only if they really needed it. The distinction was no longer between State and non-State schools but between “poor” and “rich schools’” (p. 387). This decision had clear political ramifications as Whitlam sought to attract back the Catholic vote which had gone to the Democratic Labor Party following the split in 1957. When Labor was elected in December 1972, one of Whitlam’s first acts was to appoint Professor Peter Karmel to head an interim committee for the Australian

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School Commission to investigate the issue of state aid. Karmel had previously headed an investigation in South Australia in 1969–1970 to recommend ways to better expend state resources for education (Barcan 1980). The recommendations in what became known as “the Karmel Report” supported the concept of state aid, but proposed that this should be provided on the basis of needs. Schools were classified from Category A, which applied to the wealthiest schools that did not require Commonwealth assistance, to Category H, for schools which required maximum assistance, with most of their costs being covered by the federal government. While the initial plan was to include in the categorisation the issues of fees charged and the state of the buildings, in the end it was based on teacher–pupil ratio. As well, federal government aid to the public schooling system in the states increased significantly, including the promise of free preschool education and the end of university fees (Campbell and Proctor 2014). On the basis of these recommendations, federal government spending on schools tripled within two years. Whitlam only served as prime minister for three years, having been “sacked” by the governor-general following a budget crisis and then being defeated in the subsequent election in December 1975. Malcolm Fraser, leader of the Liberal Party, continued with state aid, with the system remaining in place into the twenty-first century. This was despite Fraser’s defeat in the 1983 elections, with Labor leader, Bob Hawke becoming prime minister, serving for a decade in the position and succeeded by Paul Keating. The Catholic systemic schools were the greatest beneficiaries of this system, but other denominations and faith groups were also assisted, especially both Jewish and Muslim schools, and as Maddox (2014) has demonstrated, some of the small, fundamentalist “Christian” schools. These schools would face significant challenges without federal funding. [The other smaller faiths, including the Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs are not in the position to fund their own private school system]. Thus, “the imprint of the 1972–1975 federal Labor government on Australian education remained firm” (Barcan 1980, p. 394) and this was true for well after Barcan wrote those words. In 1996, the Liberal Party returned to power under the leadership of John Howard, who supported a more conservative education policy. Concerned about a decline in values, the Howard government increased funding to the private denominational schools and in 2006 introduced a new system by placing government funded “chaplains” to provide pastoral care in public schools and foster the development of values in the students. While these chaplains are mainly Christians, they are supposed to take a non-denominational approach in their chaplaincy work in the schools. This program has proved to be very controversial. There have been concerns of religious proselytising, issues relating to the professional training and accreditation of the chaplains and their lack of experience as counsellors. Others claimed that the system is a violation of the principle of separation of church and state (Maddox 2014; Rossiter 2011). With increased government funding, the Catholic systemic schools have managed to survive and grow, while over all the private school system has continued to expand, attracting a high proportion of children away from government schools. Maddox

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(2014) claims that in the decade from 1999 to 2009 enrolments in government schools grew by 1.2%, while in the private sector they grew by 21.3% in the same period. As a result, by 2010, 34.4% of all children attended private schools at the primary level, increasing to 39.9% at secondary level so that since the 1980s, the number of children educated in religiously oriented private schools has increased (Campbell and Proctor 2014). As Maddox (2014) points out, “that is, well over one in three secondary students received an at least nominally religious education” (p. 72). The introduction of federal state aid to private schools by Whitlam in the 1970s and the chaplaincy system in 2006 has been strongly criticised by secularists and academics. Maddox (2014) concluded her chapter dealing with these changes, stating “And so the overall makeup of Australian education is shifted away from the all-inthis-together ideal that inspired the founders of Australia’s free and secular public system, towards one in which children are once again segregated by income, culture and religion” (pp. 85–86). She depicts this as a backward step for Australia. Whilst these developments, particularly the new chaplaincy system, have proved very controversial, with much academic research and writing focusing on them, the focus of this book is on SRE/RI classes, which began to experience a decline at the same time as private religious schools were expanding.

2.5 Initial Challenges to Right of Entry Classes The right of entry system began to face criticism at the same time as the federal government began funding the private denominational school system. This was because of the fact that the instructors for the classes were volunteers, apart from the Jewish Boards of Education which paid a low salary, and many of them lacked formal training although they did include retired teachers and well trained ministers. As well, there were insufficient instructors to meet the demand, the schools faced organisational problems in setting up the classes, and the teachers often faced disciplinary problems. In response to these issues, all six states established special commissions of inquiry into religious education during the 1970s—Tasmania’s Overton Report (1971), South Australia’s Steinle Report (1973), Victoria’s Russell Report (1974), Western Australia’s Nott Report (1977) and The Rawlinson Report (1980). Most of these reports outlined the legal situation and the status of religious education in government schools in their specific state; discussed attitudes of all the stakeholders, including the positive and negative elements of the current situation; recommendations on a more general level as well as issues relating to the implementation of the recommendations; and comparisons with similar systems overseas (Rossiter 1981). While all these reports advocated the introduction of General Religious Education (GRE) the recommendations were more complex. Rossiter (1981) argues that Victoria’s Russell Report (1974) was the most comprehensive of these reports. He lists the headings of all the chapters in the report, which

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included changing forms of religious education, new concepts in terms of child development, Australia’s increasingly pluralistic society, rights of the parents, public and teaching professionals, the value and forms of religious education and methodological issues. The report also set out possible guidelines in terms of moving ahead with its recommendations. In 1980, a century after its first Public Instruction Act was introduced, the New South Wales Government decided that there was a need to evaluate the whole Right of Entry system and they commissioned a report, entitled the Rawlinson Report. Its brief was broad ranging, including the place of religious education, both SRE and GRE (General Religious Education), as well as requesting recommendations for future action. The committee made the following recommendations: 1. General Religious Education (GRE), ‘that is learning about religions’ should form an integral part of the educational opportunities for children in N.S.W. government schools; 2. Special Religious Education (SRE), that is the teaching of a particular religious faith, should be available for the children of parents requesting such teaching, depending upon the availability of suitable qualified personnel at the local level; 3. Parents should retain the right, without having to state their reasons, to determine whether or not their children participate in General Religious Education and/or Special Religious Education, at any stage of schooling. (https://ccd.sydneycatholic.org/about-ccd/history-of-sre-in-nsw-government-sch ools/, accessed 25 October 2018). In response to these recommendations, the New South Wales state government decided that attendance at SRE should be voluntary, based on parental choice, and that those children whose parents opposed SRE should attend the “no religion” classes. In terms of the recommendation for the need for GRE in New South Wales schools, this took time to implement but in the late 1980s a new Board of Studies GRE course, entitled “Studies of Religion”, was introduced with a New South Wales government syllabus for Years 7–12, so that GRE was officially recognised as an Higher School Certificate (HSC) subject. However, although student numbers for Studies of Religion for the HSC have grown rapidly, almost no government schools offer GRE as a subject option. Thus, GRE has only been taken up by the nongovernment religious school sector as a way of enabling the students to continue their religious studies, but on a more academic, comparative and critical basis, into their senior years through the GRE perspective. In other states, taking up the GRE approach has also not been effective, even though this was recommended, representing a move from “religious instruction towards religious studies” (Rossiter 1981, p. 45). Despite the various reports issued in the 1970s, the “right of entry” denominational concept continued to predominate until the second decade of the twenty-first century. At the primary level the system continued with weekly classes, but at high school level this was often changed to religion seminars, sometimes offered on a weekly basis, but over time more commonly either once or twice a school term or as a voluntary weekly activity offered at lunchtimes. Although the name changed from Right of Entry to Special Religious

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Instruction (SRI or RI) there were concerns with the concept of “instruction”, as it conveyed the concept of the teaching being too formalised and content driven representing earlier approaches when “teaching in most curriculum areas was experienced as didactic and authoritarian” (Rossiter 1981, p. 45). In contrast, in New South Wales, the system was renamed “Special Religious Education” (SRE). Colloquially, however the system has continued to be known as “scripture” classes. Despite efforts by the churches to try to improve the system of teaching, SRE/RI classes continued to experience problems, leading to significant controversy. Again there have been different reactions to this controversy in the two most populated Australian states—New South Wales and Victoria—in terms of this debate, as will be discussed in the next chapter.

References Arthur J, Gearon L, Sears A (2010) Education, politics and religion: reconciling the civil and the sacred in education. Routledge, London and New York Austin AG (1972) Australian education 1788–1900: church, state and public education in colonial Australia. Pitman, Melbourne Barcan A (1980) A history of Australian education. Oxford University Press, Melbourne Byrne C (2009) Public school religion education and the ‘hot potato’ of religious diversity. J Religious Educ 57(3):26–37 Byrne C (2013) Free, compulsory and (not) secular”: the failed idea in Australian education. J Religious Hist 37(1):20–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9809.2011.01163.x Campbell C, Proctor H (2014) A history of Australian schooling. Allen and Unwin, Sydney Cush D (2007) Should religious studies be part of the compulsory state school curriculum? Br J Religious Educ 29(3):217–227 Davis RP (1969) State aid and Tasmanian politics 1868–1920. University of Tasmania, Hobart Ely J (2008) Reality and rhetoric: an alternative history of Australian education. 2nd edition, first published in 1978. Sydney: Alternative Publishing Cooperative. Feinberg W (2006) For goodness sake: religious schools and education for democratic citizenry. Taylor & Francis, London Fogarty R (1959) Catholic education in Australia 1806–1950: Catholic schools and the denominational system, vol 1. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne Grimmitt M (1994) Religious education and the ideology of pluralism. Br J Religious Educ 16(3):133–147 Gross Z (2003) State-religious education in Israel: Between tradition and modernity. Prospects 33(2):149–164 Hastie D (2017) The latest instalment in the Whig interpretation of Australian education history: Catherine Byrne’s JORH article “Free, compulsory and (not) secular.” J Religious Hist 41(3):386– 403. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12386 Hyams BK (1988) Learning and other things: sources for a social history of education in South Australia. Netley: South Australian Government Printer Hyams BK, Bessant B (1972) Schools for the people: an introduction to state education in Australia. Longman, Melbourne Jackson R (2004) Rethinking religious education and plurality: issues in diversity and pedagogy. Routledge Falmer, London Jackson R (2007) Religion and education in Europe. Waxmann Verlag, Münster

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Kellerman MH (1979) New South Wales Board of Jewish Education: history 1909–1979 with background summary 1863–1909. [Sydney]: New South Wales Board of Jewish Education. Knauth T (2008) Encountering religious pluralism in school and society: a qualitative study of teenage perspectives in Europe. Waxmann Verlag, Münster Leirvik O (2010) Models of religious education in the Muslim world: current developments and debates on how to teach religion and ethics in public schools. In International handbook of inter-religious education (pp 1037–1051). Springer Netherlands. Lovat T (2010) The new values education: a pedagogical imperative for student wellbeing. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 3–18 Maddox M (2014) Taking God to school: the end of Australia’s egalitarian education? Allen and Unwin, Sydney Mossenson D (1972) State education in Western Australia 1829–1960. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands Rossiter G (1981) Religious education in Australian schools. Curriculum Development Centre, Canberra Rossiter G (2011) Historical perspective on spiritual education in Australian schools. Part I: The contribution of Religious Education. J Christ Educ 54(3): 5–14. Rutland SD (2001) Edge of the diaspora: two centuries of Jewish settlement in Australia. Holmes & Meier, New York Rutland SD (2003) If you will it, it is no dream”: the Moriah Story. Playright Publishers, Sydney South Australia’s Steinle Report (1973) Richter T (2014) Negative othering and the history of religious activities in South Australian government schools. Are the ideologies of conservative Christianity reconcilable with the principles of public education policy? Doctoral thesis, School of Education, University of South Australia. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340508 564_Negative_othering_and_the_history_of_religious_activities_in_South_Australian_govern ment_schools_Are_the_ideologies_of_conservative_Christianity_reconcilable_with_the_princi ples_of_public_education_po. Accessed 25 Jan 2021 Tasmania’s Overton report (1971) Dixon CK (1999) Beliefs and values: the Western Australian Experience. In: Leicester M, Modgil S (eds) Spiritual and religious education. Routledge, pp. 338 The Rawlinson Report (1980) History of SRE in NSW government schools. https://ccd.sydneycat holic.org/about-ccd/history-of-sre-in-nsw-government-schools/ Thobani S (2010) Islam in the school curriculum: symbolic pedagogy and cultural claims. Bloomsbury Publishing, London Turney C (1969) Pioneers of Australian education: a study of the development of education in New South Wales in the nineteenth century. Sydney University Press, Sydney Western Australia’s Nott Report (1977) Dixon CK (1999) Beliefs and values: the Western Australian Experience. In: Leicester M, Modgil S (eds) Spiritual and religious education. Routledge, pp. 338–9 Wyeth ER (1957) Education in Queensland: a history of education in Queensland and in the Moreton Bay District of New South Wales. Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne Ziebertz HG, Riegel U (2009) Teaching religion in a multicultural European society. In: Ziebertz HG, Riegel U (eds) How teachers in Europe teach religion: an international empirical study in 16 countries. Lit Verlag, Münster, pp 7–12

Chapter 3

Current Challenges for SRE

Abstract With the radical societal changes occurring in the twenty-first century, a number of academics and parents began to challenge the continuation of SRE and to express strong criticisms of the system. This reflects the global debate regarding religious education in government schools. The aim of this chapter is to address these issues. Australian researchers recommend a re-evaluation of the way religious instruction and education classes are currently being taught in Australian schools (Bouma and Halafoff in J Acad Stud Relig 30:129–143, 2009; Byrne in J Religious Educ 57:26–37, 2009; Halafoff and Bouma in It’s Time to Replace Religious Instruction with Worldviews Education in Australian Schools, 2019) and argue that multifaith education or Worldviews Education should replace SRE classes. The authors of this study disagree with this contention, and argue in favour of a combination of the two forms of religious education, SRE and GRE. While the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland have decided to continue offering SRE/RI, the state of Victoria, decided to cease offering SRI in government schools during curriculum hours. We analyse the philosophical and practical implications of this debate, including the growing percentage of Australia’s population who have “no religion”, now constituting around 30% of the Australian population which identifies as “No Religion”, the “Nones”. We also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the current system, drawing on our research findings from 58 interviews with directors, teachers and graduates either individually or in focus groups of the six main faith groups: Christianity (18), Islam (12), Buddhism (9), Hinduism (7), Judaism (7) and Baha’i (5). This chapter will also examine the situation in the smaller states and territories as well as current approaches to GRE. It will provide the framework for Part II which will discuss the importance of SRE in terms of values education, spirituality and well-being, and individual identity formation, combined with GRE in terms of multiculturalism and intercultural competence, with both forms being important in addressing the problem of religious fundamentalism.

With the radical societal changes occurring in the twenty-first century, a number of academics and parents began to challenge the continuation of SRE and to express strong criticisms of the system, reflecting the global debate regarding religious education in government schools (Dawkins 2006; Hitchens 2007; Davies 2014). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_3

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Researchers recommended a re-evaluation of the way religious instruction and education classes are currently being taught in Australian schools (Bouma and Halafoff 2009; Byrne 2009) and argued that multi-faith education should replace SRE classes. In 2010, the Religion, Ethics and Education Network of Australia (REENA) was formed as a conduit for this debate and in 2011 the working group produced a “Statement of Principles”, highlighting the problems relating to Special Religious Education/Religious Instruction relating to the way these classes are currently taught in Australia (https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/4483185/reena-sta tement-of-principles-and-actions-religion-ethics-and-). This intensified the debate about in-faith, confessional religious classes being offered in government schools, with differing reactions at the state level, particularly resulting in different responses in the two largest states: New South Wales and Victoria. In this chapter, we shall discuss this debate, including the experiences and perceptions of SRE teachers and graduates from the six main faith groups, and analyse the philosophical and practical implications.

3.1 The Australian Academic Debate The academic debate around the negative aspects of SRE/RI and the need to replace it with Worldview or General Religious Education (GRE) has intensified in the twenty-first century. In Melbourne, it has been led by sociologists, Prof. Emeritus Gary D. Bouma, an expert in multiculturalism and religious pluralism in Australia at Monash University, Melbourne, and Assoc/Prof. Anna Halafoff at Deakin University, who previously studied and taught at Monash University, and is an expert in religious diversity; cosmopolitanism and anti-cosmopolitanism; interreligious relations; countering violent extremism; education about religions and worldviews; Buddhism and gender; and Buddhism in Australia. In Sydney, the debate has been led by Prof. Marion Maddox, an expert on the intersection of religion and politics in Australia at Macquarie University, and Dr. Catherine Byrne, who completed her doctorate on “What, in heaven’s name, are we teaching our children? Religion and social inclusion in Australian public schools” (2012) at Macquarie University. All four were key players in the formation of REENA and the drafting of its “Statement of Principles”, which was then shared for feedback among participants. We, the authors were able to add a voice of dissent to its statement, based on our research in Jewish SRE/SRI classes in Sydney and Melbourne, and have subsequently expanded our study to include all six main faith communities in Australia. Following the presentation of the REENA statement to the government, Byrne (2013) published a key article critical of SRE and the introduction of free secular education; Maddox (2014) has written a book dealing with the history of Australian religious education and politics since the founding of the colony of New South Wales; and Bouma and Halafoff have published an article (2019), which advocates that the Worldview Religious Education (GRE) should replace SRE/RI in Australian schools.

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A key issue for confessional, in-faith education is what are the most effective and relevant pedagogic approaches for this area of education. Opponents of SRE are concerned with the largely exclusively Christian orientation of these classes within the New South Wales government schools, which, they demonstrate, are becoming increasingly multi-faith and multicultural (Bouma and Halafoff 2009, 2017; Lovat 2010). A strong theme running through Byrne’s publications is the concept of the privileging of Christianity and a system of Christian bias in SRE/RI classes, which is due to fact that it is “entrenched in Australian public life” (Byrne 2009, p. 30). She also argues that it is part of the government schools’ “hidden curriculum” because of the celebration of Christian festivals: “Christian GRE begins with Easter hat parades, Christmas pageants and in some schools, Christian prayers” (p. 30). In contrast, she claims that “non-scripture” classes are often discriminated against, with such classes being unsupervised, particularly in rural areas, and parents being pressured to choose an SRE/RI class rather than “non-scripture”, and that the same applied to minority religions. Thus, she argues that SRE/RI teachers take an institutional approach, representing the hegemonic institutional voice of the Church in a normative fashion, and fail to consider the voice of the “other.” Byrne also describes SRE/RI classes as a system of indoctrination and that they involve Christian missionizing and evangelising. She presented data from her 2007 study that students commented that “SOR [Studies of Religion] doesn’t shove it down your throat” and that “It’s so different to SRE because we actually learn stuff” (2009, p. 28). In her public statements she demonstrated that in some Christian SRE classes in New South Wales, children have been taught that they will “burn in hell” if they are not baptised (Minus 2010). Byrne (2009) also claims that the religious teachers’ approaches are authoritarian, discourage questioning and, in some cases, SRE/RI teachers promote creationism and Biblical literalism. She is highly critical of the voluntary nature of SRE/RI teaching and learning, where she argues that “the public system is outsourced to religious organisations via a mechanism that appears to lack accountability” (p. 31). She posits that the system negates the concept of secular, which had “an implied responsibility of education policy to adapt to the multicultural composition of the twenty-first century. A ‘secular’ education thus requires an acknowledgement of religious (and non-religious) plurality” (p. 31). Further, in her article “Free, Compulsory and (Not) Secular” (2013) she argued that while the various education acts of the nineteenth century claimed to introduce a secular system of state education, this was only achieved for a short period in Victoria due to Higinbotham’s reforms. She concludes that: After nearly 200 years of debate over religion in Australian public education, the word “secular” carries the weight of history, the perfidy of political manipulation, and the burden of inertia. It was in colonial times, as now, politically expedient to ignore the “non-clerical” requirements of the secular principle, and to interpret ‘secular’ as either non-sectarian Christian, or anti-religious. (Byrne 2013, p. 38)

As such, due to recurrent Christian privilege, it “has become an obstacle to inclusive religious education” (p. 38).

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In her publications as well as her media statements, Byrne strongly opposes the continuation of SRE/RI. Instead she advocates that these classes be replaced by “study of religion (SoR)” or what she calls a “Secular Religion and Ethics” program. Her critique of the system, based on her doctoral thesis, is elaborated in her book, “What are we teaching our children?” (2014). In her conclusions she outlines three possible approaches to religious education. The first is to exclude it entirely, but she argues against this since “this might drive extremist religion further into the shadows” and may create a more “divisive” atmosphere between the state and the religious organisations, as well as between religious and non-religious families (p. 265). The second option is to continue with SRE/RI, but here she sums up her criticisms of the system, and claims fiddling with the system has “outlived its use-by date in the twenty-first century” and that “Allowing RI to continue as it has done for more than a century is a regressive step, with implications that reach far beyond religious instruction, into the very nature of human progress and scientific understanding” (p. 267). Finally, the third option is to replace RI with “Secular R&E”, which she strongly supports because: It teaches children to be open to, respectful and appreciative of, different perspective, while developing and maintaining their own ideas. Significantly, this approach seeks to incorporate ethical philosophies, ideas and study of practices from eastern, southern and African religious traditions, which tend to have been overlooked in some studies of religion curriculums in the west. (p. 267)

She concludes her book by stressing the need to “expel all forms of single-faith RI… Without this reform, plural democratic nations must ask: what, in heaven’s name, are we teaching our children?” (p. 269). In her book, Taking God to School, Maddox (2014) deals with the overall history of religious education in Australia, with a focus on state aid to private religious schools, but she has a chapter dealing with attempts to “re-sacralise the curriculum” (p. 123) in government schools. She discusses various programs offered in government schools which have a strong religious perspective, and is highly critical of the accreditation program for Victorian SRI Christian volunteers run by the Council of Christian Education in Schools, known since 2007 as ACCESS ministry, representing twelve Protestant denomination. She devotes significant space to this discussion. Since 2013, these teachers have had to sign a document undertaking not to evangelise or seek to convert students. More recently, it changed its name again to “Korus Connect”, with “a different brief and different vision for the community” (female SRE teacher, #11 Christian, New South Wales). In her discussion of SRE/RI, Maddox relies heavily on Byrne’s research and findings (pp. 132–137). She also deals with the establishment of the lobby group, Fairness in Religion in Schools (FIRIS), which she is closely associated, and which opposes the SRE/RI system. In the chapter, she quotes at length from an article by co-founder of FIRIS, Scott Hedges, an ecologist and parent who was extremely concerned with statements his daughter came home with from her SRI classes. His article includes what she describes as “a cri de coeur” from a disillusioned Christian RE teacher who wrote:

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…my biggest difficulty is the Christian kids who expect me to teach Noah as history … I do wonder what some of the other CRE (Christian Religious Education) teachers teach. The biggest argument I ever had with a student over these things in class was with my own daughter, who swore black and blue that we don’t share ancestors with chimpanzees. She certainly didn’t get that from home! (136)

As such, these opponents see SRE/RI as a form of indoctrination, adding to the public’s suspicion of religion in schools. As with Byrne (2014), Maddox (2014) also strongly advocates for GRE stating that “In a multi-faith society such as Australia religion is far too important a topic to be left to volunteers… a case can be made that Australia should follow the lead of many European countries (and other jurisdictions such as Québec) by making the academic, non-confessional study of religion a standard subject” (p. 190). This position is also strongly supported by Halafoff et al. (2019). They argue for the “Worldview” approach to religious education, stating that this can play an important role in preventing violent extremism by fostering “cosmopolitan peacebuilding strategies, that can be applied to other increasingly religiously diverse and nonreligious societies experiencing similar changes and challenges as Australia” (p. 382). Byrne and Maddox’s advocacy of removing SRE/RI from government schools reflects the secularisation thesis, so strongly advocated by Dawkins (2006), Hitchens (2007) and Davies (2014) among many other scholars. They also see special religious education as irrational and indoctrinating and believe strongly that public funds should not go to either private confessional schools, as occurs at present due to support from the federal government, or to providing space in government schools’ curricula for SRE/RI. Like Dawkins, Maddox is particularly critical of private Australian schools which support creationism, and her first chapter deals with one such school, even though they are a tiny minority of all private confessional schools. These arguments have resonated in the state of Victoria, which removed SRI from curriculum time in all government schools in 2015. The research of these scholars has led to significant academic debate, with critics accusing Byrne and Maddox in particular of political advocacy and bias. As discussed in the previous chapter, in his detailed analysis of Byrne’s (2013) article, Hastie (2017) has argued that in her discussion of Higinbotham for Victoria and Parkes for New South Wales, Byrne has presented the Whig view of history, referring to the ongoing progress of human development, but that in comparison to what he calls the “Melbourne school” of Australian education history (p. 387), Byrne’s approach lacks nuance. He argues that the article “poses a contemporary choice for policy makers: to choose the path of excluding confessional religion from schools, rather than compromising the secular promise… [her] argument then employs a polarised narrative device in a secularist hero of Australian history, and an anti-secularist villain. George Higinbotham, a liberalist legislator in Victoria, is cast as the hero, in stark contrast with Sir Henry Parkes in New South Wales who ‘aborted the secularist principle’” (pp. 389–390). Further, he argues that the small, technical errors in the article represent a “deeper problem of undertaking historical study with an explicit purpose of validating a contemporary ideology” (p. 290).

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In his book review of Byrne’s 2014 study, well known historian of ancient Rome, Edwin Judge (2017) presents similar criticisms and is very strong in his negative appraisal of the book. In his opening sentence, he claims that: “This admirably passionate diatribe tackles vast ideals and issues from what, in the end, turn out to be rather scanty data” (p. 76). In his book review, based on his knowledge of ancient Rome, he writes: Catherine Byrne’s desire to rid the public schools of denominational RI would of course risk more diversion of public money to the already inflating private systems. Yet her book is presumably intended to persuade the governments (especially of NSW and Queensland) to revoke the century-old concordat which had originally been intended to wean the churches off their [private, denominational] schools. (p. 76)

Thus, Judge is highly critical of Byrne’s thesis and her strong belief that SRE/RI should be expelled from the government school system. Similar criticisms of political bias have been made about Maddox’s 2014 book. In an unpublished paper, Hastie (2019) argues that Maddox also presents the Whig version of history, and that, in doing so she tends to use her research to validate her own beliefs, which he describes as “merely human” (p. 1). Hastie posits that her argument is that the meaning of the term “secular” means a complete separation of church and state in terms of religious education, and that the colonial Education Acts, which ended state aid, represented this ideology. However, Maddox feels that the re-introduction of state aid, beginning in the 1960s (as discussed in the previous chapter), together with the maintenance of SRE/RI and other religious approaches in government schools and higher education institutions has negated that promise. So, from her perspective, “the overall makeup of Australian education has shifted away from the all-in-this-together ideal that inspired the founders of Australia’s free and secular public system, towards one in which children are once again segregated by income, culture and religion” (Maddox 2014, pp. 85–86). In a 2018 lecture at the International Seminar of Religious Education and Values, Judy Miller argued that non-confessional RE does not specifically aim “to nurture belief, promote community cohesion, find truth, develop character, increase a sense of identity, gain knowledge or deepen spirituality even if, during the process, it contributes to some or all of those.” Yet, these are the very elements fostered directly by SRE, which of course includes values education (Lovat 2010). Overseas scholars have also rejected the secularist argument that government funding should not go to confessional schools or provide support for any form of special religious education. In a carefully argued article McGraw (2015) set out the reasons why he believes that governments should provide confessional schools with funding, focusing on the situation in the United States where there is complete separation of church and state. He describes religious believers as “partial dissenters” because some of their beliefs and practices do not fall within the mainstream secular consensus, but they are still part of the society. As such, he argues that they still deserve the same rights as others, including financial support for their schools on cultural grounds. He posits that, with the exclusion of religion from public schooling, those believers who want to bring up their children according to their beliefs “would

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have a reasonable claim on accommodation for an education that better fits their particular way of life” (p. 1097). McGraw also addresses the problem that confessional schools may not produce good citizens for a pluralistic society and claims that “it seems inescapable that those schools, if they want public money, will have to accommodate these fairly minimal public purposes… [that is] the development of a reasonable, decent citizenry that can sustain a pluralistic democratic system over time” (p. 1099). This requirement clearly applies to SRE/RI classes. As will be discussed in the next section, in order to achieve this aim and to ensure that content which conflicts with mainstream culture and beliefs is not included in the curricula. The governments in New South Wales and Queensland have sought greater accountability and transparency in terms of what is taught and also the requirement of at least minimal accreditation of all the voluntary teachers. All the providers realise that if they wish to continue with their SRE/RI classes they need to meet basic standards and have sought to cooperate with this approach. This will be discussed in the next section.

3.2 Organisation and Scope of SRE/RI In response to this debate, the New South Wales government commissioned a major review of the SRE and SEE systems in 2015, recommending that the system continue but seeking more oversight and improvements. There has been a strong debate in the state of Queensland, with the Secular Humanists pushing for an end to RI. Despite this, the government decided to continue the system, but with the principals having stronger buy-in terms of the curricula offered by each of the faith groups, necessitating a much more rigorous process for 2019 of teacher accreditation and curriculum offerings. In contrast, in the state of Victoria, the decision was taken in 2015 to cease offering SRE in government schools. SRE/RI system has also ceased in Tasmania and South Australia, with Western Australia still offering limited options. Within the SRE system, each faith group is responsible for appointing, accrediting and ensuring the professional development of their teachers, in most cases, on a voluntary basis, and developing its own, specific curriculum and teaching methods outside of the formal government curriculum. In New South Wales, the SEE classes are also run on a voluntary basis, with a new organisation formed to organise teacher accreditation, professional development, and the administration of these classes.

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3.2.1 The New South Wales 2015 Review After the 1980 Rawlinson Report, there was no formal study or evaluation of SRE in New South Wales for thirty years. To meet this gap, in 2014 the NSW Department of Education commissioned an independent review of both SRE and SEE in government schools. The government set out nine basic Terms of Reference (ToR), which encompassed nine categories. The first of these dealt with the nature and scope of SRE and SEE and the other eight were specific to each approach. The review was undertaken by the outside group, the ARTD Consultants which examined each term of reference and then made recommendations, dealing with SRE and SEE separately. The consultants produced the first detailed study of SRE in Australia. In terms of this study, it is the findings relating to SRE which are relevant. The review was conducted using a comprehensive mixed methodology approach, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data, enabling triangulation. The main methods used were: • Document scan, with a review of departmental and provider websites; • Curriculum review, assessing materials from current SRE providers; • Consultations with all stakeholders (principals, teachers, students, SRE providers and parents) including the broader community through online portals, as well as interviews with peak providers, education and other relevant groups, as well as in-depth case studies of 14 schools with 12 SRE providers from 11 faith groups using face-to-face interviews (Review, p. xiii). The researchers expressed confidence in their findings based on this comprehensive methodology, which was certainly very thorough, justifying their confidence. The review found that there were 101 approved SRE providers, of whom 87 were Christian and 14 from another seven faith groups including (in terms of size) Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Baha’i, Vedic and Sikh. The largest faith groups were Catholic, Anglican and Baptist. The classes were serviced by 11,400 authorised SRE teachers, almost all of whom worked in a voluntary capacity, with only 3% being paid. The extent of SRE at primary school level was very high with an average of 87% schools offering SRE (91% at primary level in weekly 30–40 min classes and 81% at secondary level, but with variable times for offering the classes, either fortnightly, monthly or once a term and within class time or at lunchtime), with 71% of students participating in primary schools, dropping to 30% in secondary schools. Almost half of the principals surveyed commented on a decline in SRE enrolments over the past four years, with a higher percentage (53%) at primary compared with secondary level (38%). In summary, the key issues emerging from the review’s “Eight Terms of Reference specific to SRE” are as follows. The Need for Monitoring, Transparency and Accountability.

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The review found that more information should be made public and available to all stakeholders in every aspect of SRE, both in terms of government responsibility, and the rights and responsibilities of the teachers, supervisors and providers. Areas where greater transparency is required included: • the provision of information about provider approval process • teacher accreditation • curriculum content of each of the SRE providers.

3.2.2 Implementation The review found that overall there was a significant need for more government involvement in the implementation of SRE. It argued that this is because procedures have evolved historically over time and do not address the complexities of current schooling and SRE. Therefore, the review recommended a full revision of the implementation procedures, in consultation with the sector, to ensure that the procedures are consistent with broader department policies, as well as taking into consideration the differences between primary and secondary education. The review also found that there was confusion with the “parental opting in” (rather than opting out) provision in the 2014 form and recommended improving the processes of parental choice. Whilst the SRE providers preferred the opt out process, secondary principals recommended the opt in process because it allowed for better transparency. On the other hand, most primary principals did not express a preference. In the light of these findings, the review recommended that the suitability of the new school enrolment form be evaluated, and that parents should be provided with clear information, with the opt out process for primary schools and opt in for secondary schools.

3.2.3 Teacher Accreditation, Professional Development and Evaluation The 2015 Review found that most providers do provide basic training for their teachers, covering the areas of child protection and classroom management, and include at least one session on curriculum. Smaller providers tended to link to the larger faith groups or external providers for this basic training. However, evidence of both the quality of this basic training and ongoing training is mixed with considerable variation between providers. There is also no evidence of the regular mentoring of teachers. Only Jewish SRE conducts formal annual evaluation of their teachers. In terms of pedagogy, the fact that most SRE teachers are volunteers means that many lack basic teaching skills so that often the class teacher will remain in the

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classroom to assist with discipline. This is an area where improvement is needed, and the 2015 review set out eight specific recommendations for SRE providers to improve in this area. The review recommended that a better system be developed for the accreditation of teachers, with all SRE teachers being required to complete the same basic teacher accreditation course across all the faith communities. As well, the review stressed the need for ongoing professional development of teachers, and the need for supervision and monitoring the performance of SRE teachers through regular audits.

3.2.4 Curricular Content Another area of recommended reform is the area of content offered in SRE classes, particularly in terms of age appropriateness. The review found that the curriculum scope and sequence made available to the public was often insufficient and patchy, with only a minority setting out desired student outcomes in terms of knowledge, understanding and skills, and that the educational quality of the curriculum materials varied significantly. The review pointed out that there were “a considerable proportion of teachers’ manuals, privileged teacher-directed lessons and activities requiring very low levels of cognitive understanding” (p. xxvi). There was also a lack of instruction for the teachers in terms of age appropriate approaches.

3.2.5 New Modes and Patterns of Delivery Using Technology Large Christian providers want SRE to be able to utilise the most recent technology, including interactive white boards and supplementing material with on-line resources during the SRE lessons. Whilst some of the on-line resources are approved by the SRE coordinators, this is not always the case. As well, using the interactive white boards, which are often linked to the school’s internal networks, could be problematic because of the outside framework of the visiting teachers. About 20% of teachers were not confident in using these new delivery modes. The review recommended further training of the SRE teachers by providers to deal with these issues.

3.2.6 Complaints Procedures and Protocols Complaints procedures are conducted via the Department’s Complaints Handling Guidelines and according to the findings from the review are well known by SRE providers. Complaints are usually resolved at the local level between the school and the provider. More serious complaints are escalated. Most principals had received one or two complaints in the past two years, normally relating to content (58%) and

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the effect on the child (29%). The review again recommended a more transparent approach: by schools clarifying the role of the school; by the providers in terms of complaints procedures; and in terms of the policy and procedures undertaken by the individual providers. As well, the Department’ Complaints and Handling Policy should be referenced in the Religious Education Implementation Procedures and linked to the RE webpage.

3.2.7 Registration of SRE Boards, Associations and Committees The review noted that there were at least 170 SRE boards operating. Those boards operating successfully are of great benefit to the program because they facilitate resource provision and help ensure well organised SRE lessons. However, the review again raised the issue of the lack of transparency to the school community. The different ways of overcoming this problem, strengthening the boards, and ensuring greater uniformity and accountability are discussed, including the issue of payment of teachers. The review recommended that the Department should draft advice for the schools as part of the review of implementation procedures, and that this should include how and on what basis a paid SRE teacher is involved in organising SRE and limit their role in broader school activities. As well, the review recommended that the constitution, membership, and networks of all board, associations and committees should be provided to the Department annually and this information made publicly available to ensure greater transparency.

3.3 The Department of Education’s Response In all, there were 39 recommendations relating to SRE made by the review for the NSW Government. The Department went through all the recommendations and argued that a number were already effectively in existence. They disagreed with some of these recommendations, and stated that others, such as state-wide monitoring of SRE, were not feasible with present departmental resources. Other recommendations were supported in principle, implying that these would not be actioned immediately. Finally, a third group of recommendations were listed as “supported”. In order to move forward with the review’s recommendations, a New South Wales Consultative Committee was formed, and it was decided that the Department would act on the key recommendations in conjunction with this committee, which would have representatives from all the faith groups offering SRE. From a total of 39 recommendations in SRE Review 2015, the Committee selected 16 as being the most important to take action on. Included in those selected was Recommendation 17, which was the formation of a joint committee of all faith

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SRE providers, which was formally structured with the creation of “Better Balanced Futures”. In June 2017, Rachele Schonberger was engaged as the advisor and consultant for this group. Their work covered the main issues relating to the 2015 Review as discussed above. 1. The need for monitoring, transparency and accountability: particularly in terms of ensuring common minimum standards for the authorisation of all SRE teachers and transparency in this regard (Recommendation 15). 2. Teacher accreditation, professional development and evaluation: with the implementation of a common basic training approach, including ongoing mentoring and observation (Recommendation 24); regular audits of teachers, facilitating teacher self-reflection, regular evaluation, and random classroom observations by supervisors (Recommendation 16); and improvement of pedagogy and ensuring age appropriateness (Recommendation 32). 3. Curricular content: development of guidelines for a well-structured curriculum, with shared access to education experts (Recommendation 30); development of a generic teacher’s manual as part of the curriculum including teaching with sensitivity, age appropriateness, communicating with students, classroom management and lesson planning (Recommendation 31); improved pedagogy (Recommendations 32 and 33); and regular reviews of the curriculum over a five-year cycle (Recommendation 34). 4. New modes and patterns of delivery using technology: the SRE Consultative Committee agreed that internet resources, which a number of providers already use, should be included and that teacher training should be available, as well as SRE curriculum developers being encouraged to provide guidelines (Recommendation 28); and that training for use of interactive white boards also be provided (Recommendation 29). 5. Complaints procedures and protocols: all providers should ensure that their complaints policy and procedures are placed in the public domain (Recommendation 23). 6. Registration of SRE Boards, Associations and Committees: in terms of informing the Department annually about the SRE Boards, the Consultative Committee agreed with this in principle, but felt at this stage it was not feasible to implement (Recommendation 25); however, they agreed that providers should inform the schools annually about “third party organisations” (Recommendation 26). Relating to the issue of parental choice, when students enrol in a government school at primary level, the parents or care givers could decide whether to opt out of SRE. While the primary principals did not take a strong position on this issue, the secondary principals voted for the opt in system which was established across the state for high schools. In most schools, once this decision is introduced, it continues for each year grade, unless the family specifies that they wish to change their preference. Although this is clearly what the policy states, some principals, acting outside the policy, do request parents and caregivers to confirm participation on an annual basis in primary

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school. The requirement to opt into the program, rather than opting out, requires a more positive commitment to SRE and can affect participation rates. On the whole, there is a good relationship between school principals and SRE providers, although there can be problems with differing worldviews and also, more frequently, issues relating to scheduling of classes, as the current study highlights and will be discussed in the findings section of this chapter.

3.4 Findings Two of the key questions in this questionnaire dealt with issues relating to the advantages and challenges of the SRE/RI system. There was strong unanimity in the responses from the six faith groups included in this study, both in terms of the advantages of the system and the challenges that it posed.

3.4.1 Advantages of SRE/RI As noted, all 58 interviewees, that is organisers, teachers and graduates from both Christianity, the largest faith in Australia, and the minority faiths of Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim, stressed the importance of developing students’ religious values and identity, knowledge of their culture and heritage, building self-confidence and a sense of belonging. They felt that this system contributed to multiculturalism, as all the faith groups taught about the commonality of humankind and of the belief in one God and creator or teacher within a common ethical framework. All stressed the importance of the classes, and would have endorsed the sentiments of one Hindu graduate teacher that “I would be very sad if scripture classes were stopped” (female SRE graduate/teacher, #5 Hindu, New South Wales and Queensland), mirrored by one of the Christian RE teachers who stressed “I would be desperately, desperately sad if we were to lose it” (male SRE teacher, #2 Christian, New South Wales). These issues will be discussed in greater detail in the next section of the book. As can be seen from Fig. 3.1, through a word analysis of the interviewees we found that teaching religious values was identified as the main advantage of SRE/RI across the six faith groups. However, there were differences in what the individual faith groups saw as the most important. Values were ranked as most important for the Buddhist, Hindu and Baha’i interviewees, while for the Christian interviewees this ranked second, with spirituality, health and wellbeing seen as the main advantage and values was ranked third for the Islamic interviewees, with identity and parent choice being ranked more highly. Interestingly, the Jewish interviewees revealed a very different profile, with multiculturalism ranking first and parental choice second, perhaps reflecting the Jewish twin concerns of antisemitism and assimilation, an area that requires further research. In contrast, values and spirituality, health and wellbeing were less stressed by the Jewish interviewees.

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Fig. 3.1 Diagram of overall responses to the five main advantages, discussed in Part II, as well as parental choice, based on a word analysis of the transcripts

3.4.2 Parental Choice SRE/RI classes are currently run on an “opt in” system, which means that parents can actively choose if they want to send their children to a denominational class, with its confessional, in-faith teaching, or not: “So there is nothing prescriptive about it. Their parents opted them in. Their children sometimes said yes or no, we want to do it or we don’t want to do it so they might have had the last word” (female SRE teacher, #11 Christian, New South Wales). Another SRE teacher reported that she sat on the sidelines of a soccer match for her child, with another mother from the soccer team sitting beside her. The mother of the other child said to her: “Oh, you’re the SRE teacher. I am not religious, but I really like my children going. I really like what they learn” (female SRE teacher, #8 Christian, New South Wales). Given this system, a significant percentage of parents are still choosing special religious education for their children. However, interviewees noted that not all parents chose the religion they had grown up in, with some Christian parents either opting for Buddhism or the Baha’i faith, or rotating their children between the different faith groups, so that they could expose them to the different belief systems and they could then choose the path they preferred. Our interviewees reported on this happening both within Sydney-based schools and those in towns outside Sydney, especially along the coastal fringe of New South Wales where minority religions are also offered. One Baha’i teacher who lives on the South coast and came originally from Iran commented on the advantage of this system of parental choice, particularly relating to Christian parents choosing Baha’i scripture: I think they are very open minded because as I said that most of them don’t believe in God but they put their kids in other [than Christianity] classes. It’s good because in Iran all the people… can’t do what they want. But… freedom is good here. You can choose and put

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them in several options. And then, after ten years, the kids can decide which one was better for them. (male SRE teacher, #1 Baha’i, New South Wales)

Another Christian RE director, who was also a parent, approached this from a different perspective. He noted how important the availability of SRE in New South Wales was for his choice of schooling for his children: But if the nature of secular education were to change and block out that religious element from being part of the school day, I think that’s probably the last straw, and I’d want to just take my kids out entirely, and get them to be learning from a Christian framework in my case. I think other religious people would have a similar approach. So then you end up with this divided situation where people of a secular background are sending their kids to a secular school. (male Christian SRE director, #1 Christian, New South Wales)

Thus, parental choice is operating in a very open way, with parents wanting their children to have the opportunity to be exposed to religious beliefs within a government school. This could be the case, even though they themselves might be disillusioned with Christianity or no longer believe in God. This issue of the freedom of choice for religious parents was felt very strongly by our interviewees, who were concerned by what they saw as a small, but very vocal opposition to SRE/RI. One commented, in regard to the secular humanists who are opposed to SRE/RI and advocating its removal, that there needs to be an understanding that others have a right “to actually hold a religious view. Like, I think it really comes back to having mutual respect” (female SRE teacher, #9 Christian, New South Wales). Another noted that “So that’s kind of, I think silent group, that are happy for their children to learn, but it’s being drowned out by people who are saying you can only learn about religion our way” (female SRE teacher, #8 Christian, New South Wales). Another interviewee expressed this concern concisely: “it’s a freedom of speech violation” (female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales). As such SRE/RI becomes “a marketplace of ideas … and we need to give people the real transparent choice so that they can choose what is good for their children” (male SRE director #15 Christian, New South Wales). To remove such choice is like “putting up that brick wall and not allowing that faith into our country, just like music and sport… these things are part of a holistic education” (female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). By retaining SRE/RI, but providing the type of choice that New South Wales offers with Ethics or No Religion as well, parents are able to opt into the approach that most meets the needs of their home background and their aspiration for their children. This element of choice is very important for the “nones” as will be discussed later in this chapter.

3.4.3 Challenges of SRE/RI Organisational Structure Whilst this did not apply to all the interviewees, a number of teachers commented on the fact that the principal of their school did not support the system and that

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there were many problems relating to the timetabling of classes and the allocation of classrooms. One Buddhist teacher, who had over 100 students in her class at one school noted that almost every week they were allocated a different room. Often there was insufficient space for all the students, so that they had to sit on the floor or on the desks in order for all of them to fit into the classroom. Another problem was the time when classes were scheduled. As one Muslim teacher commented “Sometimes they give you, if it’s really late in the afternoon or at the end of the day, children are tired and exhausted anyway. So, then you’re challenged with trying to engage them at that time” (female SRE teacher, #3 Muslim, New South Wales). Teaching under such circumstances was obviously very challenging, with one teacher commenting that “the challenge for me was that we were not being respected… not valued” (female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales). The different experiences represented the perspective of the principal in each school, where there could be either strong support or strong opposition to the SRE/RI system. For example, two Muslim graduate teachers explained that in their Muslimmajority high school, where they returned to teach as university students, they were actually taking Years 11 and 12 students on a weekly basis. They stressed that they conveyed to their students the importance of respect for their secular teachers and the importance of their matriculation studies (male SRE graduate teachers, #6 and 7 Muslim, New South Wales). The principal of this school obviously recognised that, despite taking up time of the students in their senior years at school, their attendance at SRE classes actually assisted in improving their academic performance. One of the Baha’i teachers noted that “the school where I am is very good. The staff are very, very supportive, the principal is excellent, but I hear in other schools they do have issues” (male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales). However, from our interviews the lack of support from principals or teachers was fairly common. One Christian teacher felt very strongly about this, particularly with SRE at secondary level, commenting “sometimes I feel almost like an intruder” (female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales). Another noted that one principal said “it’s not my job to give information to parents. If they want their kids to learn about this, they should go to church on a Sunday” (female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). Another commented “there are people out there who are very against having religious education in schools. And I think it’s education for them, teaching them how important it actually is and what it does to give a child, to give them a sense of belonging” (female SRE teacher, #2 Jewish, New South Wales). Obviously, in Victoria this situation has become much more challenging with the government’s decision that such classes should only be offered on school premises before or after school or at lunchtime, but not during class time. The challenges this created was commented on by the directors of Christian, Islamic and Jewish RE. Thus, the Victorian Principal of the United Jewish Education Board (UJEB) noted that when the new system was introduced, their student numbers fell from over 1000 to almost zero. They had worked hard to rebuild numbers and in 2019 were catering for around 500 students at both primary and secondary levels, mainly in the Jewish population centres in south-east Melbourne.

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3.4.4 Teaching in an Age Appropriate Fashion Another challenge facing the SRE/RI teachers was the grouping of students. A Hindu teacher in New South Wales noted that he experienced problems in terms of the combination of year groups. Despite the government 2015 review stressing the importance of age appropriate material in SRE curricula, he noted that he was often faced with a class that combined a Year K and Year 6 group, making it very difficult for him to teach in an age appropriate fashion. He stressed that “What they have to understand is the level of understanding, or things you have to convey to a kindergarten [student], is different to what you convey to a higher class student”. He argued that classes should be “clubbed” in an age appropriate fashion (male SRE teacher, #2 Hindu, New South Wales). Others had classes where all the primary students were in the one learning group, which was even more challenging. Many of the religious stories are also “Horrendous… so you have to try and deliver that story, because there are things that are… we know life is life” (female SRE teacher, #9 Buddhist, New South Wales). Another factor in terms of teaching in an age appropriate fashion and at an appropriate level for all the children in the class is the wide range of knowledge. For example, in the minority religions, such as Buddhism and Baha’i there can be children coming from either a non-identifying Christian or atheistic background, with children coming from these faith traditions. As well, in Christian RE, there can be children who have never heard of the Bible, or of God. As was commented by one interviewee, for some “to say the word Jesus or God, some children accuse us of swearing. They do. They have never heard those words used in a non-swearing way” (female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). So “you’ve got kids of varied ability in the class, varied levels of commitment to be engaged with the topic, and so that makes it a difficult task for the teachers” (male SRE teacher, #1 Christian, New South Wales). For some teachers, the increasing government control was problematic. One saw “government restrictions on curriculum now, what is considered age appropriate, is becoming more and more censored… So in a way, we are contracting our curriculum” (female SRE teacher, #8 Christian, New South Wales). Yet, the interviewees understood the necessity of complying with government policy if they wished to retain SRE/RI in government schools.

3.4.5 Time Allocation Many of the teachers commented on the limited amount of time that they had. With the weekly primary schools, the time allocated was normally 30 min each week, but by the time the students arrive at the class and settle down, there is usually only about 20 min of effective teaching time. When the classroom could be changed from week to week, this small amount of time could be reduced further as students experience

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difficulties finding the room. A number of teachers from the different faith groups expressed the wish that they could have more time, but all were insistent that they did not wish to lose the time that was actually allocated. In high school, the amount of time allocated was often much less than in primary school, with seminars being offered only once or twice a term or classes being held at lunchtime. Yet, a number of our interviewees stressed that the SRE/RI classes were even more needed at the secondary school level, when students faced many more challenges and pressures, particularly in their early adolescent years. As volunteers they also have to balance their personal time management, as one teacher explained “there’s still a lot of schools that need Buddhist scripture, and I do it on top of helping my elderly mother” (female SRE teacher, #4 Buddhist, New South Wales).

3.4.6 Problems of Discipline and Lack of Professional Training Some teachers noted that they did experience discipline problems due to the voluntary nature of the role and their lack of professional training, which some class teachers found “a bit insulting to their profession” (female SRE teacher, #6 Buddhist, New South Wales). Most of the volunteers felt that they were able to overcome such problems with their increasing experience as they learnt from their difficulties and gradually were able to improve their teaching and learning approaches. One Baha’i teacher noted that “as a teacher, classroom management is challenging, but I have learnt over the years, so [chuckles] always learning” (male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales). A Buddhist teacher also noted that he did not have any challenges, but “you always get some children that are, as I say, naturally more active” and he noted that since the class teacher always sat in on his classes, they dealt with such problems when intervention was needed (male SRE teacher, #3 Buddhist, New South Wales). A Christian RE teacher concurred: “you’ve got a generation of kids that are not engaged with any learning…” and this is especially difficult “where the parents are disengaged from learning” as well (female SRE teacher, #8 Christian, New South Wales).

3.4.7 Essentialist, Authoritarian Teaching Styles A few of the teachers interviewed did manifest an authoritarian approach to their teaching of their faith’s religious beliefs and practices, but most expressed the importance of experiential learning and a more flexible and questioning approach. The most common critique related to the teaching of Christianity, where the message was not age appropriate, particularly in relation to some of the stories

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in the New Testament. One interviewee explained that this is because “previously all teaching was didactic, someone up the front imparting knowledge, where school isn’t like that anymore, but there may be people who are teaching [where] that was their last experience of school. So they teach the way they were taught” (female SRE teacher, #8 Christian, New South Wales). However, our interviewees did stress the importance of creative, innovative and experiential methodologies, so the various faith communities are aware of this challenge and are trying to overcome it. As one teacher commented “we have to relate that properly to today’s world, you know today’s way they understand… to make every effort to make that class loveable for them, you know, interesting for them. So that is a big challenge” (female SRE teacher, #4 Hindu, New South Wales).

3.4.8 Accreditation Process The interviewees also supported the new accreditation systems that have been put in place, especially in New South Wales and Queensland. They understood that “the SRE teacher comes into the school and has to work very, very hard to establish themselves, their classroom climate, their expectations and their integrity” (male SRE teacher, #2 Christian, New South Wales). As a result, they recognised the importance of professional development with one Christian RE professional developer describing a suitable volunteer for SRE as: Someone with a heart for actually sharing faith with young people and, alongside that, just being up-skilled or having some current experience around teaching practise. So even the short courses in terms of the SRE training are really helpful for that. And also to help people to feel much more equipped and empowered in that situation. (female SRE teacher, #9 Christian, New South Wales)

In Queensland one Muslim interviewee noted that “we are not as advanced [as New South Wales and Victoria] because the number of Muslims are not as many as in those two states… But I know we are trying to do our best in making a concerted effort to bring it all together”. This interviewee, who was originally from Malaysia where she gained a Diploma in Early Childhood, commented: “So I think just learning that rules and regulations and an overview about [the] Australian curriculum really helps, because it helps a teacher in religious education who comes once a week to know what the students go through for the rest of the other subjects” (female SRE teacher, #4 Muslim, Queensland). Jewish RE, which has been established for over a century, is better placed to be well organised. One Jewish interviewee, who has been taking SRE classes for a long time, referred to the compulsory professional development sessions run by the Board of Jewish Education in New South Wales and commented on the wide range of issues covered in these sessions (female SRE teacher, #3 Jewish, New South Wales). However, with most of the minority faith groups, which are immigrant based, coping with the English language skills required by the accreditation process “can

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be a little daunting… so it might be a bit more difficult for them to get through some of the paperwork that needs to be done” (female SRE teacher, #5 Buddhist, New South Wales). The Muslim interviewees referred to the “language barrier” (female SRE teacher, #1 Muslim, New South Wales), with another noting: “we need to make sure we get the right educators who communicate well… We want to try and get ourselves in a better position where we can communicate to people” (female SRE teacher, #2 Muslim, Queensland).

3.4.9 Reasons for Opposition The teachers analysed the reasons for the strong opposition to SRE/RI. A number of teachers felt it was due to the impact of the media, with a sense that there are mainstream media commentators who are carrying out “a misinformation campaign… they don’t print both sides of the story. And so parents are told… examples of things from curricula that are out of date and out of print, as though we are teaching those currently” (female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). Another raised the same point, stressing “So there are many schools where they love it, but the only ones that you hear about in the media are the ones who are angry that it takes up valuable class time, and it’s a hassle for teaching and administration staff, and they would rather it out. I think they’re a minority, but certainly they are very vocal” (female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales). When this occurs the debate becomes politicised, “something to throw around [and] I think it is really unhelpful… Yeh, when it ends up in the media and becomes a two-sided battle…” (female SRE teacher, #9 Christian, New South Wales). Another factor mentioned in the interviews was the influence of left-wing academics, particularly in terms of the education sector. One SRI teacher was so concerned about this factor that she decided to enrol in a Master of Teaching in Early Years Primary at a Victorian university. She felt that over time she stared to detect what she described as “a neo-Marxist type of influence through all the courses, which I did not pick up on initially” (female SRI teacher, 11 Christian, Victoria). Within this mindset is also the importance of rationalism within the educational philosophy, so that “rationalism from my understanding doesn’t hold any position towards the non-material, non-scientific. And so when you want to address something that does not fit into their schema, they reject it as being irrational and irrelevant and so trying to say that this [religious education] is something that is both rational and relevant is a challenge” (female SRI teacher, #12 Christian, Victoria). With the Victorian decision to end all SRI teaching during curriculum time, interviewees felt that there was a lot of pressure on the Andrews Labor Left state government from the media and the “humanists who don’t think there should be any religion in class time” (female SRI teacher, #10 Christian, Victoria).

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3.5 Discussion 3.5.1 Advantages of SRE/RI and Christian Privilege Both Byrne (2009, 2014) and Maddox (2014) were very critical of the SRE/RI system as privileging Christianity and reinforcing its dominance in the government school system, while disadvantaging the minority faiths. Our study produced very different results. The interviewees from all the minority faiths stressed how important they felt that these classes were in terms of teaching about their faith tradition and practices. They noted that many parents did not attend the mosques, temples or synagogues regularly so SRE/RI classes were very important in ensuring the continuation of these faith traditions in Australia. As well, many of our interviewees representing the minority faiths argued that holding such classes in government schools validated their religious beliefs within the public space. This was stressed particularly by our Muslim interviewees.

3.5.2 Importance of Choice Offering SRE for parents and students who want the opportunity of a confessional religious education recognises the diversity of Australian society. At the same time, parents in New South Wales can also choose to send their children to the ethics classes. The provision of the voluntary option of Special Ethics Education as offered in New South Wales is important because it meets the needs of the “nones”, who constitute a minority but still significant number of parents. The need for the teaching of ethics is important particularly for the current “me” generation. As we will discuss later, we found that parents who came from a Christian background but were totally secular, fitting into the ‘nones’, still were opting into SRE but were often choosing the Eastern religions, such as Buddhism and even Baha’i SRE for their children. Such parental choice is important today because within our contemporary, pluralistic and largely secular society, some groups are strongly opposed to religious education (Haydon 2010, p. 200). Indeed, Geoffrey Short points out that within democratic and liberal societies, the importance of autonomy and the right of parents to choose the form of their children’s schooling needs to be recognised (Short 2002). By offering parents the choice between SRE, SEE and No Religion, this autonomy is currently operating within the New South Wales government schools. It would be advantageous if this model was introduced in Queensland, where SRI operates. Yet, the fact that the majority of parents opt for SRE indicates that they see a value in the system. As well, as one religious director/parent noted, by SRE being available for his children, he is choosing to send his children to a government secular school, which he believes is healthier. If this was removed, he felt he would be forced to send his children to a Christian school, creating a divide between religious and secular families (male Christian SRE director, #1 Christian, New South Wales). As Judge

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has noted in his review of Byrne’s 2014 book, this would break what he called “the century-old concordat which had originally been intended to wean the churches off their [private, denominational] schools” (Judge 2017, p. 76), weakening both church and state in the process. By continuing to offer SRE/RI, the government school system is catering for the needs of what McGraw (2015) defines in terms of religious believers as “partial dissenters” who do not conform to the secular narrative as advocated by many scholars (Maddox 2014; Byrne 2009, 2013, 2014; Hitchens 2007; Dawkins 2006). This system has the advantage that children are not segregated in confessional schools and are able to mix with and make friends with children of different faiths within their secular classes. At the same time, the New South Wales and Queensland governments, the two states where the system is fully operating, require greater monitoring and transparency. SRE/RI classes have to meet the standards required by the government to ensure that they are contributing to the education of the children attending these faith-based classes to be good citizens who can participate effectively in a pluralistic society.

3.5.3 GRE, Secular Religion and Ethics, or Worldview Education While our study focuses on the value of SRE/RI, we strongly agree with the arguments of Byrne, Maddox, Bouma and Halafoff on the importance of GRE, or Secular Religion and Ethics (Byrne 2014) or Worldview education (Halafoff and Bouma 2019). In Part II, we shall discuss the importance of SRE/RI in terms of developing religious values, identity and spirituality, which contribute to students’ health and wellbeing (Lovat 2010). However, in terms of reinforcing multiculturalism, opposing violent extremism, and countering religious prejudice, we argue for a combination of SRE/RI and GRE, in what has been termed a system of “cooperative education” (Schweitzer 2007). In the conclusion of her book, Byrne (2014) argues that “Secular R&E… teaches children to be open to, respectful and appreciative of, different perspective, while developing and maintaining their own ideas”. While we fully agree with this statement, we shall argue that without a strong basis for their own religious identity, which SRE/RI assists with, it is difficult to achieve this aim.

3.5.4 Debate Over Left-Wing Bias in Universities The secularisation theory is a central part of the postmodern, left-wing ideology, which sees religion as a negative force that should be removed from the public sphere (Dawkins 2006; Hitchens 2007; Davies 2014). In the Western world, this critique particularly focuses on Christianity. This ideology feeds into the arguments

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of the Australian academics who are highly critical of Christian RE and for this reason strongly oppose the continuation of SRE/RI. These attitudes are also central to the position taken by the secular humanist lobby. In terms of the debate over whether universities tend to convey a left-wing, neoMarxist bias in their teaching, there is disagreement among scholars with studies revealing different results. In North America this has been a significant issue of dispute with different studies showing different results. A 2000 study of Canadian professors found that the claim of university professors being left-wing was “a sweeping statement” with more than a third who did not “even think in left-right terms” and the rest being “ideologically heterogeneous” (Nakhaie and Brym 2011, p. 27). In contrast, a 2020 study published by the National Association of Scholars, which looked at partisanship among professors at elite Liberal Arts and Science Colleges, found that 48.4% were registered Democrats, and only 5.7% were registered Republicans (Langbert and Stevens 2020). However, it is clear from this study that a significant percentage did not hold allegiance to either party. As well, there is debate about methodology used and whether there is any validity of these findings. Professor Neil Gross (2013) published a book on this subject, where he did find professors tended to be more liberal, but there was a lot of variation in the form of liberalism. However, he found that of those who identify as ‘radical left,’ 81% can be found in the social sciences or humanities and over half (56%) of ‘Progressives’ can be found in the same categories. Neil Gross’s finding reinforces the earlier findings of Nakhaie and Brym (2011), that there is a greater concentration of left-leaning academics in certain disciplines. They found that Education, the humanities and, to a lesser degree, the social sciences contain proportionately more leftists than other fields do. However, as we have shown, these disciplinary differences are to some degree independent of background factors such as gender and age. Moreover, while students are relatively undifferentiated in terms of political attitudes early in their academic careers, ideological differences between disciplines grow as students move through the system of higher education… Specifically, each discipline has a distinct approach to its subject matter, a hidden curriculum that it transmits to its members. (Nakhaie and Brym 2011, p. 26)

They argue that in these disciplines, students can be socialised in terms of their political ideology, and they do include Education in terms of the left-wing category, possibly providing credence to the claims made by one of our interviewees in terms of her university experience. The academics who strongly oppose SRE/RI clearly fit into this postmodern, secular mindset in terms of government schooling, even if they themselves are still religious.

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3.6 Conclusions Setting out the educational goals for young Australians, the Melbourne Declaration (Barr et al. 2008) stipulated that learners should be “confident and creative individuals” and “have a sense of self-worth, self-awareness, and personal identity that enables them to manage their emotional, mental, spiritual and physical well-being”, as well as being able to “act with moral and ethical integrity” (p. 9). Based on the current literature in terms of the importance and values of religious education and the quantitative and qualitative research discussed below, this book aims to expand and analyse the contribution of SRE/RI in achieving the educational goals set out in the Melbourne Declaration. It argues that SRE/RI does assist young Australians to enhance their understanding of values, thereby reinforcing the general values taught in the classroom; their sense of identity and belonging; their self-worth, inner peace and spirituality, leading to greater wellbeing and good health; as well as reinforcing Australian multiculturalism and helping them to deal with issues of religious discrimination and prejudice within their own faith and ethnic community. As such, rather than detracting from Australian multiculturalism, SRE/RI contributes to the Australian education system offering “thick multiculturalism” as will be discussed in Part II of this book. Part II will expand on all these key points.

References Barr A, Gillard J, Firth V, Scrymgour M, Welford R, Lomax-Smith J, Bartlett D, Pike B, Constable E (2008) Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, Canberra Bouma GD, Halafoff A (2009) Multifaith education and social inclusion in Australia. J Religious Educ 57(3):17–25 Bouma GD, Halafoff A (2017) Australia’s changing religious profile—rising nones and Pentecostals, declining British Protestants in superdiversity: views from the 2016 census. J Acad Stud Relig 30(2):129–143. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.34826 Byrne C (2009) Public school religion education and the “hot potato” of religious diversity. J Religious Educ 57(3):26–37 Byrne C (2013) “Free, compulsory and (not) secular”: the failed idea in Australian education. J Religious Hist 37(1):20–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9809.2011.01163.x Byrne C (2014) Religion in secular name: what in heaven’s name are we teaching our children? Leiden, Brill Davies L (2014) Unsafe Gods: security, secularism and schooling. Trentham Books, London Dawkins R (2006) The God delusion. Houghton Mifflin, Boston Gross N (2013) Why are professors liberal and why do conservatives care?. Harvard University Press, Boston Halafoff A, Bouma GD (2019) It’s time to replace religious instruction with Worldviews Education in Australian schools. ABC religion and ethics, 26 Sept. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/replacereligious-instruction-with-worldviews-education-in-aust/11549050?fbclid=IwAR0zr1m3Jo9VF C36XKWUp-7HUl7ITuGUcFSvXzXzpj47xyDIIkgha41dPeA. Accessed 29 Sept 2019

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Halafoff A, Lam K, Bouma G (2019) Worldviews education: cosmopolitan peacebuilding and preventing violent extremism. J Beliefs and Values 40(3):381–395. https://doi.org/10.1080/136 17672.2019.1600113 Hastie D (2017) The latest instalment in the Whig interpretation of Australian education history: Catherine Byrne’s JORH article “Free, compulsory and (not) secular”. J Religious Hist 41(3):386– 403. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12386 Hastie D (2019) “Damn the Whigs”: the liberal interpretation of the meaning of “secular” in the history of Australian colonial education acts. Unpublished manuscript Haydon G (2010) Values and wellbeing in the curriculum: personal and public dimensions. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 195–210 Hitchen R (2007) God is not great: how religion poisons everything. Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW Judge E (2017) Book Review: Religion in secular name: what in heaven’s name are we teaching our children? by Catherine Byrne. Int J Christianity Educ 21(1):76–77 Langbert M, Stevens S (2020) Partisan registration and contributions of faculty in flagship colleges. Intellectual Diversity. https://www.nas.org/blogs/article/partisan-registration-and-contributionsof-faculty-in-flagship-colleges. 7 Feb 2020 Lovat T (2010) The new values education: a pedagogical imperative for student wellbeing. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 3–18 Maddox M (2014) Taking God to school: the end of Australia’s egalitarian education?. Allen and Unwin, Sydney McGraw BT (2015) Liberal multiculturalism and confessional religious schooling. Polit Stud 63(5):1087–1102. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.12144 Miller J (2018) International seminar on religious education and values. York, St. John University, UK. Unpublished conference paper Minus J (2010) Creationism creeps into NSW schools. The Australian, 25 June. https://www.the australian.com.au/news/nation/creationism-creeps-into-nsw-schools/news-story/96cf10dc8b8b 65b27953fa1e491c2d1c. 24 July 2018 Nakhaie MR, Brym RJ (2011) The ideological orientations of Canadian university professors. Can J High Educ Rev can d’enseignement supér 41(1):18–33 REENA: Statement of principles—the Toledo guiding principles and the Council of Europe’s recommendations, 2013. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/4483185/reena-statement-of-pri nciples-and-actions-religion-ethics-andReview of special religious education and special education in ethics in New South Wales government schools, 2015. https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/about-us/ strategies-and-reports/media/documents/2015_review_sre_see.pdf. 23 Feb 2020 Schweitzer F (2007) Religious individualization: new challenges to education for tolerance. Br J Religious Educ 29(1):89–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200601037551 Short G (2002) Faith based schools: a threat to social cohesion? J Philos Educ 36(4):559–572

Part II

The Advantages of SRE in the Post-modern Period

Chapter 4

Values Education

Abstract This chapter analyses the role SRE plays in teaching values education and is among the central issues in pedagogic discourse and endeavours in many countries. The global debate regarding religious education in government schools has stimulated discussion in Australia around the merit of SRE and its place in contemporary Australian society. Providing SRE classes and their diverse religious backgrounds allows for a more intentional teaching and learning approach to fostering spirituality, religious belief and religious values. Values education is perceived as a pivotal means of ensuring the continuity of a society’s values (Dror “National Education” through mutually supportive educational devices: a case study of Zionist education. Peter Lang, New York, 2007). From the perspective of many educators, values education is at the heart of educational effort, going beyond technically transferring skills. Yet, on the other hand, some argue that values education is liable to result in political, religious or ideological indoctrination. This chapter will define the meaning of values education and discuss the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic values. It will outline the national framework for values education developed by the Australian government. This chapter will then analyse how SRE contributes to the Australian values framework. Research has shown that belief in a higher being, a key element in SRE, can contribute significantly to values education. This research will be examined, as well as responses from SRE educators across the states and territories, who have been interviewed through a qualitative research project.

Values education is among the central issues in pedagogic discourse and endeavours in many countries. It is perceived as a pivotal means of ensuring the continuity of a society’s values (Dror 2007) and there is an extensive literature dealing with this topic. From the perspective of many educators, values education is at the heart of educational effort, going beyond technically transferring skills. Yet, on the other hand, some argue that values education is liable to result in political, religious or ideological indoctrination (Oser 1999). This chapter will define the meaning of values education and discuss the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic values. It will outline the national framework for values education developed by the Australian government, which has recently been introduced and enumerates the nine key characteristics

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relating to values. After examining the reactions of the interviewees from all the faiths in our study, we shall analyse how SRE/RI contributes to this values framework. Through retaining SRE/RI but encouraging a values education approach, students will be able to investigate what it means to be human and how to put this into action within their own individual belief system.

4.1 Values Education and Its Importance The changing attitudes to SRE/RI represent the ongoing swinging of the pendulum in terms of educational policies, whether the focus should be religious versus scientific, or liberal versus vocational. Professor Terence Lovat argues that “the notion, therefore, that public education is part of a deep and ancient heritage around valuesneutrality is mistaken and in need of serious revision. The evidence suggests that the public education’s initial conception was of being the complete educator, not only of young people’s minds, but of their inner character as well” (Lovat 2010, p. 4). A value is the “enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence” (Rokeach 1973, p. 5). Klages (1988) suggests that due to rapid changes in the world as a result of modernisation and secularisation processes, there has been a transformation from what he calls nomo-centric understanding to auto-centric understanding. Nomo-centric understanding means that the individual is captured, dependent and subdued by his environment, namely that one’s existentiality is constructed through belonging, membership, duty and external values. Auto-centric understanding implies a self-reliant approach, where the individual strives for selfrealisation based on his personal judgement and rationality. Thus, auto-centric values characterise a modern approach, whereas nomo-centric values characterise a more traditional approach. Rokeach (1973) views values as hierarchical and distinguishes between two types of values: (1) terminal values (personal or social values) that individuals aspire to achieve throughout their lives; and (2) instrumental values (capacity values and moral values) that are expressions of forms of behaviour. He maintains that instrumental values may sometimes be a means for achieving terminal ones. Levy (1999) explains the possible ambiguity of Rokeach’s (1973) definition by relying on facet theory: “a terminal value relates to a goal that is a destination in itself, while an instrumental value addresses a goal both as a destination in itself and as a more primary destination” (p. 81). Lamm (2001) maintains that a value is a criterion for preference (for example beauty, love of one’s country, the sanctity of life) in a reality of conflict (that is, where there is no a priori consensus) between motivations of equivalent power (between two entities perceived as good or bad). If one is considered good and the second bad, there can be no consensus.

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What transpires then, is that values are not neutral but are influenced by various social interests (Apple 2004), expressed in different conflictual situations. The school is perceived as an arena where different social groups struggle to implement their own criteria, priorities and values through diverse discourses. According to Lamm (2001), the school’s role is not to transmit values but rather to use values as vehicles for transformation. Hence, the role of the school is “not to impart a binding set of values, but to nurture the individual’s sensitivity to values” (p. 653). The literature dealing with values emphasises commitment, sensitivity and openness to a life with a value-based nature. This creates a need to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of a value, with educational implications for the individual’s world and as a mirror for reflecting different processes that society undergoes.

4.2 The Intrinsic or Extrinsic Dimension of a Value In Protagoras, Plato distinguished between intrinsic values, those that the individual is interested in because of their own value, and extrinsic values, in which the individual is interested in order to achieve another goal (Taylor 1990). In their research on the extrinsic and intrinsic dimension in a religious context, Beit-Hallahmi and Argyle (1997) found that people who held traditional values have a more extrinsic inclination, whereas those who considered themselves more modern had a stronger tendency to endorse intrinsic orientations. Religious people were more extrinsic than secular people, women were more extrinsic than men, and people from a lower socio-economic background with lower education levels were typically more extrinsic than those with more education and from higher socio-economic backgrounds. Sansone and Harackiewicz (2000) found that the context in which a person lives has a decisive influence on shaping his or her extrinsic or intrinsic motivation: “The social context can influence the goals adopted in a given situation, and can also create a more enduring climate that results in internalisation of values… which includes values as to what is interesting and worth pursuing” (p. 451). The extrinsic–intrinsic dimension creates a polarised binary arena where discourses of a traditional or modern character about values are constructed and deconstructed (Gross 2012). According to Taylor (2004), these binaries should be revisited in the light of new theoretical hypotheses available in contemporary literature.

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4.3 The Theoretical Development of Understandings of Values Education Moral education has been a major part of religious education in the past. The term values education developed later, but the two concepts were initially considered to be almost identical. However, in traditional societies, the values which religious education focused on were established by God and obedience to them stood at the centre. These values are based on inexplicable but definable mystical principles and are based primarily on the believer’s basic belief that because they come from a transcendent source they are true and do not need justification. The French Revolution introduced and implemented the concept of separation of church and state leading to increasing secularisation throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This move to the secular state was further reinforced in the same period by the processes of modernisation, with the economic revolution, urbanisation, improved transportation and increasing literacy through the introduction of free, compulsory secular schools. As well, the rapid technological developments further contributed to a change of priorities and attitudes towards values, which brought about a fundamental change in the concept and the role of education. Shachar (2019) argues that Emil Durkheim was the first philosopher and sociologist to contribute to this radical revolution in relation to the role of education. Durkheim (1925) argues that morality and religion are purely social phenomena and should be analysed with scientific tools, rather than through a purely religious lens of belief. In his book Moral Education (1925), Durkheim posits that in a modern world ruled by rationality, the moral elements hidden within the messages and agendas and religious teachings must be identified, assimilated and separated from the religious mystical world and made accessible to the modern-secular society in rational language. Durkheim focused on exploring what he called “social facts” that is, phenomena that exist only in society and do not exist in each individual. He argues that the definitions of moral behaviour should not be changed, but the context and language with which they come to educate needs to be modernised. In relation to moral principles (Shachar 2019, p. 40), Durkheim argued that they are rational and functional principles that aim to preserve social order. In contrast to Durkheim, John Dewey ([1897] 1959), one of the key figures who developed the concepts of modern education, addressed values in the individual context and perceived the principles of morality as socially and culturally dependent. As such, he argued that moral principles can change according to the practical goals of education and they are an integral part of democratic negotiation. Thus, he rejected the idea of immutable moral values ordained by God. Taking a different approach, Piaget (1932) was the first theorist to develop a psychological theory that analyses a person’s moral development. He divided this development into two main stages: heteronomous and autonomous. In their early life children are driven to moral action by external orders, authoritative figures of religious authoritarian parents, which he defined as “heteronomous”. As the child matures and throughout adulthood, his moral thinking becomes more independent

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and “autonomous”. Kohlberg (1973, 1976) developed Piaget’s intellectual development stages further. Within his two cognitive-developmental and moral reasoning stages, he delineated three more sub-stages in each phase (a total of six steps) that more accurately indicate the transition from heteronomy to autonomy. His theories did have some impact on Australian scholars and the private religious school system, particularly the Catholic system (Rossiter 2011). Both Kohlberg and Piaget referred to values as universal entities. This approach was criticised by scholars who argued that, from a theoretical and empirical epistemological point of view, the cultural context in which values nest cannot be ignored (see, for example, Gibbs 2003). Rossiter (2011) also stressed that human spirituality is affected by the cultural meanings within any given society and this needs to be taken into account. Therefore, the socialisation processes in reality occur in specific local educational systems and cultural environments with diverse codes of ethics. Inspired by the accelerated development of globalisation processes the central question that many researchers employed on the practical level was whether values are universal or culture-dependent so that they can build a better global society using similar behavioural and thought codes and shared values all over the world. One of the most important recent researchers, who promoted this field in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as well as developing operational tools, is Schwartz and his colleagues. Schwartz (1994) defined values as “human goals that go beyond one condition or another, which have a different order of importance and name as guiding principles in the lives of individuals or groups.” Schwartz (2009) identified ten values and defined them: self-directedness (thinking and independent actions: choice, creation and discovery); stimulation (excitement, novelty challenge in life); hedonism (pleasure and self-satisfaction); achievement (personal success and public proof of standards-appropriate skills); social power (social status and prestige, control over people or resources); safety (protection, harmony, confidence in the security of relationships with others and self); conservatism (avoidance of actions, tendencies and impulses that may or may not harm others, violation of laws, social expectations or norms); tradition (respect, commitment and acceptance of customs and beliefs that culture or religion holds); generosity; the well-being and promotion of people with whom there is a lasting personal connection; and universality (understanding, appreciation, tolerance and protection of the welfare of all people and nature). The ten values distinguish two main values orientations: openness to conservatism with these values focused on society (including self-transcendence and conservatism); and individualism (self-promotion and openness to change). According to Schwartz’s approach, there is no ideal concept of values and no absolute values, but values include a range of motives and behaviours ranging from self-centred to universal perception. Whereas Dewey, Piaget, and Kohlberg completely disregard the religious component Durkheim sees it as a sociological foundation and a central point from which universal social values derive. Schwartz and his colleagues suggest a midway where they identify in their theory a component they call “tradition” which they consider to be a value. However, according to their empirical findings, this value is connected to

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the conservative and conformity pole. While Durkheim sees religion as a source of reference and a point of departure for a meaningful life, Schwartz and his colleague see religion as an old-fashioned relic which they call traditionalism which resonates with the opposite of modernity, representing the conformist aspect of man. As such, they presents a unidimensional approach to tradition. This view of Schwartz and his co-researchers is, in our opinion, a limited approach that is imprisoned in the conception of the secular thesis that sees a temporally conformism stemming from outdated religious beliefs. This is completely detached from the dynamic view that perceives religion as a lively, relevant and dynamic matter (see Gross 2015; Gross and Rutland 2014; Jackson 1997). Durkheim understood that religion still has a central place in the functional paradigm that he developed even though he did not develop a compatible educational approach because he was a sociologist, not an educator. The sociologists who followed him have abandoned this approach in favour of post-modern paradigms that centre on conflict theory and the question of power. These approaches and the theoretical paradigm shift in sociology from a functionalist approach to conflict paradigm have ignored the fact that, de facto, religion is still a central component in the regulation of social and political issues and has a central place in the human psyche of religious people who choose to lead meaningful religious lives albeit within modernity. As Salman (2002) has pointed out, whilst there is largely consensus about the core, secular educational values, “the concept of incorporating spiritual and religious values continues to generate a greater level of ambivalence and discord among different groups” (Salman 2002, 116). Schwartz and his colleagues presented a binary approach towards religiosity. The reason for these findings may be due to the research method they used, since Schwartz’s and his colleagues utilise a quantitatively positivist approach. Yet, quantitative questions cannot provide the depth needed to understand reality in a more complex constructivist manner. Qualitative studies, on the other hand, answer broader questions and allow for a “thick description” and a broader spectrum of answers beyond Likert’s scale, allowing for a deeper discussion of questions of religious values education (Gross 2013) and as seen in the current study. Hana Shachar’s book (2019) also aims to contribute to the scholarship of values education yet she does not mention at all the possibility that values education can be taught in conjunction with religious education. This option is perceived as belonging to the past era of Durkheim and it does not have a place in the postmodern era (Oser 1999). This positioning reflects the lack of understanding that religious education can intersect with values education and can enrich it. Thus, this chapter aims to investigate further the role of religion in terms of values education across six main faiths in the postmodern era in Australia. In addition, it will investigate the role of parents who are actively choosing to send their children to SRE/RI classes, given the voluntary nature of these classes and family/school partnerships.

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4.4 Family/School Partnerships and Values Education Values are not innate but are acquired. Scholars argue that the most influential factor upon students’ socialisation is the family. Values acquisition starts at home where children are exposed to the moral behaviour of their parents as role models so that children develop much of their identities and their beliefs about right and wrong before starting their formal schooling (Brannon 2008; Rokeach 1973). Berkowitz and Bier (2005) argue that although school has a central role in developing students’ character, the most profound impact on students’ development comes from family, notably from their parents whether in social, moral, behavioural, or academic development. Children’s moral development is a shared responsibility between school, parents and the entire community. When teachers want to teach values education they are suspected of imposing their values through manipulation. If values education is a shared responsibility, it means that parents and schools need to negotiate their shared values while creating a vital and meaningful discourse about those values. The main condition for a successful values education program is role models. If both the parents and teachers are role models that are consistent in their approach, the transmission of values will be facilitated as there is a need for continuity. Also, in a research project conducted among Israeli kibbutzim students, Gross (1995) found that the students who were brought up in the more ideological kibbutzim (collective living) had a more ideological orientation toward values than among students who came from mixed backgrounds of different ideological movements where the school administration opposed the raising of ideological issues. Thus, Gross concluded that a strong ideological and spiritual connection between the home and the school setting, which students are exposed to, impacts on their spiritual, ideological and value-laden development. This is because through socialisation in the home and the community they develop a priori their ideological interpretation which is then nourished by socialisation in the school. Erikson (1950, 1968) argues that the most important factors in identity maintenance are sameness and continuity. There is a need for a close and enduring connection between what is taught at school and what is advocated and practised at home. When this condition is missing, namely when the values taught at school are not an integral part of the home environment, they might lose their relevance. When the home resonates with the school values and vice versa, schools become an abridged version of home, a safe place. Schools can act as a comfort zone as long as there is no dissonance between the school and home values. When values which are imparted at school are not reinforced at home they become meaningless (Lickona 1997). The fact that parents meet together to join forces with the school creates a support group for the parents and thus they can build together a community of wisdom and resilience. The development of home/school relations is not only a matter of the need for parental involvement but rather is considered to be “an integral part of the concept of parental choice and accountability” (Passy 2005, p. 723). Parental choice in relation to values education starts when the parents choose to be or not to be engaged in school activities. Their choice reflects the priorities of their values.

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4.5 Parental Values, Religiosity and School Choice Parental choice of schools is considered one of the most significant issues in school research. The dramatic changes that are occurring across the globe in the economic, social, cultural, religious and especially advanced home schooling technology have led to paradigmatic shifts in parental choice research (Boterman et al. 2019; McCarthy 2016). The impact of key ethical factors has become a central question as it has a direct impact on the values of equality and social justice (Barsky 2019; Banks 2012). The relationship between ethics and teaching is associated with the professionalisation process of teaching (Adkoli 2019). Professional teaching is supposed to take into account the needs of the target population as a prerequisite and especially the needs of parents who are considered the main consumers of the educational “market”. Academic achievement is very important for parents. Yet, because there are many institutions which are available and are excellent academically, parental choice is also heavily influenced by the values schools cater for and by the school ethics and not only by their academic achievements. Parents are looking for alignment between their values and the schools’ ethos since such compatibility is important for them (Passy 2005). Such an alignment between the behavioural codes and cultural values of schools and parents needs to be reflected in the “pedagogical commodities” (Bunar 2010) that are exchanged in the educational market. The increase in home schooling also shows the need of parents to be involved in their children’s values education. This is even more apparent in the hybrid home schooling where parents are looking to “gain a fuller picture of their values and motivations” (Wearne 2016, p. 378). Therefore, parental expectations from schools is connected to their own values (Miller et al. 2016). Within the broader issue of values, parent’s religiosity is considered to be a major factor in their school choice (Reichard 2012) as they feel that this contributes to the wellness of their children. This is very significant for Jewish parents (see Miller et al. 2016) and Muslim parents (Dronkers 2016), but also influences other religious groups in their school choice. The main issue that concerns schools today is the question of whether the school respects parental rights to think differently in terms of their values or not. School cannot violate parental rights to maintain within its framework their beliefs and values (Lickona 1997). In many studies, the influence of parents on the religious development of their children’s worldview and values has been found to be very powerful (Leonard et al. 2013; Lickona 1988). This includes parents’ school choice when a particular religious definition (Gross 2012) has a decisive influence on the child’s religious identity due to the values that the school imparts, particularly when there is a strong synergy between school and home (Miller et al. 2016; Dronkers 2016). At the same time, parents’ religious definitional expectations can have a decisive influence on how the school is conducted in terms of both the formal and informal curriculum. As discussed in Chap. 3, this issue is very relevant in terms of the choice which is offered to parents in New South Wales between SRE, Ethics

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and No Religion, for religious families, for those who wish to retain some form of religious traditional values and for the “nones”. In fact, the full range of effects on the child and learning can be learned from Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) multi-sustained ecological theory, which was inspired by both Vygotsky’s (1978) theories that child development can be analysed either within a limited or broader context of the environment in which it occurs (see Chap. 1). The environment is impacted by a number of micro, macro and mezzo dimensions and these, in turn, have a significant impact on the child’s world, values and education. A child’s values are directly influenced by the child’s interactions with the micro, macro and mezzo factors. The immediate (micro) environment includes the nuclear or extended family, the peer group and their relationships such as parent-teacher relationship, parent and peer group, nuclear family and extended family. The experiences of the child in the immediate family, the religious community, youth group and place of worship (Gross 2013; Waghid and Davids 2014) have a far-reaching impact on their religious beliefs and values (Francis 2005), especially when combined with the education that their parents want to give them (Lickona 1988) and the values they impart. In addition, there is the impact on values development of the more global (macro) context, such as natural phenomena, epidemics (Coronavirus is a case study), broader economic and social phenomena, the atmosphere, the universe, communication, beliefs (such as secularism) and social ideologies (capitalism, socialism and communism). These all have a far-reaching influence on the shaping of the student’s religious identity, values, and religious education within which he grows. As well, the mezzo dimension, namely the relationship between the connections in the immediate environment and the existing institutions, such as family and schools and the residential area, the community and religious establishments, can be seen to have a far-reaching impact on religious identity, values and education. The impact of these different ecosystems influences the values and religious education curriculum that the school provides for the child through these complex relationships and interactions (Francis 2005; Gross 2011). However, with the growing secularisation, individuation and consequent decline of traditional religious institutions, parents face the challenge of how to develop their children’s values in the postmodern world. This is further complicated by the media, which transmits contradictory values from those of religion. These contradictory and contested trends also pose challenges to schooling both in terms of curriculum development and pedagogy. The powers of the macro (the general global society and its complex media) and the micro (the nuclear and extended family) as well as the inter-institutional relationships of the mezzo, create pressure on students and parents because of contradictory value systems that affect the quality and the nature of schools and religious education all over the world (Waghid and Davids 2014). The decline of religious beliefs and values has also created a dilemma in terms of the meaning and purpose of life for young people.

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4.6 The Search for Meaning A key element in terms of beliefs and values is the students’ need to understand the meaning and purpose of life. Crawford and Rossiter (2006) argue that “For religious people, their beliefs form a core of meaning. They interpret life from a religious perspective. But for many, especially youth, religion—a principal traditional source of meaning—does not have the same cogency or credibility it seems to have in the past” (6). Instead the focus on the good life and individualism undermines the traditional support structures that previously created a sense of the meaning and purpose in life. However, efforts to introduce courses about the different religions, which could have at least enabled a better understanding about the role religion plays in terms of the meaning of life, in addition to developing intercultural competence which is part of values education (Lovat et al. 2002), have largely failed in Australian government schools. As a result, students in these schools can be disadvantaged (Crawford and Rossiter 2006). These issues are important in terms of parents opting into SRE/RI for their children, as will be discussed in the findings of our study, where both graduates and teachers stressed the centrality of these classes for the development of the students’ value system in terms of complementing the government’s framework for values of education.

4.7 National Framework for Values Education By the late 1980s, Australian states began to see the teaching of morality and values as being part of the state government’s responsibility and in 1991 New South Wales introduced a new element into the curriculum with a program called “The Values We Teach” (Lovat and Schofield 1998; Pascoe 2002). As Australia entered the twentyfirst century, the Commonwealth Government became concerned at the increasing challenges within society with problems of broken marriages, dysfunctional families, drug problems, crime, inter-ethnic tensions and religious fundamentalism (Hill 2010, p. 646). Hill quotes from the 2001 Prime Minister’s Science Council report that: In spite of Australia’s increasing wealth and generally high level of education many indicators of developmental health and well-being are showing adverse trends amongst children and adolescents. Changes which have occurred include [a marked increase in] family breakdown and blended families, [and the] undervaluing and neglect of children. .. Some of these problems (such as. .. suicide) have trebled over the last 30 years and are higher than at any [previous] time in Australia’s history. (p. 2)

The government undertook a study of these issues and, in 2004, decided to introduce the “National Framework for Values Education”, making Australia a world leader in providing government funding for this important pedagogic approach. The National Framework sets out nine key values defined as follows:

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4.7.1 Nine Values for Australian Schooling 1. Care and Compassion—Care for self and others. 2. Doing Your Best—Seek to accomplish something worthy and admirable, try hard, pursue excellence. 3. Fair Go—Pursue and protect the common good where all people are treated fairly for a just society. 4. Freedom—Enjoy all the rights and privileges of Australian citizenship free from unnecessary interference or control, and stand up for the rights of others. 5. Honesty and Trustworthiness—Be honest, sincere and seek the truth. 6. Integrity—Act in accordance with principles of moral and ethical conduct, ensure consistency between words and deeds. 7. Respect—Treat others with consideration and regard, respect another person’s point of view. 8. Responsibility—Be accountable for one’s own actions, resolve differences in constructive, non-violent and peaceful ways, contribute to society and to civic life, take care of the environment. 9. Understanding, Tolerance and Inclusion—Be aware of others and their cultures, accept diversity within a democratic society, being included and including others (National Framework 2005, p. 4). The Framework also sets out the key elements and approaches to inform good practice in values education. These include school planning, partnerships within the school community, whole school approach, safe and supportive learning environment, support for students, and quality teaching. In 2004, the government invested significant funding to enable the implementation of this framework (Toomey 2010, pp. 20–21), as well as facilitating research to evaluate the impact of the new approach to values education. The Stage 2 Australian Final Report (DEEWR 2008) stated: Starting from the premise that schooling educates for the whole child and must necessarily engage a student’s heart, mind and actions, effective values education empowers student decision making, fosters student action and assigns real student responsibility. Effective values education is not an academic exercise; it needs to be deeply personal, deeply real and deeply engaging. (p. 11)

However, Rossiter (2011) points out that there are two challenges in the government’s approach. The first is the need to differentiate between “values in education,” that is the values fostered by the school community, and “education in values”, that is the teaching and learning about values. The second challenge is that creating personal change in students is much more complex than just teaching those values, since cognitive knowledge may not lead to behavioural change. A specific case study of a Catholic primary school which introduced the National Framework’s program for values education found that it produced significant positive results in the teaching and learning of the students as well as in the overall school climate and student wellbeing (Toomey 2010). This study attested to the effectiveness

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of values education, which in this case was also offered within the religious context of a Catholic school. It reinforced the earlier findings of Lovat and Schofield (1998) that such programs can make a difference. In a quantitative study they found that this difference was only in one area, the educational field, and did not apply to the other two areas in the curriculum, self/others and civic responsibility. These results were found to apply, even when teachers were not strongly supportive of the new program. Secularists within the academic and broader community believe that nonconfessional religious education in government schools can achieve the positive results of religious education and values through the development of a broad, liberal, spiritual understanding. In her controversial book, Unsafe Gods (2014), Lynn Davies argues that religion is irrelevant because it is the source of violence and fundamentalism and that schools should foster values education systematically to substitute values and religious education over time. In a 2018 lecture at the International Seminar of Religious Education and Values, Judy Miller argues that non-confessional RE does not specifically aim “to nurture belief, promote community cohesion, find truth, develop character, increase a sense of identity, gain knowledge or deepen spirituality even if, during the process, it contributes to some or all of those.” Yet, these are the very elements fostered directly by SRE, which of course includes values education which was seen as central by all the interviewees across the six faith traditions, as will be discussed in the next section.

4.8 Findings The respondents from all the different faith traditions stressed the key role that SRE/RI plays in conveying an understanding of values, virtues, morality, an ethical lifestyle. As well, they believed they taught the students right from wrong with a stress on “living a moral life with positive values” (female SRE teacher, #4 Jewish, New South Wales). Similarly, a Muslim interviewee commented: “So with SRI, I think all religions have moral components, and that is the foremost thing that we will teach in these classes” This teacher stressed that due to the limited contact time for an SRE/RI class “you distil the whole teachings into something that they can bring to their life, something they can practice in their daily life. So most of that would be values and morals” (female RI teacher, #4 Muslim, Queensland). There is a commonality of key values across the traditions, although clearly the sources for each tradition referred to are different. Both the Jewish and Christian interviewees referred to the importance of the ten commandments and the bible, but the Christians also stressed the role of Jesus and the concepts of grace and being Good Samaritans as well. For Islam, their sources were the Quran and the life and sayings of Muhammed (the Hadith); for Baha’i it was the teachings of their founder; for Hinduism their scriptures and the concept of “dharma”, that is the right way of living; and for Buddhism the teachings of Buddha, with the concept of the six

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principles of perfection (generosity, morality, patience and meditation, vigour and effort, and wisdom). As well, in Buddhism there is the concept of the four Noble Truths, relating to suffering and how to overcome it through the eightfold path of good behaviour. One Hindu teacher explained that “the scripture, what I am teaching at the moment, in that we strongly understand the principles of dharma, that what dharma you are doing at the moment, it is going to come in front of you. It’s like a boomerang. So, if you are doing wrong things, wrong things will come in front of you. If you are doing right things, right things will come in front of you. And when kids are learning all these things from the beginning, it will help them to deal with people nicely, to be a good person” (SRE teacher, #2 Hindu, New South Wales). The important moral messages, described by one Baha’i teacher as “the treasures of kindness and truthfulness and respect and love and honesty” (female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales) did impact on the students. One Baha’i graduate commented in relation to values: Well, I learnt many different values such as kindness, friendliness, honesty, truthfulness, patience, caring, and in these … when I was learning about these different things we would have examples and so we would be able to find out about what the value would be like in a real life setting. (male SRE graduate, #2 Baha’i, New South Wales).

Another explained the concept of virtues or values in Baha’i belief: “[they] are kind of like gems inside us that all of us have but we just need to shine them so we can show that we can all be nice, kind, compassionate. We can all be courageous, detached, all of those things” (female SRE graduate, #3 Baha’i, New South Wales). The New South Wales Buddhist SRE curriculum, “Values for Life”, focuses on the Buddhist saying: “we only do good deeds; we avoid evil and we purify our minds” (female SRE teacher, #7 Buddhist, New South Wales). One Buddhist teacher used the analogy of a garden in terms of good and bad deeds. He explained that each week he asked the children “How’s your garden been this week? Have you been looking after it? Are you planting good seeds? If you plant enough good seeds then the weeds don’t grow” (male SRE teacher, #3 Buddhist, New South Wales). The foundations for these values emerged from the individual faith systems, as one Christian interviewee explained that for them values are “built on the foundation of Christ; for someone else it would be a different framework and foundation from their faith perspective” (female SRE teacher, #14 Christian, Victoria). All faiths start “from the premise that they’ve got seeds of good to plant” (male SRE director, #16 Christian, New South Wales). The fact that there is a clear religious framework that provides an “underpinning for picking up values in the first place” was seen as fundamentally important (male SRE teacher, #1 Christian, New South Wales).

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4.9 Major Values All stressed the same characteristics, including not to murder or steal, the importance of respecting others, care and compassion, including taking care of the environment, having a sense of responsibility, righteousness, including the importance of honesty and truth. These values were seen as being important in developing good citizens and for humanity, although sometimes there was a different emphasis, as shall be discussed below.

4.9.1 Respect The concept of respect was seen as a key value, and was often presented within the school context. One interviewee explained: In our Hindu culture we basically say not to step on books and we try to see that books is like a form of God and because it gives us a lot of knowledge. [This value includes] respecting people around you and our belongings and when you translate that to a government school setting, it’s good because you won’t have kids chucking their books and property or other people’s property around. So it aligns with that sense of discipline and is taught in a religious way to say, OK, don’t kick your books because it is a form of God. (SRE teacher, #5 Hindu, New South Wales)

She added that this concept of respect for books can be expanded to respect for everything that is around and not just for books: Respect your parents, making sure not to talk back to them or say anything that’s abusive or rude and having that respect for elders translates after [school] as well when we start talking to our bosses or anyone who’s a little bit older than us in the workplace … so SRE provides that valued education that does translate out of school and into the workplace. (SRE teacher, #5 Hindu, New South Wales)

Islamic education also talks about the importance of respect, “obeying parents, respecting the spouse, respecting the neighbours, respecting the other faith people… And also in our religion, we live in a country where it’s not Islamic country that we have to respect the land of the law [sic]” (male RE director, #9 Muslim, Tasmania). This Muslim perspective was reinforced by a Muslim graduate: “The Islamic faith teaches us to respect our teachers, to study, to become educated. It’s a fundamental part of our religion. So the program will teach us to respect our teachers, to do all these things. We’ll become better students” (male SRE graduate/teacher, #6 Muslim, New South Wales). Respect is also a key concept in Judaism. One of the ten commandments stresses the importance of respecting ones’ parents. One of our Jewish interviewees particularly stressed that this is the only commandment which offers a reward because the text says, “so that your days will be long on the earth”. Similarly, in Christianity, many of the interviewees stressed the importance of respect, including respect for teachers. One interviewee responded with the question

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she asked her students: “What about when you are in the classroom? How are you going to respond there? So we talk about values and changes, how we act” (female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). A Christian director focused more on the broader aspects of respecting all, regardless of ethnic or religious background. In terms of SRE, he commented that when the students “eventually leave that program [SRE classes] with some sort of respect for each other, [this] is really what we’re trying to replicate here” (male SRE director, #16 Christian, New South Wales). In Buddhism, respect is a central concept, including respect for life, for the law and for other people’s property. It also includes “no consuming alcohol and any kinds of drugs, that is actually respect for one’s own body” (female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales). Yet, interwoven with the concept of respect is that of loving kindness, care and compassion.

4.9.2 Loving Kindness, Care and Compassion Central to all religions is the concept of being kind, demonstrating care, compassion, generosity, the desire to help others, and love. As one Hindu SRE teacher expressed it, that in addition to academic results, “we want a human being, good human beings which are helping others, understanding others, and that role SRE does” (female SRE teacher, #2 Hindu, New South Wales). In Buddhist SRE the importance of generosity and the concept of “loving kindness” are stressed as key values. Loving kindness is presented as being important not only in words, but also in actions, such as thanking one’s mother for the food, and saying “Oh, the food is yummy, the food is beautiful. I shall eat it all” or showing love by practical actions “helping her, cleaning the house, speaking nicely to her” (female SRE teacher, #2 Buddhist, New South Wales). So, much of the focus in Buddhist SRE is about “loving kindness and compassion, and giving, being generous and sharing, and mostly they will do meditation on lovingkindness” (female SRE teacher, #7 Buddhist, New South Wales). Baha’i SRE also stresses the importance of helping others in very practical ways, and children are encouraged to share in class different ways that they had helped their mother during the week, such as emptying the dishwasher, or helping other members of their family or friends. In terms of pedagogy, one Christian interviewee explained from his experience as a student the way that one of his SRE teachers, an older gentleman, sought to convey the message of the importance of being kind to others through the medium of songs and stories: He’d bring his accordion and play songs and we’d sing, and we’d learn different things. There was something of seeing a faith practitioner come in and learn how he interacted with the world, and be able to copy that… And so part of our value structure is that faith is important, and it’s something that needs to be passed on from one generation to the next. So he would run a classroom where we were kind to one another. So he was modelling the values and teaching them. (male SRE graduate/teacher, #1 Christian, New South Wales)

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Within the Christian context, our interviewees all stressed the story of the Good Samaritan, especially when pressed to give examples of teaching the values of care and compassion. This is something strongly embedded in Christian tradition and culture. This concept of taking care also extended to the environment for some of our interviewees. The role of nature and its importance of looking after the earth and the universe was also stressed as a key value by a number of the interviewees, especially from the Eastern religions including Hinduism and Buddhism. A number of the Buddhist interviewees spoke about the environment, because many of his teachings stressed the importance of taking care of the earth: When we speak about resources, we also value natural environments, where we teach them to respect the land, because we human beings are connected, interdependent… We don’t own this country, this land. We are part of the ecosystem. (female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales)

In conveying this message of taking care of the environment, the concept of responsibility was stressed as another key value.

4.9.3 Responsibility This was a key theme within many of the religions. For example in Hinduism, the concept of dharma includes the idea that each individual has duties, responsibilities and privileges, depending on their role in life. One teacher explained that to fully understand the Hindu religious texts, Vedas, one needed a “lifelong study”, so the only thing one can teach to the students is the value of responsibility “how they contribute as an individual to the home, individual to the society, individual to the school… That is the only thing that we can teach, and we are trying our level best to teach those values in our SRE education system” (female SRE teacher, #4 Hindu, New South Wales). One of the Buddhist teachers commented further: … it’s actually the value of taking responsibility… You don’t actually say oh, it’s his fault, the government is actually not doing their blah, blah, blah. You don’t complain. You don’t just sit around and wasting your breath, and wasting the government resources. (female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales)

Included in responsible action is to ensure that one tells the truth, this being part of the broader concept of righteousness, central to religious beliefs.

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4.9.4 Righteousness Another key value is that of righteousness, which includes the concepts of justice, of being honest, of telling the truth, being fair and standing up for what is right even if that is difficult. In particular, our interviewees stressed honesty and truth as basic and important values. A Buddhist teacher explained that “lying is another one… you don’t go around lying. You know that you are honouring your word… like the four noble truths and the eight noble paths, they go hand-in-hand” (female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales). A Baha’i teacher stressed that “children learn, for example, that truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues” (female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales). A Muslim teacher explained further: “Okay, alright, so one of the teachings of Islam is we have to be honest. So there’s a saying of our Prophet, Muhammad, ‘tell the truth even if it is bitter’… Being an honest person is at the end of the day not only the reward you get in this world, but it’s also something that you will be rewarded in the hereafter… at the end of the day, it will be the best outcome” (female RI teacher, #4 Muslim, Queensland). The Jewish SRE teachers drew on Jewish history to expand the concept of righteousness, especially in relation to playground bullying. One Jewish SRE teacher draws on the concept from the Holocaust of not being a bystander, as she explained: We can look at stories from the Holocaust and we can see antisemitism and being a bystander in those situations can replicate the school environment in the exact same way, how the German citizens weren’t standing up for Jews and there were a lot of people who would not do anything about this whole problem in Europe. So, it’s important to stand up and say something if you see something going [wrong] going on. (female SRE graduate/teacher, #1 Jewish, New South Wales)

Another Jewish SRE teacher explained that for her, teaching about the dilemmas that students face is about teaching how students can get along with others so “there can be peace on this earth [if we all] just work together, because that is good” (female SRE teacher, #5 Jewish, New South Wales). This approach produces both good citizens and is valuable for humanity.

4.9.5 Being Good Citizens and Part of Humanity The interviewees stressed that ensuring their students absorbed and practiced positive values would produce good citizens. One Baha’i interviewee expressed this as follows: Well, I am sure it’s the same with other faiths as well. As far as we are concerned, we teach them values and virtues of compassion and kindness, and generosity and friendliness and helpfulness, helping your fellow human beings and being kind… developing an understanding in children that we’re all human family. (male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales)

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A Christian interviewee added: Now, Christianity or faith isn’t the only place where we can get those [values] but it is a strong place where they can get that and that can flow through to all parts of their lives. And by having that values basis that helps them to be good citizens now and into the future. (male SRE director, #15 Christian, New South Wales)

Similarly, in Buddhism, interviewees stressed the importance of following the law and that their approach in SRE is to teach the key values so that their students will grow up to be good citizens. As one interviewee expressed it: “You actually need to be a good citizen where you take responsibility, you pick up rubbish, you respect the law, and you don’t—what’s the word—you work” (female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales). As discussed, these major values were discussed within the framework of each faith community’s belief system and understandings.

4.10 Key Factors in Teaching Values in SRE When asked what differentiated teaching values in SRE/RI from imparting values in the general curriculum, two major factors were stressed: belief in a higher being and the key role of religious scriptures and teachings.

4.10.1 Belief in God In terms of understanding the centrality of values to the student’s lives, the importance of belief in a caring God was stressed by the interviewees from different faith traditions. In Hinduism the role of God and of the Scriptures is seen as very important in teaching values, as one teacher explained: For kids, we basically use the word God and show them pictures of what God would look like so that they can imagine that there’s someone a little bit higher than themselves… Don’t steal because God is watching over you so they have a little bit of fear… But as we grow older we start to realise, OK, this may not be physical … It’s more a spiritual thing”. (SRE teacher, #5 Hindu, New South Wales)

This interviewee explained that as students grow older, they need to also see the rationality of values and not just the threat of heaven and hell. At the same time, she felt that the understanding that there is something “a little bit higher” is very important (SRE teacher, #5 Hindu, New South Wales). In Islam, belief in God and his messengers is also seen as central, as expressed in the Six Pillars of Faith [Iman]. One of the teachers explained:

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We need to be able to understand the messengers and that the key to success in every facet of our life is faith and to have a good understanding of faith. And having that faith affects what you do and what you say… So whether we do that spiritually by making extra supplications or doing our prayers on time so things like that we’re trying to bring into each of the lessons. (female SRE teacher, #1 Islamic, New South Wales)

Similarly a Baha’i interviewee responded to the question on values: “And we need connecting to God as the Creator. We must pray and converse with God. And I think that this part of education is very necessary for people here [in Australia]” (male SRE teacher, #1 Baha’i, New South Wales). Other interviewees argued that without a belief in God, values could also be very subjective: I think that without God you can’t have morality. It just doesn’t make sense, logically. If you follow it through to its conclusion, if there is no God, and there is no divine being who has declared what is right and what is wrong… If that doesn’t exist, then there is no onus on human beings to be decent or kind to each other, or to put other people first, or to show compassion or love or service. It just makes sense to look out for number one [yourself] and do your own thing”. (female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales)

Another Christian interviewee explained: … to have a moral framework without an understanding of who the moral guardian of that framework is leaves the students bereft and almost loses the impact of that value because that value becomes subjective… So if you think about the moral laws given by God in the Christian faith, there’s a clear context and understanding why God says, “Love your neighbour” and it’s not just because it’s a nice thing. (male SRE teacher, #12 Christian, Victoria)

However, belief in God was not seen as the only factor—the role of the written scriptures was also seen as very important.

4.10.2 Role of Scripture Scriptural traditions, which often go back millennia, are central, because they convey key moral messages. As one Muslim teacher explained: “And also that there’s guidelines in their life as well which is a positive thing for children to know that there’s a direction” (female SRE teacher, #2 Muslim, Queensland). In the Hindu scriptures one teacher explained there are the concepts of ItihasPuranas [narrations from the past]: If you want to know something you have to go by what is documented in the scriptures. You can question and say today that it’s not at all – it might not have happened at all. The same thing can be argued, even today – I write something and in a hundred years’ time, somebody might come and deny that this ever happened… you can’t just pluck something out of thin air and learn, but you’ve got to go by examples of living, which is demonstrated to you by the various things in the past which is through the Hindu scriptures. (male SRE teacher, #3 Hindu, New South Wales)

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Christian interviewees also stressed the importance of scripture, in this case the biblical stories from both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, so that “the values are taught as part of a bigger story and don’t just sit on their own” (female SRE teacher, #13 Christian, Victoria) and “young people don’t have to make up all their values” (male SRE director, #15 Christian, New South Wales). As another explained “I mean, if I looked for values in myself, they would be amiss. It’s much better to hear values from a book. You know, for us it’s the bible, but from a book outside ourselves” (female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). As such scriptures provide an “anchor”, as another Christian teacher explained: So I think that the values are like the fruit of a tree. And if you don’t have the tree you don’t have the fruit or the fruit falls off and it goes rotten and it just sits on the ground and disintegrates. And I think that’s how values are. And if we don’t anchor it to something concrete then the values will dissipate and … how can you tell a child, ‘Oh, you should be nice to another child just because I say so’ or ‘because that might mean they’re nice back to you instead of being nasty’. (female SRE teacher, #11 Christian, Victoria)

Similar sentiments were expressed by Buddhist teachers: Well, for me the Buddhist values can’t be separated from the tradition they come from. Yes, you can teach ethics, but I think the greater value for me is teaching those values within the context of the tradition that it comes from… it’s giving them that background”. (female SRE teacher, #4 Buddhist, New South Wales)

Thus, the scriptures provide a framework for teaching and learning the key values which are integrated into a tradition that goes back over millennia, and the interviewees stressed the advantages of this approach.

4.11 Advantages of Teaching Values in SRE/RI The interviewees outlined a number of advantages for teaching values through SRE/RI for the secular teachers, for providing meaning in life and for reinforcing home values.

4.11.1 Benefits for Government Schools The SRE/RI teachers also stressed that the values they were teaching could complement and reinforce the government mandated values, especially since “schoolteachers have a lot of pressure nowadays, not only do they have to teach the academic subjects, mathematics, English and so on, but they also have a lot of administrative work” (female SRE teacher, #4 Buddhist, New South Wales). In contrast, they argued that teaching values is a key focus in SRE and that this is often appreciated by the classroom teachers. One Baha’i teacher commented: “And it’s interesting that the teachers who are sitting in the classroom they get so engaged

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in the actual lesson that we cannot believe that they are so interested” (female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales). Similarly, the Muslim interviewees described how the classroom teachers who were sitting in on the SRE classes also got involved in the lessons. One teacher commented: “I cannot count how many times that I have been teaching scripture in a class and I’ve got the secular teachers nodding their head, approving and sometimes even joining, butting in and speaking to the students and saying, yeah, well, see, this is what your religion is about. Your religion tells you to implement what we ask you to do in school in terms of gaining knowledge in terms of discipline, behaviour, respect and all those things” (female SRE teacher, #5 Muslim, New South Wales). In a number of cases, the interviewees explained how their lessons can help the students to value and respect their teachers. One Baha’i teacher explained that every year to mark the World Teachers’ day he teaches the children a song “basically showing appreciation of teachers, and they perform it in front of the school assembly… It’s about the value of education and the role teachers play. The children will give a speech or something, and they will give the teachers little presents as well, just as a token” (male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales). In another example, one Muslim graduate/teacher described how he had just given a lesson on the importance in Islam of treating teachers, fellow students and their school with respect “and I walked past a classroom and the teacher was actually speaking to students about what was taught today. So that shows there’s a bit of connection between the students and the teachers about what’s being taught and what they do take out of those classes” (male SRE graduate/teacher, #7 Muslim, New South Wales). His friend and colleague added: A few teachers from the school we used to go to had issues with the Muslim students in particular with these behavioural things. I believe having an outsider coming and teaching Islamic rulings, faiths, morals, values and all that stuff teaches them how to behave properly. So I think it’s more of a respect thing, having someone else come in other than a teacher teaching you what to do. (male SRE graduate/teacher, #6 Muslim, New South Wales)

The Christian interviewees also explained how SRE could reinforce the general values curriculum because “the bible stories back-up what the school is teaching about values” (female SRE teacher, #10 Christian, Victoria). Another Christian interviewee who had trained as a secular teacher also stressed how the values taught in SRE align well and reinforce the rest of the values education that comes through the broader curriculum of the Department of Education, “so there is really a nice crossover in many ways to help enrich that values education”. When asked to elaborate on this point, she responded: “I think it actually helps to embed it in whole of life, that it doesn’t become something that’s a detached subject but very much embedded into life practices of the faith tradition” (female SRE graduate/teacher, #9 Christian, New South Wales). In this way, the involvement of SRE teachers and classes provide a grounding and help to reinforce key values within the school system. The interviewees also stressed that as well their classes help the students understand the meaning of life.

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4.11.2 Meaning of Life A number of the interviewees stressed that the lack of belief and an understanding of values resulted in young people having no insight into the meaning of life, often leading to self-harm. One Hindu teacher explained: “They don’t have much value in their life… They really don’t know why I am doing what I’m doing, and if I have to speak truth, why do I have to speak truth? If I have to be loyal, why do I have to be loyal? They have no understanding of the values” (female SRE teacher, #2 Hindu, New South Wales). Another Hindu teacher added: But the real value of how you interact with people and with nature, and what is the importance of knowing yourself, basically who the person you really are, and how you are connected to the universe, where do you come from, where do you go from here to somewhere else, and what is the meaning of life. And all these kind of things, unfortunately are not powered by the day to day subjects which they teach in schools. That is what is essential for your progress in life, apart from the earning and living capacity. (male SRE teacher, #3 Hindu, New South Wales)

He elaborated further that there is suffering in the world, “so many plusses and minuses are happening in society, what is the meaning of all these things… You can’t explain all these things. Science can go only up to a certain point. Beyond that, science cannot explain about the soul, souls on the planet. These things are brought about by scripture” (male SRE teacher, #3 Hindu, New South Wales). The concern about the nihilism in the secular, globalised world and the way that religious beliefs can also counteract this negativity and provide meaning to life was also stressed by the Muslim interviewees. One interviewee explained: I think it’s enormous… You have a lot of children searching, looking for that source of comfort in a very, very confusing day and age today. And we’re very … they’re very stimulated by these electronics. They’re in a pixel world, this façade and you need to … you’re giving them something that’s real and solid, that’s not fake. You’re telling them things that are of truth and value and they’re losing a lot of that with this world of … So you’re sort of bringing them back to … really grounding them, like you’re grounding them back to earth, like come back to the reality of what life is and what really matters. (female SRE teacher, #3 Muslim, New South Wales)

She commented further that she encourages her students “to remember God. He’ll be with you. But when you forget Him… you’ll forget who you are and you’ll become very lost… So that’s what we concentrate on, developing a relationship with our Creator in the sense that He, our Creator’s our best friend… Once you’ve lost that friend you’ve lost a lot of benefit and it’s very hard to get through life without it” (female SRE teacher, #3 Muslim, New South Wales). Understanding the value and meaning of life are also key to the essence of Buddhism. As one teacher explained: “the Buddha during his life said that we have to have the right understanding in this life to discover, to fully understand the law of nature is to live in harmony” (female SRE teacher, #4 Buddhist, New South Wales). The Christian interviewees argued that the concept that there is a God who loves them and that Jesus loves them provided the students with meaning in life and a

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sense of hope. One Christian interviewee explained: “So that’s a really key thing for me. I want these kids to find their sense of value and purpose and worth, in something outside themselves, so that when something goes wrong in life, it’s not all about me. I’m not a total mess, because there is a God who loves me and who made me” (female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). Another elaborated further: “The focus of the faith that we teach, Christianity, is other person centred, a recognition of who God is, who we are, and how we relate to other people. Even if you choose to not follow that faith, many children benefit because they explore and are encouraged to consider others in all their decisions and how they live their lives” (female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). From an early age children can question the meaning of life and search for answers. One Baha’i teacher described how in a class she was taking of Years K-3, a Year 3 child put up their hand and asked: “What is the purpose of our life?” Another child then said: “I’ve been thinking about this for the last couple of years and I don’t know.” Then a Year One child put his hand up and said: “The purpose of our life is to be kind and to be loving and to behave like a Baha’i would” (female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales). This response came from a six or seven-year old, whose parents wanted their child to be exposed to religious values even though they were not members of the Baha’i faith. This story illustrates the key role that religion can play in developing key values, even in very young children. Thus, religious teachings can demonstrate that “there is an overarching worldview that tells us the reason why people are here… that they are all very valuable. Every particular person has potential and it’s good to see them realise their potential” (female SRE teacher, #11 Christian, Victoria). As another teacher expressed it, “so for me I think it is a huge benefit. It helps them to understand why they are being educated [and that] even choosing a profession has a moral dimension to it” (female SRE teacher, #9 Buddhist, New South Wales). Belief in God is also seen as providing meaning to life, and assisting the students’ thinking positively about overcoming obstacles and difficulties. One interviewee drew on the biblical story of the twelve spies to demonstrate the importance of belief in God and understanding how to overcome challenges in life. She described how twelve spies entered Canaan. They all saw the same thing, but ten returned saying it would be impossible to conquer the land, which was inhabited by giants, and only two had faith in God, stressing that the obstacles could be overcome. She explained from this example that “So, in your life, it’s the same thing… Can you overcome what you perceive to be obstacles; are they real obstacles that maybe you can still overcome? (female SRE teacher, #6 Jewish, New South Wales). Thus, SRE/RI was seen as providing meaning in life through developing key values and belief in God.

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4.11.3 Reinforcing Parental Values A number of teachers also pointed out that the teaching of values in SRE was important because it correlated with what was being taught at home, and that this was a factor in parents opting into SRE classes. As one Christian SRE teacher noted: They are supporting it in their own culture and in their own home, and so the children are learning about that faith in the classroom, and they have got that connection back to their own culture and faith in the family… When their family is operating under those faiths and morals and values, and the children are also learning about that in school, it’s congruent. They are learning to respect the faith, and the culture of their family. (female SRE teacher, #3 Christian, New South Wales)

Another Christian RE teacher commented: I think we often forget that widely accepted values in western culture, and in Australia specifically, come from a Judeo-Christian heritage. And we make assumptions that values are just there and widely accepted when actually when students have an understanding of why those values came about and how those values came to be that it allows them to line up some assumed values that they may get from home with actually the foundation of those values. (male SRE teacher, #12 Christian, New South Wales)

Similarly, Buddhist SRE can relate to their family culture: “That’s the culture they inhabit. And they get their values and their lifestyle and all kinds of things from their family religion. And so it’s an integrated thing” (female SRE teacher, #6 Buddhist, New South Wales). Interviewees also commented that non-religious parents were also opting into SRE classes, often from one of the Eastern faiths, rather than Christianity, because they feel the messages these classes give in terms of values mirror their own values, and that they are conveyed within in framework of belief, unlike the ethics classes. Thus, parents are opting into SRE/RI classes because they reinforce their values from home, whether because they are part of that faith community or because they are secular, but still wish their children to be exposed to values, which stem from faith traditions.

4.12 Discussion and Conclusions This chapter has aimed to gain a better understanding of the ways teaching values in SRE/RI classes complements and strengthens values education in the secular curriculum in government school settings; to illuminate the differences of emphasis between the faith traditions; and the differences in the religious and secular approaches. The data gathered from the directors, teachers and graduate students sheds light on these issues, enabling a better understanding of the advantages of retaining SRE/RI in this post-modern world. As well, we shall discuss the specific advantages of SRE/RI in conveying key values.

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4.12.1 SRE/RI Complements and Strengthens Secular Values Teaching There is a general recognition of the need to include values education in the school curriculum but many postmodern scholars have either ignored or discounted the role religious education can play in values education in the postmodern world and have presented the issues completely through a secular lens (Shachar 2019; Maddox 2014; ˇ c et al. 2009; Byrne 2009; Schwartz 1994), thereby taking a binary approach. Crpi´ Inglehart (1977) and Davies (2014) have argued that traditional religious values are declining significantly, but there is a strong debate about this conclusion in the current literature. ˇ c et al. (2009), who undertook an extensive empirVarious scholars, such as Crpi´ ical research project and concluded that “religion is still an attractive candidate as a system for cultural belonging and offers distinct lifestyle patterns including moral standards”, have argued that religious education still has a role to play. This is highlighted by the Australian experience. Surveys show that currently in Australia only 60% of the population identify as religious, but in New South Wales 70% of parents are choosing to send their children to SRE/RI classes. According to the teachers’ testimony, one reason behind this parental choice, both secular and religious, is because parents believe that values education can be best transmitted through religious education. Their evidence demonstrates that some parents who come from a Christian background may choose a different faith tradition for their children’s SRE/RI classes, such as Buddhism or Baha’i, rather than Special Ethics Education in New South Wales or non-scripture, indicating that they still want a religious education, including religious values for their children. This finding supports current international research findings that religiosity and values formation are interrelated (Käppler et al. 2011; Kay and Zeibertz 2006; Gross 2005). Researchers also argue that moral education, values education, ethics, virtues and morality is best taught through the medium of RE (Moran 1989; Stern 2018). Moran argues that “Moral education needs religious education neither as lord and servant but as thoughtful colleague” (Moran 1989, p. 189). Stern (2018) posits that values education and ethics enriches the RE curriculum and enables the development of student’s virtues: “(t)he dispositions of pupils will be developed using the treasury of faith” (Birmingham City Council 2007, p. 5). He contends that in the United Kingdom values education is embedded into RE as it is expected that RE will “have a personal influence on pupils”. Values education through RE builds the student’s character from a more holistic approach, a point stressed by our interviewees. Thus, our findings add to this growing body of data that special religious education can complement and strengthen the values curriculum in the secular classrooms in the government school settings.

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4.12.2 Differences of Emphasis Between the Faith Traditions Comparing different understanding of values across the religions is a relatively new research field, which recognises that there is a need for an interdisciplinary approach to values education. Following Parker and Freathy (2011), Stern (2018) argues that each religious tradition “has its own hierarchy of virtues”, for instance the importance of humility in the Christian tradition and Jewish traditions which is considered to be a core value and a basis for the establishment of the relationships between men and God (Stern 2018, p. 149). We also found that there were some differences in the understanding of values from the different faith traditions. There was a commonality in terms of the main values listed by the interviewees, even though there were differences in emphasis. For example, Hinduism and Buddhism explicitly included taking care of the environment as part of their students’ responsibilities. Jewish SRE teachers used Jewish history to explain different values, with the Holocaust being used as an example of not being a bystander but rather standing up for the rights of others, particularly in relation to playground bullying. These different understandings actually strengthen the educative aspect of SRE giving it a broader scope and impact.

4.12.3 Differences in the Religious and Secular Approaches and Contributing Factors Our study revealed that there was definitely significant overlap between the analysis of key values provided by the interviewees in this study and the federal government’s list of nine key values to be fostered in the overall education curriculum, but there were also differences. In particular, there was less emphasis on Value 2: students “doing your best… and pursue excellence” because the focus in SRE/RI tends to be more within the sphere of social good, rather than individual educational attainment. Another important difference relates to Value 4: “freedom”, in particular regarding enjoying one’s rights. This was due to a greater emphasis on duties and responsibilities in SRE/RI classes. While one Hindu interviewee referred to “privileges” as part of the concept of dharma, this was within the framework of responsibilities, so that privileges emerge from duty. Again, the importance of standing up for the rights of others, as noted above, was stressed by a Jewish interviewee, but the concept was embedded in other responses from the different faith traditions. This reflects the difference between the individualism of postmodern society, as compared with the focus on community good within religious traditions. Understanding these differences relates to the issue of extrinsic and intrinsic values (Selman 2003; Beit-Hallahmi and Argyle 1997), where extrinsic values were found to be stronger in people who were religious. There is a tension between the attitude to the social values rather than to the values which are more self-centred on the individual. Even though the teachers think that adolescents tend to support more extrinsic rather

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than intrinsic values (Gross 2013), the prominent values that students endorse in the overall picture are intrinsic rather than extrinsic. Yet, this tension is an integral part of the pedagogical discourse in the SRE/RI arena and makes SRE more attractive to parents. While Value 6: “integrity” was not referred to specifically, the concept was embedded in many of the examples given by the interviewees across the faiths. Thus, there was a slightly different emphasis and approach to the key values in the responses of the SRE/RI teachers and graduates. There is an even more substantial difference with Schwartz’s (1994) list of ten values, with values such as self-directedness, stimulation and hedonism not even being hinted at. These differences reflect the findings of Klages (1988) that the auto-centric values characterise a modern approach, with its focus on individual self-realisation, whereas nomo-centric values characterise a more traditional approach with its focus on communal wellbeing and belonging. As such, the focus is much more on “terminal values” that will be relevant for the students’ lifetime, rather than “instrumental values” (Rokeach 1973; Levy 1999). Another key difference between that of the secular curriculum and that of SRE/RI is the belief in the importance of the role of a higher being and of traditional teachings in the values education. According to our interviewees there is something moral and ethical when a person preserves and obeys values which come from an extrinsic, heteronomic force, as opposed to the autonomous level where people act according to their personal moral understandings (Oser 1999). This approach is supported by research that has revealed the educational power of following religious precepts (Gross 2009), as well as the impact of prayer (Kohn 2020). This difference in focus was also revealed clearly in our study, so that not only was there a contrast in evaluating the importance of different values between the secular and religious approach but also in the form of transmitting these values to students. The challenges young people face today, living in the virtual world of social media, what one interviewee described as “this pixel world”, were also recognised and stressed. Thus, the focus on one’s self and individuation can lead to nihilism (Lovat et al. 2002) because, if there is no higher framework, young people can believe that nothing matters. As well the focus on materialism and just leading the good life does not fulfil deeper needs, as will be discussed in the chapter on spirituality.

4.12.4 Developmental Stages Some of the interviewees specifically discussed the changing understanding of values as students mature, moving from the heteronomous to the autonomous (Kohlberg 1973, 1976; Piaget 1932). They stressed that it was important to take account of this in SRE/RI pedagogy because, as students move into secondary school, they need to understand the rationality behind moral laws and values within their faith tradition. Whilst the existence of a higher spiritual being was very important, the threat of divine punishment was no longer sufficient to ensure that students absorbed and followed these laws. Hence parents and students are looking for a more reflective religious education which enables raising and responding to tough questions.

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4.12.5 Advantages of Teaching and Learning Values Through SRE/RI 4.12.5.1

Role of the Teacher in Values Education

From the teacher and graduate responses, the strong commitment of the SRE/RI teachers was very clear and a number commented that this commitment differentiated their approach and curriculum from the secular classroom, where values education was only an element of the secular curriculum and often gets lost. In their study, Lovat and Schofield (1998) found that not all the classroom teachers were supportive of the values education program. They found that, despite this lack of commitment, there was an improvement in student attitudes regarding the education segment of the values education program. Yet, the studies recognise the key role teachers play as role models and the SRE/RI teachers perceive their task in this domain as very important. As well, because they are teaching the values through the lens of their faith tradition, they are authentic in their approach. Authenticity has also been seen as an important component in values education (Forgasz 2002). These are important elements which SRE/RI classes contribute to values education in government schools, and to remove these classes would be a loss to teaching and learning about values.

4.12.5.2

Synergy Between Home, School and Community

Scholars have pointed to the central role the family plays in developing a child’s values at the micro level (Bronfenbrenner 1979), and this can extend to the religious community, youth group and place of worship (Gross 2013; Waghid 2011). Our interviewees also recognised these factors and believed that SRE/RI classes can further extend these elements due to the synergy between home values and those of the respective faith traditions. According to the teachers from all the religious faiths, there is a synergy between the child’s environment, the religious and moral aspirations of their parents and their demands from schools as is discussed in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory (1979). In terms of values education, for many families, the values from their religion are of central importance. Hence, SRE/RI classes help to reinforce values education because this provides the added level of spiritual and religious understandings, which reinforces the connection between home and school. Even when parents are no longer practising in terms of attending religious services, the evidence reveals that they still want their children to learn the basic religious values that they grew up with, regardless of which faith tradition we are talking about. The graduate students’ voice from those we interviewed strongly echoed their family background and in a number of cases these interviewees became SRE/RI teachers as they understood the importance of these classes and wished to maintain the tradition. The importance of this synergy is also seen in the issue of parental choice, the maintenance of which is important because it enables the parents, the consumers

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(Bunar 2010), to match their home (parent) religious values within the framework of a government school (Passy 2005). Robert Selman (2003) perceives that the school environment, its values and approach is a direct product and reflection of parents’ priorities. Again the existence of this alignment was a point raised by a number of our interviewees across the faiths. Parents are actively choosing SRE/RI for their children but are also specifying which faith tradition, which for parents from a Christian background is sometimes one of the Eastern religions rather than Christianity. However, the teachers believed that the parents were making this choice because teaching spiritual and religious values is seen as the core of these classes. It seems that the a priori orientation (Gross 1995) of students who attend SRE/RI classes, and their parents who make this choice, is more spiritual and hence religious values are considered in a more favourable light. The fact that parents send their children to SRE/RI impacts on their tendency to endorse spiritual aspects and values. This is apparent in the eyes of the SRE/RI teachers in their discourse and educational spiritual priorities. Drawing on the research of Skolverket (2011) in Sweden, Stern (2018) attests that “ethics education forms a distinct strand within RE in the national curriculum” (p. 138). This policy is enhanced in Sweden as an integral part to foster social cohesion in response to the large wave of immigration and increasing cross-border mobility. Hence “within RE ethics will include ‘daily moral dilemmas’ linked to different kinds of ethical reasoning… and ethical concepts” (Skolverket 2011, p. 180). Stern claims that “teaching ethics as part of RE means that ethics education can draw on the richness of religious as well as non-religious traditions” (p. 139). It also means that “ethics is assessed as part of RE” (Stern 2018, 140). These observations apply to the SRE/RI curricula in Australia, where attendance at these classes is voluntary, depending on parental choice, but they are clearly recognised as adding to the richness of their child’s education by a majority of the parent body.

4.12.5.3

Values Education and Transformation

Whilst it is possible to teach about values, it is often more difficult to create a transformation in students’ behaviour (Rossiter 2011), although such transformation may be considered as important within the educational literature (Lamm 2001). Our research demonstrates that the Buddhist teachers, in particular, were aware of this challenge and stressed the importance of their students practicing the key messages which they teach in order to transform their behaviour. This applied especially to skills in meditation which the students learn and are encouraged to practice during the week. However, it also applied to other aspects of student behaviour—as one of the teachers expressed it just as in a garden you can have weeds that you do not want, so students are encouraged to “work on their garden”, on their spiritual behaviour, to ensure that “weeds”, bad behaviour, do not appear. This allows for the possibility of transformation. Other religious faiths introduce similar approaches, but not always as explicitly. This is an area where more professional development could lead to

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a better understanding of the key concepts of values education, ensuring that the teaching and learning of values can have more of a long-term effect on the students. Our study has demonstrated that the belief in a higher being and the role which traditional texts play in the various faith traditions are important for the development of values. This aligns with the criticism of the secularisation theory which has been enhanced by Hervieu-Léger (1998, 2000) who characterises the social significance of religion in the construction of the cultural background of Europe. Similarly Casanova (1994) has analysed the public sphere where, she argues, religion is still a major factor, and Davie (2000) has analysed the new social reality with increasing religious pluralism, again stressing the ongoing role of religion. Teachers believe that this is a factor in parental choice, with even non-religious parents, the “nones”, choosing to send their children to SRE/RI classes. In this way there is a strong connection between values and beliefs, the search for meaning, spirituality and religious identity (Crawford and Rossiter 2006). Our research supports international scholarship that religion is still an important educational resource in assisting to facilitate the transmission of values in contemporary society. As discussed earlier in the book, many scholars both in Australia and internationally argue that worldview education should replace religious education in the post-modern world (van der Kooij et al. 2017) and that religion is no longer relevant in the modern and post-modern world (Davies 2014). Yet, our findings in terms of values education indicate that special religious education is still an important factor in terms of children’s socialisation and values education as indicated by parental choice of SRE/RI. This is an area that requires further research, since we did not interview parents of children attending SRE/RI classes. The postmodern world has seen a break in the chain of tradition with the decrease and, in many cases the rejection, of traditional texts. This impacts not only on values education but also on religious identity as will be discussed in the next chapter.

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Maddox M (2014) Taking god to school: the end of Australia’s egalitarian education?. Allen and Unwin, Sydney McCarthy M (2016) Parental choice of school by rural and remote parents. Issues Educ Res 26(1):29–44 Miller H, Pomson A, Hakohen Wolf H (2016) Secondary school choice as a window on Jewish faith schools in contemporary British society. J Sch Choice 10(4):537–559. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 15582159.2015.1131508 Moran G (1989) Religious education as a second language. Religious Education Press, Birmingham National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools (2005) Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved January 26, 2021. http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/fra mework_pdf_version_for_the_web.pdf Oser FK (1999) Can a curriculum of moral education be postmodern? Educational Philosophy and Theory 31(2):231–236 Parker S, Freathy RJ (2011) Context, complexity and contestation: Birmingham’s agreed syllabuses for religious education since the 1970s. Journal of Beliefs and Values 32(2):247–263. https://doi. org/10.1080/13617672.2011.600823 Pascoe S (ed) (2002) Values in education: college year book. The Australian College of Educators, Deakin West, ACT Passy R (2005) Family values and primary schools: an investigation into family-related education. Br Edu Res J 31(6):723–736 Piaget J (1932) The moral judgment of the child. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co, London Reichard JD (2012) Religious values and tuition vouchers: an empirical case study of parent religiosity as a factor of school choice. J Sch Choice 6:465–482 Rokeach M (1973) The nature of human values. Free Press, New York Rossiter G (2011) Historical perspective on spiritual education in Australian schools Part II: a personal development basis. J Christ Educ 54(3):15–27 Salman S (2002) Values in education: an Islamic perspective. In: Pascoe S (ed) Values in education: college year book 2002. The Australian College of Educators, Deakin West, ACT, pp 115–124 Sansone C, Harackiewicz JM (2000) Controversies and new directions: is it de´ja‘ vu all over again? In Sansone C, Harackiewicz JM (eds), Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: the search for optimal motivation and performance. Academic Press, New York, pp 444–453 Schwartz SH (1994) Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? J Social Issues 50(4):19–45 Schwartz SH (2009) Basic values: How they motivate and inhibit prosocial behavior. In: Mikulincer M, Shaver PR (eds) Prosocial motives, emotion and behavior: the better angels of our nature. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp 221–2410 Selman R (2003) Powerful lessons from the partnership of developmental theory and classroom practice. Russell Sage Foundation, New York Shachar H (2019) Educating for value-added life in a technological culture. Haifa: Pardes (Hebrew). Skolverket [Swedish National Agency for Education] (2011) Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and the recreation centre. Ordförradet, Stockholm Stern J (2018) Teaching religious education: researchers in the classroom. Bloomsbury, London Taylor C (2004) Modern social imaginaries. Duke University Press, Durham, NC, p 2004 Taylor CCW (Trans.) (1990) Plato: Protagoras. Oxford University Press, New York. Toomey R (2010) Values education, instructional scaffolding and student wellbeing. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 19–36 Vygotsky LS (1978) Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA van der Kooij JC, de Ruyter DJ and Miedema S (2017) The merits of using “worldview” in religious education. Religious Educ 112(2):172–184. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2016.1191410 Waghid Y (2011) Conceptions of Islamic education: pedagogical framings (Global Studies in Education, 3). Peter Lang, New York

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Chapter 5

Cultural and Religious Identity

Abstract The aim of this chapter is to examine whether religious education remains important in developing social capital as part of cultural and religious identity. Côté (2005) proposed the concept of ‘identity capital’, that is the importance of each individual developing her/his own optimal identity. Côté notes that this represents “attributes associated with sets of psychosocial skills, largely cognitive in nature, that appear to be necessary for people to intelligently strategize and make decisions affecting their life courses” (Côté 2005, p. 225). According to Côté, group affiliation is considered one of the foundations of identity capital. Anderson et al. (2004) have shown that a classroom climate that fosters a sense of affiliation can increase students’ motivation. A meaningful classroom environment includes both cognitive and affective outcomes, as well as a sense of achievement. Their conclusion is that “practitioners should be seeking to foster the development of high affiliation classrooms” (p. 220). This chapter will examine these concepts and the role of the school in fostering cultural identity and religion as an element of cultural identity. It draws on an analysis of the academic literature and the qualitative research study which involved 58 interviews with directors, teachers and graduates either individually or in focus groups of the six main faith groups: Christianity (18), Islam (12), Buddhism (9), Hinduism (7), Judaism (7) and Baha’i (5). This chapter will demonstrate how SRE can make an important contribution to the development of “identity capital”.

Religious education remains important in developing social capital as part of cultural and religious identity. Côté (2005) proposed the concept of “identity capital”, that is the importance of each individual developing her/his own optimal identity. He notes that this represents “attributes associated with sets of psychosocial skills, largely cognitive in nature, that appear to be necessary for people to intelligently strategize and make decisions affecting their life courses” (Côté 2005, p. 225). According to Côté, group affiliation is considered one of the foundations of identity capital. Anderson et al. (2004) have shown that a classroom climate that fosters a sense of affiliation can increase students’ motivation. A meaningful classroom environment includes both cognitive and affective outcomes, as well as a sense of achievement. Their conclusion is that “practitioners should be seeking to foster the development of high affiliation classrooms” (p. 220). This chapter will examine these concepts, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_5

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the role of the school in fostering cultural identity and religion and “strengthening students’ confidence in their own religious identity or at least to appreciate that inherited from their parents” (Baumfield and Cush 2017, p. 231). As an element of cultural identity, this chapter will demonstrate how SRE can make an important contribution to the development of identity capital.

5.1 Introduction Even though the literature in relation to ego identity has been significantly developed in recent scholarship, in relation to religious identity there is still a lack of robust conceptualisation about the importance and role of religious identity in the postmodern world. Whilst there is extensive literature that deals with religious identity, the discussion tends to focus on individual religions or religious schools, rather than taking a multi-faith approach. Most scholars refer to “identity”, but they tend to focus on the pedagogic issues relating to identity construction (Wardekker and Miedema 2001), rather than the philosophical and psychological aspects of identity construction (Moulin 2015b). This includes a lack of a broader discussion as to whether there is any value or relevance to developing young people’s religious identity in the fluid, multicultural context of Australia and the Western world although again there are specific studies relating to specific religious groups and cultures (for example regarding Australia see Nielsen et al. 2017, in relation to Asian religious identities; de Souza 2014, in relation to Catholic identities; and Hassen 2013, in relation to Muslim identities). The lack of multi-faith studies relating to the perspectives and value of religious identities is partly due to the ambiguity in relation to attitudes towards religion in Australian government schools. On the one hand there is the belief that religion should not have a role in secular Australian schools, but on the other hand there are the “covert workings of the Christian underpinnings of a supposedly secular Australian society” (Nielsen et al. 2017, p. 9). This chapter aims to fill this gap by investigating the role of religious identity and its significance for young people today within a multi-faith paradigm in relation to government schools. Defining the term “identity” is challenging because of its complexity. As with other scholars (Schachter and Ben Hur 2019), Hassen (2013) has argued that “identity is difficult to define, even though the term is frequently used, [and] the task of conceptualising religious identity is even more difficult” (p. 505). Unravelling the complex and fluid interplay between religion, culture, ethnicity and race is a challenge for both researchers and all stakeholders within the school educational setting (Nielsen et al. 2017). Regardless of this complexity of defining the term “identity”, young people have noted that “identity and the search for meaning” is one of their three major concerns, as well as fears of unemployment and drug and alcohol abuse (Crawford and Rossiter 2006, p. 8). There are two main approaches to defining religious identity. The first focuses more on the daily practice of religious rituals, belonging to a religious community

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and regular attendance at organised prayer services; the second approach focuses more on the individual’s belief in a higher being according to the belief of their faith community (Hassen 2013). As Hassen points out, “both these understandings of religious identity pay particular attention to ‘choices’ and ‘values’ of religious identity because these are outward claims of religiosity since they are more visible” (p. 505). Beit-Hallahmi (1991) argues that there are three levels in relation to identity and connects these levels to religious identity: collective, social, and personalpsychological identities. He argues that most people choose their identity based on the collective—their ethnic or national identity—with only a small number of believers identifying with their religion due to strong religious beliefs. As people mature, they then decide to what extent they will follow the religion into which they are born. Recent research with the current generation, has reinforced Beit-Hallahmi’s (1991) argument emphasising the importance of the social factors: many young people still feel that they have a religious identity from their family background, without manifesting any of the traditional religious outward signs such as church attendance, or even having a strong belief system (de Souza 2014). Beit-Hallahmi describes this as a system of group membership fostered through a process of socialisation. He compares this to Erikson’s concept of ego-identity, “which stems from the psychoanalytical concepts of identification and internalization” (p. 84). He sees social religious identification relating to the social group, while ego-identity comes from the internal structure of individual personalities. However, he notes that some people, including converts, do fully incorporate their religious identity into their ego-identity. In an ethnographic study of three Catholic schools, Casson (2011) found that regular church attendance was no longer as central to the students’ Catholic identity as it was for their grandparents’ generation or for what she calls the “hard core” Catholics. The students studied were also more relaxed in terms of the authority of the church. This did not mean that they were completely rejecting their Catholic identity. For many, having been baptised, the key marker for entry into a private Catholic school, was seen by the students as a key element in their Catholic identity. For most young Catholics, a key element of being a good Catholic was about “helping others” and “being kind” to others (p. 212). In her book, Religion as a Chain of Memory, the French sociologist Daniele Hervieu-Léger (2000) explained the role that collective memory has played in traditional religion with the “chain of memory” linking past and current generations. She argues that religious identity is experiencing a period of change and transformation, due to the decline of organised, institutional religion on the one hand, and an ongoing desire for religious identification and spirituality on the other hand. At the same time, she argues that religious beliefs need to be legitimised by referring to an authorised version of the transmission of religious memory but this has been broken in postmodern society (Hervieu-Léger 1998, 2000, p. 97; Casson 2011). Given that secularisation has not replaced the need for spirituality, there is a tension between

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the destruction of the traditional chain of memory on the one hand, and the current need for religion on the other hand. Davie (2000) also analyses the different types of memory, delineating vicarious, precarious, conflicting memories, which can impact on religious identity. Despite the impact of globalisation, religious identity is also moulded by the local context. Davie (2000) demonstrates the differences between the European context, which is less connected to religious institutions, and the context in the United States, which has a stronger religious culture, even though there is strict separation between religion and state. Similarly, Hassen (2013) argues that the identity development of young second and third generation Muslims in Australia “is more firmly rooted in the local events and circumstances than in global events” (p. 505), even though the latter do have some impact. Given that this book is focusing on a multi-faith approach, we are taking a broader definition and understanding of religious identity which encompasses all these elements. Unravelling this complex and fragmented nature of religious identity in the postmodern world is challenging, but the significance and role of religious identity in contemporary society needs to be acknowledged and analysed. This includes the concepts of identity capital and religious identity as part of that capital; sense of belonging; multiple identities and religious identity; and the construction of a religious identity within government schools.

5.2 Identity Formation Theory Erikson (1950, 1968) was the first scholar to develop a definition of identity that includes the concept of sameness and continuity. As a psychologist Erikson (1950), focused more on the internal factors within the individual for identity formation. He identified three major factors in the development of identity: fidelity, ideology and work. Fidelity refers to the individual’s overall commitment, which during adolescence involves a process of active searching for both people and ideas that can be trusted. Ideology assists adolescents to commit to people and ideas and organise their world-views in a coherent fashion. Finally, career choices assist the adolescent to formalise their self-understanding in a concrete fashion through their occupational goals. Erikson argued that exploration is a prerequisite for identity achievement. This dimension of the identity formation process was further developed by Marcia (1966, 1980). In his identity status model, he proposed four identity statuses: achievement (commitment following exploration), moratorium (being in the process of exploration), foreclosure (commitment without previous exploration), and diffusion (an absence of exploration and commitment). Moratorium and achievement statuses both include the exploration dimension (Halevy and Gross 2018). Subsequent scholars emphasised the dynamic, cyclical nature of exploration and commitment—rather than a static perception of the identity formation process (Crocetti et al. 2008; Côté

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and Schwartz 2002; Stephen et al. 1992). Grotevant (1987) has defined adolescents’ ongoing exploration process as “identity work” (p. 204). A key influence in relation to identity theory has been the work of Russian sociologist, Lev Vygotsky. From the 1930s, he developed the sociocultural theory and argued that the development of an individual’s identity is a result of the external influence of the society, which includes historical and institutional factors. This process works as the “transition from a social influence external to the individual to a social influence internal to the individual…” (Vygotsky 1960, p. 116). Vygotsky considered language to be a major vehicle by which these sociocultural processes shape individual identity formation. He perceived this as a dynamic process that occurs as a result of human interaction. In his estimation, tools, language and other sign systems are the cultural artefacts that form the basis for this social activity. Penuel and Wertsch (1995) argue that identity formation combines both Erikson’s and Vygotsky’s conceptualisations, and that the elements of sociocultural factors and individual, internal processes exist in the writings of both scholars. Erikson writes about the impact of historical processes on the way youth develop their identity, whilst Vygotsky highlights the role of inner speech. Penuel and Wertsch (1995) particularly stress the importance of language as a prerequisite to mediate between the sociocultural factors and the way an individual chooses to shape his/her identity in regard to Erikson’s categories of fidelity, ideology and work. They posit that: In this connection, identity formation as a moment of rhetorical action, concerned with using language in significant interpersonal contexts to form identities, is offered as a theoretical approach with a concrete research program to examine its needs. (85)

Schachter and Galili-Schachter (2012) have further extended our knowledge with their concept of “identity literacy”, which they define as: …readers’ proficiency in the practice of engaging the meaning systems embedded within texts, considering while doing so whether to adopt, adapt, or reject these as part of their own personal meaning systems. (p. 3)

In this way, they draw on the concepts of Penuel and Wertsch in terms of integrating the ideas of Vygotsky and Erikson. They explain the differences between identity literacy and previously developed concepts of cultural and critical literacy. As well, identity construction is an ongoing process during childhood and especially during adolescence. Young people negotiate between their home upbringing, what is ascribed to them by society and what they choose in terms of their own, separate identity (Moulin 2015b). Students’ ascribed identity refers to the labels that others give them, which can relate to their ethnic, religious or cultural identity. Yet, teenagers can accept that identity, either through internal seeking or open declaration, or they can either try to hide their identity, or reject it entirely. Building on established literature, Moulin (2015a, b) develops the concepts of internal seeking, identity declaration and identity masking. These reactions are particularly relevant when students are faced with prejudice and discrimination, as will be discussed in Chapter 8.

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5.3 The Concept of ‘Identity Capital’ The notion of capital, as conceptualised by social scientists, refers to “net assets and resource”, and has been divided into the categories of human, cultural and social. Côté (2005) proposes a fourth category, which he calls “identity capital”, that is the importance of each individual developing his/her own optimal identity. Côté (2005) claims that: Identity negotiation and maintenance are paramount … For example, in undertaking the individualization process, people are confronted with the task of planning their own life courses, which includes determining their own values and beliefs (religious, political, secular, and the like), group affiliations, leisure time pursuits, as well as intellectual and aesthetic preferences. (p. 255)

Côté notes that this represents “attributes associated with sets of psychosocial skills, largely cognitive in nature, that appear to be necessary for people to intelligently strategize and make decisions affecting their life courses” (Côté 2005, p. 225). According to Côté, group affiliation is considered one of the foundations of identity capital and, as noted above, Anderson et al. (2004) have shown that a classroom climate that fosters a sense of affiliation can increase students’ motivation. This conforms with Beit-Hallahmi’s theory that religion operates at a group level which is “rather superficial, but it covers much of what takes place in most societies under the heading of religious identity”, and as such may be described as “ascribed” rather than “achieved” (p. 87). Religion can play a very important role in group affiliation, but this issue has not been explored extensively in the literature. Similarly, it is important to point out that with Vygotsky’s concept of the key role played by sociocultural influences in identity formation, he does not specifically refer to religion, and the same applies to Erikson.

5.4 Religion as an Element of Identity Capital SRE combines the elements of culture, religious education and spirituality (Gross and Rutland 2015). de Souza (2009) argues that “the concept of spirituality … pertains to the relational dimension of being” (p. 697). Developing the spiritual side of the child through schooling can address the child’s holistic needs. This can be liberating, producing “experiences of transcendence, intense joy, freedom and/or peace”. Such experiences can contribute to developing a sense of belonging (de Souza 2009). Cahill (2009) argues that the “sense of the spiritual, the transcendent and the moral remains necessary in all societies to counter the corrupting and debilitating influences of materialism, hedonism and selfishness” (p. 7). Excluding the teaching for and about religion in government schools means that these students are not exposed to this aspect of their cultural heritage and so can be “somewhat disadvantaged” in

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comparison to the private religious school system, even if a religious school is not exactly a “community of faith” (Crawford and Rossiter 2006, p. 7). In the 1980s and 1990s, education focused on individualism and was driven by market-based factors and the media focus on “the good life” (Crawford and Rossiter 2006). However, more recently, scholars and administrators have come to the realisation that society and social factors are important for the effective functioning of a democratic society (Crawford, K. 2010, p. 811). A sense of the loss of core values and a cohesive social fabric has emerged in the face of the many societal ills that have developed recently as will be discussed in the next chapter. Thus, religious education, for all its limitations, remains important in developing social capital, and can have a transformative effect, provided that it is taught in a reflective manner, is student centred and encourages a dialogical approach (Crawford and Rossiter 2006). Research has demonstrated that, particularly for adolescents in Year 10, encouraging critical questioning is important “so as not to reach foreclosure faith identity, it is important that educators and parents raise doubts, a process which is essential to the consolidation of spiritual identity” (Fisherman 2016, p. 133). This is because young people resist being told what to do and need the opportunity to question and explore for themselves. Even for those young people who choose not to become practicing members when they are adults, they have been exposed to their cultural religious heritage and been provided with the opportunity to develop a sense of belonging to their religious community (Crawford and Rossiter 2006).

5.5 Sense of Belonging The 2015 PISA (2018) survey of Australia and sense of belonging at school based their study on Wilms (2003) definition of “sense of belonging” as having to do “with feelings of being accepted and valued by their peers, and others at their school” (p. 11). The survey’s report notes that “sense of belonging has shown to be an important schooling outcome, and for some students, is indicative of educational success and long-term health and well-being” (p. 12). The report explains that this is because of the centrality of schooling in a child’s life so that peer acceptance and having a strong sense of being part of the school community contribute to the development of self-esteem and motivation. The survey found that in Australia in 2015 the mean score of −0.12 on the sense of belonging index was significantly lower than that of the OECD average of 0.02. It also found that, for Australian students, “there was a very small positive relationship between sense of belonging and student performance”, a finding that was similar across the OECD (p. 13). In addition, the sense of belonging has declined over the three PISA cycles of 2003, 2012 and 2015. Another important finding was that Australian-born students reported a lower sense of belonging than the first-generation or foreign-born students. This was despite the fact that a higher proportion of students agreed that they made friends easily, and a higher proportion also disagreed that

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they felt like outsiders. From these findings, it appears that the decline in the sense of belonging relates to the school climate and community, rather than to personal friendships. Drawing on these PISA results, a recent Victorian study investigated ways of countering this decline and fostering the sense of belonging within Australian schools (Allen and Kern 2019). The authors stressed the important role teachers can play by developing good relationships with their students. Their study also focused on the need for consolidating school, community and family relationships. In term of sense of belonging Crawford and Rossiter (2006) note the complexity of the term “community” which can relate to family, religion, social groups and the state, with the school needing to be added to their list. These groups can all communicate basic meanings to help young people to develop a healthy understanding, but they argue that to do so they “need to feel that they belong. This gives a ‘starting’ interpretation of life and reference points for cultural identity” (p. 6). As noted in their list of key communities, religious communities can form part of this mix. At the same time, teachers and school administrators need to be aware of the complexity of human identity, particularly in the post-modern world, with its local, national and international connections.

5.6 Multiple Identities, Pluralism and Religious Identities Different areas of knowledge and multiple discourses and literacies are a feature of the current period and thus the voices of many groups are being heard. When considering the concept of religious identity, educators are faced with multiple agendas and a plethora of interests, motivations, tensions and conflicts: What does it mean to be religious in a secular world and what does it mean to be religious in Australia and being engaged with religious education?

5.6.1 Pluralism Pluralism is a key concept in modern society, but it is a complex one with a multiplicity of meanings. It incorporates three major elements: methodological, political and cultural, which are separate but overlapping. The methodological or philosophical element refers to different points of view in contrast to monism or absolutist approaches; political refers to the individual’s right to choose between different strands of thought or identification; and cultural relates to the development of multicultural theory and cultural pluralism (Conyer 2011). Traditional religious approaches have rejected pluralism and have tended to be absolutist in approach, but modernity has challenged this approach. As discussed, Eisenstadt (2000) was the first sociologist to argue that modernity is not a simple coherent unity but contains many facets. Bauman (2004) has contributed further

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with his concept of “liquid identity”. He posits that “identity is revealed to us only as something to be invented rather than discovered; as a target of an effort, ‘an objective’, as something one still needs to build from scratch or to choose from alternative offers” (pp. 15–16). His definition implies that identity is a human construct that is developed through a gradual process. It is a virtual entity that is “invented” by the human mind so that a person needs to invest in its creation. From this very subjective stance, this entity becomes a transformational process and an “objective”, tangible human product that can be reached. It can be offered by external agencies but the individual has the freedom to choose among different options and to construct and deconstruct it. In relation to the modern world, Bauman asserts that identity “did not emerge out of that experience as a self-evident ‘fact of life’” (p. 20). He believes that it was imposed upon the modern man and that it is a product of contemporary society: “The idea of identity was born out of the crisis of belonging and out of the effort it triggered to bridge the gap between the ‘ought’ and the ‘is’ and to lift reality to the standards set by the idea – to remake the reality in the likeness of the idea” (ibid.). He also argues that one of the products of modernity is loneliness. People are castrated out of society both from a practical point of view, as well as psychological, so that they lose their sense of belonging. So, identity is a psychological conceptual anchor which can help to bridge the gap between what people would like and need to have, and what they actually possess psychologically. This has enabled people to reconstruct reality and conceptualise their being in the current human condition. In what Bauman calls the “liquid modern age… identity is a hopelessly ambiguous idea and a double-edged sword. It may be a war cry of individuals or of the communities that wished to be imagined by them” (Bauman 2000, p. 76). Sometimes identity is the enemy of the collective and sometimes it works against the individual as it isolates him. Thus, the concept of identity should be used while acknowledging its limitations and ramifications. In his writings on identity, Bauman did refer to the concept of the “sacred”, which he defines as “the sacred is what transcends our powers to comprehension, communication, action” (p. 72). He does not refer specifically to religious identity, the focus of our study, but he does speak about the changes to the notion of sacred that have taken place in the modern world so that it is no longer the institutional religiosity of the churches but rather something more personal. He claims that “the modern mind was not necessarily atheistic. War against God, the frantic search for proof that ‘God does not exist’ or ‘died’, was left to the radical margins” (p. 72). As such, his concepts contribute to our understanding of the changing religious nature of contemporary society, with identity being one that “shifts and shapes in response to the plural contexts within which individuals live today” (de Souza 2014, p. 226).

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5.6.2 Individuation The main characteristic of fluid modernity is individuation, where each individual constructs, confirms and maintains her identity according to her choice, desires and tendencies in what is known as the “Me Generation” (Twenge 2009). Whilst this approach has many advantages in terms of individual rights, it also has its limitations if there is too much focus on the individual self. Within the arena of religious education, this is particularly problematic, since religious approaches are community based with a key value being that community needs should take precedence over individual needs. Another challenge for educators that has emerged in postmodern societies is that of fragmentation. In traditional societies, religious memory is not challenged. In contrast, in contemporary Western societies, this is not the case, so that religious traditions become fragmented as the chain of memory is lost and there is collective amnesia (Casson 2011; Hervieu-Léger 1998). Hervieu-Léger (1998) argues: What is specifically modern is not that individuals make their own choice and combination (i.e. practice bricolage) of beliefs; it is that they assert their “right to bricolage” at the same time as the right “to choose their own beliefs”. Put more generally, the pretension of any religion to rule over the whole society and to govern the life of every individual in that society has become an illegitimate pretension. (p. 217)

She delineates four main dimensions of religion: “communal”, “ethical”, “cultural” and “emotional” and stresses that students’ religious identity can be formed either through a combination of all four markers, or just one of these markers (HervieuLéger 1998). However, she does not include the cognitive element of religious identity and this presents new challenges for religious educators. As already discussed in this chapter, exploration is an important and necessary constituent in young people developing their own identities. However, to develop their religious identity they need to build their knowledge about the religious beliefs, philosophy and practice (HaLevy and Gross 2018; Gross 2012). Hervieu-Léger also argues that memory is key in terms of the development of individual identities. She builds on the concepts of Maurice Halbwachs, who stresses that shared memory is key to identity development, both at the individual and the societal level. Thus, the chain of memory, together with the tradition (collective memory) impacts on the development of an individual’s identity (Davie 2000, p. 30). In our research, we sought to explore to what extent young religious students in Australia are affected by these broader societal changes and whether religious education takes into account the socio-cultural changes with the move to pluralism and individuation. There is a tendency to see each religious faith as a monolith, and not understand the differences which can exist within the different faiths. Yet, Eisenstadt’s concept of multiple identities is equally relevant to religious identity within all the different faiths. In her discussion of Catholic RE in Australia, Marian de Souza (2014) notes that whilst all Catholics appear as being the same from the outside, in fact there are differences based on ethnic background and family traditions. She divides Catholics

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in Australia into two main groups: Anglo-Catholics of Anglo-Saxon or Celtic (Irish) background, and European Catholics, with 17.9% of Australian Catholics being born in a non-English speaking country, Italy and the Philippines being the most common countries of origin. This is apart from new immigrants from the United Kingdom (de Souza 2014). She stresses that it is important “to recognise different ways of being Catholic in our multicultural classrooms” and to understand that these differences are part of the development of religious identity (p. 221). Other faiths, including Islam (de Souza 2014), Judaism and Buddhism, face the same complexity emerging from different ethnic and philosophical backgrounds, with often a lack of understanding of the differences and divisions within the religions. For example, many students believe that all Jews are ultra-Orthodox, because that is their image of who is a Jew, when in fact in the Western world many Jews are Conservative, Reform or non-practicing (Moulin 2015a). This lack of understanding of the plurality of religious beliefs and practices within each faith group impacts on students from the minority faiths, as Moulin highlights. He quotes a Jewish student: “In my school I think I am the only Jew in my whole school and it’s quite a big school as well so basically I’ve got friends that aren’t Jewish and they go to the classes of Religious Education and RS and they [teachers] say I’m [Jews are] like Orthodox and stuff, and all these people come and ask me stereotypical stuff like ‘Do you do this?’ and ‘Do you have two kitchens?’ and ‘Do you keep kosher?’ and… and I say ‘no’. Jasper, male, Year 8, Reform, Independent Boys’ School [Eastville Reform Synagogue, group interview].” There are similar stereotypical views about Muslims: “They [Muslims] do not eat pork, they don’t drink and they don’t go out to parties’ Amir, male, Year 11, Foundation School [Westville Muslim Centre, group interview]” (Moulin 2015a). In developing an understanding of religious identity, it is important to recognise that political factors can play a significant role. Thus, in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, the focus was on assimilation, so that the Catholic education approach sought to inculcate an Anglo-Australian Catholic identity into children from European backgrounds. In the current climate, secular humanists are strongly advocating the removal of any confessional education from government schools, and this point of view is strongly advocated by members on the left in the contemporary Labor Party.

5.7 The Role of the School in Fostering Cultural and Religious Identity In 1897, John Dewey argued that the main aim of the school is to socialise the child to participate in the wider culture and community to which s/he belongs, explaining that this process begins “unconsciously”, almost from birth (Dewey [1897] 1897). He argued that through this unconscious education, the individual absorbs the cultural, moral and intellectual foundations of his society.

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Dewey’s legacy focuses on the interrelationships between child and society. This is still relevant to today’s modern pedagogy, which emphasises the religious, ethnic and civic identity of the child within diverse societies in the liberal state. Hence, the school is considered a major agent in facilitating acknowledgement of the different societies to which individuals are connected and their moral obligation to each of them. In his field theory, Lewin (1952) highlighted the mutual relationships between the individual and society. He noted that “individuals participate in a series of life spaces (such as family, work, school and church) and these were constructed under the influence of various force vectors” (Smith 2001). Until now, the role of the school in terms of religious education and identity has been somewhat neglected in the literature (Cohen-Malayev et al. 2014), yet schools can play a key role in the development of students’ religious identity. This can be, as Cohen-Malayev et al. (2014) argue “over and above parent religiosity”. Their study found two key teacher attributes, “teacher caring and teacher as role model, as these bear on adolescents’ self-perceived religious identity” (p. 206). These teacher attributes were expected to affect students’ religious identity in two ways presumed to be important for religious identity formation: (a) by creating a non-alienating religious atmosphere enabling religious identity exploration; and (b) by providing meaningful religious studies that stimulate student religious identity (p. 207). In terms of developing religious identity, RE teachers need to foster a non-alienating environment. Teachers can also trigger religious identity among their students by teaching culturally valued texts (Schachter and Galili-Schachter 2012). In her discussion of Muslim schools in Victoria and the development of Muslim religious identity, Hassen (2013) noted that one problem for Islamic schools is that the students can operate in an insulated “bubble”, where they do not experience the mainstream, non-Muslim society until they complete their schooling. Her research also showed that the Islamic identity fostered in these schools tended to focus on the more superficial, outwards signs of Islamic practice, such as the compulsory wearing of the hijab, rather than the deeper elements of Islamic beliefs. In contrast, the value of SRE is that students can learn about their own religious identity, while still being part of and exposed to a multi-faith student body in all their secular studies. Micu (2013) argues that religious freedom includes the right to religious education for the transmission of knowledge of the religion to the next generation with the aim of developing their own religious identity. He notes that: “Related to this aspect, the law stipulated [sic] the parents’ right, or the right of persons responsible… to educate their children according to their personal convictions” (p. 68). SRE/RI offers this opportunity in Australian government schools, and is based on parental choice with their decision to either opt-into SRE/RI based on their choice of religion, or to join either No Religion or in New South Wales to opt-out and join the Ethics classes. Micu also argues that public education needs to ensure the rights of “other creeds [in addition to Christianity] to have access to the same education means” (Micu 2013, p. 69), which is also a clear policy of SRE.

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These various concepts were explored through our study of the attitudes of the SRE/RI teachers and graduates from the different faith groups in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.

5.8 Findings 5.8.1 Role of SRE/RI in Developing a Coherent Identity All the interviewees stressed the value of SRE/RI in assisting the students to develop their own religious identity which they saw as being part of their cultural identity. One interviewee explained: “I think an individual identity must be shaped by a cultural identity and a background that we all sort of share” (Female SRE graduate/teacher, #1 Jewish, New South Wales). The interviewees saw the classes as helping students to gain a better understanding of who they are, and how they fit into the world and argue that this assists them to develop their self-confidence. As one Christian SRE/RI teacher explained: “It gives you another opportunity in the school context where you are formulating all of your other ideas about how the world works… So, if I am going to take on this faith identity that my family has given me, I am able to look at those different pieces and explore that” (Male SRE teacher, #1 Christian, New South Wales). A Buddhist teacher further extended this concept in terms of the importance of understanding one’s family and religious background: “So not knowing where you’re coming from, it could affect your self-esteem… You have to understand about yourself, and discussing what you follow and why you have to follow it… it allows them to understand where they come from and how they integrate into society” (Female SRE teacher, #4 Buddhist, New South Wales). Other teachers presented similar views of SRE assisting students “to understand themselves better” through learning about their culture, their history and their heritage (Female SRE teacher, #6 Jewish, New South Wales). This view was reinforced by another Christian leader who said: “By students being assured in who they are, it means they can react and act within their school community, within their family community, within themselves” (Male SRE director, #15 Christian, New South Wales). Thus, SRE can assist students in developing their self-confidence in their own identity and in understanding how they fit into the world. This was seen as especially important for the Muslim students, because of the issues relating to Islamophobia (Male graduate students, #6 and #7 Muslim, New South Wales), as will be discussed later in the book. As another Muslim teacher commented, “I think we need… to teach the youth to be confident with who they are and where they come from and what they believe in” (Female SRE teacher, #2 Muslim, Queensland). This framework includes spiritual identity.

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5.8.2 Spiritual Identity The interviewees also stressed the importance of developing a spiritual identity, particularly in the light of the current, materialistic world, and the all-pervasive impact of social media. One Baha’i teacher explained that “it develops the spiritual characters within each of the students and by that they strengthen their identity” (Female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales). Another Christian teacher similarly stressed the importance of developing a child’s spiritual identity: “I think if we have a faith, it is something which is absolutely integral to who we are, our identity. It’s about the way we live our life, the values that we hold, the way we see ourselves in relation to our family, our church community, and the truths that we read about in the Bible, or indeed other religious texts. So, I think for society to kind of separate the individual from their spiritual identity is really quite toxic and dangerous” (Male SRE teacher, #2 Christian, New South Wales). The teachers aimed at connecting the children into a higher spiritual being—for the Abrahamic faiths their creator, so that they can have a better sense of who they are and how to deal with life’s challenges. As one Christian SRE director explained: “I think it is so important that young people have their own identity, that they can base that off something bigger than themselves because their environment might be very difficult. Their environment might throw things at them that are very hard to deal with. But knowing that there is an external loving God that wants to love you, that sacrificed his son for you and wants to spend eternity with you, gives young people hope to be able to deal with their current situation and it gives them tools to be able to navigate life” (Male SRE director, #15 Christian, New South Wales). The importance of religious values was also stressed in terms of building confidence in one’s own identity. One Hindu teacher explained: “They learn how to talk about [their religion], because of all these values we are giving. It is values that we are giving through the soul, [that] makes them feel more confident” (Female SRE teacher, #4 Hindu, New South Wales). This was also seen as very important by the Muslim teachers because they felt that Muslim children are confused or ashamed because of the negativity they experience, so Islamic RE helps them to be “proud of themselves, proud of their religion and it gives them an identity, and says, especially in this modern day, I’m happy to be Muslim. I can be Muslim and still come to a public school” (Female SRE teacher, #5 Muslim, New South Wales). It gives them the freedom “as well that we know during that period of time, whether it be half an hour, an hour, we can express our views, our religious views and we won’t be judged about what we say” (Male SRE graduate, #7 Muslim, New South Wales). This theme of feeling proud of being Jewish, despite the antisemitism and the Jewish history of suffering was also stressed by one of the Jewish interviewees: ….to know that they are part of this bigger movement that has conquered so much creates something inside them; it sparks this light inside them, that makes them want to fight for anything that they can achieve… It also creates this pride within them that they are a part of something greater, that they are not just this student, you know, studying for the HSC, counting down the days, stressing about little things in life. They are part of something so

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much greater; they are learning about what it means to be fulfilled within a soul, not just within a being; that there is more to a person than just their exam marks, there is more to a person than what their family says about them. There’s so much that SRE offers that can just fulfil one’s identity inside, like there’s a background that we’re part of that makes them feel elevated in a way. (Female SRE graduate/teacher, #1 Jewish, New South Wales)

These various responses from both the teachers and the graduates from all the faiths highlight the importance of SRE, especially in regard to developing a spiritual identity. It also demonstrates the role these classes can play for those students experiencing religious discrimination as will be discussed later.

5.9 Multiple Identities The interviewees also recognised that religion is just part of a student’s identity, and that in fact they have multiple identities. They also stressed the issue of choice. One Baha’i teacher explained: “When I am introducing myself to you, I say my name, my nationality. And one of our identities is our religion” (Male SRE teacher, #1 Baha’i, New South Wales). This view was stressed by one of the Muslim teachers, who said: “…we tell them that they are Muslims, but we tell them they are also Australians; we tell them that they are also a normal human being, so they should feel that all of that can coexist; they shouldn’t be in compartments”. This teacher sought to stress the concept of coexistence in terms of the Muslim students’ multiple identities so that “we can be Muslims, but we can be also connecting with others and just living our lives as part of the community” (Female SRE teacher, #4 Muslim, Queensland).

5.10 Sense of Belonging As discussed, research has demonstrated the value of students having a sense of belonging to a religious group. This was also commented on by the interviewees (Allen and Kern 2020). As one Christian teacher explained, “I think in their classes, you know, when they are in their SRE classes and they are with other children who share their faith, and they are able to talk about that in their classroom, I think that does strengthen their identity, the way they relate to others and themselves and their own families as part of that faith community” (Female SRE teacher, #3 Christian, New South Wales). This view was also expressed by another Christian teacher who said “In terms of individual identity I think it’s really helpful because often kids know, for example, I’m Catholic or I’m Christian. But to actually understand a bit more about what that means they may or may not get a lot of that teaching from their own parents or their own home life. And so that [viz SRE classes] definitely could enrich their own

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identity” (Female SRE teacher, #9 Christian, New South Wales) and increase their sense of belonging to a group within the school. Another respondent explained further: “If they know they belong to a particular community, to understand the traditions, the stories, the values of that faith actually yeah, helps to give depth to that understanding of who they are in that sense.” This becomes particularly important during the teenage years, when the students are trying to “discover exactly who they are, what’s different about them from everyone else, what is it that’s unique about them, what is it that they’re called to do? It’s a real moment of self-discovery” (Male SRE director, #16 Christian, New South Wales). Another Muslim teacher explained that through a hijab-wearing scripture teacher working in a government school, the students can understand: “We are not misunderstood. We like what the teacher is saying. She is saying it in a public classroom. That’s the truth, Islam or our religion, or any religion is not what the media portrays it to be and there’s nothing to be afraid of” (Female SRE teacher, #5 Muslim, New South Wales). These concepts were also important for the Hindu SRE stakeholders, since “we want to know ourselves why we do that, so I think that’s how SRE plays a role in helping us to get those answers and we’re able to connect with our identity a lot more and it’s a lot more solidified for us” (Female SRE graduate/teacher, #5 Hindu, New South Wales). Thus, SRE classes help students to solidify their identity and to have a better understanding of their group affiliation in terms of their religious identity. Creating that sense of group affiliation within the school environment through meeting with their SRE/RI teacher and other children of their own faith community helps to strengthen their sense of belonging within the school. This is further fostered by SRE/RI teachers’ approach of building a supportive environment in their classes.

5.11 Providing a Supportive Environment for Religious Identity Development Casson (2011) points out that “for any identity to be maintained there is a need for a supportive network” (p. 213), which includes “social peer networks” (Rymarz and Graham 2006, p. 373), giving the students the sense of being part of a broader group of believers, affirming their own religious beliefs. Religious private schools provide such a supportive environment, but our research demonstrated that SRE/RI classes can also play this role and as such are important for the development of the students’ religious identity development. In developing this sense of belonging, the SRE/RI teacher is seen as an important role model, and the teachers see themselves as having a very important function in providing care and support, particularly with students who are struggling with who they are. As one Muslim teacher explained: “So I think that’s our job as carers, we’re

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actually really carers and role models and support people for them” (Female SRE teacher, #2 Muslim, New South Wales). We found that students were keen to attend these classes because this is where they meet their friends (Gross and Rutland 2015). This also has a ripple effect, because the parents find out who else in the school is part of their own religious group, and this can enable them to reach out to others of the same religion. This is particularly important for the minority religions in the school and as such these classes reinforce the social networking within each religion.

5.12 The Importance of Exploration The importance of children being able to ask questions and explore their religious identity was also stressed by the interviewees. The key role played by the SRE/RI teachers was also stressed by one of the Christian interviewees who responded: “so being somebody who is a person of faith in front of them, and I am allowed to be a person of faith, which their teacher is not, whether their classroom teachers have a faith or not, they’re not allowed to be a person of faith in front of the kids. And I can stand there and be a person of faith, and say this is what I believe, and then offering them the opportunity to wrestle with that themselves” (Female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). This teacher clearly understood that a religious identity cannot be imposed on children today, but they needed a reflective approach that allowed her students to explore and “wrestle” with questions of faith. Another Christian RE teacher explained: “That child at a young age may not be sure, in fact mostly is not sure about where they stand. Christian RI is an opportunity for them to learn about what Christians believe, so that when they get older, they can make an informed decision about what they choose to believe for themselves, because there’s lots of messages out there” (Female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). Similarly, another of the Christian teachers commented “I think what it does, is it acknowledges who the student is. So not all the students in the class will necessarily agree with the kind of things that they are taught, but it helps them to decide who they are” (Female SRE teacher, #8 Christian, New South Wales). The issue of children being able to question and struggle with the information was highlighted by other SRE teachers. For Baha’i teachers this was very important. As one of the teachers explained: “We encourage them to investigate. We have independent investigational truth in the Baha’i faith. We say you have to investigate and decide whether you want to become Baha’i or follow another religion, and if they do, that’s fine. So, a lot of times the children, even though we don’t – what’s the word – we don’t instil in them any particular faith, they identify themselves as Baha’i” (Male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales). When discussing exploration, it is important to recognise that it is context dependent and to take into consideration cultural perspectives, such as the difference between western and eastern understandings and the role of parental choice.

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5.13 Parental Choice At the same time some of the interviewees noted that with parental choice, parents may choose to send their children to different religious groups across their child’s primary years so that they can experience the different approaches and then decide “what is good for me as a plan for the rest of my life” (Male SRE teacher, #1 Baha’i, New South Wales). As well, while all the evidence points to the decline of organised religion, especially for Christianity, parents are still wanting a religious identity for their children, even if it is a different style of religious identity. So while the families do not attend the synagogue, church, mosque or temple they still want their children to attend SRE and in some cases are turning towards Eastern religions, especially Buddhism. Thus, in schools in the inner west of Sydney, most of the students attending Buddhist SRE are not from a Buddhist background, but parents are choosing Buddhist SRE over the ethics classes. Similarly, in the South Coast of New South Wales, most of the children attending Baha’i SRE classes do not come from a Baha’i background (Male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales). Therefore, parents want their children to develop some form of religious identity and in their choice of SRE/RI classes they are encouraging their children to explore the different options.

5.14 Difference Between Western and Eastern Religious Understandings When it comes to the concept of individual identity, some of the Buddhist SRE teachers, especially those from Asia, had difficulty knowing how to answer the question on religious identity. Thus, one respondent said, “It is a tricky question for Buddhism because we look at someone not on his or her race, not on his or her status, not on his or her profession, not on his or her colour. So, I find this a tricky question to answer because the way we learn Buddhist teaching everything is equal and we are being taught oneness” (Female SRE teacher, #1 Buddhist, New South Wales). Another teacher, who originally was from a Christian background, explained the difference: I think in the Western world we’re always struggling because we’re taught to be individual. “You’re unique. There’s only one of you. You’re amazing.” But what that does is, as great and as true as that is, it can disconnect you from the group. So we focus on individuality in the Western, but in the Eastern countries it’s all family-orientated and community-orientated. So I try and encourage them to be comfortable with who they are as a person but also knowing that they need to fit into the community because if we make ourselves too individual it’s not a healthy thing. So how does SRE help to strengthen the students’ individual identities? I think trust themselves. Whatever they’re feeling trust that because a lot of what I teach is intuitiveness anyway. So that gives them an individual strength. Trust yourself. If you’re feeling something then go with that. (Female SRE teacher, #9 Buddhist, New South Wales)

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So, according to Buddhist philosophy: “Our identity is that we are not separate from the trees. We are not separate from the farmers. We are not separate from the land. You know, we are not separate from others… What I see is that the kids actually, their identity is that they have self-respect. They are individuals, yet they are connected” (Female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales). These responses indicate the complexity of religious identity in the postmodern world, as will be discussed in the next section.

5.15 Discussion and Conclusions According to the literature, in the contemporary world there are three forms of religious identity: (1) practices and rituals, (2) a strong belief in a higher spiritual being, with these elements defined as ego-identity (Erikson 1950, 1968; Hassen 2013), and (3) the collective/social identity (Beit-Hallahmi 1991). Most of the SRE teachers viewed the majority of students as fitting into the third category, with parents not having time to attend formal, religious services but still wanting their children to have some connection to religion. So these findings reinforce the current literature which illustrates that one can have a sense of belonging to a faith community without being a believer (de Souza 2014; Crawford and Rossiter 2006). As such it is more part of a family’s identity and group affiliation (Beit-Hallahmi 1991), with SRE/RI classes strengthening the students’ sense of being part of a religious community. The importance of strengthening a student’s sense of belonging within Australian schools has been highlighted by a recent Victorian study (Allen and Kern 2019). This study focused on the need for consolidating school, community and family relationships, but did not investigate the value of the religious community and its impact on a student’s identity. Yet, our study has demonstrated the important role which religious communities can play. This was seen through the students’ voice as SRE/RI helps to “solidify” their identity. However, the Victorian study largely ignored this key element in identity formation creating a sense of group affiliation and belonging. The fact that SRE/RI is offered in government schools can, therefore, be an important factor in addressing the problem of the declining sense of belonging of students to their school community. This more complex picture of religious identity illustrates Hervieu-Léger’s (2000) concept of “bricolage”, so that the current generation’s concepts of their religious identity is different to that of the older generation although that does not necessarily mean it is a lesser identity (Casson 2011). Casson claimed that “the memory of the religious tradition appears more fluid, more fragmentary. A more appropriate image than a chain could be that of a child’s kaleidoscope with constant changing patterns” (p. 216). This is supported by the teachers’ comments. Thus, by having SRE/RI in the public space, this kaleidoscope of religious identity can be reinforced. The most important factor to consider is that identity has become a chosen element and not a given one (Bauman 2004). The freedom of choice needs to be taken seriously into account in this process. Bauman posits that “a cohesive, firmly riveted

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and solidly constructed identity would be a burden, a constraint, a limitation on the freedom to choose” (Bauman 2004, p. 53) and this is a real challenge for educators. Even the possibility to construct an identity can sometimes in the educational process be imposed: namely the ingredients of the Hervieu-Léger’s (2000) “bricolage” can be imposed in the socialisation process and educators need to make sure that the construction of adolescents’ identity is developed out of free choice. In our contemporary society, this is also part of parental choice. Some parents, particularly of Christian background, want their children to have a religious identity, but are choosing Buddhist and other SRE classes, so that they can be exposed to the different religious approaches. As they develop, students can choose whether to retain their Christian identity or choose another form of religious identification. Yet, Bauman is aware of the challenging role of the sacred in the modern world. Science has pushed aside theology. The result of this approach has led to the concept of technology and science’s superiority and this has restricted the ability to deal with the big questions. It leads students to concentrate on small issues “[to] worry about the ‘now’ leaves no room for the eternal and no time to reflect on it… If God’s mind is inscrutable let us stop wasting time on reading the unreadable and concentrate on what we, humans, can understand and do” (p. 73). Bauman asserts that “in a fluid, constantly changing environment the idea of eternity, perpetual duration or lasting values immune to the flow of time has no grounding in human experience” (p. 73). Bauman raises an important point which is very relevant to research in religious identity in general and to ours specifically. He asserts that “the speed of change delivers a death blow to the value of durability: ‘old’ or ‘long lasting’ becomes a synonym of old fashioned, the outdated, something that has ‘outlived its usefulness’ and so is destined shortly to end up on the rubbish heap” (p. 73). This is an essential point that also bothers our interviewees: how to bridge the gap between the “me generation”, who worship the instant and immediate, with the big messages of eternity that are conveyed through the construction of religious identity being neglected. Yet, struggling with these big issues is an essential and important constituent within the ego identity and the human psyche (Halevy and Gross 2018; Gross 2012). It should be noted that SRE/RI classes, in and of themselves, do not offer the same depth of religious education as those students who also come from practicing homes, where the family attend religious services and keep the practices and beliefs of their faith tradition and experience (Crawford and Rossiter 2006). Both HervieuLéger (2000) and Davie (2000) argue that the break in the chain of memory and the more fragmentary nature of current religious education means that religious identity is more precarious (Davie 2000). Casson argues “that the Catholic school cannot provide the depth of the Catholic faith tradition that can be found in an active Catholic community” (p. 215) producing a thin rather than a thick religious identity (Schweitzer 2007). The teachers also recognised that religion was only one aspect of a student’s identity, and that there are other elements of their identity, reflecting an understanding of the concept of multiple identities (Eisenstadt 2000) and the diversity which exists within each human being.

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The teachers we interviewed also understood the importance of exploration, a key concept in the theory of identity development (Marcia 1966, 1980; Erikson 1950, 1968). This was clear across all the different faiths. The teachers saw their role as providing a knowledge and understanding of their faith, and then encouraging the students to “wrestle” with that knowledge, to keep asking questions and to struggle with the answers to those questions, fitting into the concept of “identity work” (Grotevant 1987). Fisherman (2016) argues that religious education needs to include faith identity education, and not be solely based on religious behavior. At secondary level this needs to involve students being able to question and express doubts about their religion (Buchanan 2000). This is an important aspect of identity exploration (Halevy and Gross 2018; Crawford and Rossiter 2006; Côté and Schwartz 2002; Marcia 1966, 1980; Erikson 1950, 1968), and we could see evidence of this fact from the interviewees. They also stressed the need for “identity literacy” (Schachter and Galili-Schachter 2012), which can be developed through the school setting, where students are involved in learning about other aspects of their lives. SRE/RI classes provide students the opportunity to learn about their religious or faith background within the school setting, which was seen as very important. For the Muslim teachers, this was particularly the case, due to the prevalence of Islamophobia. They sought to encourage their students to be proud of their religious identity and to ignore the negativity in the media or in any of their personal experiences. Their comments supported Hassen’s (2013) reflection that local conditions (Davie 2000) were more significant in developing Muslim students’ identity than global events, which were not mentioned by any of our interviewees. Thus, the socio-cultural milieu (Vygotsky 1960) of the Australian society impacts on the development of students’ religious identity as much as their individual exploration, so that a combination of both factors is seen as important by the teachers, supporting the argument of Penuel and Wertsch (1995). Nielsen et al. (2017) stresses the importance of cultivating self-reflexivity, particularly when addressing the “complexities of religion and religious identification” (p. 12). The teachers’ responses indicated that they were aware of the importance of this approach, showing that they themselves were self-reflexive. Nielsen et al.’s study (2017) also highlighted the importance of gaining a better understanding of Eastern religions. This was clearly illustrated by the responses of the Buddhist teachers to the question on individual religious identity, which they could not relate to. The Judeo-Christian religious mindset focuses more on the individual in society, an approach which modernity has further consolidated. In comparison, the Eastern mindset as revealed through Buddhism, focuses on a holistic approach which incorporates the whole universe. The teachings and philosophy of Buddha, which developed two and a half millennia ago, are still central to the Buddhist mindset, so that the chain of memory has not been broken, unlike the fragmentation which has occurred in the western world (Hervieu-Legér 2000). If religious identity is part of Côté’s (2005) concept of identity as social capital, then SRE/RI classes are playing an important role in developing this element of a young person’s identity. This was clear through the students’ voices, with a number of

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graduates stressing how important SRE/RI is for developing students’ self-confidence and knowledge of who they are. Casson (2011) argues that “The role of the Catholic school is increasingly important if it is the only source of knowledge and experience of the Catholic faith tradition. It places a burden on Catholic schools and on RE to ensure that the Catholic students have the ability to be competent ‘bricoleurs’, to be able to construct a functioning Catholic identity” (p. 216). This is equally true of the SRE/RI classes, where parents are choosing to send their children to learn about their religious identity, even though at home they are not strict followers of the full religious practice. In fact, SRE helps students to cope with the different “forces” within the “field” as was seen with the graduate responses. The aim of SRE is to teach students how to work through these forces by first developing “identity capital” (Côté 2005). This assists them in constructing their own identity through their religious and cultural heritage, and enables them to better navigate the contesting forces and tensions that exist in the “field”, that is within the broader Australian society during their adulthood. As discussed earlier, the PISA survey of sense of belonging in Australian schools found that Australian-born students reported a lower sense of belonging than the firstgeneration or foreign-born students. This is significant in that one would normally expect the opposite result and needs to be researched further. Since the PISA survey found that in terms of personal friendships Australia scored higher than the OECD average, the question is whether the decline in sense of belonging in the Australianborn generation relates to the focus on the individual, and the “me” generation and whether fostering religious and spiritual development can assist in countering this negative development as part of fostering meaning and a positive self-identity among young people (Crawford and Rossiter 2006). The role of religion and spirituality, with its focus on community and its impact on the health and wellbeing of students will be discussed in the next chapter.

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Cahill D (2009) Religious education and interreligious education: their context in social capital and social cohesion. Journal of Religious Education 57(3):4–16 Casson A (2011) The right to ‘bricolage’: Catholic pupils’ perception of their religious identity and the implications for Catholic schools in England. Journal of Beliefs and Values 32(2):207–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2011.600819 Cohen-Malayev M, Schachter EP, Rich Y (2014) Teachers and the religious socialization of adolescents: facilitation of meaningful religious identity formation processes. Journal of Adolescence 37:205–214 Conyer B (2011) Pluralism in Jewish education. In International handbook of Jewish education. In: Miller H, Grant L, Pomson A (eds). Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, pp 267–284 Côté JE (2005) Identity capital, social capital and the wider benefits of learning: generating resources facilitative of social cohesion. London Review of Education 3(3):221–237 Côté JE, Schwartz SJ (2002) Comparing psychological and sociological approaches to identity: identity status, identity capital, and the individualization process. Journal of Adolescence 25(6):571–586 Crawford K (2010) Active citizenship education and critical pedagogy. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 811–823 Crawford M, Rossiter G (2006) Reasons for living: education and young people’s search for meaning, identity and spirituality: a handbook. ACER Press, Camberwell, VIC Crocetti E, Rubini M, Meeus W (2008) Capturing the dynamics of identity formation in various ethnic groups: development and validation of a three-dimensional model. Journal of Adolescence 31(2):207–222 Davie G (2000) Religion in modern Europe: a memory mutates. Oxford University Press, Oxford de Souza M (2009) Promoting wholeness and wellbeing in education: exploring aspects of the spiritual dimension. In: de Souza M, Francis L, O’Higgins IN, DG Scott (eds) International handbook of education for spirituality, care and wellbeing. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 677–692 de Souza M (2014) Religious identity and plurality amongst Australian Catholics: inclusions, exclusions and tensions. Journal for the Study of Religion 27(1):210–233 Dewey John ([1897] 1959) On education: selections with an introduction and notes by Martin S. Dwork. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University Eisenstadt SN (ed) (2000) Multiple modernities. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ Erikson EH (1950) Childhood and society. Norton, New York Erikson EH (1968) Identity, youth and crisis. W.W. Norton, New York Fisherman S (2016) Development of religious identity through doubts among religious adolescents in Israel: an empirical perspective and educational ramifications. Religious Education 111(2):119–136 Gross Z (2012) Multiple religious and secular definitions of secular adolescence in Israel. J Empirical Theology 25(1):1–21.https://doi.org/10.1163/157092512x635725 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2015) Creating a safe place: SRE teaching as an act of security and identity formation in government schools in Australia. British Journal of Religious Education 38(1):30– 46. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2015.1025699 Grotevant HD (1987) Toward a process model of identity formation. J Adolesc Res 2(3):203–222 Halevy G, Gross Z (2018) Classic and novel exploration styles in religious identity formation: Modern-orthodox Israelis Mechina gap-year programs. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000190 Hassen Y (2013) Making Muslims: the politics of religious identity construction and Victoria’s Islamic schools. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 24(4):501–517. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 09596410.2013.813120 Hervieu-Léger D (1998) The transmission and formation of socioreligious identities in modernity: an analytical essay on the trajectories of identification. International Sociology 13(2):213–228 Hervieu-Léger D (2000) Religion as a chain of memory. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ

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Lewin K (ed) (1952) Field theory in Social Science. Tavistock, London Marcia JE (1966) Development and validation of ego identity status. J Pers Soc Psychol 3(5):551– 558 Marcia JE (1980) Identity in adolescence. In: Adelson J (ed) Handbook of adolescent psychology. Wiley, New York, pp 159–187 Micu G (2013) Religious identity and religion tolerance. European Review of Applied Sociology 6(6):67–71 Moulin D (2015a) Reconsidering religious education and religious identity construction: implications for teachers (guest lecture). Dortmund Technical University, Germany, December 2, 2015 Moulin D (2015b) Religious identity choices in English secondary schools. Br Edu Res J 41(3):489– 504. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3151 Nielsen R, Arber R, Weinmann M (2017) Re-imagining Asian religious identity: towards a critical pedagogy of religion and race in Australian schools. Education Sciences 7(2):49. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/educsci7020049 Penuel William R, Wertsch JV (1995) Vygotsky and identity formation: a sociocultural approach. Educational Psychologist. 30(2):83–92 PISA Australia in Focus, No. 1 (2018) Sense of belonging at school. Camberwell, VIC: Australian Council for Educational Research Rymarz MR, Graham J (2006) Drifting from the mainstream: the religious identity of Australian core Catholic youth. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 11(3):371–383 Schachter E, Ben Hur A (2019) The varieties of religious significance: an ideographic approach to study religion’s role in adolescent development. Journal of Research on Adolescence 29(2):291– 307 Schachter E, Galili-Schachter I (2012) Identity literacy: reading and teaching texts as resources for identity formation. Teachers College Record 114(5):1–37 Schweitzer F (2007) Religious individualization: new challenges to education for tolerance. British Journal of Religious Education 29(1):89–100 Smith MK (2001) Kurt Lewin: groups, experiential learning and action research. The Encyclopedia of Informal Education. http://infed.org/mobi/kurt-lewin-groups-experiential-learning-andaction-research/. Accessed 26 Jan 2014 Stephen J, Fraser E, Marcia JE (1992) Moratorium-achievement (Mama) cycles in lifespan identity development: value orientations and reasoning system correlates. Journal of Adolescence 15(3):283–300 Twenge JM (2009) Generational changes and their impact in the classroom: teaching Generation Me. Med Educ 43:398–405 Vygotsky LS (1960) The development of higher mental functions. Izdaterstvo xxAkadenaixx Pedagogicheskixx Nauk, Moscow Wardekker WL, Miedema S (2001) Identity, cultural change, and religious education. British J Religious Education 23(2):76–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/0141620010230202 Wilms JD (2003) Student engagement at school: a sense of belonging and participation: results from PISA 2000. OECD. http://search.oecd.org/education/school/programmeforinternationalstudenta ssessmentpisa/33689437.pdf. Accessed 26 Jan 2021

Chapter 6

Spirituality, Health and Wellbeing

Abstract The emphasis on health and wellbeing in government schools is a new development, drawing on the problems created by the postmodern era. Despite Australia’s wealth, recent studies have shown that health and wellbeing, as well as a sense of belonging, have declined in Australian society and schools. The aim of this chapter is to investigate to what extent SRE/RI can contribute to addressing this problem. Educationalists have become aware of the importance of positive psychology (Seligman 2002), developing on the earlier theories of Maria Montessori ([1915] 1997). They have also developed a better understanding of the concept of the “greater good” and the psychological problems created by the contemporary focus on individual needs rather than community needs. The study of (Chen and Vanderweele 2018) demonstrates the centrality of belief in a higher spiritual being, of prayer, both public and private, as well as meditation, as directly producing positive health outcomes and protecting against negative behaviours. As well, Nielsen (2010) has demonstrated the importance of gratitude as a factor in giving and this is a key component of all religious prayer. These important findings are discussed in this chapter as well as our research findings from 58 interviews with directors, teachers and graduates either individually or in focus groups of the six main faith groups: Christianity (18), Islam (12), Buddhism (9), Hinduism (7), Judaism (7) and Baha’i (5). The chapter concludes with an explanation of the connections between spirituality, wellbeing and religious belief. We argue that SRE/RI can develop these important attributes so that SRE/RI can foster better health and community and social cohesion.

As discussed, the postmodern era has created many new challenges, which have led to increasing mental and physical health issues. Despite Australia’s wealth, recent studies have shown that health and wellbeing in Australian society have declined. These have led government schools in Australia to introduce an increased emphasis on health and wellbeing, a new development created by the current era. For example, the New South Wales Department of School Education website stresses that public schools “provide safe learning and teaching environments to encourage healthy, happy, successful and productive students” and recommends that parents

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_6

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visit Wellbeing and learning to learn more (https://education.nsw.gov.au/publicschools/going-to-a-public-school/quick-guide-for-parents. Accessed 6 September 2018). This chapter will discuss this issue in terms of the role that religious belief and spirituality can play in contributing to mental and physical wellbeing. Educationalists have become aware of the importance of positive psychology, developing on the earlier theories of Maria Montessori. They have also developed a better understanding of the concept of the “greater good” and the psychological problems created by the contemporary focus on individual needs rather than community needs. The study of Chen and Vanderweele (2018) demonstrates the centrality of belief in a higher spiritual being, of prayer, both public and private, as well as meditation, as directly producing positive health outcomes and protecting against negative behaviours. As well, Nielsen (2010) has demonstrated the importance of gratitude as a factor in giving which also contributes to health and wellbeing. Acknowledging and thanking the higher being is a key component of all religious prayer. These important findings will be discussed in this chapter, ending with an explanation of the clear connections between spirituality, wellbeing and religious belief. We argue that SRE/RI can develop these important attributes so that these classes can help to foster better health and community cohesion.

6.1 Spirituality, the Integrative, Non-confessional Approach and Confessional Religious Education When speaking about religious education, scholars differentiate between in-faith or confessional religious education, that is education for religion, and integrative or nonconfessional religious education, that is education about religions, where students learn about different religions in mixed religious classes, rather than about their own religion in separate classes. Alberts (2010) stresses that: “There is no ‘middle way’ between a secular and a religious approach to RE. If RE is to be integrative and obligatory, the aim of the subject cannot be to provide children with faith or spirituality, as this would necessarily promote particular religious traditions” (p. 284). Yet, this approach ignores children’s needs for faith and spirituality, especially for new immigrants in multicultural and multi-faith societies (Gross and Rutland 2019). The importance of spirituality and mental well-being has been explored in depth by Kenneth Pargament (2007). He takes spirituality as a major constituent within the process of psychotherapy and stresses that it is important to draw on spirituality in terms of a process of a cure. In doing so, Pargament has stressed that: The sacred speaks to our deepest dreams and aspiration, the truths we hold to be timeless, our sense that there is something that lies beyond our everyday experience, and our most fundamental assumptions as to why we are here, how we should live our lives, and what if anything we should leave behind. Any psychology of human behavior remains incomplete without an appreciation for our desire to know and connect to the sacred. (p. 342)

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There is an international movement today that draws on these concepts of religiosity and spirituality in terms of psychological approaches, so that these elements become an asset in terms of dealing with mental illness. At the same time, Pargament emphasises that there are positive and negative elements to spirituality. He states that: The effectiveness of the search for the sacred lies not in a specific belief, practice, emotion, or relationship, but in the degree to which the individual’s spiritual pathways and destinations are well integrated, working together in synchrony with each other. At its best, spirituality is defined by pathways that are broad and deep, responsive to life’s situations, nurtured by the larger social context, capable of flexibility and continuity, and orientated towards a sacred destination that is large enough to encompass the full range of human potential and luminous enough to provide the individual with a powerful guiding vision. (p. 342)

Based on Pargament’s definition, spirituality and religiosity deal with the establishment of the individual’s identity, which is the basis for diversity and multiculturalism. Thus, religiosity enables us to understand the oneness of ourselves as unique human beings who, at the same time, are part of a broader community.

6.2 Wellbeing and Positive Psychology There is extensive literature on wellbeing, which begins with ancient Greek philosophy with Aristotle’s ’notion of eudaimonia, which means “happiness” involving living the best possible life (Clement 2010; Irwin 1988). The concept of wellbeing refers to “the condition or state of being well, contented and satisfied with life” (Webb 2010, p. 959). On the basis of Carr’s (2008) and Irwin’s (1988) and research, Clement notes that it must be “multi-faceted and holistic and include personal, cognitive, affective, social, physical, psychological, moral and spiritual dimensions” (Clement 2010, p. 38). Whilst this is a complex and multi-dimensional concept, it can assist in indicating the strength and values of modern societies (Webb 2010, p. 959). Positive psychologists define mental wellbeing as being related to happiness. This perspective has been recently developed further by Martin Seligman, who has related this to the concepts of positive psychology. He stressed that people need to focus on change to building the best qualities in life through well-being, joy, and constructive cognitions about the future: optimism, faith and hope (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2014). Research over the past decade or so has shown that ‘when we feel good we are more capable, productive and creative’ (Nielsen 2010, p. 617) but the concept of wellbeing has only recently come to the top of the educational agenda, even though earlier educationalists have stressed this point. Well-known educator, Maria Montessori, whose philosophy has led to the development of a whole school system across the globe from early childhood to matriculation, recognised the importance of faith to a person’s wellbeing (Carnes 2015). She wrote: “religious persons know well that... myth must cease to be real as soon as the child’s mind matures, whereas faith must accompany a human being until the end of his life” (Montessori 1997, p. 46). Fostering the spiritual element also relates to

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affective elements of learning and positive psychology. This is central to the Montessori philosophy (Colgan 2016), which seeks to develop a positive approach to student learning and to foster within them intrinsic motivation, which includes enjoyment, interest and engagement, which are all elements of positive psychology (Rakhunde and Csikszentmihalyi 2005). Robert Biswas-Diener (2011) argues that the Montessori system is a “happiness enabler” (p. 214) and thus facilitates wellness. Drawing on the study of Lillard and Else-Quest (2006), he stresses that whilst they did not find significant differences between the Montessori system and other types of schooling in terms of cognitive ability, they outperformed their peers in terms of their social ability and behaviour. He analysed the elements which foster happiness, including active learning, the role of choice, which leads to self-motivation, and creating “structures that support growth, mastery, independence and other psychological needs that are strongly associated with happiness” (p. 216), fitting in well with the positivist theory of psychology. Montessori was one of the leading scholars who advocated for an optimistic educational approach, aiming at building an environment which develops self-esteem and enhances the positive elements within children and youth (Larson and Paulino 2014, p. 19) thereby creating transformational change. They define transformation as “the renewal of one’s mind, a new way of being, a solution giving meaning to life” (p. 23). Seligman (2002) identified three types of happiness: the “pleasurable life”, involving self-gratification of our senses; “engaged life”, where we are completely immersed in our activity; and “meaningful life” where we focus on a higher purpose. This issue of giving meaning to life is central to the SRE debate. Nielsen argues that “while sensory pleasure and engaging activities are not to be dismissed, we enjoy higher and more steady levels of happiness and recuperate more easily from trauma when our lives also contain meaning and we are doing something for the greater good” (pp. 622–623).

6.2.1 Wellbeing: The Focus on the “Greater Good” and Giving to Others All religions focus on the concepts of the “greater good” and also on the importance of “giving”, where ten characteristics have been defined. These include: religious celebrations and gratefulness to a higher being helping others to help themselves, seen as the highest form of charity; forgiveness; courage; respect (a key element of the ten commandments); compassion; loyalty; and listening (Nielsen 2010, p. 623). Medical research has demonstrated that expressing gratitude each day, which is a central part of religious prayer, has the same health benefits as direct giving (Nielsen 2010). Nielsen, of the University of Canberra, asked his students to test this assertion of the value to mental health of expressing gratitude. At the start of his course they

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took the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index survey. Then he asked them to keep a diary for six weeks and at the end of each day to list three things for which they were grateful. At the end of the six weeks, all of the participants had increased their satisfaction noticeably in all eight areas listed by the Wellbeing Index. Whilst Nielsen commented on the limitations of this project, because there was no control group and it was difficult to assess the impact of the material they were studying in class, it was clear that positive psychology/giving, whether through the education process, the experiment or both, led to improved wellbeing (Nielsen 2010, p. 624). In the light of his research, he asks: “Giving to others would seem to be a powerful medicine – perhaps an antidote to our own inertia, apathy and fear. Could it be that we can create a strong ballast, a conscience in students by simply enabling them to do good on a daily basis?” (p. 624). Yet, the importance of giving in terms of students’ wellbeing and happiness is a relatively new concept in education. In our secular society, the focus has been on putting one’s own needs ahead of the needs of others, which is the diametrically opposite approach which has fostered the “me generation”. The VEGPSP Stage 2 Final Report (DEEWR 2008) stressed that “effective values education is not an academic exercise; it needs to be deeply personal, deeply real and deeply engaging” (p. 11). Another element of giving is what has been described in the literature as “service learning”, that is, when students are engaged in action-based activities applying to their curriculum learning in direct service to others or their community (Nielsen 2010). When we undertook our research for the Montessori International School, Ganenu, in Beijing, run by the Jewish Chabad movement, we found that the school encouraged concern for others, with the Jewish value of tzedakah (charity) being stressed for both Jews and the non-Jewish community. Every Friday morning, the primary aged students volunteered for a Chinese charity, sorting clothes and assisting in other ways. Through this activity, their Chinese language skills improved, but more importantly, they built a sense of social justice together with an empathy for the mainstream Chinese society and became part of giving to that society (Gross and Rutland 2019). Hence, religious practice encourages giving from an early age, so that as students mature, it becomes second nature to their behaviour. Service learning does not have to be a part of the formal school curriculum. Developing social competencies is central to any modern school curriculum, and service learning is part of that competency. However, it is important to recognise that if we are to understand the meaning of giving, it should not be considered as a means to an end, but rather an end in and of itself. According to this reasoning, “giving emerges as a living principle that could underpin our educational practices, not just because we want children to do better at school, but also because we want them to live better” (Nielsen 2010, p. 626). Encouraging giving amongst students, something which over centuries was inbuilt into religious practice, can be transformational. To give of oneself, one needs to understand the importance of giving, something which is fostered with religion. Nielsen stresses:

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That giving is one of the most profound things we can do is not only a scientific claim made by positive psychology, but also a key tenet of most religions and spiritual traditions. Whichever of these beliefs we subscribe to, there seems to be common ground on which to proceed. (p. 626)

He notes the paradox that: This still does not completely explain why improving others’ lives has such a powerful effect on our own. Ultimately, our hearts, rather than our powers of reason, will have to recognize the truth of that. The heart has reasons that reason does not know… I have cited empirical research to show that ‘giving’ and ‘love’ work – even though we might not fully know why. Knowing this does not matter to some extent. Knowing that it works does. (p. 626)

It is within this paradox between emotion and reason that religious belief is so important. Religious belief is, in the final analysis, an emotional and spiritual response that requires love and transcendence which cannot be explained rationally. Victor Frankl (1985), in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, wrote: …being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself, be it a meaning to fulfil or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself, by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love, the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence. (https://www.cathol iceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/spiritual-life/man-s-search-for-meaning.html)

As we have demonstrated, in our rapidly changing post-modern world, it has become more important than ever to provide young students with a basis to manage their fears and anxieties. The focus on giving at both the practical and spiritual levels fostered by religious belief can only be introduced into SRE classes. For those who feel the need for religious education, SRE can significantly add to the students’ sense of wellbeing. Research has also shown that people suffering from alcoholism, drug abuse and eating disorders have lost their sense of meaning in life and their belief in a higher being. Thus, in groups such as alcoholics anonymous, the first thing that participants are told is that they need to have a belief in God—it does not matter which religious belief they follow, but if they can gain a belief in a higher being and a sense of spirituality, they will understand better not to destroy their God-given bodies.

6.2.2 The Concept of ‘Wholeness’ Michael Ben-Avie (2008) defines the concepts of “wholeness” when children’s development combines the six main pathways (physical, cognitive, psychological, language, social and ethical) which are ‘critical to academic learning’ and that of the ‘who-ness’, when children not only have a cognitive knowledge of who they are, but also an emotional attachment to their group (pp. 99–100).

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For SRE, this means an attachment to their religious community, filling the need for belonging to a group, enabling self-regulated behaviour and ensuring that commitment overrides indulgent behaviour. Ben-Avie argues that if children develop well, they learn well, so the focus for all education should be on child development and not just on child learning. Including SRE, even for one period a week, contributes to whole child development, because it is part of Ben-Avie’s six main pathways, which ensures balanced child development.

6.2.3 Health and Religious Practice Currently, there is a growing awareness of the importance of promoting protective factors for good health, rather than just reducing risk factors, and that there is a need to start this process from an early age. Empirical evidence from recent studies has shown that religious practices are associated with better health and wellbeing in adults, with earlier research demonstrating a strong connection between attendance at religious services and lower mortality risks. Other studies have shown that religious involvements and other religious practices are linked to other positive outcomes including greater psychological wellbeing, character strengths, reduced mental illness and healthier behaviours. Most of these studies have only involved adults, with fewer studies including the connections between adolescence, religious involvement, protection against certain negative behaviours and the promotion of positive health practices. However, most of these studies have been fairly limited in scope. To validate the hypothesis that religious practices lead to better physical, psychological, and mental health, as well as strengthening character traits, Chen and Vanderweele (2018) sought to further investigate this link. They conducted a major longitudinal study from 1999 to 2013, using the frequency of attendance at public services and of private meditation and prayer to examine this hypothesis. Their sample was predominantly white, with more female participants. They found that 60% attended religious services weekly and 36% undertook meditation and private prayer daily. The results from this study “suggest that religious involvement in adolescence may be one… protective factor for a range of health and wellbeing outcomes” (pp. 6–7) with the active religious participants demonstrating greater psychological wellbeing, character strengths and lower risks of mental illness. Religious behaviour reduced the probability of smoking and drug abuse (both major health risks), deviant sexual behaviours, depression and anxiety, and fostered forgiveness (Chen and Vanderweele 2018, pp. 6–7). They found that adolescents with physical disabilities tended to practice a higher level of prayer, both public and private. Thus, religious practices foster protective factors for good health. They help to maintain self-control, develop negative attitudes to harmful behaviours, and foster positive coping practices including meditation and forgiveness. Religious involvements also provide peer support mechanisms and networks, a sense of community and

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positive adult role models. Education providers and curriculum planners in Australian government schools need to take cognizance of these positive, protective factors for good health in the broader community.

6.2.4 Wellbeing and Values Education: Australian Research As discussed, the research of Crawford and Rossiter (2006) focused on the importance of the search for meaning (beliefs and values), identity and spirituality for young people’s development, seeking strong integration between these three elements. They note that traditionally spirituality has been associated with religion and prayer but in the post-modern world the concept has taken on a separate connotation to that of the traditional religious understanding. They argue that spirituality “has become a ubiquitous term covering many different aspects of personal life and culture… it figures in areas as diverse as ecology, new age, healing, health sciences, business and education” (p. 9). Rossiter (2011) stresses that spirituality is “strategically placed like a bridge connecting traditional religious ways of seeing people in God’s universe with contemporary secular psychological ways of interpreting personal development” (p. 16). In this regard, education can play an important role. However, Rossiter (2011) and Crawford and Rossiter (2006) believe that while the concept of spirituality has taken on these additional, broader aspects, the key role religion can play in young people’s lives should not be discounted. As well, the focus on the good life means that the reality of young people’s experiences cannot match up to the images they see on their screens, often leading to a sense of failure, disappointment and a loss of hope. This can result in “the new prominence of nihilistic thinking - a tendency to believe that there is no meaning in life…. Having nothing much to believe in or hope for can contribute to increasing levels of boredom, depression, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide, especially among youth” (p. 11). These arguments have been reinforced by other Australian scholars working in the field. In 2010, a major study illustrated the vital importance of values education for students’ wellbeing. Reinforcing Ben-Avie’s message, this study “comes as ‘values education’ widens in scope from being concerned with morality, ethics, civics and citizenship to a broader definition synonymous with a holistic approach to education in education in general” (Lovat 2010, back cover). Resulting from this study, an International Handbook was edited by three key Australian scholars, Terence Lovat, Ron Toomey and Neville Clement, and included sections stressing the role of wellbeing for the curriculum and pedagogy, personal integrity and social engagement. In his introductory chapter, Lovat highlighted the key elements in values education as set out in a 2003 Australian government study, entitled “Values Education Study” (DEST 2003) as follows: 1. that education is as much about building character as it is about equipping students with specific skills.

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2. that values based education can strengthen students’ self-esteem, optimism and commitment to personal fulfilment and help students exercise ethical judgement and social responsibility; and 3. that parents expect schools to help students understand and develop personal and social responsibilities (DEST 2003, p. 10). Current research stresses the importance of integrating values, including understanding that there is meaning to living, with a strong sense of identity and spirituality, and that these key elements need to be integrated into the school curriculum. Yet, finding a way to integrate these goals into the general curriculum has not been very successful, despite the efforts to do so (Crawford and Rossiter 2006; Rossiter 2011). In a specific study of prayer in Australia, De Souza and Watson (2016) argued that prayer is a major communal religious practice which fosters solidarity among students assisting them to create a sense of community through the prayers. Prayer is a spiritual act which reflects the inner layers of spirituality which is innate in human beings (De Souza and Watson 2016, p. 344). Further, she argues that it helps to cultivate a sense of friendship (De Souza and Watson 2016) and a feeling of togetherness (Kohn 2020). In our research (Gross and Rutland 2015) of Jewish SRE classes, we could see through class observations how prayers create a “safe zone” for the students, thereby contributing to their health and wellbeing. More recently, as discussed in the previous chapter, Allen and Kern (2019) have researched the problem of the declining sense of belonging within Australian school communities. They refer to the research of John Hattie (2009) demonstrating the fundamental importance of student–teacher relationships to a student’s success and academic achievements at school. From their research, they have found that the student–teacher relationship “appears to be a more powerful influencer on belonging than relationships with peers and parents. For example, a survey of 699 secondary students found that although parent support was indeed important, for school belonging, teacher support mattered more.” However, this is not in an academic context, but rather if “their teacher was caring, empathetic, fair and able to help them with personal problems”. They argue that this is a foundational part of school belonging and is very important in terms of contributing to students’ wellbeing, creating a positive attitude to life and lowering the risk of suicide in young people, as well as improving academic performance. As well, recent research in both neuroscience and epidemiology has demonstrated the close connection between wellbeing pedagogy and values education. This research has shown how the holistic growth of each student involves their social, emotional, moral, spiritual development as well as their intellectual and cognitive growth and that all are important for the processes of teaching and learning in government schools. These concepts have become embedded in the most recent policies of the New South Wales Department of School Education and other Australian states, but the spiritual and religious dimension is excluded from these policies, as if it is not a contributing factor. Yet, our research has demonstrated the importance of special

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religious education for health and wellbeing, reinforced by the comments made by our interviewees.

6.3 Findings The responses of the teachers from all the faiths highlighted the role of spirituality in a child’s school education, and its contribution to the health and wellbeing of children.

6.3.1 The Importance of Spirituality All the interviewees strongly supported the human need for spirituality. The teachers from the different faith groups explained that people need to be aware that we have a body, a mind, and also a soul or spirit, and that all three are important in education. In the Baha’i faith, for example, the teachers explained that Abdul Baha’i, the son of Bahá’u’lláh (meaning the glory of God) who was the founder of the Baha’i faith, argued that there are three types of education: one is intellectual, incorporating the mind, one is physical, incorporating the body, and the third is spiritual. He argued that the third was the most important compared with the other two types of education, because “an intellectual education without a spiritual education can be dangerous. Children can use science in [the] wrong ways, whereas if you include spiritual education, you can use it to benefit humanity and to serve mankind. So that’s how we believe in the long term it will benefit the children” (male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales). Similarly, from a Hindu perspective Hinduism is for “spirituality because it’s only teaching spirituality. It talks about the inner sense” (female SRE teacher, #4 Hindu, New South Wales). A Hindu leader explained that it is very important because one has a mind, “which can be a very dangerous fellow. If you can control your mind you will become a good person… So controlling one’s mind in Hinduism is basic” (male religious leader, #1 Hindu, Tasmania). The mind “is why a human being is called human” and one needs to connect to it (male SRE teacher, #3 Hindu, New South Wales). These beliefs infused the responses of other interviewees who stressed that it was important to educate the whole child and this includes bringing the spiritual aspects to the table. This is often very important at the secondary school level when adolescents are struggling with many issues. As one Christian interviewee explained: “One of the parts and makeup, the holistic part of a person, where I would argue that religious education will educate the spirit of the person. Which is, I would say, the third part of a holistic person, being body, mind and soul/spirit”. In terms of a holistic education, the teachers noted that schools focus on the importance of an academic education—students need maths and English skills to function

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as adults—and physical education but, as one Christian interviewee explained “I think it’s really neglectful to think schools can do without the spiritual component of a person and it needs to be included… [if not] people will degrade and of course that degradation will have a cost” (SRE director, #16 Christian, New South Wales). A Jewish SRE graduate/teacher further elaborated: “SRE is all about spirituality, connecting their souls to something greater, teaching them that it’s not just the HSC [Higher School Certificate for matriculation] that’s daunting them. There’s so much more to offer them in life and not just work, not just the pressures of the physical world but also there’s a spiritual world, just trying to enrich their souls as much as possible” (Female SRE graduate/teacher, #1 Jewish, New South Wales). Given these understandings, the SRE/RI teachers obviously felt special religious education did need to be part of the school curriculum. As one Christian teacher explained: It makes some formal inroads into the expression of spirituality in a school context. There wouldn’t be another lesson in a public school situation where there is prayer, or even interacting with religious text. …it reinforces to the children that spirituality is for all of life, not just in the privacy of home or in the worship space. So it gives you a whole of life spirituality, not just this is something that our family does, or something that our church does. (male SRE teacher, #1 Christian, New South Wales)

These concepts were constantly stressed by the teachers, but also that it needed someone who was spiritual themselves to act as a model for the students so that the children “feel they’re part of something more than just their small family. They’re part of something greater… they have this spiritual guide who teaches them right from wrong” (female SRE teacher, #2 Jewish, New South Wales). Therefore, what SRE does is “to allow students to benefit from being in the learning environment with someone who has a shared faith, someone who has the same faith as them, but probably someone who is more experienced in their faith, someone who has got some professional learning and can model a life lived in faith” (SRE teacher, #2 Christian, New South Wales). Developing the spiritual dimension of a child thus better equips them for life. As one Muslim teacher explained “they’re no longer just looking aimlessly for a solution on Facebook or whatever it is. They’re actually tapping into their spiritual side and able to find solutions to their problems within themselves” (SRE teacher, #3 Muslim, New South Wales). Even if the classes are only once a week, the spiritual messages they give ensures that they have “something they look forward to, something that they can hold on to” (SRE teacher, #4 Muslim, Queensland). Spirituality is also central to Buddhism. One of the Buddhist teachers who came from a Christian background turned to Buddhism during a period of trauma in her life and she noted that during times of trauma people turn to religion and spirituality. For her Buddhism was a “spiritual self-awareness and so for me it has huge benefits in all those categories”. As such, she hoped to give her students “a tool they will be able to tap into at any time of their life” (Female SRE teacher, #9 Buddhist, New South Wales). The graduate students we interviewed strongly agreed with the importance of spirituality. As one Muslim graduate explained:

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From my personal experience like a spiritual connection is very, very important for me to overcome challenges I face in my life and anxiety, work issues, university issues. Having just a spiritual connection with God helps a lot. That’s why I believe everybody should have a spiritual connection with something. (SRE graduate, #6 Muslim, New South Wales)

Similarly, a Baha’i student commented that: “Yes. Well, spirituality means a lot to me. And in order to have a better world we need to have spirituality because today there’re lots of people who are suffering from lack of spirituality in our society” (SRE graduate, #2 Baha’i, New South Wales). In explaining the importance of spiritual education, the teachers and graduates focused on a number of factors: the need for positive psychology and hope; the role of prayer and meditation; the significance of giving; developing a sense of community and belonging; and countering youth suicide and other negative forces in our contemporary society.

6.3.2 Positive Psychology Research has demonstrated the importance of positive psychology for the human psyche and this was also stressed by the interviewees, who saw religion providing a positive approach for people and providing them with hope in terms of facing life’s challenges. In Christian theology this is seen through Jesus as well as God, since belief in Jesus provides one with salvation. One Christian SRE director explained it in this way: So in primary school, special religious education provides a basis and introduces young people to Christianity, to the Bible and to Jesus; it allows them to ask questions. So in the materials it looks at questions like where did I come from? … And it teaches them that there is a God that loves them and there is a God that sent his only son so that they can be restored to him”. (Male SRE director, #15 Christian, New South Wales)

Another commented: “it’s about planting seeds so that one day, because we all know life is complicated and these children are young and we respect that. But as they get older, all of them will face problems in life… and we believe we’ve got something to offer… So we point to the Bible, we point to Jesus, to core Christian teachings so that they can know there is something else out there” (Female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). Another Christian teacher expanded on this, saying: “It comes back to my sense of self-worth. My value comes from knowing that I am extremely important to God” (Female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). In this way, another teacher argued, it can be “uplifting” for students to receive “the amazing message of hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it can’t be anything but overwhelmingly good for their wellbeing, for their state of mind, and for the hope that they can have in their hearts and the strength; it gives them strength to face all those issues and to understand them. Yeah, I feel privileged to be able to present words of light in that context of darkness”. (Female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales)

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Similarly, in Judaism the concept that there is a higher being, God, who cares for them and listens to their needs was stressed. One teacher explained that “I’ve taught them that, think Hashem, God, is listening to you. Believe that he’s there” (Female SRE teacher, #4 Jewish, New South Wales) while another stressed that “if bad does happen, it is for a reason. We may not see it, and if good happens it also has reasons behind it and they can find comfort in the fact that they’re being looked after and there’s HaShem (God) and he loves us and… looks after us. And it’s not just a bad, rotten world out there; there’s actually good stuff happening” (Female SRE teacher, #6 Jewish, New South Wales). Teachers from the other faiths expressed similar beliefs. One Muslim teacher noted that when the children enter the class they are greeted with the saying “Peace of God be with you”. She stressed “this is something we all need to think about when we walk into the room: God is with us. We’re all peaceful here and we talk about positive things. So I think it definitely assists the children - they really calm down. They calm down from the outside environment, so busy and negative, and hard to keep up with the peer pressure. But when they come here they can just relax and be themselves” (Female SRE teacher, #2 Muslim, Queensland). One of the Baha’i teachers explained the difference between the teaching of values and ethics, which tends to focus on the negative—on the ego and on punishment— and religious education, which focuses on kindness and love and selflessness. She commented “the children are so precious that they need to polish all the positive attributes in them. They don’t need to dwell on the negative. They don’t need to know about ego or punishment. It’s the love that we have for humanity that helps us to bring out all those beautiful gems inside us” (Female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales). These comments from the different faith groups demonstrates the teachers’ clear awareness of the need to stress the positives in life and to give their students hope through their belief in a higher being—in something larger than themselves who cares for them and loves them. Within this framework, prayer and meditation are very important as a way to say thank you and to look outside one’s material world to the spiritual.

6.3.3 The Role of Prayer and Meditation A central part of religious belief and practice is prayer and, for the Eastern religions, meditation. All the teachers spoke about the centrality of prayer to their traditions and to their classroom practice. As a Muslim teacher stressed: “According to our Islamic practice, ritual practice, we have to pray five times, so for the five times we wake up early in the morning and we take ablutions, we pray. When we pray we actually concentrate our prayer where we try to remember our God” (Male Muslim leader, #11, Tasmania). A Baha’i teacher expanded on these concepts:

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I think that when we trying to say to kids that we must believe in God as the Creator then we can feel His presence in our life. In some problems or issues we can connect to Him. We can pray. We can ask for help. We can consult with Him from when we are praying or when we are reading the holy books or something like this. Then it’s good for resting our soul and to feel good. And yeah, it’s good for the spiritual things that it’s very important in this world because the materialism – buying, eating, sleeping and working, paying the loans – and then again and again as a cycle. We need something different from these things…. (Male SRE teacher, #1 Baha’i, New South Wales)

The Baha’i teachers noted that they always begin their lessons with a prayer, For example, another teacher explained one of the prayers that they say, a short one, is: “Oh God, guide me, protect me, make of me a shiny lamp and a brilliant star.” He asks the children to think about it: “What does it mean to make you a shiny lamp and a brilliant star? Does it mean like a literal lamp, or does it mean like a spiritual lamp, you know, like a virtual lamp? So yes, we foster and nurture spirituality in them in this way” (Male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales). Prayer, meditation and yoga are also central to Hinduism. One teacher explained: Oh yes, definitely, because let’s assume, for example, when you get up in the morning, how do you clean yourself externally – I mean, everybody knows and teaches about how you brush your teeth in the morning, and how you take baths to clean your external things. But how do you clean the internal ones? Internally, in your mind, you’ve got all the rubbish. So how do you want to get rid of the rubbish in your mind? By praying, you know, like the amount of prayers. (Male SRE teacher, #3 Hindu, New South Wales)

This volunteer teacher professionally works in the field of science and so he demonstrates this point with a scientific experiment, taking a foam cup, filling it with mud, and showing that when he tips it upside down there is still mud clinging to the side. He then asks the students how does one clean the cup and they respond by washing it. That helps him to explain why prayer is so important because “it helps to clear the dirt in your mind” (Male SRE teacher, #3 Hindu, New South Wales). Similarly, the Christian interviewees stressed the importance of prayer. One teacher with a background in biomedical science noted that she had read studies on the importance of prayer and spirituality for health and wellbeing. Prayer was a regular part of Christian RE, but a number of teachers noted that it was voluntary as one cannot force people to pray: “the child can’t be made to pray, and should never be made to pray… it’s up to them, but we do ask for respect” (Female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). Another explained: So by actually giving kids the building blocks of faith. So that would include things like understanding how to read and engage in the Bible or Holy Scriptures and also some of the skills of the faith like prayer and different aspects of worship that form part of that faith life… So they’re actually equipped with some tools from that faith tradition to help them navigate through life. So in a way it gives them some tools hopefully for resilience and for dealing with things that come along in life. (Female SRE teacher, #9 Christian, New South Wales)

Prayer is also an important form of expressing gratitude. This is very strong in Judaism, where there are many different blessings to thank God for what he has provided. As one teacher explained:

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Well, spirituality is… we always start our morning classes with the basic prayers and that already sets the tone that we believe there is a superior being. We often tell the children that there are many things they need to be thankful for and to realise what they need to be thankful for. And we might go around the class asking children what they are thankful for and we make a point of saying, “We’re not talking about [material] things but about actual nature and health and wellbeing and family that one needs to appreciate”. (Female SRE teacher, #5 Jewish, New South Wales)

Jewish RE teachers always begin the lesson with the children chanting two basic prayers—the Sh’ma, which sets out the importance of belief in God, and Modeh Ani, where one thanks God after waking for “returning my soul to me”, in other words of waking up and being alive, and encouraging the children to thank God for life and good health. In Buddhism, meditation is a central form of their faith practice. All the Buddhist RE teachers explained how they use meditation and why it is so important for their students, starting from Year K as “they learn about calming the mind… controlling aggression, controlling anger… so it’s a spiritual tool that you use to stop yourself and have a look, slow down” (Male SRE teacher, #3 Buddhist, New South Wales). Meditation teaches the children to sit still, and learn to do things with calm and quietness. The Buddhist interviewees stressed that Buddhism is not a traditional form of religion because they do not worship the Buddha. Rather he is a teacher and his teachings are “to be mindful, and I find it’s very good for the students” (Female SRE teacher, #4 Buddhist, New South Wales). They do not see their goal as teaching about the faith tradition, but rather helping their students to work on themselves, to practise meditation techniques not only in the weekly class but throughout the week. This helps them to navigate through “school life, the challenges they face in the playground, socialising… as a support mechanism” (Female SRE teacher, #6 Buddhist, New South Wales). The children are also encouraged to practise meditation before going to sleep, rather than doing computer games, so that “they have a sound sleep, and then wake up… like a blooming flower, like a blossoming flower without any lethargy” (Female SRE teacher, #7 Buddhist, New South Wales). This skill becomes particularly important at the high school level. One Buddhist RE teacher explained that when the high school students come to her class, they are exhausted, not just physically but also emotionally, mentally and spiritually. This was a result of their “spending time on the computers; their research issues or whatever they are doing on their assignments; and what is expected of them from their parents, from the school” (Female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales). When they come to her classes, they just ask for meditation, as the students find this helps them to “come to that place of harmony, that place of emptiness, that place of no expectations. You know – that peace; you know – that tranquillity” (Female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales). This teacher also found that chanting helps the high school students. A Jewish interviewee found the same with her SRE high school classes in terms of the break from the stress that the students experience: “of just really giving them that break between their classes, but also enriching them, so that the class, that

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hour that we get together every week, every two weeks, every month, gives them enough energy and mental strength, emotional strength, spiritual strength to conquer whatever challenges they face until the next class” (Female SRE teacher/graduate, #1 Jewish, New South Wales). As can be seen, all the SRE/RI teachers stressed the value of prayer, of meditation and of chanting or singing something in unison. These elements are something which can be fostered in SRE/RI classes, but are not part of the regular school lessons.

6.3.4 The Significance of Giving Thinking about others, rather than oneself, and giving to others is another important aspect of health and wellbeing. One Christian RE teacher explained this concept: “and I think knowing something about this is what God is like and this is how He wants us to treat other people, which covers love their neighbour, because we talk about grace, getting something that you don’t deserve, then there’s a level at which we treat other people” (Female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). Generosity is also stressed in Buddhist RE, although the focus is more on the intention. One Buddhist RE teacher explained: “We look at the giver and the receiver is on the same level. You give but the other will receive, providing the giver with the opportunity to give. So we delve into generosity” (Female SRE teacher, #1 Buddhist, New South Wales). The Buddhist teachers also encourage their students to be helpful and talk about ways that they can be helpful, and this also applies to the other SRE/RI classes. In Buddhism there is a specific form of meditation called “loving kindness meditation” seeking to develop friendliness and love for others, which one of the teachers noted she specifically uses in her classes (Female SRE teacher, #7 Buddhist, New South Wales). In Jewish RE the children will have charity drives at some point in their school year, teaching the children the importance of giving or tzedakah in Hebrew. The importance of thinking about others and giving to them was also recognised by the graduates. One of them commented: Well it helps me because when I do all of these things [giving to others] you just feel this feeling – that you’ve achieved something and you just feel good in the inside. And it kind of helps to get closer to God. Interviewer: “Why is it important to be closer to God?”. “So in the next world we don’t suffer and we don’t spiritually suffer. And also, just to help others out. That is the whole point of life”. (Female SRE graduate, #3 Baha’i, New South Wales)

This response summed up succinctly the key role of giving from her religious perspective as well as how this can contribute to health and wellbeing by making a person feel good about themselves. Through community efforts of giving, a sense of belonging can also develop among students.

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6.3.5 Sense of Belonging Another aspect of religious education contributing to a person’s sense of wellbeing is creating a sense of belonging to a community. One Muslim teacher explained this in the following terms: “Well, that comes from community, as well as from our teachings. If you’re in a community where you’re loved and you’re cared for and you’re nurtured and you’re educated; I think definitely the spiritual and the positive things come out of that” (Female SRE teacher, #2 Muslim, Queensland). The importance of belonging to a group was also stressed by a Jewish teacher/graduate: It is also creating a sense of community between the kids, bonding them based on their religious affiliation as opposed to their academic achievements. Most classes in high school are ranked based on if they’re the top of maths, or they’re not doing so well. There’s a stream system within high schools whereas SRE is bonding you on something different. It’s allowing different kids from different classes to interact, based on a similar heritage, that really helps them with wellbeing. Creating a different friendship group, they’re also giving them that break between the mathematics and English classes. (Female SRE teacher/graduate, #1 Jewish, New South Wales)

So, by developing a sense of community based on a similar religious affiliation which goes across the grades contributes to the students’ sense of health and wellbeing. The role of the SRE teacher is considered as central by all the interviewees, as they understand their primary role is to be caregivers, and to assist the children in their spiritual development because these classes “I think children just know it innately, if it’s safe or not safe… that no-one one’s going to judge them, that they feel included. It’s where they’re safe” (Female SRE teacher, #2 Jewish, New South Wales). Creating this sense of belonging, this sense of community and feeling safe, together with developing a positive psychology, with an ability to express gratitude and help others, are important elements in countering negative elements that young people are faced with in contemporary society.

6.3.6 Countering Youth Suicide and Other Negative Forces With our rapidly changing world, issues relating to youth suicide, mental illness, particularly anxiety and depression, and problems of alcohol and drug abuse, have increased markedly in Australia, as in other parts of the world. All the stakeholders that we interviewed were acutely aware of these issues and believed that religion was an important antidote against these problems. This was highlighted by one of our Christian interviewees, a young teacher who had grown up in regional New South Wales and who was a graduate of the SRE program. She told us how a childhood friend of hers had just committed suicide a few days earlier, and that she was devastated by the news. She told us what she thought was the problem:

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But I think being able to share what the Bible says in that context, and speak God’s word into their lives, in that crazy, chaotic dark context; it’s like we are giving students a breath of fresh air, a ray of sunshine, that could lead to a solid course of hope in life. Yeah, I think so many other school subjects, they just present darkness. Geography, you learn depressing facts about over-population, climate change and the end of the world. Science, you learn similar things. In English, a lot of the dramas and texts that you study are quite dark and depressing, like Shakespeare. From memory, I didn’t study really uplifting texts. It was all like 1984, and Macbeth, a lot of really twisted plot lines. Art, there is some pretty weird, dark stuff, that I studied about in art. Anyway, there is a lot of darkness and hopelessness in the curriculum that kids are exposed to on a week to week basis. (Female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales)

As well, she noted the cycle of life, that “we could have the most delicious meal one night but we wake up the next day and we are hungry again, or we will always need a new item of clothing, or we need another holiday or another relationship”. People think if they just have that they will be happy, until “some people get to the point where they see through the illusion … and the only answer for some people is just to end it”. She felt that, in contrast, the positive messages of Jesus and belief in God, the Creator, provides a meaning in life: “without knowing the one who created us, we’re never going to find that fulfilment” (Female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales). This message was reinforced by another Christian RE teacher, who had grown up in a religious household but had gone through a period of rejecting his religious background, and had ended up with “depression, a lot of difficulties with relationships, a lot of uncertainty”. When he regained his faith, he found that his life changed (Male SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales). These concepts were stressed by SRE teachers from the other faiths. As one of the Muslim RE teachers said: “And if you have lost that spiritual connection of what’s real, then your mind is not going to be sound… I see all the issues that these high schools have and to me it’s a lack of that spirituality… there’s a lot of angry kids; there’s a lot of hormones; there’s a lot of disrespect. It’s like the moral compass of society is slowly deteriorating and this is showing up in our kids. We need to, for me personally, you need to be in touch with our Creator to be connected” (Female SRE teacher, #3 Muslim, New South Wales). Similarly, a Hindu teacher commented: Yeah. You see, at the moment, I personally feel that at the moment, if we see young generation is absolutely getting addicted to drugs, drinking, alcohol, cigarettes, and they don’t have much value in their life, because both parents are working, both parents are busy. They really don’t know why I am doing, what I’m doing, and if I have to speak truth, why do I have to speak truth? If I have to be loyal, why do I have to be loyal? They don’t know all these things (Female SRE teacher, #2 Hindu, New South Wales). She felt that it was here that SRE can fill an important gap, because spiritual, religious teachings can contribute to ensuring that we have “good human beings, who are helping others, understanding others, and that role SRE does”. (Female SRE teacher, #2 Hindu, New South Wales)

The graduates were also very aware of such problems with some of their peers in high school. As one of them explained: “And the lack of spirituality can be the cause

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of many different problems such as, for example, depression. Some people because they are not strong enough; they don’t have that spirituality; they don’t have that foundation; they get distracted with drugs and have too much alcohol and other problems… Yes, there’s a lot of negative forces in our society today and spirituality has helped me to not get distracted and just stay on the right path” (Male SRE graduate, #3 Baha’i, New South Wales). As one of the Buddhist SRE teachers commented: I’m really there to guide them so that they can help themselves with depression … it’s just rampant… So for me the children need it. No matter what the religion is, they need to have some core beliefs and moral obligations. And I think all religions and spirituality, if not taken to the extreme, we need to make it clear that there is goodness in all of them. And to take out SRE in the public system would be a really big mistake. I really do believe this, regardless of the religion, because I’ve seen the benefit. (Female SRE teacher, #9 Buddhist, New South Wales)

These personal stories and comments illustrate clearly the research findings that spirituality, positive psychology, prayer, gratitude and giving all contribute to students’ health and wellbeing as will be analysed in the next section.

6.4 Discussion and Conclusions The most important finding in our study was that interviewees from all the faith communities found a strong correlation between spirituality, health and well-being, a finding that is well supported by other studies (Diener et al. 2009). According to the subjects of our study, as well as findings in other studies (Plater 2017), spirituality is one of the significant dimensions of life (Pargament 2007, 2013) and is an important element of the students’ human development. They noted that while secular studies did not include spirituality, SRE classes were premised on conveying spiritual messages and so they fill an important gap in the children’s education. According to the findings of the study, the spiritual aspect and the need for spirituality appear to be universal (Park et al. 2017) because spirituality is cross-cultural and part of all religious beliefs and faith traditions. This finding is supported by other studies (Benson et al. 2012). For example in a study of adolescents in eight different continents, 70% of young people claimed that spirituality was a significant dimension in their lives (Benson et al. 2012). The interviewees also felt that religion provided a positive message of hope, which is stressed by the theories of positive psychology (Montessori 1997; Seligman 2002; Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2014). They acknowledged the fact that in addition to the intellectual and physical aspects of human existence there is a third important component—that of spirituality, which ensures a holistic approach within the school environment, contributing to the “who-ness and wholeness” of the child (Ben-Avie 2008). Moreover, spirituality was found in many countries to be a significant contributor to physical health (Miller and Thoresen 2003) and people’s ability to cope with

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illness. This has been found in secular countries like Russia or Sweden and as a major means of coping with psychological crises and post-traumatic conditions (Benson et al. 2012). The teachers in our research from the different faith groups agree that spirituality, which is the central element of SRE teaching and learning, also serves as a psychological coping mechanism and as a source of identity anchor. Furthermore, many studies of patients in need of psychiatric help have argued that mentally ill patients should be encouraged to undertake a program on spirituality during their treatment because they believed that finding some form of spirituality could help such patients cope more effectively with their mental distress (Van Dierendonck and Mohan 2006; Russo-Netzer and Mayseless 2017). In regard to the importance of prayer, this again was a central message for all the faith groups, and with Buddhism and Hinduism this also included meditation. The teachers stressed how they found prayer and meditation really assisted the children and helped to bring a sense of calm and security to the children, supporting the findings of Chen and Vanderweele (2018) in their Harvard study. It is interesting that while the SRE teachers stressed the importance of expressing gratitude to a higher being, not all referred to the role of “giving” in contributing to health and wellbeing (Nielsen 2010). For example in both Judaism and Islam charity is a central value of extreme importance. In Judaism, the concept is expressed in Hebrew as tzedakah which means “justice” and the tradition stresses that everyone should give something to help others, no matter how small. In Islam, alms (zakat in Arabic) is one of the five pillars, so again is a central plank of the religion. However, the connection between giving and health and wellbeing seems to be less well understood by these teachers. In contrast, the Buddhist teachers did stress the importance of helping others, which is a form of giving. They explained that this was a key teaching of the Buddha, and did see this as contributing to student welfare. This is also a key message in the Baha’i faith, with one of the graduates acknowledging that helping others made her feel good. Thus, the attribute of helping others contributes to the sense of focusing on the “greater good”, taking students away from the everyday, material pressures into something of a higher spiritual level. Another key element in student wellbeing is creating a sense of belonging within the school community. The teachers in our study stressed that SRE classes, which include spiritual elements and a culturally and socially supportive community, meet students’ need for spiritual discourse and empowerment so that SRE classes contribute to the mental well-being of their students. Similarly, Diener et al. (2009) found that the sense of a supportive community enhanced the sense of meaningfulness in life and contributed to the mental well-being of patients (Diener 2012). Allen and Kern’s (2019) study has demonstrated that teacher-student relationships are a key component in creating a strong sense of belonging for students, and that indeed teacher/student relationship was more important than parental and peer relationships. All the SRE/RI teachers stressed that this was a key component in their teaching. Even though they only saw the children once a week in class, they often taught the same children for a few years, would often interact with them outside of school, at the shopping centres, or other places in the neighbourhood, or for the more

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observant students at their place of worship. Thus, they were able to build a relationship with their students based solely on the care and concern for their students’ wellbeing, rather than being concerned with academic or test results from NAPLAN (testing of basic skills in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9) to the HSC (matriculation). Prayer was found in our research to be a major constituent of all SRE classrooms. Kohn (2020) argues that studies of prayer in religious schools have revealed that a major tension often occurs during prayer time because of the formalistic orientation of these prayer classes, where it is obligatory and is imposed upon the students as a religious requirement. This compares with a spiritual approach where the teachers’ mission is to create a spiritual experience as occurs in SRE. Research has found that formal prayer time can be very challenging (Gross 2003; Goldmintz 2017; Kohn 2020) and sometimes prayer classes are a battlefield in religious schools leading to many discipline problems (Kessler 2007; Siegel 2016; Drelich 2017), but in our research we found that prayer within the schedule of SRE classes was a time of relaxation. SRE teachers perceive prayer and meditation as precious moments which allow students to be connected with the transcendent (Kay 2005; Scarlett and Perriello 1991) and as “spiritual practice” (Jacobson-Maisles 2013). These elements are important for the cultivation of the spiritual life of the students (McClure 1996). It seems to us that within the SRE framework, prayers are treated differently by the students because SRE is a voluntary educational framework and those who choose to participate in SRE also choose to pray. As was reflected in our interviews, the SRE teachers from all religions convey a strong message to their students that it is very important for them (the teachers) and hence it becomes very important also to the students. In this way, the SRE teachers are role models and agents of spirituality. When prayer is not compulsory but encouraged by the teacher, the attitude of the students is more positive and responsive and this “enriches the spirit of the school” (Stern 2018) or the spirit of SRE. Our findings also reinforced the literature that prayer helps to build a sense of friendship and togetherness (De Souza and Watson 2016). In the current research, all the teachers we interviewed stressed that prayer and/or meditation were a major necessary component of human spirit (see also Drelich 2017). Usually the SRE classes start with prayer and that enables the teachers to create a moment of togetherness (Kessler 2007; De Souza and Watson 2016; Kohn 2020). A Buddhist SRE teacher told us that his students urge him to start the classes with meditation because they feel they need it for their wellbeing. Prayers are used mainly for spiritual growth and the cultivation of the inner world of the students (Steinsaltz 1996), rather than for studying the structure or the history of the prayers (Simon 1996). As we have seen in our research SRE teachers from different religions reported that prayer time is used as a venue to create moments of transcendence and purification, with a Hindu SRE teacher using the metaphor of removing the mud. This experiential approach to prayers as practised by the SRE teachers of all religions makes prayer time a moment of grace, transcendence and happiness. SRE classes offering prayer and meditation with a religious focus was seen to be of particular importance for high school children but at present SRE classes appear to be mainly offered at the primary school level on a weekly basis, with most high

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schools often only offering classes once a fortnight, once a month or even only once a term, and not at the senior level. Interviewees across the faiths noted that for the students to be able to come to a class or seminar in high school and be able to have time for their spirituality, rather than stressing over their school results, was particularly important. In this regard, one boys’ high school with a high proportion of Muslim students in Sydney’s inner western suburbs does offer the classes on a weekly basis in Years 11 and 12. This is because the principal has found that SRE really assists the students with their general wellbeing, as well as with behavioural problems, by fostering respect for their teachers and for academic learning. In our post-modern society, where there has been an increase in the levels of student anxiety and depression as well as the incidence of youth suicide, creating spiritual bulwarks against these mental health issues has become increasingly more important. While efforts to build students’ values, identity, sense of belonging and spirituality are being recognised within the secular government school curriculum, the important role religious education can play should not be underestimated (Crawford and Rossiter 2006). This is understood by a significant proportion of parents who are still choosing to opt into SRE/RI classes and even in Victoria, where classes are not being offered in curriculum time, the SRI system is still operating. For many parents, who do not attend regularly a place of worship and would not consider themselves actively religious, their desire to ensure that their children receive some form of religious education is an important indicator of this understanding. To remove this opportunity for students and their families would be to weaken the broader health and wellbeing of students in government schools. Parents are also aware of the limitations of the secular, scientific approach. As pointed out by one of our interviewees, a volunteer SRE teacher, who is also a scientist, in the post-modern, supposedly empirical world where the rationality of the scientific approach is revered, there is a dilemma of how to deal with questions to which science has no answer (Russo-Netzer and Mayseless 2017; Russo-Netzer 2019). This dilemma has become even more pronounced during the coronavirus period, which has demonstrated the limitations of scientific knowledge. Yet, many scholars ignore the important role that religion can play. In their study, Allen and Kern (2019) do not include a focused chapter on the community in general, nor on the role which religious communities can play. Our study has demonstrated how important special religious education/instruction in government schools is in terms of strengthening students’ sense of belonging. Spirituality has been found in our research, as in other research, not only to be a means to deal with difficult situations, but mainly for student growth and their ability to “thrive” (Mayseless and Russo-Netzer 2011). In our research we have also found that there is a relationship between spirituality and pro-social behaviour, reinforcing the findings of other studies (King et al. 2011). In their SRE classes, the teachers also employed informal and pro-social methodologies as they felt that the exposure of the students during SRE to spiritual contents such as compassion and charity (zakat, tzedakah) enhance pro-social behaviour and strengthen the connection between spirituality and pro-social attitudes. This is supported by other research (Russo-Netzer and Mayseless 2017). Parents and stakeholders support SRE as they

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feel that there is a strong connection between spirituality and pro-social attitudes and these contribute to the identity building of their children, providing them with a healthy basis for life (Russo-Netzer and Mayseless 2017), as well as reducing violent behaviour in schools. Unlike the Australian private school settings, which are mainly within religious frameworks, SRE/RI classes take place in integrated, multicultural settings, which contribute to the development of students’ values, identity and spirituality, thereby enriching students as will be discussed in the next chapter.

References Alberts W (2010) The academic study of religions and integrative religious education in Europe. Br J Relig Educ 32(3):275–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2010.498621 Allen KA, Kern P (2019) Boosting school belonging in adolescents: interventions for teachers and mental health professionals. Routledge, Abingdon, UK Ben-Avie M (2008) A “who-ness” and a wholeness: optimizing the learning and development of elementary children. In: Flexner P, Goodman R, Bloomberg L (eds) What we now know about research in Jewish education. Torah Aura Publications, Los Angeles, pp 99–111 Benson PL, Scales PC, Syvertsen AK, Roehlkepartain EC (2012) Is youth spiritual development universal developmental process? an international exploration. J Posit Psychol 7(6):453–470. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2012.732102 Biswas-Diener R (2011) Manipulating happiness: Maria Montessori. Int J Wellbeing 1(2):214–225. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v1i2.4 Carnes N (2015) We in our turmoil: theological anthropology through Maria Montessori and the lives of children. J Relig 95(3):318–336 Carr D (2008) Character education as the cultivation of virtue. In: Nucci LP, Narvaez D (eds) Handbook of moral and character education. Routledge, New York, pp 99–116 Chen Y, Vanderweele TJ (2018) Associations of religious upbringing with subsequent health and well-being from adolescence to young adulthood: an outcome-wide analysis. Am J Epidemiol 187(11):2355–2364. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwy142 Clement N (2010) Student wellbeing at school: the actualization of values in education. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 37–62 Colgan AD (2016) The epistemology behind the educational philosophy of Montessori: senses, concepts, and choice. Philos Inq Educ 23(2):125–140 Crawford M, Rossiter G (2006) Reasons for living: education and young people’s search for meaning, identity and spirituality: a handbook. ACER Press, Camberwell, VIC DEST (2003) Values education study: executive summary final report (August 2003). Curriculum Corporation, Carlton South De Souza M, Watson J (2016) Understandings and applications of contemporary spirituality: analysing the voices. In: de Souza M, Bone J, Watson J (eds) Spirituality across disciplines: research and practice. Springer International Publishing, Geneva, pp 331–347 Diener E (2012) New findings and future directions for subjective well-being research. Am Psychol 67(8):590–597. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029541 Diener E, Diener M, Diener C (2009) Factors predicting the subjective well-being of nations. Cult Well-Being, Soc Indic Res Ser 38:43–70 Drelich M (2017) Creating a meaningful Tefilla experience through the lens of adolescent development. Jew Educ Leadersh 16:9–13 Frankl V (1985) Man’s search for meaning. Washington Square, NY

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Goldmintz J (2017) On becoming a Tefillah educator. Jew Educ Leadersh 16:4–8 Gross Z (2013) The role of silencing among religious girls in Jewish, Christian-Arab, Muslim and Bedouin schools in Israel. In: Gross Z, Davies L, Diab A (eds) Gender, religion and education in a chaotic postmodern world. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 93–110 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2015) Creating a safe place: SRE teaching as an act of security and identity formation in government schools in Australia. Br J Relig Educ 38(1):30–46. https://doi.org/10. 1080/01416200.2015.1025699 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2019) Applying Montessori principles in China: the impact of being a situational minority on a particularistic Jewish heritage school. J Jew Educ 81(2):27–52. https://doi. org/10.1080/15244113.2019.1559433 Hattie J (2009) Visible learning: a synthesis of meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge, London Irwin T (1988) Aristotle’s first principles. University of Michigan: Clarendon Press Jacobson-Maisels, J. (2013). A vision of Tefillah education. HaYidion, Spring. Kay W (2005) Religious experience and its implications for religious education. In Francis LJ, Robbins M, Astley J (eds) Religion, education and adolescence: international and empirical perspectives. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, pp 107–125 Kessler R (2007) Inviting the soul into the classroom. Jew Educ Leadersh 5(2):18–29 King PE, Carr D, Boitor C (2011) Religion, spirituality, positive youth development and thriving. Adv Child Dev Behav 41:161–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-386492-5.00007-5 Kohn E (2020) Prayer services in Jewish religious high schools for girls in Israel: teachers’ perspectives. J Relig Educ 68(1):43–58 Larson S, Paulino F (2014) Transforming young lives. Reclaiming Child Young 23(1):19–23 Lillard A, Else-Quest N (2006) Evaluating Montessori education. Science 313(5795):1893–1894 Lovat T (2010) The new values education: a pedagogical imperative for student wellbeing. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 3–18 Mayseless O, Russo-Netzer P (2011) The interplay of self-transcendence and psychological maturity among Israeli college students. In: Warren AE, Lerner RM, Phelps E (eds) Thriving and spirituality among youth: research perspectives and future possibilities. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, pp 289–307 McClure M (1996) How children’s faith develops. The Way—Suppl—The Spirituality Child 36:5– 13. Miller WR, Thoresen CE (2003) Spirituality, religion, and health: an emerging research field. Am Psychol 58(1):24–35. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.58.1.24 Montessori M (1997) The California lectures of Maria Montessori, 1915: unpublished speeches and writings. Clio, Oxford Nielsen TW (2010) Towards pedagogy of giving for wellbeing and social engagement. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 617–630 Pargament K (2007) Spiritually integrated psychotherapy: understanding and addressing the sacred. Guilford Press, New York; London Pargament KI (2013) Spirituality as an irreducible human motivation and process. Int J Psychol Relig 23(4):271–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2013.795815 Park CL, Currier JM, Harris JI, Slattery JM (2017) The intersection of religion/spirituality and trauma. In: Trauma, meaning, and spirituality: translating research into clinical practice. American Psychological Association, Washington DC. https://www.amazon.com/Trauma-Meaning-Spirit uality-Translating-Research/dp/143382325X Plater M (2017) Re-souling spirituality: redefining the spiritual dimension in schools. Int J Child Spirituality 22(1):14–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2016.1268097 Rakhunde K, Csikszentmihalyi M (2005) Middle school students’ motivation and quality of experience: a comparison of Montessori and traditional school environments. Am J Educ 111(3):341–371

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Rossiter G (2011) Historical perspective on spiritual education in Australian schools. Part II: A personal development basis. J Christ Educ 54(3):15–27. Russo-Netzer P (2019) “This is what real spirituality is all about”: a phenomenological exploration of the experience of spirituality outside institutional religion. Psychol Relig Spirituality 11(4):453– 462. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000169 Russo-Netzer P, Mayseless O (2017) Spiritual change outside institutional religion as inner work on the self: deep within and beyond. J Adult Develop 24(1):1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804016-9241-x Scarlett WG, Perriello L (1991) The development of prayer in adolescence. New Dir Child Develop 52:63–76 Seligman ME, Csikszentmihalyi M (2014) Positive psychology: an introduction. Springer, Netherlands Seligman MEP (2002) Authentic happiness: using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. Free Press/Simon and Schuster, New York Siegel P (2016) Prayer and adolescence: can formal instruction make a difference? Relig Educ 111(2):200–221 Simon U (1996) Teaching Siddur to enhance devotion in prayer. In: Cohn GI, Frisch H (eds) Prayer in Judaism: creativity and change. Northvale, NJ, Jason Aronson Inc, pp 189–198 Steinsaltz A (1996) Education for prayers. In: Cohn GI, Frisch H (eds) Prayer in Judaism: creativity and change. Jason Aronson Inc, Northvale, NJ, pp 179–188. Stern J (2018) Teaching religious education. Bloomsbury, London Van Dierendonck D, Mohan K (2006) Some thoughts on spirituality and eudaimonic well being. Ment Health, Relig Cult 9(3):227–238 VEGPSP Stage 2 Final Report (DEEWR, 2008) Webb S (2010) Theorizing social wellbeing: subjective mental states, preference satisfaction or Mitsein? In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 959–976

Chapter 7

Educating for Multiculturalism

Abstract This chapter discusses how SRE/RI fosters and enhances multiculturalism in Australia. Research has shown that within a multicultural society educating about religious traditions other than students’ own is important but, in order to do, this the students need to have a deep understanding of their own background and religious traditions (Jackson and Fujiwara 2007). We define the term “multiculturalism”, explaining the difference between thick and thin multiculturalism; provide a brief background to the development of multicultural policy in Australia; and discuss what is written about it in terms of religious education in current Australian policy. We then discuss the growing religious plurality and diversity of religious belief and practice in Australia, especially since the turn of the twenty-first century and outline the advantages of maintaining SRE/RI in terms of strengthening Australia’s multicultural fabric through meeting the needs of the religiously diverse population, as well as offering an educational milieu to counter religious fundamentalism and extremism. These important findings are discussed in this chapter as are our research findings from 58 interviews with directors, teachers and graduates either individually or in focus groups of the six main faith groups: Christianity (18), Islam (12), Buddhism (9), Hinduism (7), Judaism (7) and Baha’i (5). We stress that, at the same time, a more critical and reflective approach is needed in terms of the pedagogy of SRE/RI, as will be discussed in a later chapter, and introduce Schweitzer’s (2007) concept of Cooperative Religious Education, which involves a combination of SRE with GRE (General Religious Education/Worldviews Education). In fact, reflective SRE classes multiculturalises schools, whilst GRE contributes to intercultural competence (Dervin and Gross 2016) by creating a better knowledge of different religious beliefs. This chapter argues that GRE (Worldviews Education) has the potential to make an important contribution to the area of intercultural competence.

Educating for multiculturalism is a major challenge for migrant societies across the world. Some politicians, such as the former British Prime Minister, David Cameron claimed that efforts to create a multicultural society have failed (Cameron 2011). The former Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, also shared these views, (Levy and Mendes 2004). In his chapter on Jews and Australian multiculturalism, Geoffrey Braham Levey wrote that John Howard had “come to office with a reputation of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_7

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being uncomfortable about the word and concept of multiculturalism and in the first twenty months in office, including his equivocation over the rise of Pauline Hanson’s xenophobic politics, only confirmed that impression” (p. 179). Yet, multiculturalism continues to be important for Australia, and the federal and state governments have continued to invest resources in multicultural education (Gross and Rutland 2014). In 2013, the website of New South Wales Public Schools contains general comments about multicultural education, and programs and services, including its anti-racism program. These are still stressed under the headings “General Multicultural Education”, https://education.nsw.gov.au/tea ching-and-learning/curriculum/multicultural-education and “Multicultural Education Policy”, https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/multicultural-edu cation-policy?refid=285776 (both accessed 17 September 2018). However, the current general website no longer includes specifics about these areas, rather just a reference to interpreters: “Interpreting and/or translation services are available for parents who do not speak or understand English well, the deaf or hearing impaired and those with a speech impairment” (https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/ going-to-a-public-school/quick-guide-for-parents. Accessed 6 September 2018). However, the links between the two sections dealing with general multicultural education and multicultural education policy are not clear on the general website. The website dealing with “General Multicultural Education” states that “NSW Public Schools reflect Australian communities. Students and staff come from a diverse range of cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds.” This is the only reference to religious beliefs, but the “Multicultural Education Policy” includes more references to the issue of respecting religious diversity and spirituality. Importantly, point 1.6 under the heading “Objectives – Policy Statement” states: Schools promote positive community relations through effective communication with parents and community members from diverse cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds and by providing opportunities for their active engagement in the life of the school.

We would argue that including SRE within the formal school curriculum would meet this objective in terms of giving parents the choice of confessional religious education and involving them more in this aspect of multicultural education. As well, when focusing on issues of multicultural and anti-racist education, more focus is needed in respect of religious diversity in order to counter religious and racial bullying in the playground (Gross and Rutland 2014, 2015). SRE can contribute to this by encouraging students to be secure in their own faith knowledge, which is a key element of multiculturalism. This is particularly important with the growing religious diversity in Australia as discussed in Chapter 1 and as represented in Fig. 7.1 in terms of the top five migrant groups in Australia. This chapter discusses how SRE/RI fosters and enhances multiculturalism in Australia. Research has shown that within a multicultural society educating about religious traditions other than students’ own is important, but in order to do this the students need to have a deep understanding of their own background and religious traditions. When writing their editorial about religious education and peace in 2007,

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Fig. 7.1 The top five migrant groups in Australia and the major religions of these countries (Gross and Rutland 2019, p.1, courtesy of McCrindle)

leading UK educationalist, Robert Jackson, and Japanese scholar, Satoko Fujiwara, stressed that: Our contributors share the view that students need to have knowledge and understanding of traditions other than their own. However, to do this, they need to deepen their understanding of their own background traditions, as well as learning to interpret the meanings of others. (Jackson and Fujiwara 2007, p. 7)

This chapter argues in support of this statement. We shall define the term “multiculturalism”, explaining the difference between thick and thin multiculturalism (Gross and Rutland 2018, pp. 16, 27–30), provide a brief background to the development of multicultural policy in Australia, and discuss what is written about it in terms of religious education in current Australian policy. We shall then outline the advantages of maintaining SRE/RI in terms of strengthening Australia’s multicultural fabric through meeting the needs of its religiously diverse population, as well as offering an educational milieu to counter religious fundamentalism and extremism. We stress that, at the same time, a more critical and reflective approach is needed in terms of the pedagogy of SRE/RI, as will be discussed in a later chapter, and introduce Schweitzer’s (2007) concept of “Cooperative Religious Education”, which involves a combination of SRE with GRE (General Religious Education). In fact, we argue that reflective SRE classes multiculturalise schools.

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7.1 Can Liberal States Be Culturally Neutral: Multiculturalism and SRE Safeguarding the freedom and autonomy of individuals to determine their own fate is considered one of liberalism’s fundamental principles. According to this view, all individuals have the right to develop themselves according to their own wishes and aspirations, and are thus entitled to an education, which expresses their uniqueness and distinctiveness from others. The state’s role is to allow the realisation of its citizens’ life-plans, as long as they do not use state resources to promote their own ends to the disadvantage of others. Contrary to the classical liberal outlook, modern liberal theory acknowledges that the individual is a product of specific historical and cultural circumstances, which produce a multicultural and pluralistic environment. There is considerable debate in the literature as to whether a liberal state should be neutral in terms of culture, or if the state is obliged to protect the cultural rights of all groups within the society. Kymlicka (1989, 1995) was the first philosopher to place the rights of minority groups in a liberal society on the agenda. He argues that the classic liberal perception, which engages with equal citizenship, perpetuates inequality between groups and contended that multicultural states have a duty to maintain the diverse cultural structures that exist in most liberal democracies. Thus, these states need to enable minority cultures to foster their individual heritage, to ensure that they are not subsumed by the majority culture and provide the possibility of “autonomous choice”. To achieve this aim, he noted that this “may require special linguistic, educational and even political rights for minority cultures” (Kymlicka 1989, p. 903). He further developed these concepts in 2002 when he argued that multiculturalism included recognising and understanding people’s different identities, and ensuring that people are not stigmatised and excluded because of these differences. A number of theorists have criticised Kymlicka’s approach. They argue that not every right to culture is appropriate. Kukathas (1997), for example, proposes basing the liberal state’s approach to minorities on tolerance and rejects the concept of autonomy. He believes that the values of liberal autonomy cannot be planted in nonliberal societies that object to them. Kolakowski (1990) holds that if an individual is unwilling to tolerate opinions that seem wrong to him, he is entitled to leave the community/country of his own free will. Taking that step, in accordance with his own free will, attests to his freedom. Tamir (1995) argues that the situation is more complicated. She distinguishes between two kinds of multiculturalism: “thin” multiculturalism, which only preserves the rights of liberal societies within the framework of the liberal state, such as Quebec; and “thick” multiculturalism, which supports the rights of both liberal states and the liberal state’s need to preserve the culture of non-liberal societies. This differentiation between “thin” and “thick” multiculturalism is relevant to the debate relating to SRE in Australia.

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Religion is a key component of cultural heritage. Hence, the preservation of particular religious faiths through state schooling is integral to liberal states’ protection of diverse, particularistic cultures and religions. SRE, therefore, contributes to the maintenance of “thick” multiculturalism in Australia.

7.2 Defining Multicultural Education The concept of multiculturalism emerged in Australia in the 1970s to counter the earlier approach of assimilation and Anglo-Saxon conformity. Developing first during the Whitlam era (1972–1975), reinforced during the prime ministership of Malcolm Fraser (1975–1983) and associated with the official end of the White Australia policy, multiculturalism rejected the earlier assimilatory policies of AngloSaxon conformity. Beginning in Canada and adopted by the Whitlam and Fraser governments, multiculturalism introduced “a policy orientation that emphasizes active support to help newcomers maintain the cultural allegiances with their home country as a fair, non-assimilationist approach to social integration” (Maxwell et al. 2012, pp. 427–428). The aim of this policy is to build social cohesion by facilitating the integration of immigrants, while developing an attachment to the principles of liberal democracy and reducing economic disparities between immigrants and the local population. Multicultural education is seen as an important government policy instrument in achieving this aim, particularly with the increasing migration to Australia from many different countries across the globe.

More recently, the concept of intercultural competence has emerged (Gross 2019). This is the ability to understand, communicate, engage and participate in crosscultural, social and political settings (Dervin 2016). One of the main components of intercultural competence is the ability to cope with complexity and this is connected with an attempt to cope with cultural communication gaps that upset order and create cognitive dissonance (Dervin 2011).

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In the 1970s and 1980s, the focus of multiculturalism in Australia was on ethnic diversity, and the role of religious diversity was neglected in multicultural education research, scholarship and practice. This is because much of the literature on multicultural education comes from the United States of America’s government policy, which is based on the separation of state and religion. As a result, teachers in the United States associate the concept of multiculturalism with notions of race, disability or social class, rather than religious diversity. Agirdag et al. (2016) point out that “this is hardly surprising as the religious background of the largest ethnic minority groups is the same as the white middle-class, that is Christianity” (p. 557). However, in Europe, the largest ethnic minority groups typically share a Muslim identity, and “this religious background is not particularly welcomed in the European context” (p. 557). In their study of religious education and multiculturalism in Flanders, they stress that “the role that religion plays in discussion of multiculturalism deserves much more attention” (p. 576). This article aims to develop this conversation in the Australian context. James Banks (1993) has developed “the most widely used framework in the field of multicultural education” (Agirdag et al. 2016, p. 560). Banks developed five dimensions for this framework. The first is content integration, that is “the extent to which teachers use examples, data and information from a variety of cultures and groups to illustrate key concepts, principles, generalizations, and theories in their subject discipline” (p. 5). This is the most commonly used form of multicultural education. The second level is knowledge construction process, that is classroom pedagogy which explores assumptions and stereotypes that are biased against minorities. The third level is prejudice reduction, where teachers and schools facilitate cross-cultural activities in order to cultivate more positive attitudes to different religious and ethnic groups. This feeds into Allport’s (1954) contact theory. Then, there is the equity pedagogy, which are efforts made to improve the academic achievements of disadvantaged groups. The final level is empowering school culture and social structure, with teachers having the same expectations of all students, regardless of their religious or ethnic group, and the school focusing on social and other activities, rather than just academic results. We argue that by retaining SRE/RI within government schools helps to contribute to these different levels of multicultural education.

7.3 Catering for Religious Diversity in Education Policy A number of countries have realised that within the framework of a democratic and multicultural education policy, the rights of children belonging to different religious groups to receive in-faith education should be recognised (Franken 2017). For example, embedded in the Finnish constitution is “the right to receive ‘education in accordance with their own religion’ as part of the school curriculum” (Sakaranaho 2018, p. 114). Similarly, in Ireland, the denominational system “has ensured that different religious communities, in addition to the Catholic majority, have been able to socialise children in their respective religious traditions” (Sakaranaho 2018, p. 117).

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In Austria, Muslim pupils have the right to attend Islamic religious education in state schools with the aim of developing moderation and a sense of responsibility to the broader society through fostering critical thinking. This system attracts wide support (Jozsa 2007) and studies have shown that the results are mainly positive “due to the fact that Islam is perceived as ‘normal’ in the every day school life and that it fosters identity formation of the Muslim pupils in an integrative way as part of the Austrian society” (Jozsa 2007, p. 100). The importance of catering for minorities means, as Iris BenDavid-Hadar (2016) expresses it, “the rights of minorities to preserve their culture via education” (p. 23). This includes religion. In this way, governments can foster plurality and diversity through the recognition of the needs of the different religious communities. However, as Sakaranaho (2018) highlights, developing programs to cater for religious diversity is a complicated and complex issue which requires careful planning. Skeie (2006) has pointed out that in Norway “the development and learning of the individual child is included as one of the main aims, but this is not so often reflected in the political discourse on religious education” (p. 29). Yet, in teaching individual children, the socio-cultural context of each child needs to be considered and this includes their religious background and heritage. The state needs to deal with meeting the religious rights of immigrant groups and minorities within the multicultural framework through education. She argues that this process needs not only top- down policies but also a focus on “what is happening on the ground, as the theoretical perspective of multilevel governance readily illustrates” (p. 122).

7.4 Models of Religious Education and Australian Multiculturalism As Valk and Tosun (2016) have argued: “Exploring one’s beliefs and values (one’s worldviews) requires a journey into one’s “inner territory” – into one’s heart, soul and mind (Knowing Self ). But… Knowing Self requires Knowing Others, imperative in an increasingly global world” (p. 105). At the simplest level, this can be seen as a linear development, illustrated by the following diagram, where each component leads to the next component (Fig. 7.2). At the next level of understanding, however, we can see this can also be a circular and spiral process, which starts with SRE fostering religion and spirituality, leading to individualism, which then supports diversity and inclusion, strengthening multiculturalism. This circle is a two-way process, which also has a spiral effect between the different individual elements influencing the other elements in multicultural religious education. The highest level of understanding can be understood through the concentric circles, like the layers of an onion. The outer layer of the onion is multiculturalism

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Fig. 7.2 Diagram of the linear model

but as one digs deeper, we have the notion of inclusion, inside the notion of diversity, and then in the centre is the individual who gets his/her inspiration, strength, power and empowerment from God through the medium of religion and spirituality. One can be religious but not necessarily spiritual, or vice versa, but the combination of the two is what makes human beings unique. This actually constructs their individuality. Spirituality is the ‘spice’ that makes humans different from animals and acknowledges the understanding that humans are diverse and that there is need to respect the differences of those who inhabit this world and live in the shadow of God. This is the essence of multiculturalism and should be the essence of SRE/RI. In this way, SRE/RI can be perceived as “multiculturalising” Australian government schools (Figs. 7.3 and 7.4). Thus, this concept can be understood as a generative model, which has three different levels where one builds on the other. Another option is to analyse this as three separate, different models that teachers can utilise in their diverse teaching and learning approaches. The diagrams illustrate how the theory discussed above in our analysis can be actualised within the SRE/RI classroom, in order to strengthen multicultural education. By excluding the element of spirituality from state schools as advocated by the supporters of only including non-confessional RE, the government will be weakening our society, with its multi-faith component, thereby creating a loss for multiculturalism. Valk and Tosun (2016) refer to a Canadian study which found that only 12%

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Fig. 7.3 Diagram of spiral model

of students learn about religion and spirituality at school because most Canadian schools do not offer either in-faith or general religious education. They argue that “it appears we have a rather large disconnect. If schools and universities do not value teaching about, and learning from, religion and spirituality, students are inclined to exhibit little interest in it” (p. 109). They point out that the students’ main source of information is the media, and today we see the powerful and often negative effect of on-line hate groups in social media towards religion and spirituality. Yet, Valk and Tosun also note that there is “an underlying yearning for the spiritual if not religious question” and discuss another Canadian study which revealed that “the issue is not that students are disinterested but whether or not they are taught about and learn from this subject area” (pp. 109–110). They stress the importance of educational institutions teaching about religion and spirituality so that there can be knowledge and understanding of the “Other” (Levinas 1987). Yet, Schweitzer (2007) has posited from his study with other colleagues of religious education in Germany, from their observations of primary school children, that the children need to learn about their own religious heritage, as well as having many opportunities to interact with children from other faiths. He stresses that “what our observations do not support, however, is the popular assumption that, as a matter of principle, the most advanced model of religious education should not allow for separate denominational or religious groups” (p. 98). At the same time, it is important to ensure that confessional religion in separate groups is taught in a broad and deep

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Fig. 7.4 Diagram of onion model

manner, so that the individual student will be able to meet life’s challenges and not clash with the values of the multicultural society in which they live.

7.5 Australian Government Schools and Integrated Schooling In terms of religious education in multicultural societies, there are three models: 1. private schools that are based on a separate faith groups 2. faith-based schools which are supported by the state, and 3. state schools, which includes separate in-faith religious education as part of the school curriculum. To date, Australia has offered a combination of the first two models: private religious schools, which receive some federal government funding, and the SRE/SRI/RI programs in state schools. However, recently, there has been a strong push to end SRE/SRI/RI in state schools. This has been successful in some states, so now the third model is no longer on offer in those states, such as Victoria. This removal of in-faith education from government schools detracts from the government’s multicultural aims.

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The value of the integrated schooling which Australian government schools offer, compared to in-faith private schools, needs to be recognised. In their study of the multicultural education in schools in Flanders, Agirdag et al. (2016) found that the Catholic schools were much more ambivalent about multicultural education than the government schools. Similarly, in his study, The graduate(s): the harvests of Israel’s integrated multicultural bilingual education, Bekerman (2018) also highlights the advantages of an integrated education program where Jewish and Palestinian Israelis study together in a bilingual environment. Interestingly, an integrated school environment can assist in strengthening individual religious identity. In Bekerman’s study, one of the Jewish students commented: It is not that I ever questioned myself about my Jewishness because when I went back home, there was Kiddush [sanctification of the wine] and we fast on Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement, a 25-hour fast day], and also secular Jews light Shabbat candles. From a religious and historical perspective, I know where I come from. So other than becoming more interested in the Jewish people, I lost nothing. Maybe the opposite is true here: Because you are raised with people who are different than you, you feel the need to sharpen your understanding of your identity. (As quoted in Bekerman 2018, p. 342)

Obviously, through studying in an integrated school environment with Israeli students of different ethnic and religious backgrounds (Jewish, Palestinian Muslim and Christian), the religious and ethnic identity of this student was sharpened, enabling the student to better understand the multicultural environment in which the student was studying. Similarly, our study of Jewish SRE in Australia also demonstrated that learning within an integrated environment could strengthen individual religious identity (Gross and Rutland 2015), findings the relevance of which we sought to investigate in terms of the other major faiths in Australia. Yet, integrated schooling should include religious groups with the possibility of some confessional religious education to strengthen students’ own spiritual identities. In Belgium, Ireland and Finland, Islamic education is officially recognised, with Belgium and Finland offering Islamic Studies within the context of integrated government schools and Ireland providing government funding for two private Muslim schools. At the same time, there needs to be an alternative for those parents or students who choose to opt out of SRE/RI, as occurs in New South Wales, where parents and students can choose an Ethics program as an alternative to SRE. Through an analysis of the approaches of different European countries, Franken (2017) has elucidated the advantages of offering Ethics as an alternative to SRE. Thus, international research shows that government schools, which include students from different religious groups, provide an integrated environment where students of different religious backgrounds study together. This can assist in reducing stereotyping and discrimination if combined with a multicultural education, while enabling students to “sharpen” their understanding of their own religious identity through SRE/RI.

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7.6 Countering Fundamentalism and Extremism Baidhawy (2007) argues that in addition to the three pillars of education of how to learn, how to do and how to be, a fourth needs to be added, that is “how to live together with others in the collective consciousness of religious diversity” (p. 15). He stresses that multicultural education is a key instrument in achieving this goal, but there is a great deal of argument among scholars as the best way to achieve this. Walzer (1994) has argued that the teaching of moral discourse which is generalised and ignores cultural and religious nuances is “thin multiculturalism” and, as such, is the lowest common denominator. It becomes “thick multiculturalism” when it is grounded in the particularity of each human group. Greenberg (2004) further argues that human beings grow up in particular cultures, embedded in families and communities, which convey moral, ethical and religious values. Based on these understandings, a number of scholars, including Jackson (2007), Schweitzer (2007) and Weissman (2007), have argued that education for tolerance and peace, which counters extremism and terrorism, can be best addressed through in-faith education, drawing on and being grounded in the particular context of each religious group. Schweitzer (2007) has argued that religious education can contribute to educating for peace and tolerance “in important ways by providing values and fostering effective motives for accepting the other” (p. 90). To achieve this aim, he and his colleagues have proposed a system which they call co-operative education. This “can support the development of religious identities and, at the same time, also supports dialogical attitudes… The model combines elements of separate denominational or religious groups and elements of an interdenominational or inter-religious type of religious education” (p. 97). Australian government schools that offer SRE/RI are ideal settings to develop this model of co-operative religious education. A study of school children aged between seven to nine found that children of that age identify strongly with adults, including their teachers of religion (Schweitzer and Biesinger 2002; Schweitzer and Boschki 2004). Thus, schools need to make provision for children to have time with an adult teacher of the same religious adherence, beliefs and outlook of the child, enabling such identification to occur. At the same time, children also need ‘dialogical encounters’, that is interacting with children of different religious backgrounds. Based on the results of this study, the concept of co-operative religious education emerged. Similarly, Weissman (2007) argues that education for peace and tolerance needs to be grounded within in-faith education. She notes that each of the major faith traditions have elements which are more parochial and elements which promote universalism and stress the need for compassion to all human beings. Weissman makes the point that: Particularism ought not to obscure the universal nature of God and God’s creatures… The task of ridding our own particular traditions of their elements of chauvinism or xenophobia is best done by the members of the groups themselves but doing it within the presence of the Other can be especially challenging and meaningful. (p. 65)

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From his study of Islam and education in Europe, Jozsa (2007) concludes that it is important to acknowledge the need to integrate Islam into the overall education program in schools. He argues that this is the case in realising that educating both for and about religion and spirituality in general is important, and also acknowledging the importance of their religious identity for the integration of the Muslim minorities into European countries. This line of argument has been taken up by other scholars. In their article, Muslim Education and its (In)commensurability with Multiculturalism: Some Thoughts on the Imaginative Madrassa, Waghid and Davis (2014) stress that Muslim education can engender multiculturalism by being built on the conceptual framework as articulated in the Quranic verse: “O humankind! We have created you of a male and a female, and we have made you nations and tribes so that you might know one another” (p. 124). They stress that Muslim education aims to foster good behaviour, and this includes cultivating coexistence with different religious and ethnic groups. However, they point out that this can only be achieved by fostering a critical and reflective approach to the teaching of Islam, a view endorsed by research undertaken by Saada and Gross (2017). Interestingly, Weissman (2007) includes in her article a similar quotation to that from the Quran from Jewish sources, which stress that all mankind has come from one common ancestor so that it is important to respect all equally. There are also pluralistic approaches within each religion. In Judaism, there are divisions between the Orthodox, Reform and Conservative branches; in Christianity, even within each denomination there are different approaches such as the Anglicans who have high church and low church, and Catholics who also have different approaches; in Islam, there is the Sunni and Shia divide, and also the Sufis and other divisions. As well, different geographical contexts influence the practice and beliefs even within religions. Islam, for example, has various sub-sections due to the way in which it absorbs the different local traditions where the religion is located (Baidhawy 2007) and so it is not a monolithic religion (Saada and Gross 2017). Thus, even within SRE/RI education, pluralistic concepts can be conveyed to the students. This internal diversity can provide a bulwark against violence and reduce tensions, provided that the teaching of in-faith education is situated within this concept of religious diversity. A number of scholars have discussed the concept of “multicultural theology”. Indonesian scholar, Baidhawy (2007) has written about teaching such diversity through the “paradigm of multicultural Islam” (p. 20), and this parallels the concept of the multicultural church. He argues that multicultural theology-based religious education has the following characteristics, which he explains in detail: • • • • • •

how to live and work together; establishing mutual trust; preservation of mutual understanding; open-mindedness; interdependence; conflict resolution and non-violent reconciliation (p. 23).

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Yet, as the recent scholarship discussed above has clearly demonstrated, the teaching and learning of these concepts needs to be done within separate denominational classes, as well as through dialogical religious education, the value of which has been stressed in the literature (Valk and Tosun 2016). If a child, especially at primary school age, learns that these concepts are integral to their own culture and faith traditions, and are conveyed by their SRE/RI teacher in the classroom, as well as learning about other faiths, this will be all the more impactful.

7.7 Findings The SRE teachers from all the faith groups stressed that SRE classes are “pivotal to answer the challenges of multiculturalism” (male SRE teacher, #16 Christian, New South Wales). One teacher explained that “multiculturalism means multi-faith and people don’t practise two faiths. They practise one faith. So it gives the opportunity to go and learn the faith of your family” (female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). Thus, SRE places religion in a government setting, thereby recognising the role of religion in a multicultural society. The responses highlighted four main factors: first, their recognition of the importance of SRE for multiculturalism and the ways these classes do contribute; second, the fact of pluralism within religious faiths and SRE classes helps students to recognise and understand this pluralism; third, the way SRE functions within the integrated school setting; and finally the message that we are all God’s creatures. 1. The importance of SRE for multiculturalism The teachers provided different explanations which assist in illuminating why SRE classes contribute to Australia’s multicultural fabric. One Christian RE teacher explained that he came from England, which does not have such a system and that he believes that SRE provides for all the faiths: Well, SRE is for the faith of the family. It’s not Christian SRE, it’s not Muslim SRE, it’s not Jewish SRE. It is all of those, and it’s more as well. So I think that coming from England for me, the beauty of SRE, the thing that I would fight for, is the fact that it caters for all faiths. If there is a family faith and there is someone from that religious community available to come and teach the students more about that faith, then it is open access to all. (male SRE teacher, #2 Christian, New South Wales)

This helps to create a rich dynamic for developing a child’s knowledge of their own faith tradition, while the system as a whole also acknowledges the value of religious belief. As one Christian teacher elaborated, if a student is an immigrant and a member of a minority religion, such as Hinduism, being offered the opportunity to learn about their own religion in their government school “validates that they can be who they are within Australia”. She stressed that “they are still learning to be an Australian, and what it looks like and how our society works, but their own personal belief and culture is valued, so much that our government has it in its schooling system… That

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would make you feel welcome and included” (female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). SRE also ensures that “there are no brick walls around our schools, because I know from the study of history what happens when people are not allowed to identify with their faith”. This teacher believed that not allowing faith into government schools, just like music and sport, “these things are part of a holistic education” (female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). She also argued that with multiculturalism in Australia increasingly becoming more multi-faith, RI in Queensland was becoming even more important. As a Sydney-based Buddhist teacher from Vietnam explained, “I think being a Vietnamese person going into a school where it’s predominantly nonVietnamese, and exposing them to non-western approaches is, I think, a great advocacy for multiculturalism” (female SRE teacher, #5 Buddhist, New South Wales). These comments highlight that a key aspect of SRE classes, which are offered by all the different faith traditions, is that they help students feel validated, with their own religion and beliefs being recognised and accepted within the government system. The views from the Christian RE teachers were strongly endorsed by the teachers from the other religions. One Baha’i teacher reported that he had only arrived in Australia two years ago. He came from a country where the government approach to religion is fundamentalist and members of the Baha’i faith are persecuted, so coming to Australia was “a wonderful space for us” (male SRE teacher, #1 Baha’i, New South Wales). The Baha’i teachers explained that in SRE classes they teach about nine key faiths and that it was very important to be respectful to all faiths, so that as one of their graduates expressed it “we embrace different cultures and backgrounds” (male SRE graduate, #2 Baha’i, New South Wales). Thus, SRE can “engender respect for one another, respect for different people. Yeah, just appreciate that there are people of different religions and that everyone in the schools needs to be respected for what their beliefs are and their backgrounds are” (female SRE teacher, #5 Jewish, New South Wales). Similarly, in Muslim SRE/RI students are taught that “in the religion everyone is equal. No one is lesser than someone else, just because of their race, skin colour, their culture” (female SRE teacher, #4 Muslim, New South Wales). The same applies to Buddhist SRE/RI since in Buddhism “we say we have to respect all the other cultures, and their cultural values, so that we know that everyone is equal… they will show loving kindness to all human beings, starting with themselves” (female SRE teacher, #7 Buddhist, New South Wales) so that “we are all one. We are many but we are one. That is what multiculturalism is” (female SRE teacher, #8 Buddhist, New South Wales). In this regard, one Hindu interviewee added to this concept explaining that “We are human beings. We should not understand ourselves on the basis of caste, or on the basis of religion. But we should understand that we are a human being and what is the duty of being human. So, it will definitely support multiculturalism” (female SRE teacher, #2 Hindu, New South Wales). The interviewees also stressed the need for students to be “confident in who they are and where they come from. They can share that with other people and that confidence comes through their SRE teachers and with their peers” (female SRE teacher, #2 Muslim, New South Wales). As another teacher expressed it, “if you

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don’t have an understanding of your own faith, it’s very hard to understand another faith. So it gives a framework of understanding, a religious framework” (female SRE teacher, #13 Christian, Victoria). Thus, our interviewees argued to create a truly multicultural society, children need to be confident in themselves and in their own religious tradition, before they encounter the religious traditions of others. At the same time, they were aware that they also needed to take into account the differences in their own religious tradition. 2. Pluralism within religious faiths The teachers also pointed out that there is pluralism within the religious faiths themselves, with slightly different rituals and prayers based on ethnic differences, as well the different denominations or approaches. For example in Buddhism there are four main branches: Mahayana, Theravada, Vajrayana and Zen Buddhism and the children can come from families which belong to different branches, while the teacher can belong to something different again. This plurality stems from the different ethnic background of the students. As one teacher working on the South coast of New South Wales explained, “they have some children from the Polynesian Island who practise Theravada Buddhism, while the teachers come from the Mahayana tradition” (male SRE teacher, #3 Buddhist, New South Wales). In the SRE/RI classes there might also be different levels of practice and observance, and students need to learn to accept and feel comfortable with other children in the class, even though they might have a different level of observance. One Jewish SRE teacher noted that “through discussion they learn that even though they are all attending Jewish Scripture, different families have different levels of observing Judaism and that it is ok to follow what your family believes in. Sometimes there is a very slight connection to Judaism but the parent or parents have chosen that they want their child to attend Jewish Scripture. All need to be respected regardless of the level of observance” (female SRE teacher, #1 Jewish, New South Wales). This plurality of ethnic backgrounds and different religious perspectives applies to the other faiths as well. For example, one Christian RE teacher commented in Melbourne that hers is a very multicultural area with more than half of the population being born overseas, so in her SRI classes “there is a wide range of children, different cultures in the group – East Asian, South Asian as well as a few Anglo people. And they hear the stories about Jesus accepting people from other cultures… children are encouraged not to ignore those who come from other places, to be welcoming of new students who might not be able to speak English when they first come…” (female SRI teacher, #10 Christian, Victoria). In this way, all the faiths are not confined to one culture or ethnic group. Learning about their own religion in SRE/RI classes becomes another way of fostering the celebration of the different cultures within one faith tradition as well as acceptance of different levels of practice. Being within the integrated setting of government schools further reinforces this understanding. 3. The integrated school setting A key feature of SRE/RI classes is that they take place in an integrated government school setting and as such are very different from the private religious schools.

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Indeed, SRE/RI “involves the largest engagement in the schooling system nationally between the community and the school… it brings parents and faith groups into the schools and they can work together, in partnership, to grow citizens for the future” (male SRE director, #15 Christian, New South Wales). As such, SRE/RI interviewees saw a number of significant advantages of the integrated government school system continuing to offer SRE/RI. Firstly, while the children are separated according to their religious beliefs in the SRE/RI classes, they then return to their regular class where the children often share with their teacher and the other students about their religion. One Jewish RE teacher explained: “you know, my children go to Jewish SRE, so they’re not actually – they can see in their school all the other kinds of religions that exist in their immediate school… So they can see that they’re not the only religion in the world” (female SRE teacher, #1 Jewish, New South Wales). One of the Christian RE teachers reaffirmed this experience, noting that “my daughter goes to a public school with Muslim scripture… So they come back from Muslim scripture and talk about this, so she has been exposed to the Eid festival and these other spiritual ideas from another culture… So even though my daughter is not going to Muslim scripture, she still has her learning experience and understanding of multiculturalism enriched by the presence of other faith communities within the school gates” (male SRE teacher, #1 Christian, New South Wales). Secondly, teachers commented that celebrating and experiencing the festivals of the different religions in school helped to make the children culturally aware. A Muslim teacher explained that with Easter “we’ve got Easter hat parades… we participate in hat parades. We participate in giving Christmas presents. We live in Australia. We need to be culturally aware” (male SRE teacher, #1 Muslim, New South Wales). Thirdly, as noted in earlier chapters, the integrated setting also gives students the opportunity of attending a class of a different religious faith, or of rotating between the faiths. As one very devout Muslim graduate explained: “And that’s open to every student of every knowledge. Same like us. Like I, myself, joined the Christian faith for one class. It’s very similar to our faith obviously, but everyone’s got their own morals and their own rules towards their religion so it’s good to go in and have an open mind about every other religion” (male SRE graduate, #7 Muslim, New South Wales). Another graduate from the Baha’i faith commented her friends preferred to attend Baha’i classes, rather than to go to non-scripture because “Probably because they hear lots of good things about it… like non-scripture they just read a book. They don’t get much achieved” (female SRE graduate, #3 Baha’i, New South Wales). At the same time, the interviewees noted that SRE/RI is very different from teaching about religions in a secular environment, since the teachers are practising their faith. As a Buddhist teacher explained: “Yeah, absolutely, it can’t be taught by somebody who’s not - it can’t be taught like a maths class, because it is very much practised as well, yes. The teacher has to be in there with them, and be able to speak from experience as well” (female SRE teacher, #5 Buddhist, New South Wales).

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As well, teachers felt that within the integrated schools setting, if the children “feel safe in their own faith, they can see that there are other faiths and cultures and that faith and culture work together” (female SRE teacher, #3 Christian, New South Wales). Therefore, understanding their own faith helps them with integrating with children of other faiths and reinforces multiculturalism. This view was endorsed by a Christian RI teacher who noted: “RI is an opportunity to go to the faith group according to your parent’s choosing, to learn from quality curriculum trained instructors, and then you come back together with your friends, but you have experienced for a short time… with a person who actually practises their faith. It’s different from being taught world religions from your classroom teacher… We own our faith” (female SRE teacher, #17 Christian, Queensland). Thus, the SRE classes within an integrated school setting can reinforce multiculturalism, as well as conveying the commonality between the different faith groups in terms of the belief in one God, creator or higher being. 4. All God’s Creatures A central message which all the SRE teachers sought to convey to their students is that we are all God’s creatures, so that we are all equal. This message was conveyed through the theological or spiritual lens of each of the faith communities. With the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and its offshoot, the Baha’i faith, the creation story and the fact that all of humanity stem from God’s creation of Adam and Eve, provides the core and commonality of this message. As one Muslim SRE teacher explained: “We’re all the children of Adam and Eve and we all belong on this planet. And God makes no mistakes. Everyone is different and we’re made that way, so it’s appreciation of God’s creation… Everyone is beautiful and unique in their own way” (female SRE teacher, #3 Muslim, New South Wales). One Hindu interviewee explained these concepts with the following metaphor: That is obviously religion mainly is teaching about how to love God and to pray to God, simple and straight. No matter whichever religion, all teaches the love of God. So, by understanding things better, you can actually work in a multicultural society together, just like in nature. There are so many trees and so many plants. Each bear different fruit, and each have got its own purpose. Still, for humanity, it gives shade, it gives for our existence, and the cohesiveness. That is demonstrated by the variety in nature. In the same way, the different religions talk about the same God, but in different ways. That’s it. (male SRE teacher, #3 Hindu, New South Wales)

An additional theological concept is that all humans are made in the image of God. One Christian teacher explained that racial barriers are artificial because, “like the Bible would say, we’re made in the image of God. I think it’s B’tselem Elohim in Hebrew, Imago Dei in the Latin, so that is very significant in terms of relating to every other person” (female SRE teacher, #11 Christian, Victoria). This concept, which is also part of Jewish theology, further reinforces the universal message of religious philosophy and “you see them as God sees them; you see them as people who are of inherent worth and value” (male SRE teacher, #12 Christian, Victoria). Similarly, in teaching Baha’i SRE, “we talk about the common beliefs in all religions, which is all religions regard God as one Creator. All of them have values and virtues that are

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taught to humanity… and so the children learn about the oneness of religion” (female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales). While Buddhism is not a religion in the traditional sense of belief in God, the teachings of Buddha convey the same message of the oneness of humanity. The strong message conveyed with these beliefs is that “if the children want to become global citizens, good citizens, they need to understand that we are all humans from the same family, no matter what religion we follow, and yes, we all come from the same God” (male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales). The role SRE plays in fostering multiculturalism was summed up by another Baha’i teacher: Yes, so one of the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, who’s the founder of the Baha’i faith, is that we’re all flowers of one God and then the leaves of one tree. And multiculturalism is understanding that diversity of humankind and realising that it really doesn’t matter what race we belong to, what our origin is, what our religion is, what our skin colour is, we all belong to the same human family. And that’s how it contributes to multiculturalism because it builds unity and it builds love for everyone.

The theme of loving-kindness and the acceptance of the other is thus incorporated into all the religious teachings, and the SRE/RI teachers are very aware of conveying this important message to their students, resisting and rejecting the more violent messages conveyed by religious fanaticism.

7.8 Discussion From these findings, it is clear that all interviewees understood the concept of multiculturalism, recognised its importance and believed that SRE classes helped to foster a multicultural approach. This is because the classes represented in and of themselves a plurality of ethnic rituals and practices and differing levels of religious belief. The integrated government school system also fostered multiculturalism since it provides the students the opportunity of learning about their own religion while relating to and interacting with children of other religions (Schweitzer 2007). Finally, the universal nature of God (Weissman 2007) was recognised and spontaneously referred to by our interviewees in relation to the question of multiculturalism. The role of the integrated school setting reinforces Schweitzer’s (2007) argument that schools need to offer the combination of both Special Religious Education (SRE), that is the in-faith, confessional approach, with General Religious Education (GRE)—education about religion—which he has named “co-operative religious education”. From the findings, it is clear that this is happening in government schools which offer SRE on an informal level, but a more formal approach to GRE is still needed to strengthen this system, with an understanding of the pedagogic issues involved (Kastel 2012). SRE/RI teachers working in government schools need to have professional development sessions, enabling them to convey this message of acceptance of all human beings, regardless of their ethnic background or religious beliefs (Gross and Rutland

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2018). Since the in-faith religious organisations provide the SRE/RI teachers, these concepts will also enter the private religious schools, the synagogues, churches, mosques and temples through a process of osmosis. Thus, the advocates who strongly oppose confessional religious classes in government schools, on the basis of it being indoctrination, will weaken Australian multiculturalism, producing a ‘thin’ multiculturalism, rather than a ‘thick’ multiculturalism. Interestingly, McCowan (2017) has studied in-faith private schools in Melbourne whose students met regularly with peers from other faith-based schools in an experiential, interfaith, dialogical approach. He found that these activities were very valuable in dismantling stereotypes thereby strengthening social cohesion. Rutland (2015) found similar results from her New South Wales study of interfaith religious education with faith-based schools, which have been instituted by various non-government organisations (NGOs). Whilst these NGOs, such as “Together for Humanity”, have received government funding, they are also reliant on private sponsorship, which limits their potential. The government itself, both at state and federal levels, has not been involved in directly sponsoring such activities. Of importance to note, New South Wales does offer Studies of Religion as a matriculation subject, and this has been widely taken up by the private school system, making it one of the fastest growing subject areas. Yet, this subject is not offered in government high schools, again missing an opportunity to develop ‘thick multiculturalism’ through government schools. This is further evidence of the need for the co-operative religious education approach in Australia. Scholars have stressed that students do need to have a deeper understanding of their own tradition, which assists in learning about other traditions (Jackson and Fujiwara 2007), an argument stressed by our interviewees. Thus, there is a need for “strengthening pupils’ confidence in their own religious, ethnic and/or cultural identity, or at least to appreciate that from their parents, and mixing with other people and understanding diverse perspectives, including other versions of one’s ‘own’ tradition” (Baumfield and Cush 2017, p. 231). This has been a subject of intense debate in the various Australian states, with secularists pushing for the exclusion of SRE/RI from government schools. This debate led to the formation of Better Balanced Futures, initially in New South Wales, then spreading to Queensland and now becoming a federal movement. The formation of Better Balanced Futures in and of itself represents a strengthening of multiculturalism and, indeed, inter-culturalism, which can assist in the social integration of Australia’s culturally and religiously diverse society. This is a unique organisation, created in the last few years, where all the different faiths are working together not only to retain SRE/RI but that each religion will ensure that its teaching and learning approaches are of the highest level of critical reflection, including dialogical education through in-faith religious concepts as discussed above. Better Balanced Futures was created as an important response to the opposition to confessional religious education, and the fact that every single faith group has joined the organisation and is keen to work to improve their curriculum and pedagogy is clear evidence of the importance and value attributed to these classes by all the faith groups. As such, Better Balanced Futures, as a grassroots, bottom-up organisation,

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can be very influential in implementing change. Both state and federal government multicultural and educational ministries, as top-down institutions, can set the parameters needed to create a more harmonious, multicultural society. These can then be implemented through this grassroots organisation. The importance and support of this new organisation was clearly demonstrated at the Celebration of SRE in New South Wales, which was organised and held at Parliament House. This event was supported by every faith group, seen visually in the colourful dress of many of the Eastern religious groups, reflecting the multi-faith nature of Australian society. The hall was packed, with standing room only, and the speeches of the Honourable Rod Stokes, Education Minister, and the Honourable Jihad Dib, Shadow Education Minister, as well as our speech, were received with enthusiasm. It was a very special evening which clearly demonstrated the importance of SRE classes at the grassroots level of New South Wales society in fostering multiculturalism.

7.9 Conclusion As already discussed, the best model is that of co-operative religious education, which combines SRE/RI with a dialogical religious education, where students mix with peers of other faiths, and have the opportunity to also learn about their traditions, as achieved in government schools. This ensures that for those parents who choose the separate religious education classes, their individual faith traditions and cultural traditions can be strengthened in government schools—and this includes the full range of religious traditions, from the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Eastern religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and the Baha’i faith. This combination of intra-faith taught in a critical and reflective manner in the integrated government school system, together with interfaith education, will strengthen social cohesion in Australia as well as the wellbeing of the students. Creating this combined form of religious education for multiculturalism is challenging because there is an inbuilt tension between the state, which is expected to be neutral in terms of religious education, and the need to foster individual religious heritages and beliefs within government schools (Kohler-Spiegel 2005). However, through the partnership of government working together with Better Balanced Futures at both federal and state levels, this challenge can be met, and Australia can ensure that its multicultural and multi-faith society is strengthened, and religious extremism is countered.

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References Agirdag O, Merry MS, Van Houtte M (2016) Teachers’ understanding of multicultural education and the correlates of multicultural content integration in Flanders. Educ Urban Soc 48(6):556–582. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124514536610 Allport GW (1954) The nature of prejudice. Addison-Wesley, Cambridge, MA Baidhawy Z (2007) Building harmony and peace through multiculturalist theology-based religious education: an alternative for contemporary Indonesia. Br J Relig Educ 29(1):15–30. https://doi. org/10.1080/01416200601037478 Banks JA (1993) Multicultural education: historical development, dimensions and practice. Rev Res Educ 19:3–49 Baumfield VM, Cush DA (2017) Religious education and identity formation: encountering religious and cultural diversity. Br J Relig Educ 39(3):231–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2017. 1347377 Bekerman Z (2018) The graduate(s): the harvests of Israel’s integrated multicultural bilingual education. Race Ethn Educ 21(3):335–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2017.1294574 BenDavid-Hadar I (2016) Education for all: the Israeli ultra-orthodox schools. Educ Pract Theory 38(2):23–29. https://doi.org/10.7459/ept/38.2.03 Cameron D (2011) State multiculturalism has failed, 5 February, BBC News, UK Politics. http:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12371994. Accessed 17 July 2012 Dervin F (2016) Interculturality in education: a theoretical and methodological toolbox. Springer, Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Dervin F (2011) A plea for change in research on intercultural discourses: a “liquid” approach to the study of the acculturation of Chinese students. J Multicult Discourses 6(1):37–52 Dervin F, Gross Z (eds) (2016) Intercultural competence in education: alternative approaches for different times. Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK Franken L (2017) Coping with diversity in religious education: an overview. J Beliefs Values 38(1):105–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2016.1270504 Greenberg I (2004) For the sake of heaven and earth: the new encounter between Judaism and Christianity. The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, PA Gross Z (ed) (2019) Migrants and comparative education: call to re/engagement. Brill Sense, Leiden Gross Z, Rutland SD (2014) Combatting antisemitism in the school playground: an Australian case study. Patterns Prejudice 48(3):309–330 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2015) Creating a safe place: SRE teaching as an act of security and identity formation in government schools in Australia. Br J Relig Educ 38(1):30–46. https://doi.org/10. 1080/01416200.2015.1025699 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2018) Study of SRE and its value for contemporary society. Unpublished report for the NSW government, Better Balanced Futures, Sydney Gross Z, Rutland SD (2019) How in-faith religious education strengthens social cohesion in multicultural Australia. McCrindle, Sydney Jackson R (2007) Religion and education in Europe. Waxmann Verlag, Münster Jackson R, Fujiwara S (2007) Towards a religious education for peace. Br J Relig Educ 29(1):1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200601093521 Jozsa D-P (2007) Islam and education in Europe, with special reference to Austria, England, France, Germany and the Netherlands. In Jackson R (ed) Religion and education in Europe: developments, contexts and debates. Waxmann Münster, New York; München; Berlin, pp 93–113 Kastel Z (2012) Positive relations between members of groups with divergent beliefs and cultures. In: Roffey S (ed) Positive relationships: evidence based practice across the world. Springer, Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York, pp 245–260 Kohler-Spiegel H (2005) Religious education in state schools in German-speaking Switzerland. J Beliefs Values 26(2):171–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617670500164403 Kolakowski L (1990) Looking for the Barbarians: the illusions of cultural universalism modernity on endless trial. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

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Kukathas C (1997) Cultural toleration, ethnicity and group rights. In: Shapiro I, Kymlicka W (eds) Ethnicity and group rights, nomos. New York University Press, New York, pp 69–104 Kymlicka W (1989) Liberal individualism and liberal neutrality. Ethics 99:883–905 Kymlicka W (1995) Multicultural citizenship. Clarendon, Oxford Levinas E (1987) Time and the other [and additional essays] (trans: Cohen RA). Duquesne University Press, Pittsburgh, PA Levy GB, Mendes P (2004) Jews and Australian politics. Sussex Academic Press, Brighton Maxwell B, Waddington DI, McDonough K, Cormier A-A, Schwimmer M (2012) Interculturalism, multiculturalism, and state funding and regulation of religious conservative schools. Educ Theory 26(2:4):424–477 McCowan T (2017) Building bridges rather than walls: research into an experiential model of interfaith education in secondary schools. Br J Relig Educ 39(3):269–278. https://doi.org/10. 1080/01416200.2015.1128387 Rutland SD (2015) Genocide or Holocaust education: exploring different Australian approaches for Muslim school children. In: Gross Z, Stevick ED (eds) As the witnesses fall silent: 21st century Holocaust education in curriculum, policy and practice. Springer, Geneva, pp 225–243 Saada N, Gross Z (2017) Islamic education and the challenge of democratic citizenship: a critical perspective. Discourse: Stud Cult Polit Educ 38(6):807–822 Sakaranaho T (2018) Encountering religious diversity: multilevel governance of Islamic education in Finland and Ireland. J Relig Educ 66:111–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-018-0065-9 Schweitzer F (2007) Religious individualization: new challenges to education for tolerance. Br J Relig Educ 29(1):89–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200601037551 Schweitzer F, Biesinger A with Boschki R, Schlenker C, Edelbrock A, Kliss O, Scheidler M (2002) Gemeinsamkeiten stärken—Unterschieden gerecht werden. Erfahrungen und Perspektiven zum konfessionell-kooperativen Religionsunterricht. Herder and Gütersloher, Freiburg Schweitzer F, Boschki R (2004) What children need: co-operative religious education in German schools: results from an empirical study. Br J Relig Educ 26(1):33–44 Skeie G (2006) Diversity and the political function of religious education. Br J Relig Educ 28(1):19– 32. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200500273612 Tamir Y (1995) Two concepts of multiculturalism. J Philos Educ 29(2):161–172. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1467-9752.1995.tb00350.x Valk J, Tosun A (2016) Enhancing religious education through worldview exploration. Discourse Commun Sustain Educ 7(2):105–117. https://doi.org/10.1515/dcse-2016-0019 Waghid Y, Davis N (2014) Muslim education and its (in)commensurability with multiculturalism: some thoughts on the imaginative madrassah. Policy Futures Educ 12(1):124–130. www.www ords.co.uk/PFIE Walzer M (1994) Thick and thin: moral argument at home and abroad. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN Weissman D (2007) Jewish religious education as peace education: from crisis to opportunity. Br J Relig Educ 29(1):63–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200601037528

Chapter 8

Countering Religious Bullying in the Playground

Abstract This chapter argues that SRE can assist in countering racism and prejudice by creating a safe place for school children of different religions. Reports in the media of the problems of bullying in the school playground based on religious affiliation have recently multiplied. In this chapter we further investigated this issue, building on our earlier research on playground antisemitism, through our qualitative research with 58 interviews with directors, teachers and graduates either individually or in focus groups of the six main faith groups: Christianity (18), Islam (12), Buddhism (9), Hinduism (7), Judaism (7) and Baha’i (5). We found that religious bullying in the playground affects members of four main faith communities: Muslims, Jews, Hindus and believing Christians. For Muslim children, dealing with Islamophobia can be very difficult, especially when girls have their hijabs mocked or even torn off when travelling on public transport. Similarly, Hindu girls can be bullied for having the bindi, or wearing other Hindu symbols, which can also be desecrated on school grounds. Our findings support evidence which reveals that Christian children who follow their faith can also suffer from teasing in the playground. Hence, even though they are considered to belong to the mainstream, majority Christian society, they still suffer from prejudice and discrimination. With the recent mass shooting by a White Supremacist, eco-fascist in Christchurch, New Zealand, followed by a mass attack on churches in Sri Lanka and two mass shootings against Jewish communities in the United States, SRE teachers could discuss the fear and concern which affected the Muslim Christian and Jewish students in Australia. These issues will be discussed in this chapter, highlighting the value of SRE in enabling students to reinforce their religious identities and creating a safe place for them to explore their own religious beliefs and teachings.

SRE/RI can assist in countering racism and prejudice by creating a safe place for school children of different religions. Reports in the media of the problems of bullying in the school playground based on religious affiliation have recently multiplied. This was highlighted by a qualitative study undertaken by the authors of this book in relation to antisemitism and Jewish SRE between 2009 and 2015 (Gross and Rutland 2015). The same issues were revealed in a separate ACT study undertaken by Professor Danny Ben-Moshe (2011). Similarly, for Muslim children, dealing with © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_8

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Islamophobia can be very difficult, especially when girls have their hijabs mocked or even torn off when travelling on public transport. Anecdotal evidence has also revealed that Christian children who follow their faith can also suffer from teasing and prejudice in the playground. Hence, even though they are considered to belong to the mainstream, majority Christian society, they still suffer from prejudice and discrimination. The recent mass shootings by a White Supremacist, eco-fascist in Christchurch, New Zealand, and two similar shootings in synagogues in Philadelphia and Poway, California in the United States, have thus far had no parallel in Australia. Nevertheless the head of ASIO has warned against the rapid spread within Australia of groups promoting White Supremacist hate ideologies, based on misconceptions about ‘race’ and religion (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-24/asiodirector-general-mike-burgess-neo-nazi-threat-rising/11994178). How this might be countered among students from an early age in the context of General and Special Religious Education will be discussed in this chapter. Our research found that the issue of religious bullying at schools mainly affected children from the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as Hinduism. Teachers and graduates from Buddhism and Baha’i reported that any bullying that did take place was based on ethnic background, rather than religious belief and practice. However, children from the other four faiths could experience significant bullying, especially if they were a minority in a school.

8.1 Background to Australian Racism and Antisemitism Racial prejudice has a long history in Australia (Moss and Castan 1991). In the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century, this expressed itself against three main target groups: indigenous Australians, Asian migrants and Jews. More recently, Muslims have become a major focus of attack, with the issue here being one of religion as well as race (Gross and Rutland 2014). As well, more recently, devout Christian students also can experience attacks from the more secular children in the schools. One of the main factors in Australia’s federation was the fear of the ‘yellow hordes’, which led to the introduction of restrictive immigration laws, known as ‘the White Australia policy’ and the belief in Anglo-Saxon conformity (Tavan 2005). In the 1970s, under Gough Whitlam’s Labor government immigration restrictions against coloured migrants were abolished and multiculturalism introduced (Wilton and Bosworth 1984). Liberal Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, further reinforced multiculturalism, so that by the 1980s support for the benefits of ethnic, religious and cultural pluralism was endorsed by government policy and embedded in educational philosophy. However, despite ongoing efforts on the part of both government and nongovernment bodies, racism continues to be a concern, particularly with the emergence of a “new racism”. Kevin Dunn (2004) defined this as “cultural racism”, based on the “insurmountability of cultural differences” (p. 410). Under this construct, ethnic

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groups are discriminated against and attacked on the basis of perceived “threats to ‘social cohesion’ and national unity”, that is threats to the Anglo-Celtic majority (Dunn 2004, p. 411). A further study by Dunn (2008) indicated that racism was still very prevalent in Australia: 27% of respondents had been called names or similarly insulted; 23.4% felt that they were treated less respectfully because of their ethnic origins. In a study of social cohesion in Australia, Andrew Markus (2012) also found that there was an ongoing problem of racism, but that the migrant groups who had settled in Australia for a longer period experienced lower levels of racism than the more recent arrivals, many of whom come from Muslim majority countries. One exception to Markus’s findings are Jews, the oldest non-indigenous ethnic group in Australia, with over a dozen Jews arriving on the First Fleet in 1788 and Jewish institutions being well established by the mid-nineteenth century (Rutland 2001). Today’s Jewish community numbers around 115,000–120,000, accounting for 0.4 percent of the total population. Yet, the number of incidents of reported antisemitism has been on the rise since tallies began to be published in 1989, as researched and compiled by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, although that number tends to fluctuate from year to year, depending on external circumstances.

8.2 Racial and Religious Bullying in the Schoolyard In the United Kingdom the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has defined racist bullying (which includes antisemitic-bullying) as: …a range of hurtful behaviour, both physical and psychological, that makes a person feel unwelcome, marginalized, excluded, powerless or worthless because of their colour, ethnicity, culture, faith, community, national origin or national status. (Richardson 2006, p. 186)

The NSW Government stresses its commitment to anti-racist education. It explains racism and its impact as follows: Racism can take many forms, such as jokes or comments that cause offence or hurt, sometimes unintentionally; name-calling or verbal abuse; harassment or intimidation; or commentary in the media or online that inflames hostility towards certain groups. At its most serious, racism can result in acts of physical abuse and violence. Racism can directly or indirectly exclude people from accessing services or participating in employment, education, sport and social activities. It can also occur at a systemic or institutional level through policies, conditions or practices that disadvantage certain groups. It often manifests through unconscious bias or prejudice. On a structural level, racism serves to perpetuate inequalities in access to power, resources and opportunities across racial and ethnic groups (https://education.nsw.gov.au/teachingand-learning/curriculum/multicultural-education. Accessed 14 October 2018).

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The belief that a particular race or ethnicity is inferior or superior to others is sometimes used to justify such inequalities (https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-andlearning/curriculum/multicultural-education. Accessed 14 October 2018). Yet, it is important to note that nothing is said about the role of religion in these racist attacks, even though the groups most like to experience harassment and discrimination in New South Wales, come from the smaller religious groups such as Muslims, Jews and Australia’s First People, with religious differences often being a major feature in the type of attacks described above. The failure to acknowledge the role of religion in these attacks needs to be recognised and responded to. Extensive research has been carried out in relation to efforts to combat racism, including anti-discrimination legislation, educational approaches and other forms of Australian government intervention (Markus 2011; Taft and Markus 2011). As well, there has been much research and focus on the negative impact of bullying as seen in the website of Relationships Australia (https://www.relationships.org.au/what-wedo/research/online-survey/march-2018-bullying-in-schools, accessed 11 October 2018). However, there has been relatively little academic research on religious and racist bullying in the school playground in Australia or elsewhere (Meyer-Adams and Conner 2008, p. 220). Yet, many newspaper articles and other reports have been published about the problem of religious bullying in the playground, as well as cyber bullying, including attacks on indigenous, Muslim and Jewish children, as well as on religious Christians. Indeed, indigenous children are the most bullied in Australia. For example: 1. Akinyi Ochieng, ‘Muslim Schoolchildren Bullied By Fellow Students And Teachers’, 29 March 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/ 03/29/515451746/muslim-schoolchildren-bullied-by-fellow-students-and-tea chers. Accessed 11 October 2018. 2. ‘CHRISTIAN families say their children are being bullied for religious… Choosing a religious school is not an option for many because of additional costs…. Muslim students in Australia have also felt persecuted for holding …’ https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/homeschooling-rise-of-50per…/3509225/. Accessed 11 October 2018. 3. Matthew Benns, ‘Northern Territory kids are fighting back against cyber bullying with the help of sporting heroes’, in Alice Springs, Daily Telegraph, 8 February 2014, https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/northern-territ ory-kids-are-fighting-back-against-cyber-bullying-with-the-help-of-sportingheroes/news-story/851abab38aafa5ff4129802d4f827f64. Accessed 11 October 2018. 4. Beatrice Dupuy, ‘Muslim children twice as likely to be bullied, new report finds’, United States, 31 October 2017, https://www.newsweek.com/more-half-muslimstudents-are-bullied-new-report-finds-698023. Accessed 11 October 2018. 5. Jordan Baker, ‘High school students suspended after Nazi salute, bullying’, 4 July 2018, https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/high-school-students-sus pended-after-nazi-salute-bullying-20180704-p4zpgi.html. Accessed 11 October 2018.

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These are a few examples of articles highlighting bullying at schools based on religious beliefs, yet the formal documentation fails to focus on this issue sufficiently. Writing about racism, including religious bigotry, Henry and Kurzak (2013) claim that “it is one of the great triumphs of recent Australian history that so many people, with such diversity of culture and history, have been absorbed so peacefully into Australian society” (http://www.australiancollaboration.com.au/pdf/FactSheets/Mul ticultural-Australia-FactSheet.pdf. Accessed 13 January 2014). However, this is a generalisation which tends to overstate the case, including religious bullying in the playground. This current study broadened the earlier approach we took focusing on antisemitism, when we included a question posed to the interviewees from the six main faiths in Australia. The issues will be discussed in the findings section, and then the value of utilising SRE/RI will be analysed from a number of different perspectives. As will be demonstrated, initially based on our specific study of Jewish students, expanded by the current study, SRE can provide a “safe place” for children from different religious backgrounds and also enables them to feel secure and to strengthen their own religious identity in the face of such attacks.

8.3 Background Literature Although there is substantial literature dealing with issues relating to antisemitism and Islamophobia, including in Australia, there are much fewer studies which deal specifically with religious bullying in the playground, as compared with ethnic background, and even fewer studies that undertake an investigation comparing and contrasting the issues relating to the different religious groups. To date, those studies which have been conducted in Australia and elsewhere have focused on adherents of single religions, or have been based on quantitative survey methods, which have focused more on the generic identity formation of students (Moulin 2015b). In terms of anti-Muslim feelings being expressed in the playground in Australia, little research has been undertaken apart from the information in the Islamophobia reports (Iner 2018), although there has been more focus with overseas studies. As well, in the United States, CAIR has produced a guide for Muslim parents (2019) in terms of dealing with bias and bullying in the playground. Building on her 2009 study of the Impact of Racism on the Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians, Marian de Souza (2014) referred to the problem of ethnic clustering, where newcomers from the one ethnic or religious group settle in the same area, creating “ghetto-like conditions” with some schools having a large cohort of children from the same ethnic and religious group. She notes that this applies to Muslims: …so that many young Australian Muslims, through no fault or action of their own other than their religious and/or cultural heritage, experienced a sense of alienation and found themselves a displaced people within what they perceived to be their own country. Such experiences not only can create anxiety and distress but also bewilderment and loss since

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individuals find themselves on the outside of the wider community to which they once had belonged. (p. 217)

Even though this problem is acknowledged, it is an under-researched issue. Leila Khaled, states that: The welfare and education of Muslim youth raised in Australia should be a concern to parents, educators, and society at large. Muslim youth have been unjustifiably affected by the destructive realities of Islamophobia. To make matters more complex, Muslim youth have developed issues with identity and belonging, and some are involved in drugs, crime, and more recently violent extremism. (https://arts-ed.csu.edu.au/higher-degrees/current-pro file/leila-khaled. Accessed 19 February 2020)

As with the current study, she aims to further investigate the contribution SRE/RI can make in addressing this problem, which she describes in the title of a conference presentation as “A justified option for Muslim youth facing unjustified pressures”. The problems of bullying in the school playground based on religious affiliation was highlighted by a qualitative study of Jewish SRE which we undertook between 2009 and 2015 (Gross and Rutland 2015). A separate study (Rutland 2010, 2015) also found that Muslim school children held stereotypical views about Jews, which were exacerbated by political attitudes towards the State of Israel. In some cases where Jews were a tiny minority in Muslim majority schools, parents ended removing their children because of antisemitic bullying. Similar issues were revealed in a separate Australian Capital Territory (ACT) study undertaken by Ben-Moshe in regard to Canberra schools. In response to anecdotal evidence of anti-Jewish incidents in schools, the ACT Jewish Community received a grant from the ACT government’s multicultural program and commissioned A/Prof Danny Ben-Moshe (2011) to conduct a study of antisemitism in Canberra schools. This was also a qualitative research project where Ben-Moshe interviewed four key Jewish representatives, two focus groups from children enrolled in the Sunday morning Hebrew School in Canberra and a focus group of parents of children enrolled in the Hebrew School. The seven questions in the questionnaire specifically probed issues relating to antisemitism. The key actors described antisemitic incidents that had occurred both in schools and in the general community. They analysed four main causal factors: the influence of media reporting of the Israel-Palestine conflict; the role of the churches and the accusation of deicide; the problem of ignorance; and Canberra’s more limited ethnic diversity compared with Sydney and Melbourne so that “multiculturalism is not deeply rooted in day to day life, and public culture is more characteristic of a regional centre than a major city” (p. 11). Studies have shown that, when criticism of Israel is made in light of events in the Middle East, the number of antisemitic incidents temporarily increases. Whilst not all of the children interviewed had personally experienced antisemitism in the playground, they were still aware of it and feared it. Ben-Moshe (2011) stressed that the antisemitism was largely verbal, confined to the school playground and reflected “deep-seated stereotypes of Jews”, with comments relating to Jews being greedy or stingy (p. 12). One child was told that “the Nazis are going to come

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and finish the job” (p. 12) whilst the presence of swastikas was commented on. There was also a religious element to the anti-Jewish feelings, which the children experienced, particularly at Christmas time. Whilst some of the children in the ACT focus group attended state schools, others attended private Christian schools, where they experienced problems of being forced to attend chapel services. Overall, there was a lack of sensitivity to Jewish religious practices, particularly in relation to the kosher dietary laws. The parent focus group expressed great concern, fearing that their children were “being isolated and excluded”, and that this was creating a “situation [that] was unsafe and, unless something was done about it, it could get worse” (Ben-Moshe unpublished report, p. 15). They also commented that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had a negative impact on their children. In one case, a child was confronted about “Israeli oppression of the Palestinians” and, in another case, a child was physically assaulted by a Muslim student (Ben-Moshe unpublished report, p. 15). In response to these findings the Canberra study came up with a large number of research observations and recommendations, focusing on the problems of stereotypes and bullying and ways in which these can be countered (Ben-Moshe unpublished report, pp. 16–18). British scholar, Daniel Moulin, is one of the main scholars who has approached this topic in a more comparative manner. In a broad study, he investigated the reported experiences in secondary schools of Christians (n-46), Jews (n-38) and Muslims (n15) in three cities in England. He has argued that even though religion is becoming of increasing political, social and educational importance in the new millennium, the experiences of adolescents have been overlooked. Secondary students who regularly attend religious services are a minority in England and this can present challenges to religious youth, because mainstream secular values may clash with their religious identity, often resulting in a negative relationship with both other students and teachers and with their experiencing issues of stereotyping. The distortion and critique of religion can often be problematic for religious adolescents who can also face issues such as the lack of provision of prayer spaces, limited leave for religious festivals and a failure to recognise the impact of fasting, an issue which relates particularly to Muslim children. In the face of these issues, Moulin categorises three groups of identity choices—religious identity seeking; religious identity declaration; and religious identity masking—which he analyses. As such, when religious students are “confronted with challenges to their religious beliefs and practices, adolescent Christians, Muslims and Jews make conscious choices as to how to negotiate and construct their religious identities” (Moulin 2015b, p. 500). These concepts proved to be very relevant for our study, which has also taken a cross-religions approach with our study including both teachers and graduates of SRE/RI.

8.4 Findings The main reports in terms of school-based prejudice relate to the Abrahamic faiths, as well as Hinduism. The Buddhist responses to the questions included “Not at all.

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Not at all. I don’t feel any of them have that kind of problem”, which this interviewee felt was due to the school fostering acceptance and intercultural harmony (female SRE teacher, #1 Buddhist, New South Wales). Others concurred with comments such as “No, none of the children have come back to either myself or the other teacher … and also because we, as SRE teachers from our centre, we discuss things that might be cropping up but I have not struck that at all where any child has been singled out or victimised because they are learning Buddhism” (male SRE teacher, #3 Buddhist, New South Wales). Similarly the other respondents replied with a very emphatic “No”. There were similar responses from both the Baha’i teachers and graduates. As one Baha’i graduate explained: “Well, not many people know that I am Baha’i… most people don’t even know like anything practically about [whether] I have a religion or not, so no, not really” (female SRE graduate, #3 Baha’i, New South Wales). With students from the Abrahamic faiths, issues related to whether they were a minority or a majority in a school. Muslim teachers reported that in areas of Sydney which were predominately Muslim they had not “experienced any major hurdles or challenges… but I suppose, maybe in some of the other suburbs there may be some forms of Islamophobia” (female SRE teacher, #1 Muslim, New South Wales). With Christians, even when they are nominally the majority, it was only when they strongly and openly identified with their faith that they experienced bullying, and this was mainly in high school. As one Christian RE teacher explained: “Many of the kids in my class, it seems to me aren’t so strongly aligned with a religion that it would change how they behave in the playground… Bullying comes from being different, and I’m not so convinced that the kids are so different in the playground and the classroom that it would become obvious” (female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). However, the responses of Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish graduates who had experienced religious prejudice, bias and bullying reveal that this is an issue within schools. We discuss this as well as the different student and teacher reactions; and also demonstrate how SRE classes assist with students who face these issues.

8.4.1 The Types of Attacks Christian anti-religious bullying occurred with some students who openly identified as being Christian, with such bullying becoming prevalent at the secondary level. Students can be teased along the lines, of “kids who would say oh, we’re just praying, we’re just praying, like making fun of them, because they were Christian” (female SRE teacher, #8 Christian, New South Wales). One graduate explained: So I was bullied because I didn’t swear, and I didn’t drink, which was built on my faith, and I didn’t believe that under-age drinking was a thing, or that I should go around cursing, or taking the Lord’s name in vain, or practicing sex outside of marriage.

When asked to elaborate she added:

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I can’t think of like actual words that were said, but there was peer pressure. People were attempting to peer pressure me into saying can you say the “F” word, and I wouldn’t say the “F” word. Then “oh, you are just a stupid Christian, and you’re only doing this because your parents do it and you’re a goodie two shoes…” In science, we were learning about the reproductive system, and like there were diagrams of genitalia and bodies of males and females. It was when people are kind of experiencing sex and sexual things for the first time, and people are pointing out “oh, this is what a penis is and saying: you’re not going to see one for a while”, and things like that. So, it was hard to be a Christian in such a vulgar society. (female SRE graduate, #6 Christian, New South Wales)

This graduate’s response illustrated the type of bullying Christian children can experience in high schools (Moulin 2015). Attacks on Muslim students are very common. The report on Islamophobia in Australia noted: Experiences of Islamophobia start for children in pre-school years, when they were accompanied by their identifiably Muslim parents and continue in school years through multiple perpetrators in the school environment, such as school peers, teachers, school administration, other students’ parents or other adults targeting Muslim students on the way to school. (Iner 2018, p. 5)

In this report, a whole chapter was devoted to attacks on Muslim children at school, which the report describes as “normalisation of anti-Muslim bullying at school” (Iner 2018, pp. 41–57). Our Muslim teachers and graduate interviewees also reported on such problems, but in their case examples were also given of outside events, both locally (such as graffiti on local mosques) as well as internationally (such as the Christchurch shooting). These impacted negatively on the students. One graduate interviewee noted that her cousin was in the city centre and “some random guy that doesn’t really like our religion just came up to her and punched her in the stomach…” (female SRE graduate, #8 Muslim, New South Wales). In the school setting, the girls who wore a hijab could be particular targets for teasing, with students making comments such as “You have a towel on your head” (female SRE teacher, #2 Muslim, Queensland), creating a sense of alienation, while the boys could be “called bad things” (male SRE graduate, #6 Muslim, New South Wales) including being teased for being “terrorists and bombers” (female SRE teacher, #4 Muslim, Queensland). The attacks increased when there was negative coverage in the media. Often, the school principals failed to react when anti-Muslim bullying occurred, adding to the students’ sense of vulnerability. For the Hindu students, the girls could also be specific targets of attack because of the Bindi, a round, red dot considered to be a third eye, but both sexes suffered from attacks based on stereotypical views. The Hindu graduate explained: So I’ve had teachers even ask, don’t you have child marriages in India? And it is kind of, it’s disheartening to hear those things because no one really understands the history of India and British colonisation and what people had to do and struggle. So I think in the moment it’s quite hard to go through, especially when your own peers are kind of putting you down for being a certain culture or being a certain nationality.

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This interviewee claimed that this type of bullying emerges from what the children hear in the media and what they hear at home. She felt that every Indian Hindu child went through such experiences at some time during their school career. In our previous study, the Jewish students raised the issue of racial prejudice in the playground. We found the same stories, with the same stereotypes, in both Sydney and Melbourne. From the data we collected, the problems seemed to increase at the junior high school level. Thus, in one high school in Sydney, one of the boys said, without any prompting: … if you are Jewish you are teased. They call you stingy. They throw you five cents … Or they throw money on the ground and call out ‘who is the Jew?’ Or they will say: ‘That’s a Jew nose’. They say something about payot (ear locks). Then they have a brit (circumcision) set. Or they take scissors and go like this [boy demonstrates scissors cutting with his hands]: ‘do you want another brit?’

The current study found similar issues facing young Jews, which started in primary school but increased in high school. Two recent incidents in Melbourne, one involving a five-year old boy and the other a twelve-year old boy in secondary school received significant press coverage (See, for example, Carey 2019). In the first instance, the five-year old was repeatedly called a “cockroach” and “dirty Jew”, as well as being tormented in the toilets because he was circumcised. As a result, he started wetting himself in class, rather than going to the toilet. He was provided with a separate toilet as a “safety plan” but the department of education claimed his complaints could not be corroborated, since the teachers did not hear the comments. In the end, the department apologised for this denial, but the parents decided to take the boy out of the government school. In the second case, a gang of boys, led by a bully of Anglo-Celtic background, invited a Jewish boy to play soccer with them in the park, but when they arrived there they started physically threatening him and forced him to kiss the shoe of another boy, a Muslim boy, who was pressured into the situation. One student filmed the act, which was then shared on social media. As this incident took place outside school grounds, the principal denied any responsibility. No action was taken and none of the boys was punished. Some months later, the ring-leader of the gang attacked the Jewish boy in the school locker area, punching him in the face and gouging some of the skin out of his shoulder, as well as bruising the whole left side of his back, causing him to black out. He required hospital treatment. During the attack, the bully called the Jewish student “a cooked-up Jewish cunt” (Nathan 2019, p. 3). This incident forced the school to respond. It should be noted that the school has had a history of violent incidents. There have also been persistent reports of endemic racism among students and inaction and weak leadership by the principal with regard to the bullied boy and his sole parent. In this case, the student who was the victim was forced to leave the school and was threatened by the gang with further abuse if he attended any other local

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public school. He now attends a private school where he is reported to be thriving. All of the students in the gang still attend the public school. There have also been incidents reported in high schools in Sydney. For example, in March 2019 a Jewish high school student was told that that he “should have died in the gas chambers” (Nathan 2019, p. 37). In another Sydney incident, during a lesson on the Holocaust a Year 10 boy shouted at a Jewish student “The Jews deserved it” but again the teacher did not take any action at this racist abuse, based on both the religious and ethnic background of the student (Nathan 2019, p. 41). In her report, Nathan listed other examples of attacks on Jewish school children in public schools at both the primary and secondary levels, as well as attacks on Jewish children attending Jewish schools and other private schools. One of our respondents also reported on her very difficult experiences of religious bullying in her girls’ high school (female SRE graduate/teacher, #4 Jewish, New South Wales). Of relevance is the fact that both Muslim and Jewish students received death threats from other students, but in the case of the Jewish students it was often within a Holocaust context, such as “Hitler should have killed you all”. Christian SRE teachers could also experience problems. One Christian RE supervisor spoke about a problem which a teacher in a particular school experienced with the supervising class teacher, who as an open atheist was “a bit obstructive during her classes… butts in and tries to take over the authority from the SRE teacher… and I think she was undermined by that” (female SRE supervisor, #3 Christian, New South Wales). Another Christian RE teacher described how “definitely there were teachers who were anti-Christian, who would… say things from the front of the class, trying to humiliate me” (female SRE teacher, #8 Christian, New South Wales). In comparison, the Muslim RE teachers found that the class teachers were very positive, appreciated learning about Islam and would sometimes ask questions themselves. Whilst the Jewish teachers also did not complain about antisemitic responses from the class teachers, they did comment on their need to take care. For example, in Melbourne, which has the highest proportion of people of Greek origin of any city outside of Athens, teachers are expected not to say anything that might reflect badly on students of Greek ethnic origin. With regard to the Jewish festival of Chanukah, which celebrates the victory of a small group of Jewish resistance against the oppression of the Assyrian–Greek Empire, one of the teachers commented: TEACHER (I): Um, it is a safe place… where they can actually say whatever they want to say about Judaism, but the teachers are not allowed to… When we talk about Alexander the Great, we can’t even say the word Greek, because somebody will say ‘But my friend is Greek and you said he was the enemy. Thus, the teachers are aware of the need to be critical but not to offend other minorities within the school population (Gross and Rutland 2014). There are clearly formulated official government policies in all states to counter racism in Australian schools. Yet, despite the official government policies and the care taken by the teachers in the classroom, the situation in the playground and in

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the wider school environment is very different (Iner 2018; Gross and Rutland 2014, 2015).

8.4.2 Student Reactions The students had different reactions to this school-based bullying, which was often situated in the playground. In some cases, they denied their religious background and attended either another SRI/SRE class or Special Ethics Education/nonreligion classes. For others, it acted as a ‘push’ factor, where the racial prejudice they experienced made them want to attend SRE/SRI and learn more about their background. In the case of the Christian girl who was constantly teased, her reaction was to show resilience. She said, “I was bullied in high school for being a Christian, and having a dad who is a Minister, who taught my friends scripture, and it was a difficult experience, but when you show resilience and that their words don’t affect you, their bullying turns to curiosity and people start to question what you believe in and why”. In the case of this student, the bullying made her stronger in her faith because “I liked being different, and I liked having a faith and something to live for, rather than just living for the like the life and in the moment” (female SRE graduate, #6 Christian, New South Wales). With the Muslim children, the negativity in the media and the personal attacks can lead them to being reluctant to be identified as a Muslim, especially for those who do not come from strongly identified Muslim families. As one interviewee explained: They actually suffer with an identity crisis, because their parents, their relatives are from the Islamic Background, and they probably also practice their religion a bit. But they also feel that they’re dirty [because of the negative comments]. Sometimes… the negative comments impacts of their religious identification [so that] they feel shy or they feel guilty to identify as a Muslim. (male religious leader, #11 Muslim, Tasmania)

However, if the students have a strong sense of spirituality and connection to their religion, it can assist them to deal with anti-Muslim comments. Two graduates who now teach Islamic RE spoke about how they experienced slurs when they were in the Sydney suburb, Bondi, but “we have a strong spiritual connection so it didn’t bother us” (male religious graduates/teachers, #6 and #7 Muslim, New South Wales). However, in some cases where the student identifies more strongly with Islam, they can turn to extremism as a response to their sense of alienation, a development which can be problematic for society. As one teacher explained, such students “get the wrong ideas from the religion” (female SRI teacher, #4 Muslim, Queensland). The graduate/teachers also noted that negative comments can also: … make them feel unsafe. They might feel depressed because of it, have anxiety. And that could lead to bigger issues, lead to attacks obviously, and lead to fights and violence which our religion does not portray obviously but… they need to know how to approach these issues. (male religious graduates/teachers, #6 & 7 Muslim, New South Wales)

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Similarly, the Hindu interviewee felt “that’s what’s made us a lot stronger in terms of understanding where we come from” but at the same time, there were other Hindu children who have “abandoned the sort of identity and they’re like, I don’t want to be associated with Indians and they’d rather take an alternative pathway because it’s just really embarrassing. So… it can go either way: either it can strengthen one’s identity or it can just make them let go of it and not want to have anything to do with that identity?” (female SRE graduate/teacher, #5 Hindu, New South Wales). In addition, students are often reluctant to report on incidents of bullying because of, as one Muslim teacher described it, “the scare factor” (female SRE teacher, #1 Muslim, New South Wales). There are a number of reasons for this failure to report incidences. Many students are concerned that if they report an incident, the situation will actually become worse for them. They are also concerned about their parents’ reactions, if they come up to the school to complain, or, on the other hand, if they “can’t be bothered… they don’t want to deal with it” (female SRE teacher, #1 Muslim, New South Wales).

8.4.3 Creating a Safe Place A major finding that emerged from the interviews both in our previous study and in the current study was the need to find a secure zone. For Muslim students, this was particularly important, especially in regard to terrorism and violence. As one SRI teacher explained: “I feel that the kids found a place to ask questions, to get the right answers. They might be scared to ask their own parents about it. So just being a source of information for them was something good” (female SRI teacher, #4 Muslim, Queensland). A religious leader in Tasmania explained further: “So I think Islamic education, plus also like getting there with their Islamic friends, Muslim friends, together will make them be strong so that they’ll not be feeling that they’re isolated” (male religious leader, #11 Muslim, Tasmania). The graduates also felt very strongly about the positive impact of Islamic RE: “So because of prejudice maybe in the media from government lobbying, there’s like maybe the kids feel ashamed to be called Muslim, to feel that connection. The organisation SRE can help with overcoming these barriers like of prejudice, making them feel comfortable with their religion… helping them with their spiritual connection” (male religious graduate/teacher, #6 Muslim, New South Wales); and “So probably overcoming that barrier and teaching our students in these government schools that not really every religion can be portrayed by how other people see it rather than joining the class and seeing what’s being taught and what the religion is really about gives them that break, that barrier” (male religious graduate/teacher, #6 Muslim, New South Wales). Similarly, for students from a strong Christian background, SRE was very important, as one teacher explained: “Well, yes, they would feel that it is a safe place to talk about Jesus. They’re not being ridiculed for talking about going to church and reading the Bible” (female SRE teacher, #10 Christian, New South Wales).

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Again, the Hindu graduate/teacher described her most meaningful experience as a teacher was when her class raised the topic of religious bullying in the playground at their school. They obviously felt it was safe to share their experiences and concerns with her as a young teacher who had gone through similar experiences: “Being able to talk with them about it and seeing how we can deal with it in the sense that, how can we, in a friendly way, educate them if they have that lack of insight when it comes to our culture… and we were all able to sit and find solutions about how we can help each other, but also as an individual, how can we deal with bullies who are trying to make fun” (female SRE graduate/teacher, #5 Hindu, New South Wales). She felt that the students had found their discussion valuable and helpful in terms of dealing with the religious bullying they had experienced in the playground and that in some ways the class was also like a “counselling session”. In our previous study, we also found that the Jewish students emphasised that SRE/SRI classes provided them with a safe place and friendship and enhanced their sense of belonging. INTERVIEWER: Would you like to say anything else? UJEB Class female student: I like Jewish RE because it is a place where I can fit in. UJEB Class female student: To learn in here with UJEB, it is a safe environment. INTERVIEWER: Safe environment, what do you mean? UJEB Class female student: Like they take care of you, they feed you. In analysing the reasons for this sense of safety, the teachers stressed the fact that all the children came from the same religious and cultural background, even if they came from different ethnic backgrounds: INTERVIEWER: Why do you think that students feel safe in this framework? TEACHER (JC): Perhaps they feel that they are amongst their own; they can relax amongst their own. They are not on their guard. The students studied the particularistic items of their culture (festivals, customs, stories of the Bible and modern ethnic history) and this strengthened their sense of a psychological safe place. According to student testimonies, these components had a major impact on their motivation to attend the classes on a voluntary basis, as well as on the quality of their learning.

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8.4.4 Affiliation and Sense of Belonging There was a high level of friendship in the classes we observed in our previous study and reinforced by the current study. The students could choose not to come and would not face any sanctions, and yet they participated of their own volition. The teachers from all the faith groups confirmed that the children were eager to learn and told us that they have full, regular attendance. One Christian RE teacher explained further: “They might realise that none of their friends go to church and so they might think they’re the only one in the whole school who does. But if their parents sign them up to come to SRI they will hear other SRI children talking about things from church. And they will realise, ah, there are others like me who believe in Jesus, who go to church. And they might be encouraged in their faith” (female SRI teacher, #10 Christian, Victoria). The Muslim respondents also expressed similar views, that SRE/RI created a sense of community, that there were others like them, so they did not feel isolated or different. From our previous study with Jewish SRI, we saw children coming into the classroom, hugging each other or patting their friends on the back like long-lost friends coming to a club: “I think it was important but also fun at the same time; you are learning stuff but you are also having fun with your friends, so it is a bit of both and I learned a lot” (Jewish Class female student, Gross and Rutland 2015, p. 11). These social relationships are also important, as one Jewish teacher explained: “I am very passionate about [the SRI class] because my own sons started in the state school system … [The lessons are] just twenty minutes long … [but] it is a time for them to realise that there are other Jews in the school and to connect with each other, which can be very important”. This teacher stressed that “you can always do the learning but just the feeling of Jewishness and being connected to a group [is important]” (female Jewish SRI teacher, previous study, Victoria, Gross and Rutland 2015, p. 12). Thus, the classes also create a sense of belonging and these factors also help to create a socially inclusive environment.

8.4.5 Role of SRE/RI Teachers as Caregivers The role of the SRE/RI teachers was seen as extremely important, as they often took the same children for more than one grade, and children would also interact with them outside school as they normally live in the same suburbs. Largely as volunteers, the teachers demonstrate a very high level of dedication and commitment. One director discussed the concept of “educare” rather than “education”, stressing that “we are caring for the kids holistically and religious education is a very, very big part of that” (male SRE director, #16 Christian, New South Wales).

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Again, our previous study of Jewish SRE/SRI demonstrated the importance of the role of the teacher. The CEO of UJEB commented on the teachers’ strong motivation: “I think for a lot of them it is a labour of love and not a labour of money… We find that the students love them… We have our retired teachers… their hearts have been in Jewish education for so long that the thought of giving up is not something that they want” (Gross and Rutland 2015, p. 12). In their dealings with the children, the teachers take a symmetrical, rather than a hierarchical approach. They aim to develop a sense of attachment to create a family atmosphere in the classroom. This combination of a strong sense of warmth and caring together with affiliation enabled the students to reinforce their Jewish identity. For the Muslim teachers, the role of the teacher in terms of providing support was of key importance, and in their case the fact that the classroom teacher was there and the classes were being held in a government school added an additional layer: I feel like scripture gives students this kind of contentment … when the scripture teacher is teaching in the class and we have the secular teacher listening or there’s other students of non-faith in the same classroom, they’re given a voice where they agree and they’re like yes, we know. We’re not misunderstood. We like what the teacher is saying. She’s saying it in a public classroom. That’s the truth, Islam or our religion, any religion is not what the media portrays it to be and there’s nothing to be afraid of.

This quotation sums up the key role which SRE/RI classes play in assisting students to deal with religious bullying, to feel proud of their religious heritage, and to seek to respond to the negativity in a positive fashion.

8.5 Discussion These findings reinforce the results of our previous study, demonstrating SRE classes provide a safe place where children can learn about their background, and don’t feel the need to hide or suppress an essential part of who they are in order to ‘fit in’. School bullying operates as a strong “push” factor for those children who choose to identify openly with their religion, particularly for Muslims, devout Christians and Jews. In addition, meeting their friends and seeing their teachers as providing a warm and caring environment act as “pull” factors. This also results in students’ strong sense of affiliation, which increases their motivation to participate actively in these classes. Research has demonstrated that four core values are important in the classroom: trust, respect, care and safety (Adalbjarnardottir 2010). These are key values for reflective teaching and religious education (Gross 2010). Gross and Rutland (2015) found all these four values were fostered in the Jewish SRE classrooms. The teachers built an atmosphere of trust with the children who felt free to express their feelings and dilemmas. They also demonstrated respect for the differing levels of the students’ beliefs and home practices in a non-judgmental fashion and created an atmosphere of care and safety in the SRE/RI classrooms. As well, we found an additional fifth core value, which is developing a sense of belonging, which was particularly important

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for those children who were bullied for their religious beliefs. These five core values need to be incorporated into the SRE professional development program. As discussed above, the focus on care and compassion is one of the nine key values set out in the NSW Government’s framework for values education. Religious teachings tend to focus on the principles of self-care and also care of others. Fostering a caring environment in SRE/RI classes helps to build a safe school culture (Noddings 1992; and Tirri et al. 2006). By modelling caring behavior in SRE/RI classes, as we witnessed in Muslim, Christian and Jewish SRE, the teachers provide real life examples, which research has shown then affects the children’s overall behavior in both the classroom and the playground (Hawkes 2010, p. 236). As one of the Muslim teachers stressed, “I reinforce to all my students whether from kindergarten to Year 12, it’s your job and your responsibility to display your religion in a positive manner if you do not want to be misunderstood. So it gives them the capability, yes, I’m capable of doing that” (female SRE teacher, #5, New South Wales). This teacher was clearly a role model for all her students, as were the two male Muslim graduate teachers, with their strong message to their Years 11 and 12 students to avoid violent behavior and act with respect to their teachers and other students. The concept of a safe place is an integral part of Côté’s notion of identity capital (2005), since it enables the students to negotiate their religious identity within a warm, educative and fun environment. By studying the traditions and culture of their own faith, children can develop a positive sense of self, which can assist them to counter the negativity that they encounter through verbal bullying in the playground. Thus, the teaching–learning experience can be seen as an act of security and protection. This complies with the recommendation of the Council of Europe’s 2010 report in creating the religious education classroom as a “safe place” (Jackson 2014, pp. 46, 47). In creating this safe place, SRE teachers also need to be aware of the religious diversity within their classes. In terms of the students’ reactions to religious bullying, our findings supported Moulin’s (2015a, b) three categories: religious identity seeking; religious identity declaration; and religious identity masking. Some children simply deny their religious affiliation and seek to distance themselves from any religious practice. This reaction was particularly strong with the Jewish children, many preferring to deny their Jewish identity. As reported to us, they even attended non-Jewish SRI/SRE classes, so that other students would not know that they were Jewish (Gross and Rutland 2014). This reaction fits into the category of “religious identity masking”. Others demonstrate resilience to the hatred and seek to explain their religious beliefs and practices to the other children. They wear their religion with pride, as reported in earlier studies (Ben-Moshe 2011; Gross and Rutland 2014). This was stressed by the graduates of all three Abrahamic faiths, as well as by the graduate Hindu respondent. In some of the cases these graduates went on to become graduate SRE/RI teachers. In one case, a Jewish graduate who now works for the New South Wales Board of Jewish Education noted that she was completely open in school about being Jewish, despite being a tiny minority and being threatened and suffering from ongoing playground bullying because of her open Jewish identity. She eventually moved schools because of the high level of anxiety she developed due to the threats

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to her life made against her, being told that “I should just go and die just along with all the other Jews especially when the wars were going on in Israel” (female SRE teacher/graduate, #4 Jewish, New South Wales). She clearly fitted into the “religious identity declaration” category. Finally, in the same school, two other girls did attend Jewish SRE, but they came late and tried to hide the fact that they were attending the classes. They did not tell the other students that they were Jewish. They clearly fitted into the “religious identity seeking” category. Whilst they tried to hide the fact that they were Jewish, they still wanted to learn about their Jewish heritage. There was a similar reaction with the Muslim students, many of whom felt ashamed or a sense of fear because of the anti-Muslim sentiments expressed in the media and by politicians. Often, they came from non-observant families, who did not attend the mosque regularly. Yet, they still attended Muslim SRE, seeking to learn more about their heritage. Both the Muslim and Jewish graduate teachers felt that for this “seeking” category their role was very important - to assist their students to feel proud of their background and heritage.

8.5.1 Social Cohesion and School-Based Prejudice Whilst many scholars oppose separate religious faith-based education, whether in separate schools or in SRE classes, as harmful to social cohesion, our research, as well as that of other scholars, has illustrated that by providing a safe place for students to discuss their religious identity, especially if they are under attack, confessional religious education can actually be a positive factor for social cohesion by increasing students’ self-esteem and assisting them to feel proud of their religious heritage. Geoffrey Short (2002, 2003) has analysed the different arguments opposing confessional religious education within the formal school days in relation to schools in the United Kingdom and has argued that they are “logically flawed, ahistorical or lacking in empirical foundation” (2002, p. 560). For example, in relation to denominational schools in Ireland, he refers to the studies which claim that these schools reinforce the sectarian divide between Catholics and Protestants. Yet, he points out this divide existed well before free, compulsory education was introduced into Ireland. In contrast he claims that faith-based schools can “enhance their pupils’ academic attainment, self-esteem and sense of cultural identity and that the result of such enhancement is the strengthening of inter-communal ties” (ibid.). He stresses the proven causal connection between self-esteem and tolerance. As such, he challenges the assumptions used to oppose SRE. He notes the problems of individual and institutional racism, which can exist in government schools, can limit students’ academic potential, and notes that this “pernicious and pervasive racism” led to specific ethnic groups in the UK, such as the Asian community and various Black groups, to lobby for their own schools under the voluntary-aided program, a system which does not exist in Australia. He stressed that the key issue in terms of faith-based schools and adapting to the broader society lay within the curricular content students are exposed

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to in their school education. He validated this point through his discussion of a study he undertook in terms of Jewish schools in the United Kingdom (Short 2003). The same applies to SRE classes, both in terms of curricular content and the pedagogy utilised. Thus, as discussed above, we found that SRE provides a safe place for students who attend these classes and allows Muslim and Jewish children to preserve their unique cultural and religious heritage. This also applies to many Christian SRE classes, helping the children to feel a sense of belonging, to contribute to their identity formation and provide them with an avenue for spiritual nurturing. The exposure of the children to their particularistic cultural assets strengthens their sense of belonging. In a study relating to Mexican Americans, Kibler (1996) noted the importance for children from minority cultures to be exposed to literature from their own culture, helping them to “normalise and validate painful life experiences” (p. 239). Recent research has stressed that literacy is more than reading and writing, but also involves “cultural and critical literacy”. Schachter and GaliliSchachter (2012) argue that there is a third category, “identity literacy”, which they define as the “reader’s proficiency and willingness to engage the meaning systems embedded within texts and to consider adopting them as part of their own personal meaning system” (p. 1). Social networking facilitates learning because it serves as a prerequisite for teaching and instruction. As discussed earlier, Anderson, Hamilton, and Hattie (2004) demonstrated that students’ motivation is strengthened through a strong sense of community. Our findings showed that this is certainly the case in SRE, and is particularly important for those experiencing religious bullying.

8.5.2 Issue of Denial Our findings have shown that there is a strong disconnect between the official levels of classroom practice and what is happening more broadly in schools. As Shollenberger (2007) noted in her study of youth theatre: Because the age is a difficult one, the adult vision of change can vary: a school without bullies, without homophobia or sexism or racism, a school in which students take the lead, a school which functions as a genuine community. This is an important conversation, but I have often been frustrated by the lack of concrete success, whatever the reason – student or adult resistance, an already jam-packed plate of activities and missions, or lack of follow-through. (p. 33)

We found that the disconnection in terms of the levels of religious bullying at school was due to both student and adult resistance, leading to significant underreporting. On the one hand, the students were reluctant to take action and report these incidents. Ben-Moshe’s (2011) Canberra study found that the children declined to report such incidents for a variety of reasons. The failure to recognise the issue of religious and racial prejudice is related to the underreporting of these incidents. Ben-Moshe found that the children unanimously opposed reporting these incidents to

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school authorities and also did not speak to their parents about them. They feared that either no action would be taken and/or that their reporting would make the situation worse. One upper primary school child stated: “I didn’t tell mum as she’ll want to make a big deal of it and I don’t want to be embarrassed. I’m already not popular (at school) and I don’t want to get others in trouble. I feel it will get worse if I say something” (Ben-Moshe unpublished report, p. 14). The study found that some children initiated positive steps. One child shared information about Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights, which takes place at the same time as the Christmas period. One of the Jewish traditions for this festival is to eat “chocolate money”. The student brought some for all her classmates and ‘everyone liked it’ (Ben-Moshe unpublished report, p. 14). This was a strong form of religious identity formation. The Jewish students also tended to accept the antisemitism as a normal part of life and to just focus on those friendships that were accepting of their Jewish backgrounds. In Canberra they only shared their experiences with their Hebrew School teacher, after one of the students volunteered the information in 2010. In Sydney and Melbourne, they confided in the problems during the Jewish Student Network sessions, which are lunchtime sessions led by youth leaders, when they felt they could tell the young student educators within an environment of trust. This “scare factor” leads to a significant underreporting of such incidents. Most adults tended to deny that there were specific problems relating to religious bullying. There could be two reasons for the parents’ reticence in talking about this issue: it could be a matter of repression and/or the fact that they accepted the existence of such racial prejudice as normal and did not feel the need to comment on it or were reluctant to act. In Canberra, there was a more honest appraisal of the situation, with an unexpectedly high level of participation in the parent focus group, possibly because of the smaller size of the community. In a subsequent academic article dealing with the Canberra case, the authors’ noted the school/s inadequate response and stressed: School policy and procedure for dealing with this issue is required as a matter of urgency. In its absence, Jewish children are being socially excluded for no other reason other than the fact that they are Jewish. A coherent schools’ strategy is required to address this, as opposed to current ad hoc measures. (Ben-Moshe and Halafoff 2014, p. 55)

The widespread nature of these attacks, reported by Jewish children across three Australian states, indicates that they are rooted in classical racist anti-Jewish feelings. This denial is a defence mechanism, enabling those who are attacked to cope with the situation (Iner 2018). However, if the existence of a problem is not even recognised by the schools, and often described as inconsequential in the wider media discourse (Richardson 2006), it is not possible to develop teaching strategies to resolve the problem. The denial by educators of both Muslim and Jewish children being attacked at school, often in the playground, on the basis of their religious identity is, therefore, very problematic. Playground spaces “remain important sites in which children learn about social hierarchies, and encounter cross-sections of society” (Due and Riggs 2010, p. 26). In the South Australian study the teachers

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denied that there was no interaction between the NESB and non-NESB children in the playground, claiming that such interaction occurred frequently. This claim did not match with the researcher’s observations. Those students in the government schools who are situated in an anti-religious climate, can take it for granted and believe that they have to adjust to it, as if it were normal behavior (Iner 2018). Often they think that as long as it does not manifest itself in violence, they need to cope with it. This reaction is typical of the way people cope with bullying. Only recently has verbal bullying been classified as violent behavior because previously community attitudes only focused on physical violence. Today, it is recognised that incitement to hate is a form of “low-level violence” that can eventuate in physical as well as verbal attacks (Meyer and Connor 2008). From the findings of our study, we conclude that the SRI/SRE program provides a safe place for students who choose to attend these classes. It provides them with space to develop a more positive sense to their religious identity and helps them to build resilience, especially for Muslims, devout Christians and Jewish children who can face ongoing attacks, vilification and even death threats in the playground.

8.6 Conclusions and Recommendations Religious bullying in the playground is a case study of the more general phenomenon of exclusion/inclusion or ‘out group/in group’ of minorities in the schoolyard. In this era of globalisation when there is much greater mobility, many different migrant groups have created multi-ethnic societies. This has magnified the importance of the issue of religious and racist bullying. There is clearly pervasive racism and religious discrimination against these groups in Australian schools that needs to be countered. We argue that SRE can play a very positive role for this issue, by providing a safe place for children and, particularly at primary level, enabling them to develop self-confidence in their own religious identity. This is important in terms of social cohesion. Teachers need to be educated about this problem and to develop strategies for their students through simulation games, group discussions, creative drama, and other informal education approaches (Ben-Moshe and Halafoff 2014). In addition, it is important to bring different ethnic groups together, so that the children can learn to understand different cultures and not fear ethnic and religious differences. In terms of teacher education there are two important issues to explore. Firstly, there is a need for teachers to better understand cultural diversity, and any specific cultural and religious issues facing their school population (Ben-Moshe and Halafoff 2014). Secondly, it is important for students from a minority culture that is discriminated against to be able to experience a safe environment—in our case study the SRI/SRE classes. One of the main aims of teaching is to provide a secure zone. The teaching-learning experience can be seen as an act of security and protection, as a moment of wearing a shield of hope to be better equipped against the possible storms in the outside world (Feuerverger 2007). Thus, teachers need to be informed

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about this need. Those members in REENA, who were strongly opposed to separate religious classes, needed to be exposed to this different narrative so that the needs of the small minority groups such as Baha’is, Hindus and other Eastern faiths, as well as the Abrahamic faiths, will be catered for, as suggested in the statement of principles (See reena.net.au/images/REENAPRINCIPLES.pdf). Secondly, it is important to educate not only classroom teachers but also school principals and administrators in how to respond in a positive fashion to problems of racial discrimination that occur in the playground, despite the best efforts of official government policies and the care taken by teachers in the classroom. Our findings showed that the principals involved responded with denial. Hence, better strategies need to be developed to enable principals to acknowledge religious and racial problems in the playground, establish better policies for handling complaints and to assist both principals and teachers to deal with these problems. The importance of the role played principals is one of the factors which can help in terms of building intercultural capabilities within their school and this also applies to understanding and dealing with religious bullying. More professional development for principals would be beneficial in this area, and indeed it has been found that ongoing professional development for principals and teachers over the long term does make a difference in terms of intercultural understandings (Halse et al. 2015). Through creative and inspiring educational programming, schools need to break the cycle of stereotypical views about Jews being passed down in the playground (Gross 2008), and the same principle applies to other religious and ethnic groups. Thus, schools need to educate the children explicitly about the problem of stereotypes and initiate systematic intervention programs to combat it. Bullying is first and foremost a violation of human rights, and understanding this phenomenon should be an integral part of the school curriculum, reporting and assessment processes, teacher education and teaching standards agendas. There has been insufficient research as to how this phenomenon manifests itself in the playground and to what extent the children are influenced by their school peers, and to what extent by their home background and other factors in society. The prevalence of religious and racial stereotypes in Australia could also apply to Asians and the indigenous population, both of whom have been the objects of long-standing negative images dating back to nineteenth century Australia. Racist bullying has been denied or minimised, by claiming that such attacks are simply part of “normal” children’s behavior in the playground. Through our research, we have shown that children are being bullied for their religious beliefs, with Muslim and Jewish children being particularly affected by this problem. More research is needed on school-based racism and bigotry, including the reasons why children need to display religious prejudice. This will contribute to developing strategies to break this vicious generational cycle.

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References Adalbjarnardottir S (2010) Passion and purpose: teacher professional development and student social and civic growth. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 737–764 Anderson A, Hamilton RJ, Hattie J (2004) Classroom climate and motivated behaviour in secondary schools. Learning Environ Res 7(3):211–225 Ben-Moshe D (2011) Antisemitism in Canberra schools: Report to the ACT Jewish Community, Inc. Unpublished report for the ACT Jewish community Ben Moshe D, Halafoff A (2014) Antisemitism and Jewish Children and Youth in Australia’s Capital Territory Schools. Social Inclusion 2(2):47–56 Byrne C (2013) “Free, compulsory and (not) secular”: the failed idea in Australian education. J Religious Hist 37(1):20–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9809.2011.01163.x Byrne C (2009) Public school religious education and the “Hot Potato” of religious diversity. J Religious Educ 57(3):26–37 Carey A (2019) Jewish boys taunted in shocking cases of anti-Semitic bullying at Melbourne schools. The Age, October 3. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/jewish-boys-tauntedin-anti-semitic-bullying-at-melbourne-schools-20191003-p52xen.html. Accessed 6 August 2020 Côté JE (2005) Identity capital, social capital and the wider benefits of learning: generating resources facilitative of social cohesion. London Rev Educ 3(3):221–237 de Souza M (2014) Religious identity and plurality amongst Australian Catholics: inclusions, exclusions and tensions. J Study Religion 27(1):210–233 Due C, Riggs DW (2010) Playing at the edges: use of playground spaces in South Australian primary schools with new arrivals programmes. Soc Geogr 5(1):25–37 Dunn KM, Forrest J, Burnley I, McDonald A (2004) Constructing racism in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues 39(4):409–430 Dunn K, Forest J, Ip D, Babacan H, Paradies Y and Pedersen A (2008) Challenging racism: the antiracism research project. In University of Western Sydney. http://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/ pdf_file/0020/42185/State_level_comparison_for_4Rs_conference.pdf. Accessed 6 August 2020 Feuerverger G (2007) Teaching, learning and other miracles. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam Gross Z (2010) Reflective teaching as a path to religious meaning-making and growth. Religious Educ 105(3):265–282 Gross Z (2008) Combatting stereotypes and prejudice as a moral endeavour. In: Oser FK, Veugelers W (eds) Getting involved: global citizenship development and sources of moral values. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp 293–306 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2014) Combatting antisemitism in the school playground: an Australian case study. Patterns of Prejudice 48(3):309–330 Gross Z, Rutland SD (2015) Creating a safe place: SRE teaching as an act of security and identity formation in government schools in Australia. British J Religious Educ 38(1):30–46. https://doi. org/10.1080/01416200.2015.1025699 Halse C, Mansouri F, Moss J, Paradies Y, O’Mara J, Arber R, Denson N, Arrowsmith C, Priest N, Charles C, Cloonan A, Fox B, Hartung C, Mahoney C, Ohi S, Ovenden C, Shaw G and Wright L (2015) Doing Diversity: intercultural understanding in primary and secondary schools. An Australian Research Council Linkage Project Final Report 2015. Melbourne: Deakin University Hawkes N (2010) Values education and the National Curriculum in England. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 225–238 Henry N, Kurzak K (2013) A multicultural Australia. https://www.australiancollaboration.com.au/ pdf/FactSheets/Multicultural-Australia-FactSheet.pdf. Accessed 19 February 2020 Iner D (2018) Islamophobia in Australia II, 2016–2017, Sydney: Charles Sturt University and ISRA, 2019. https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/3338081/Islamophobia-Report2019-Low-RES24-November.pdf. Accessed 7 August 2020

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Jackson R (2014) Signposts: policy and practice for teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews in intercultural education. Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg Kibler JM (1996) Latino voices in children’s literature: instructional approaches for developing cultural understanding in the classroom. In Judith Leblanc Flores (Ed.), Children of La Frontera: binational efforts to serve Mexican migrant and immigrant students (pp. 239–268). Denver: Eric Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Markus A (2012) Mapping social cohesion 2011: the Scanlon Foundation survey, Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements, Monash University, Victoria. https://www.monash.edu/map ping-population/public-opinion/surveys/scanlon-foundation-surveys, Executive Summary, 1–2. Accessed 1 February 2012 Meyer-Adams N, Conner BT (2008) School violence: bullying behaviours and the psychosocial school environment in middle schools. Children & Schools 30(4):211–221 Moss I, Castan R (1991) Racist violence: report of the national inquiry into racist violence in Australia. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra Moulin D (2015a) “Reconsidering religious education and religious identity construction: implications for teachers” (guest lecture) Dortmund Technical University, Germany, December 2, 2015 Moulin D (2015b) Religious identity choices in English secondary schools. Br Edu Res J 41(3):489– 504. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3151 Nathan J (2019) Report on antisemitism in Australia, 1 October 2018–30 September 2019. Sydney: Executive Council of Australian Jewry Noddings N (1992) The challenge to care in schools: an alternative approach to education. Teachers College Press, New York Richardson R (2006) Playgrounds, the press and preventing racism: a case study. Forum 48(2):181– 188. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/forum.2006.48.2.181. Accessed 6 August 2020 Rutland SD (2001) Edge of the diaspora: two centuries of Jewish settlement in Australia. Holmes and Meier, New York Rutland SD (2010) Creating effective Holocaust education programmes for government schools with large Muslim populations in Sydney. In Z Gross and ED Stevick (Eds.), Policies and practices of Holocaust education: international Perspectives, vol 1, PROSPECTS: Quarterly Rev Comparative Educ 40(1):75–91 Rutland SD (2015) Genocide or Holocaust education: exploring different Australian approaches for Muslim school children. In: Gross Z, Stevick ED (eds) As the witnesses fall silent: 21st century Holocaust education in curriculum, policy and practice. Springer, Geneva, pp 225–243 Schachter E, Galili-Schachter I (2012) Identity literacy: reading and teaching texts as resources for identity formation. Teachers College Record 114:1–37 Shollenberger K (2007) Student theater confronts controversy to create safer middle school communities. Middle School Journal 38(5):32–40 Short G (2003) Faith schools and social cohesion: opening up the debate. British J Religious Educ 25(2):129–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/0141620030250205 Short G (2002) Faith based schools: a threat to social cohesion? J Philos Educ 36(4):559–572 Stake RE (2000) Case studies. In: Denzin NK, Lincoln YS (eds) Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage, pp 435–453 Taft J, Markus A (2011) Antisemitism, No 4, Report Series of the GEN08, Monash University. http:// artsonline.monash.edu.au/gen08/antisemitism. Accessed 27 March 2014 Tavan G (2005) The long slow death of white Australia. Scribe, Carlton North, VIC Wilton J, Bosworth R (1984) Old worlds and new Australia: the post-war migrant experience, Penguin, Ringwood, VIC and New York Tirri K, Sorri H, Pruuki L (2006) Teachers’ views on meaningful learning in the context of applied theological studies. In: Tirri K (ed) Religion, spirituality and identity. Peter Lang, Bern, pp 221–234

Part III

Bringing SRE into the Twenty-First Century

Chapter 9

Pedagogic Approaches

Abstract While SRE can continue to contribute to social cohesion and a healthy society, pedagogic approaches need to be updated so that they can comply with current educational theory and government policy. This chapter will discuss key pedagogic strategies which need to be introduced. These include the need to combine both socialisation and education in the SRE/RI classroom; to foster a constructivist approach to teaching about the religion rather than an essentialist approach; to draw on the techniques of experiential and informal education; and to ensure reflective rather than an instrumental teaching and learning pedagogy, including the implementation of the interpretative approach as delineated by Robert Jackson. This will ensure that SRE/RI creates bricoleur teachers who draw on critical religious pedagogy, encouraging students to ask questions, express doubts and through a process of questioning and exploration pass through the threshold of liminality to have a transformative experience (Meyer and Land in Overcoming barriers to student understanding: threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge, Routledge, London and New York, 2006; Cousin in Planet 17:1–2, 2006; and Rymarz in J Adult Theological Educ 13:163–170, 2016). As well, there needs to be a higher level of transparency and accountability through clear and accessible curriculum statements, teacher accreditation and basic, mandatory professional development to enable this transition from a didactic, essentialist approach, criticised in academic studies, to a constructivist approach. We shall argue that SRE/RI teachers see their role as a vocation but if they can be assisted to incorporate these key elements of current educational thinking into their teaching and learning, SRE/RI classes will address current criticisms and be much more effective.

9.1 Introduction In this age of pluralism and multiculturalism, a new approach is needed to special religious education which incorporates modern educational theories and pedagogy which are constructivist, rather than the traditional didactic approaches which are essentialist. Research highlights the need to avoid indoctrination, whether from the supporters of SRE/RI or from those who are strongly opposed due to their secular © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_9

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or atheistic beliefs (Davies 2014). Baidhawy (2007) argues that it is important for confessional religious education to avoid taking a dogmatic, indoctrinating approach to the teaching and learning processes because students in contemporary society react negatively to such an approach which can also affect students’ health and wellbeing. Religious educators can be assisted to take a critical and reflective approach in their teaching through professional development of confessional religious educators. The essence of this is asking critical questions and facilitating the skills of listening and responding through the use of experiential education techniques. Dogmatism has been defined as indoctrination which “entails the inculcation of attitudes and beliefs that are contested, where there is intent to instil those beliefs, and where the methods circumvent important arguments or evidence” (Merry 2018, p. 164). Religious education can be seen as “guilty of indoctrination if and when they discourage rational thinking and instead opt for coercive forms of faith indoctrination” (Merry 2018, p. 164). As discussed earlier in the book, both Hitchens (2007) and Dawkins (2006) have argued that religions involve indoctrination of children because they do not meet the criteria of rational evidence. For Hand (2003, 2004), the teaching of faith does not meet the criteria of rational, decisive evidence and as such all confessional, in-faith education is indoctrination and should be abolished. At the same time, indoctrination is seen as harmful and has also been described as “child abuse” (Hitchens 2007; Dawkins 2006). These arguments are extended by Taylor (2017) who discusses in more depth why indoctrination is harmful, and the ethical implications for teachers and policy-makers. She argues that indoctrination poses a threat to both knowledge and understanding because it encourages closedmindedness which can have a long-term negative effect on students, although these effects may be overcome with the passage of time. A closed-minded person is “psychologically incapable of engaging in rational enquiry as a result of brainwashing… to be open minded, an agent must be open to intellectual good. She must be receptive to opportunities to improve her knowledge and understanding” (p. 47). Taylor analyses the key elements of being open-minded, which she describes as “virtues” as having “intellectual humility, intellectual courage and intellectual diligence” (p. 47). These issues of the problems of dogmatism and indoctrination support the Australian scholars’ critique of SRE/RI (Byrne 2009, 2014; Maddox 2014; Bouma and Halafoff 2009). They claim that SRE/RI teachers take an indoctrinating approach, discouraging their students from asking difficult questions and from seeking to explore existential issues relating to religious beliefs. However, as this study has demonstrated, there are many positive features of retaining SRE/RI for those parents and students who makes this choice. By improving the teaching and learning of SRE/RI and bringing the pedagogy into the twenty-first century, the problems discussed by these scholars can be mitigated. SRE/RI teachers should be encouraged to become critical religious educators who can act as “pedagogic bricoleurs” and respond to complex and contested questions (Zembylas et al. 2019). In this chapter, we shall first discuss the current pedagogic approaches which it is important to utilise for the teaching and learning of SRE/RI drawing on the theoretical literature, then revisit the findings of the 2015 New South Wales Report. Following this discussion we shall examine the interviewees’ responses to the question relating to pedagogy

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and then discuss the results of these findings, as well as drawing conclusions about these issues.

9.2 Current Educational Theories and Pedagogy In recent years the concept has emerged that teachers and students need to be “pedagogic bricoleurs”, and this includes researchers “who utilise a multiplicity of theories, concepts, methodologies and pedagogies” (Freathy et al. 2017, p. 425). This section draws on a multiplicity of theories and concepts in order to understand how the teaching and learning of SRE/RI can be improved. Current education theory argues that there is a difference between socialisation and education and to achieve the best results a combination of both is required. As well, in the contemporary world, a didactic, essentialist approach to education is seen as producing negative results and forms the basis of dogmatism and indoctrination. Instead students need to be encouraged to explore and ask questions—what is termed taking a constructivist approach which recognises complexity and contested ideas; this is particularly important in religious education. To achieve this goal, teachers need to draw on both experiential and informal education techniques so that the teaching and learning processes are student- rather than teacher-oriented. Above all, SRE/RI teachers need to encourage a reflective approach, which follows what Jackson (1997) has termed “interpretative” religious education. These concepts are discussed in the following sections.

9.2.1 Socialisation and Education Within the context of SRE, a combination of socialisation and education is required. Austrian-born American sociologist, Peter Berger (1990 [1967]), defines socialisation as a “learning process” which enables one generation to transmit its cultural values to the next generation, thereby initiating them into ‘the meanings of the culture’ (p. 15). The new generation ‘learns to participate in its established tasks and to accept the roles as well as the identities that make up its social structure’ (p. 15). Socialisation is important in terms of fostering group identity, relating to both ethnic and religious education, and allows for a holistic approach. Berger, however, emphasises that socialisation not only involves learning about an objective meaning but also incorporating and being shaped by these meanings. Thus, he explains the need of the individual “to draw them into himself and to make them his meanings” (p. 15). However, to successfully achieve this goal, there needs to be a symmetry between “the objective world of society and the subjective world of the individual” (p. 15). Educational historian, Lawrence Cremin, defines “education” as “the deliberate, systematic and sustained effort to transmit, evoke or acquire knowledge, attitudes, values, skills or sensibilities as well as any outcomes of that effort” (1977, p. viii).

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Joseph Reimer (2007) argues that education involves three types of deliberate activities: transmitting knowledge (in terms of transferring information); evoking knowledge (in terms of involving students in the learning process more actively); and, from the learner’s perspective, acquiring knowledge, where students initiate the learning on their own volition. Socialisation and education are in fact complementary processes. Within the context of Jewish education, Reimer argues that “socialization gets Jews to a point where they experience Jewish life as plausible; education allows them to make Judaism personally and communally meaningful” (2007, p. 21). This understanding applies to all religious education. Following Reimer, Jeffrey Kress (2014) argues that socialisation allows for the initiation of students as “a gateway to education” (Reimer 2007, p. 14), but that for effective education to occur, this needs to go beyond the social interaction to facilitate a deeper level of learning (Raviv 2000). In other words, when we are talking about SRE, socialisation means to get the students to a point where they experience religious life, while education enables the students to make religion meaningful both at the individual level and within their faith community (Gross and Rutland 2017a, b). Socialisation usually takes place in informal settings and, in many cases, it resides where experiential education also occurs. Thus, experiential learning and informality are the medium where socialisation and education can be fostered in a complementary manner in order to initiate students into their cultural and religious heritage (Berger 1990 [1967]). These concepts are central to understanding the value of SRE as being part of a child’s holistic education for those families who choose it, because SRE allows for a combination of the socialisation of the students into their specific cultural and religious heritage, as well as providing moral education for a set of values.

9.2.2 Essentialist vs Constructivist It is very important for SRE teachers to use a constructivist approach for SRE teaching, but many do not understand what this means and how it compares with an essentialist approach. Sagi (2002) distinguishes between essentialist and constructivist definitions of identity. The essentialist definition assumes that the “self” has political/religious/cultural characteristics that are independent of the historical, cultural, and social contexts within which it is situated. The constructivist approach assumes that personal identity is constructed and produced within the historical, cultural, and social contexts. Whereas an essentialist approach emphasises the holistic, harmonious, static aspect of identity, the constructivist approach emphasises the fragmentary, dialectic, and constructive nature of identity. The essence of much of the strong criticism of SRE as discussed above lies in its essentialist approach. Hence, this report argues for SRE teachers to be enabled to employ a more open-ended, constructivist approach in their classes. Research has shown that the current generation responds better to concepts that are adapted to their

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personal lives through interactive learning (Twenge 2009, p. 398), especially when it relates to the process of religious education. SRE teaching needs to encourage participation and exploration, drawing on informal learning techniques and experiential, interactive pedagogic strategies, which facilitate relevance and a better understanding of their identity.

9.2.3 Experiential Learning At the centre of informal education is the need for students to actually experience for themselves what is being conveyed. There is a debate among scholars regarding how to delineate the boundary between “informal” and “experiential” education. Recently, some scholars have argued that the term “informal” refers to the setting, such as camps compared with the formal classroom situation, while the term “experiential” refers to the teaching methodology or approach and is not necessarily tied to either setting (Kress 2014; Bryfman 2008). Learning through experience is a “process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience” (Kolb 1984, p. 41). According to Jeff Jacobs, experiential learning is “a process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skills, and value from direct experiences” (Jacobs 1999, p. 51). Joseph and Rea Zajda differentiate between experiential learning theory (ELT) and experiential learning, with the latter relating to “a classroom strategy where pedagogues create a cooperative learning environment, engaging learners in a meaning-making process” (Zajda and Zajda 2008, p. 243). ELT, on the other hand, refers to the theoretical basis relating to “experimental learning”, stressing “the significance of life experience in learning” on which those classroom strategies are based (pp. 242–243). Learning through experience is “a process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience” (Kolb 1984, p. 14). In today’s secular society, this transformational approach is particularly required in religious education. The concept of experiential learning began with John Dewey. As a science teacher using experiments both in the laboratory and in the field as part of his pedagogy, he recognised the importance of experience in the learning process, which he analysed in his seminal book, Experience and Education (Dewey 1963 [1938]). Experiential learning provides opportunities for students to be actively engaged in the learning process. Students can thus move away from being recipients of information to active knowledge acquisition. However, in the second chapter of his book, headed “The Need of a Theory of Experience”, Dewey distinguishes between experiences which are educationally worthwhile and those which are not. He posits that: The belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative. Experience and education cannot be directly equated to each other. For some experiences are mis-educative. Any experience is mis-educative that has the effect of arresting or distorting the growth of further experience.

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An experience may be such as to engender callousness; it may produce lack of sensitivity and of responsiveness. (p. 13)

Dewey relates to an “experiential continuum”, through which one experience generates another experience (p. 17). He concludes that “the central problem of an education based upon experience is to select the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequent experiences” (p. 45). From this point of view, “every experience both takes up something from those which have gone before and modifies in some way the quality of those which come after” (p. 27). Hence, every experience can be seen as a “moving force”, whose “value can be judged only on the ground of what it moves toward and into” (p. 31). A primary responsibility of educators is not only to be aware of the general principle of shaping an actual experience, but also to recognise that experience should lead to growth. According to Dewey, experiences are pre-planned educational devices which consciously and intentionally utilise the potential embedded within the social and physical surroundings of the individual to enhance specific educational ends meant to construct and deconstruct the individual’s worldview, value system and moral code. A number of scholars have analysed the elements of experiential education. According to Bernard Reisman (1991), religious and moral experiential education involves four main elements: (1) the needs of the participants; (2) the creation of effective group contexts; (3) the development of a trusting atmosphere; and (4) the encouragement of participants to explore. Barry Chazan (2003) added four more characteristics: (5) the centrality of the experience; (6) developing a curriculum of religious and moral experiences and values; (7) creating a culture of religious and moral education; and (8) ensuring that this is facilitated by a holistic religious and moral education. All of these characteristics need to be part of a well-integrated educational program (Reimer 2007). The list of these elements has been further refined by Kress (2014), who delineates a differently weighted set of eight components. These begin with the need for a holistic program; the importance of activities which are interpersonal, engaging and fun; include social and emotional dynamics; are learner-centred; provide scaffolding opportunities for reflection; involve continuity rather than “one-shot” programs; incorporate challenges; and encourage facilitation, rather than being didactic (p. 324). These elements are part of an immersion learning situation. Key sociocultural elements in pedagogy are also often neglected in the religious education discourse. Referring to Vygotsky (1978), Greenfield and Lave (1982) have argued that learning involves three basic strategies: trial and error, shaping, and scaffolding. Cristancho and Vining (2009, p. 234) argued that trial and error involves a more individual process, whereas shaping and scaffolding are more communal and experiential in approach. A key element of experiential education is student participation in the learning process. Sfard distinguished between two kinds of discourses: acquisition (learning knowledge), and participation (being part of the broader religious discourse) (Sfard 1998, 2007). Many schools, particularly within faith-based schools, tend to focus on acquisition rather than participation.

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SRE pedagogy needs to understand the importance of experiential learning and incorporate all the elements discussed above into its teaching and learning strategies. For example, when teaching about care and compassion, the students can raise funds to buy sweets and presents for very sick children in children’s hospitals. Thus, as well as being participatory and experiential learning, they can also experience the joy of giving and assisting others who are less fortunate than themselves. Through experiencing this compassion, they will fully understand its importance.

9.2.4 Informal Education While the term “informal” was introduced into the educational lexicon in the early 1970s to contrast with the formal classroom situation, one of the main problems of the investigation of informal systems was the lack of a systematic analytical theory. Reuven Kahane’s “code of informality” (Kahane 1997, pp. 9–11, 23–27) has helped to fill this gap. Referring to youth movements, Kahane claimed that the difference between formal and informal organisations does not lie in their goals or in the way they function, but rather in the codes of behaviour underlying them. Inspired by American sociologist Talcott Parsons’ code of behaviour (Parsons 1967), Kahane attempted to define the code which characterises informal education, using terminology derived from psychology, sociology and philosophy. According to Kahane (1997), the code of informality (in the context of adolescent learning) consists of the following eight components: 1. Voluntarism: The choice to join or leave the activity, thereby increasing the adolescent’s bargaining power and commitment to values. 2. Multiplexity: A wide spectrum of activities which have equal value and meet the different areas of interest of the individual. 3. Symmetry: A balanced reciprocal relationship based on equivalence of resources and mutuality of expectations where no side can impose his or her will on the other. 4. Dualism: Adolescents can simultaneously function in different categories; they can compete and collaborate like children or like adults. 5. Moratorium: Adolescents temporarily postpone their duties and decisions, allowing them to undergo a process of trial and error in different roles and rules. Moratorium enables behavior which is simultaneously normative, radical and innovative. 6. Modularity: Activities are constructed eclectically according to changing interests and circumstances. A system is modular if it consists of units which can be changed or organized differently. This enables participants to adopt and adapt themselves to different circumstances, making the system more flexible. 7. Expressive instrumentalism: Activities which are performed for their own sake and as a means to achieve future goals.

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8. Pragmatic symbolism: Ascribing symbolic significance to deeds or the interpretation of symbols as deeds. Man is a symbolic creature. We can understand human beings if we analyze the symbols and concepts which they use. (pp. 23–30) Kahane’s typology enables us to conceptualise and better understand the informal code dimension and its complexity. The challenge for experiential learning in informal settings is to create a meaningful connection between socialisation and education. As Reimer stresses, ‘fun can be a vital facilitator of Jewish experience”, but there is a need to “design activities that simultaneously demand and delight” (Reimer 2007, p. 22). While this deeper level of approach ensures that the learning is not superficial, implementing such a complicated approach is challenging, and this is a challenge which SRE teachers need to understand and incorporate. In a longitudinal study (2008–2015) undertaken by the authors of an information religious education camp called Counterpoint, we found that most of the directors found it difficult to incorporate and integrate both socialisation and education (Gross and Rutland 2017b). Some of the directors focused more on the socialisation element while others focused more on the educational elements. However, these binary approaches were problematic. Those who focused on socialisation ensured that the students had fun, but they did not take away with them any in-depth and meaningful religious messages; whilst those who focused more on education, failed to take into account the importance of socialisation as a gateway to that education. In a follow-up study, a key Jewish educator explained the importance of both approaches: Definitely both – Judaism cannot be relegated to the cognitive or emotional alone. One of the first questions I am often asked on Counterpoint is what it’s like to keep Shabbat and other meaningful religious activities. In response I ask the person to describe the taste of Coca-Cola to someone that has never drunk liquid before. They generally begin to stammer: “its fizzy … smooth … refreshing … black in colour …” “Yes”, I say, “but what does it taste like?” “What about love?”, I ask. “What does it feel like?” … They reply that one needs to taste coke or feel love. It is impossible to reduce flavours, textures and familiarities to mere technical principles, for cerebral understanding cannot achieve the same tactile sensation or palpable feeling as authentic experience. The same is true with the power and philosophy of Judaism. (Head of Informal Education, Gross and Rutland, 2017b, p. 43)

Thus, Counterpoint aims to operate at many different levels, and to combine both cognitive and affective knowledge effectively. Yet, we heard very critical comments from some students, graduates and parents, reflecting the difficult challenge of combining socialisation and education. One student complained about the lack of educational challenge at his camp: So, definitely I would 100 per cent say more learning … right now they’re catering for the middle. But if you incorporate more logical thinking ways … that will maybe cater for the two separate [groups], the religious and the logical [more secular]. (Female student, Year 11, 2015)

The role the educator plays in experiential education is crucial in challenging students to dive deeper, creating an environment which facilitates the combination of socialisation and education. As Reimer stresses, the presence of “a trustworthy and talented

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educator who can sponsor that venture and model its rewards” is a key element in this religious educational practice (p. 21). This complicated process redefines the educational approach, and requires a deeper understanding of the functions of socialisation and education and their differences. For this development to occur in the teaching and learning of the SRE classes, the educators need to understand the importance of reflection.

9.2.5 Reflective Teaching and Learning In addition to incorporating experiential and informal teaching and learning techniques into the SRE classroom, reflection is another key component in effective pedagogy. Well-known German philosopher, Jürgen Habermas (2006), argued that all human knowledge is influenced by people’s interests. He delineated three levels of knowledge. The first was pragmatic—for human development knowing where sources of food existed, and moving from there to growing the food and the subsequent technological developments. The second level was influenced by symbols developed within a cultural and social context including language, social constructs and cultural symbols (Crotty 2010, p. 635). The third level was self-reflective and critical. Reflective teaching enables a teacher to examine what she is doing in the classroom and how she can improve her approaches for the future. As such, in relation to pedagogy, this third level of knowledge is very important and can be shared by students as well as by teachers (Gross 2010). In terms of such critical pedagogy, which is an important element of reflective teaching, a new revolutionary approach is that of critical pedagogy which draws on the concern for the oppressed (Freire 1970/2003; Giroux 2003; Crawford 2010; McLaren 2017). McLaren (2017) argues that critical pedagogy can represent a variety of concepts including with the main aim of giving “students a personal voice and agency” (p. 9). This concept mainly applies to overturning the existing social order, but it can also relate to “the idea that the critical religious educator should draw students into critical discussion of religious truth claims” (Zembylas et al. 2019, p. 170). This concept of critical pedagogy is important for reflective teaching as compared with the instrumental approach where only one truth is acceptable and students are discouraged from expressing doubt.

9.2.6 Differences Between Instrumental and Reflective Teaching Styles Pedagogical literature distinguishes between instrumental teachers, who consider their principal function to be the transmission of knowledge in areas of specific behaviours, rules and customs (Keiny 1993, 1998), and reflective teachers, who

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examine knowledge critically and inquisitively enabling an analysis of experiences, thereby conceptualising practical knowledge and transforming it into theories of action (Zeichner 1994; Schon 1987, 1988). The structure of instrumental discourse is rigid, objective, and of an empirical nature, whereas the structure of reflective discourse is tentative, subjective, and constructivist. These two kinds of discourse are discussed below dichotomously. However, in reality, they function as part of a continuum, which may have a combination of components. These two conceptually different pedagogic approaches are particularly relevant to SRE, with research clearly illustrating the value of reflective teaching for SRE (Gross 2010). Reflection deals primarily with meaning-making based on experience (Dewey 1963 [1938]). Rodgers (2002) claims that “the creation of meaning out of experience is at the very heart of what it means to be human” (p. 848). Meaning-making is also one of the essences of religiosity (Oser 1991) and religious education (Tirri et al. 2006). Thus, it seems that the meeting between reflection and religiosity is a natural one, since both are the products of an experience that makes human beings unique in the universe. Religious education prepares individuals to be aware of God at all times, to believe in God’s existence, sense God’s sublime presence, and act in accordance with Divine commandments and imperatives. According to the instrumental approach, the school curriculum is a finished product that includes a structured collection of educational activities. It is the teacher’s task to develop a variety of teaching methods and skills with the objective of elevating the quantity and quality of the religious product (that is the extent of religious observance among students) and their “religious consumption” (after Willis 2003, who coined the term “cultural consumption”). Teachers who employ the instrumental approach function according to the basic assumption that the corpus of religious knowledge they are charged with imparting to their students is objective, structured, and organised. Consequently, the learning process involves the passive reception of messages, and the teacher’s role is the systematic transmission of the requisite knowledge. The reflective approach, in contrast, maintains that the religious education curriculum is neither fixed nor predictable but is part of a dynamic process of interaction between the learner and the knowledge. It perceives the goal of teaching as the structuring of religious socialisation to yield proactive learners whose religious commitment is part of their personal structuring and the result of the internalisation of religious knowledge. Such knowledge emerges and evolves as a result of interaction with the environment and constitutes an integral part of cognition (see Gutierrez and Rogoff 2003). Accordingly, the learning process entails the active structuring of religious knowledge and its implications on religious praxis. The teacher’s role is to foster students’ development as independent learners who structure and “own” their religious knowledge, in keeping with their individual intellectual tendencies, diverse motivations and styles of learning, and other personal traits (see Gutierrez and Rogoff 2003). Reflective teachers learn to respond to students’ differential learning needs, account for the variance in their individual points of entry into the learning process, and design teaching methods to supply anchors and mediation that ensure their progress (McEntee et al. 2003).

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The forms of reflection within the context of religious education translate into differential emphases on the teaching of religious skills (technical), the decision to adopt a religious lifestyle under the inspiration of assorted religious ideologies and schools of thought, such as in Judaism ultra-Orthodox, modern Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and the like (practical), and criticism of religious theory and practice from an ethical–social standpoint (critical). The first two types of reflection relate to the instrumental teaching method and the third to reflective–constructivist teaching. Under certain circumstances, practical reflection may also involve a critical approach.

9.2.7 Religious Education: Which Teaching Style Is Better? The question of whether the instrumental or the reflective style of teaching is more appropriate for religious education is a complex one and depends on the developmental stage of the student’s religious identity and thinking (Bosma and Kunnen 2001). It also relates to the issue of age appropriateness, which is a key element in the recommendations of the 2015 Review. According to Fowler (1981), the higher the stage of religious development, the greater the autonomy exercised in religious reasoning. Thus, instrumental teaching seems more suited to the needs of the early stages of religious development, whereas reflective teaching would be more appropriate to the developmental needs of the later stages. A study of religious schools in Israel found that the style of most of the religious education teachers is instrumental; only a small minority of those interviewed utilised reflective strategies. However, these teachers had a meaningful impact on their students’ religious socialisation processes. In general, teachers who maintain a tentative and open-ended worldview are perceived as more conducive to the shaping of a stable and coherent religious world for students than are those who adhere to a more rigid outlook on life. The interviewees stressed the central role of the teacher as a model of respect and openness. This served as a catalyst for transformation and growth. In an Israeli study of attitudes of students studying in the Ulpana system (the more religious and selective schools in Israel), the respondents recoiled from discourse of an empirical nature that utilised objective evidence and preferred discourse of a constructivist nature (Gross 2010). In some sense, by displaying respect, caring, and concern for their students, Ulpana teachers were conceived both as more human and as embodying “shades of the ultimate Being,” thereby playing an important role in moulding their students’ religious judgment. In contrast, the religious development and identity formation in comprehensive government religious high schools are developed through coercion and punishment. Students considered this approach to be less effective, apparently because of the negative interaction between teachers and students on religious issues (Fisherman 2016; Gross 2010). In general, pedagogic religious discourse in the school context incorporates very little reflection on reflection (van Manen 1991), an approach considered unsuited to the spirit of most religious schools, which value their role as agents of religious

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preservation (apparently because of reflection’s critical slant). The teachers delivered what they wanted to teach and not what the students wanted to learn (see also Rodgers 2002). As such, it is not surprising that only a few students, who attended schools considered highly liberal, described the pedagogic structuring of their religious identity as a critical process of reflection. There is something extremely human about this reflective approach. The reflective process incorporates an honesty and religious authenticity that transforms the encounter with the sublime into a very personal experience. The move beyond political correctness is called by Vacarr (2001) “the cultivation of mindful presence” (p. 292). These moments where the teacher “sacrifices his own humanity” (p. 292) are “teachable moments” that have a long-lasting educational impact on students. Thus, Gross (2010) has demonstrated that the use of a monologue approach in religious education, creating a pedagogic–religious style of rhetoric, including conventional religious slogans, clichés, and “closed” religious messages, was perceived as limited and ineffective. In some cases, this instrumental and authoritarian approach led to post-school religious rebellion (Gross 2003). In contrast, religious education that employs reflection, including dialogue between teacher and student, and within the teacher’s inner self, using open-ended and even half-formed messages, is perceived as more meaningful in structuring the religious world of adolescents and shaping their religious integrity and coherence, particularly in the long term. Such an approach is important in responding to student doubts and what has also been referred to as “troublesome knowledge” or a “roadblock” to students’ understanding. In terms of responding to this challenge, Meyer and Land (2003, 2006) developed the “Threshold Concept (TC)” where students start to deal with such knowledge by entering the threshold, passing through a liminal state before moving to a new understanding which is described as transformative. The liminal state, which is visualised as a tunnel (Land et al. 2014), is the area occupied while the process of mastery of the new concepts takes place (Cousin 2006). Scholars have outlined nine main elements in the threshold concept, which include “jewels in the curriculum”, that is “potentially powerful transformative points” in the teaching and learning process; “listening for understanding”, that is for the teacher to listen to the students’ concerns and uncertainty and then guide them to the new knowledge; “a holding environment for toleration of confusion” where teachers can accept that students may be confused and keep them in the liminal state; and “recursiveness and excursiveness”, reinforcing “the critique of a simplistic, linear learning approach outcome” (Cousin 2006, p. 2). Once the student, understands the new concept, there is no returning to the old knowledge because the student has gained a new understanding, so that the whole experience is transformative (Rymarz 2016). Rymarz (2016) has noted that “at its heart teaching TC [threshold concept] is a pedagogical imperative. How it is done depends very much on the content of the topic” (p. 167). Whilst the threshold concept has largely been applied to scientific, mathematical and business studies, it can also apply in the humanities, the caring professions studies (Clouder 2005), when students can undergo a transformative process, when they start to work in the field during their studies, and also with religious education and theology (Rymarz 2016). There are many complex issues in

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religious beliefs, such as understanding the concept of God, or for Christianity the concept of the Trinity, as well as issues relating to the relationship of science and religious and interpreting religious texts (Rymarz 2016). Morales and Barnes (2018) have investigated how a general religious studies program which involved experiential techniques could also enable students to pass through threshold and transform their views on the role of religion in the postmodern world. Understanding the threshold concept can contribute to a reflective, constructivist and positive approach to religious education pedagogy. Processes of a positive nature in religious education have a constructivist influence attesting to attachment, caring, and mutual respect. Processes of a rejective nature in religious education have a castrating influence. What constructs the religious horizons of the students in the long run is more the form than the content; into these shapes and structures, students insert different contents through the course of their lives. In the religious arena, students mainly remember the unconventional constructs: those that are not functional and have a nonlinear structure. The tentative construct of the discourse is considered to be more reliable and human. We need to tighten our argument that reflective teaching is the core of SRE and the core of values education. Thus, as noted above, the moments of tentative reflection in religious education processes are considered “teachable moments” and are remembered as the climax of the educational aspects of the curriculum, as distinct from the instructional aspects. These concepts and processes are important in understanding effective pedagogy for SRE.

9.2.8 Religious Education: An Interpretative Approach In a postmodern, multicultural society, the interpretive approach of Jackson (1997) is relevant to SRE classes. This consists of three basic tenets: first, representation that is taught in ways that recognises the uniqueness of each religion, as well as the diversity which exists within individual religious traditions; second, interpretation, where students’ subjective interpretations are recognised as an essential part of the learning process within a hermeneutic context; and third, reflection, so that students can reassess their own ways of life and take a constructive, critical approach, ensuring that SRE does not indoctrinate. Further, Jackson (2014), in his book dealing with religious and intercultural education, draws on the 2010 recommendations of the Council of Europe, suggesting the need for “provision of a safe learning space to encourage expression without fear of being judged or held to ridicule” (p. 47). He argues that creating a “safe place” for a religious education student is a prerequisite, and that both policy-makers and practitioners need to take this into account. Even though he uses this concept for the issue of exploring diversity and recognising different viewpoints, he does pinpoint the need for the sensitivity of complexity of the religious education classroom, where “controversial issues are discussed and different claims to truth are made” (p. 57).

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9.2.9 Pedagogic Bricolage As discussed earlier in the book, Hervieu-Léger (2000) developed the concept of bricolage, where in contemporary societies students wish to make their own choices in terms of religious beliefs and practices. This is very different to past approaches to religious practice, where all members of society were expected to remain loyal to the religion of the group and independent agency was rejected. As we have noted, she delineates four main dimensions of religion: “communal”, “ethical”, “cultural” and “emotional” and stresses that students’ religious identity can be formed either through a combination of all four markers, or just one of these markers (HervieuLéger 1998). It is in making this type of choice where students in SRE/RI act independently that religious education teachers need to become pedagogic bricoleurs (Freathy et al. 2017; Zembylas et al. 2019; and Hervieu-Léger 1998). They need to meet this challenge, recognising and facilitating different understandings in their teaching approaches. This concept has been extended by Freathy et al. (2017) who state: “It can be argued that the greater the diversity of hermeneutical and methodological approaches, the fuller and rounder the experience of studying will be (p. 428). To achieve this aim, RE teachers, both for SRE/RI and GRE have to learn to “navigate between contested paradigms” and encourage a flexibility of approach to their students (Zembylas et al. 2019, p. 170). This includes allowing the students to question, probe and challenge the concepts they are teaching, to express doubt and to understand that students in contemporary society will have different responses to religious beliefs and teachings. These are all important issues, many of which have been discussed above, particular in relation to reflective teaching, the need for a constructivist approach, creating a safe place, and recognising the diversity of students within a SRE/RI classroom. These elements all need to be incorporated into the ongoing professional development of SRE/RI teachers, as recommended by the Department’s 2015 Review as discussed in the next section.

9.3 Pedagogic Issues: The New South Wales 2015 Review A number of the recommendations of the New South Wales 2015 Review of SRE deal with pedagogic issues. Recommendation 35 notes that: Providers seek advice from education experts (the department is one source of advice) to develop a shared understanding about what is meant by the terms: • effective pedagogies. • relevant learning experiences. • age appropriate learning experiences. (pp. xxvii–xxviii)

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The New South Wales Consultative Committee supported this recommendation, which is certainly very important in terms of bringing SRE into the twenty-first century, and providing a way forward for the other Australian states. As discussed earlier in the book, there have been major changes in Australian society, reflecting world-wide trends. However, religious curricula and the pedagogic strategies have struggled to keep up with these changes. Many SRE teachers are still using old fashioned, essentialist types of identity definitions rather than building on constructivist, pluralistic, multicultural types, which are more relevant to the needs of the twenty-first century. Thus, there is a challenge to the facilitators of SRE to make their religious education curricula more meaningful to the new generation, to ensure that their teaching approaches are not dogmatic or indoctrinating, and to recognise that intergenerational transmission involves effective teaching and learning strategies. A key issue for confessional, in-faith education is what are the most effective and relevant pedagogic approaches for this area of education. Opponents to SRE are concerned with the largely exclusively Christian orientation of these classes within the New South Wales government schools, which, they demonstrate, are becoming increasingly multi-faith and multicultural (Lovat 2010; Bouma and Halafoff 2009). As discussed in Chapter 3, Byrne’s (2009) research has demonstrated that in some Christian SRE classes in New South Wales, children have been taught that they will “burn in hell” if they are not baptised (Minus 2010). Byrne claims that the religious teachers’ approaches are authoritarian, discourage questioning and, in some cases, teach creationism. She argues that SRE teachers take an institutional approach, representing the hegemonic voice of the Church in a normative fashion, and fail to consider the voice of the “other.” As such, these opponents see SRE as a form of indoctrination, adding to the public’s suspicion of religion in schools. Referring to both confessional (SRE) and non-confessional (GRE) religious education, Miller (2018) claims that this is “deeply damaging to religious education as a whole” (p. 4). Opponents also claim that it is impossible to teach anything in a 20-min weekly class, so that the lessons are ineffective and a waste of time (Byrne 2009). The difficulties highlighted by the critics of SRE, as discussed above, can possibly be attributed to the voluntary nature and the lack of training many SRE teachers have. Most of these teachers take an instrumental approach to their teaching of their religion, rather than a reflective approach, which would facilitate questioning of key concepts and encourage the students to struggle with essential existential religious questions, validating student perspectives. Through a reflective process, SRE teachers would be enabled to introduce “teachable moments” into their classroom. Bringing the expertise of the authors of this chapter in regard to Recommendation 35 of the 2015 Review, and indeed most of the recommendations relating to teachers, pedagogy and the curriculum context, the following key issues need to be taken into account and incorporated into the teachers’ professional development. They include the need for a constructivist, rather than an essentialist approach, using experiential and informal education techniques, developing a reflective rather than an instrumental teaching approach, and implementing Jackson’s interpretative concept.

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For most SRE teachers, who are volunteers, teaching SRE is a vocation rather than a profession, and if they can be assisted in developing these techniques then they will be more successful in delivering their religious and spiritual messages for today’s society.

9.4 SRE Teaching as a Profession and/or a Vocation Most of the teachers in the NSW SRE system, as well as SEE, work on a voluntary basis, so for them, SRE teaching is very much a vocation. At the same time, they do need professional training. In developing a teacher education program for these teachers, we need to focus on the values and respect due to all people. Within this framework, Gellel (2010) sets out that are three important elements: (a) the inherent ability and need for there to be a relationship; (b) the essential element of autonomy; and (c) respect that every person is unique, unrepeatable and therefore incommensurable. (p. 171) Whilst these elements are part of humanistic belief, today they have also become part of religious teachings for the Abrahamic faiths and the Eastern religions. In religious education there is a need, on the one hand, to construct a relationship between the teacher and the students, and the students and the teaching material, which includes a corpus of knowledge and also understandings and practice of moral behavior through religious codes. However, at the same time it is important to make sure that the students can preserve their intellectual freedom and their autonomy as free human beings. Achieving this combination is a complicated challenge, but if SRE/RI teachers can be assisted to incorporate the key pedagogic elements discussed above, it will be much more feasible for them to rise to this challenge in the SRE classroom. Some of the SRE/RI teachers are very aware of these issues as discussed in the next section.

9.5 Findings The teacher interviewees responded passionately to the question on a “meaningful teaching experience”. As one Buddhist teacher expressed it, “I really like becoming an SRE teacher to share my knowledge with the children” (female SRE teacher, #2 Buddhist, New South Wales). They all stressed that they had many meaningful experiences, especially relating to their students’ love of coming to class and not wanting the lesson to end: There are many experiences actually. It’s very difficult to take one, but when I am teaching, I feel that kids really have that urge to learn the scriptures. They really want to know so many things, but in today’s fast life, in today’s – what do you call it – gadget life, they’re not

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getting that opportunity. And when I’m giving that opportunity, when I’m talking to them and when they are showing their interest, I feel it’s really meaningful. (female SRE teacher, #2 Hindu, New South Wales) I just see how much the children enjoy the classes and as I say they rush into the class. (male SRE teacher, #3 Buddhist, New South Wales)

A Hindu teacher noted that all the SRE teachers had those types of experiences and that was very meaningful to them and kept them highly motivated to continue in their voluntary work. She explained that “We share our experiences and we are able to talk to each other, and we appreciate each other and encourage each other. So that is a very good experience for me, meeting the different people with different [religious] ideologies” (female SRE teacher, #4 Hindu, New South Wales). This sense of all the SRE/RI teachers having the same positive experiences and feelings was reinforced by teachers from other faiths. As one Muslim teacher expressed: “they love to listen about their religion, love to learn about it… that sense of giving and taking and that sweet enjoyment that I get. I have a big fat smile when I come out of scripture class, it really is just that sweet enjoyment” (female SRE teacher, #1 Muslim, New South Wales). Another noted that “when they leave an activity that they’ve been doing, no matter how fun it is, they come, hug you and tell you that they love you and you’re the best” (female SRE teacher, #5 Muslim, New South Wales). Another commented “Wow, there’s so many. Because I, like I said, once I develop a rapport with these kids my most meaningful thing is when they say to me, ‘I now pray’ or ‘I put the scarf on’ or ‘I gave to charity or ‘I did this’. Everything we teach them, I see them apply it and that to me is like wow, I’ve made a difference” (female SRE teacher, #3 Muslim, New South Wales). Similarly, one Jewish RE teacher commented: “…having them connect with you and having them look forward to seeing you. And having them so engaged in the lesson that they groan when the lesson is over. That is the reason why we do this” (female SRE teacher, #1 Jewish, New South Wales). Many of the SRE teachers are part of the local community where their school is situated and they can see the impact they have made on their students, as one Muslim teacher explained: I think being recognised when you go outside of the school environment and having children appreciate you, remembering your name and wanting to chat about old school days. I’ve met them in a shopping centre or at a restaurant or something and that is really being able to see those children that I’ve taught become good community members and leaders and them appreciating and remembering me. So I think that is a really wonderful thing as an educator. (female SRE teacher, #2 Muslim, Queensland)

These interviewee responses indicate the positive experiences of both the students and the teachers in SRE/RI classes and were expressed across the six main faith traditions. They are particularly important for the minority faiths in government schools and could also be expressed by teachable moments.

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9.6 Teachable Moments A number of interviewees explained this concept of suddenly seeing children understanding what they have been trying to explain or convey. As one Muslim teacher put it: “Once you know they’re engaged and that little light [goes on in] their head and you’ve touched them in some way or inspired them in some way [and] you will go out knowing you’ve changed a life” (female SRE teacher, #3 Muslim, New South Wales). A Jewish teacher commented further: “When you take a child who doesn’t understand the concept and you work with that child continuously and then there’s a moment where you watch it suddenly sink in. There’s a look on the kid’s face when you see ‘You finally got it.’ And that is the most amazing moment” (female SRE teacher, #6 Jewish, New South Wales). Interestingly, a number of the teachers commented that prayer and meditation was central in creating teachable moments in SRE. In terms of meditation, one Hindu teacher explained: When they come to my class, because I just get into this meditation level, I could see that they are really calming down. So when the children are calming down, they are able to receive… they are very receptive… they are able to go within themselves, so that is a great experience… That is most meaningful for me. (female SRE teacher, #4 Hindu, New South Wales)

Further, commenting on prayer, one of the Baha’i teachers noted that “some of them … they don’t believe in God and they say when they are chanting those prayers, that it’s good for them” (male SRE teacher, #1 Baha’i, New South Wales). One of the Baha’i students, whose family are members of the Baha’i faith, also commented on how important learning the prayers in SRE was for him: Well, yes, in our home we’ve been learning lots of prayers but also in scripture we’ve been memorising lots of prayers. That’s been in scripture I’ve been setting my foundation, all the basic prayers and then some of the more advanced prayers and the longer ones. (male SRE graduate, #2 Baha’i, New South Wales)

Similarly a Buddhist teacher noted: We only do a short pre-pray at the beginning; it only takes about a few seconds, but the reflection on their face, the candles when they pray… It really opens my heart, and also I’m learning a lot by doing it, by helping them and helping myself. I think that it’s very important, because in just that few seconds they’ll be able to tune into themselves, and they cut themselves out of the chaotic of this world, and just being in that moment is very important. (female SRE teacher, #4 Buddhist, New South Wales)

A number of Christian RE teachers referred to examples when they were discussing something and they would see one of their students’ eyes light up as they see the connections between what they are learning and their own lives. In one case this related to the New Testament story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at a well and offering her water (female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales). In another case, this related to when the students were learning about Exodus in the Hebrew Bible and she noted:

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So when their eyes light up, they’re like oh! I hadn’t seen that, whoo! I love those moments. I love that when they, or when they just say to me Miss, I thought Jesus was always the right answer. Yes, Jesus is the right answer [chuckles], but we’re back at Moses right now. Yeah, I think that’s great. (female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales)

Similarly, one teacher described that when she was teaching about God, “seeing children’s eyes light up when you tell them that there is a God and this God is well disposed towards them; this God loves them and values them. And it just seems to resonate with them in a very special way” (female SRE teacher, #11 Christian, New South Wales). These experiences, particularly in regard to prayer and meditation are social experiences and the teachers commented on the connections between socialisation and education.

9.7 Socialisation and Education Socialisation was seen as an element by some of the SRE teachers in making the program successful. One Jewish RE teacher referred to an event she had just experienced with two boys who knew each other on the soccer field but neither realised that the other was Jewish: And they came in and you could just see it was “Oh, my goodness! We’re both Jewish. This is like awesome.” And they completely connected on a whole other level and they had a completely different respect for each other… And I love connecting those kids that may have been disconnected or not known much about Judaism and I love being able to reconnect them to the community and then as well as teach them about their heritage and other stuff through that. (female SRE teacher, #4 Jewish, New South Wales)

Prayer time can also foster socialisation, especially when students within the class take on leading the prayer service as one teacher described it: “Seeing kids want to take the lead when it comes to the prayer time we share. That they feel empowered to, … we either have a silent prayer or an out-loud prayer. And the kids get more comfortable and want to actually share an out-loud prayer with a small group” (female SRE teacher, #9 Christian, New South Wales). These community experiences with students being involved in leading prayer constitute an element of experiential education, which is an important element of religious pedagogy.

9.8 Experiential Education Experiential education was also seen as part of the SRE framework, valued by both teachers and students. The teachers used many techniques from informal education, such as songs, prayers, art, craft, music, dance, exercises, drama, for the students to

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discover for themselves key concepts in terms of values and identity. One Islamic RE curriculum developer explained: We’re making the syllabus more relevant, more engaging, more interactive. Gone are the days where you’re just reading the syllabus. You need to plan ahead. We’ve got visuals with this year we’ve introduced custom made videos that are aligned with each lesson so we’ve got a YouTube channel so things like that…

A number of the teachers stressed how important it was to ensure that the lessons are “interactive within these classes… giving the students a chance to do something…” (female SRE teacher, #7 Buddhist, New South Wales). For the Baha’i faith, which believes that all human beings have “gems inside”, this can help “the gems to basically come out, for mankind to benefit therefrom”, which is from a Baha’i saying (male SRE teacher, #5 Baha’i, New South Wales). One of the Baha’i students commented: We played this really cool game but it kind of … it was related to one of the values, trust. So we all put our hands on each other’s back like this. Then we would walk around. And the first person in the line had their eyes open and everyone else had their eyes closed. And they had to take us wherever they were told so we had to trust that we wouldn’t go anywhere else. (female SRE graduate, #3 Baha’i, New South Wales)

Teaching about Shabbat [Sabbath] observances and Jewish festivals is an important component of Jewish RE, and this is done in an experiential way, so that they can experience all the elements of the Shabbat table: Even if we’re doing a mock Shabbat we have all of the different elements of the Shabbat table actually there in the classroom. So they can touch, they can feel, they can hold, they can smell. And they get to involve themselves in it, because it’s all about involving the senses, and it’s all about being hands-on, and it’s all about relevance. So if I was showing them pictures of something, I don’t think it would’ve engaged the students as much, but the fact they’re actually able to touch these tangible objects, it makes it much more engaging for them, much more meaningful. And then all of a sudden, a half an hour lesson is over, it’s flown by, and they’re upset that it’s over because they were so engaged in the lesson. That’s the best part. (female SRE graduate, #1 Jewish, New South Wales)

Although the students are engaged, this is not indoctrination. It can also involve exploration in concepts and students can also express doubt about their religious studies, as seen in the following teacher responses.

9.9 Exploration and Expressing Doubt As discussed earlier in the book, many of the SRE teachers stressed the importance of exploration and the fact that they encouraged this approach in their classes. The importance of exploration was raised by one of the Buddhists interviewees when speaking about her most meaningful experience. She described how often she learns from her students, even those who are in K-2 classes and gave the example of a six-year old who responded to the question “What do you understand about Buddha now?” after she had taught the class about Buddha’s life:

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And this beautiful girl told me Buddha likes to explore and then it triggered me to think obviously Buddha liked to explore. If he had not explored he would not have discovered the way to Nirvana and have all these teachings handed down to all of us. And that is how I say hey, yes, I have never taught her about that Buddha like to explore. She just came to this realisation. (female SRE teacher, #1 Buddhist, New South Wales)

This teacher stressed that it was important to think about what students say, so that “So whatever the children come back with, we will have reflection… That’s what they expect. So that’s why I say teachers are sometimes are not teachers. We are students” (female SRE teacher, #1 Buddhist, New South Wales). Many of the SRE teachers appreciated their students asking questions, even if they expressed doubt. As one Hindu teacher explained: When they keep asking you lots of questions, and you are able to answer to them and be with them to clarify their questions and doubts, you feel happy, you know. You are able to share what you know, and this is how the progress keeps happening. And I love doing that, for whatever time I can. (male SRE teacher, #3 Hindu, New South Wales)

In order to elaborate on that point, he gave various examples from nature and Hindu tradition to understand the importance of the earth and the physical being and how this interacts with spirituality, “what is behind the physical … how you are able to see, to speak or to smell… And you have to concentrate on that power, and how do you know what that power is, that is what is basically what being taught in the Hindu scriptures” (male SRE teacher, #3 Hindu, New South Wales). A Jewish teacher commented that one of her most meaningful experiences was “when you’ve got kids actually thinking and they ask questions totally out-of-thebox. So, you don’t just go in with whatever festival you’re doing or whatever story you’re doing and they just chuck it up and they ask general questions. When you get that hand that goes up and you get a totally out-of-the-box question it shows that the child is thinking” (female SRE teacher, #6 Jewish, New South Wales). Being able to deal with complex questions with young children was seen as another meaningful aspect of SRE teaching. One Muslim teacher gave the example of the Ramadan fast lasting for different periods of time in different parts of the globe due to the different seasons. Students were concerned whether their fast would be meaningful if they were not doing it at the same time, so she explained that “the right way is not the actual day, the right way is accepting that everybody can choose to believe whichever date he or she should follow. So that was a lesson in being open and being, I would say the word is magnanimous” (female SRE teacher, #4 Muslim, Queensland). A number of the Christian RE teachers commented on the importance of exploration and responding to questions. One coordinator commented that when he visited classes: So what I love to see, and what I’m really excited about seeing is young people who are exposed to the biblical text, they are presented with what the text has to say, and then they are given an opportunity to wrestle with it, to develop their critical literacy skills, to develop their personal responses, to critique what they are presented with, and make sense of it in their world, in their way, and in situ, in the classroom. (male SRE teacher, #2 Christian, New South Wales)

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Some Christian interviewees referred to introducing a session of Q and A at the end of each lesson. One explained that the students “need a forum to be able to ask the bigger questions in life” (female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales). Another Christian RE teacher described how she had a question box for her Year 4 students, and they are “putting some very deep questions in about who they are and where they come from. So I just love it… they are light up moments, when the kids finally get a connection” (female SRE teacher, #5 Christian, New South Wales). These teachers are pro-active in encouraging their students to explore, question and wrestle with key religious concepts in their SRE/RI classes, highlighting the important role a teacher can play.

9.10 The Role of the Teachers All the interviewees commented on the importance of dedication and commitment to the role. As one Baha’i teacher noted: It’s commitment. Weekly commitment. And it’s not easy. Year after year, every week. The teachers are planning their lessons according to the guidelines and the curriculum. And they work really hard in making it creative, in engaging the students. If they’ve got a student who’s got, for example, autism these teachers will go and get trained in how to deal with these children. And these are all voluntary. They don’t get paid. They’re spending their own time doing this just because of their love for these children because they know that this can transform society at large in years to come. (female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales)

A Christian RE Coordinator, who had previously worked in the Catholic school system, commented that she found that students in the government school system are “actually very, very engaged in learning about their faith”. She explained that she believed that this was because the SRE teachers are very “authentic” (female SRE teacher, #3 Christian, New South Wales). The issue of authenticity was elaborated by one Christian RE teacher explaining: I am convinced that the answers that the Christian faith gives, that the bible gives, are stunningly coherent and fit the questions perfectly. I believe in the answers the bible gives with every fibre of my being, but I don’t force it down their throats. I present, and I say now I want you guys to make up your own minds about what you’ve learnt today. (female SRE teacher, #4 Christian, New South Wales)

Through an SRE/RI teacher’s passion and authenticity, at times they can create a transformation among some of their students.

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9.11 Transformation For many of the SRE teachers, the most meaningful aspect of their teaching is creating a change in their students, which is a form of transformative education which can impact their lives not only in terms of religious education. One Muslim teacher commented that she often meets past students and they will come up to her and say: “You had an impact on my life and I still implement what you taught me and I pray for you” (female SRE teacher, #5 Muslim, New South Wales). Another Muslim teacher explained: “But really if this one program was invested in properly they would see a ripple effect in the behaviour of the students” (female SRE teacher, #3 Muslim, New South Wales). This concept was also taken up by the Buddhist teachers, particularly the way meditation, even for a short time, can assist very young children to sit still. One teacher gave the example of a little girl who was overactive and the school thought she had attention deficit disorder (ADD). However, this teacher described how by the end of the year “she sat very calmly and she explained to me how she was looking forward to the lesson and how it taught her to sit still. And so for me, when you can really see some changes, actual changes that was amazing” (female SRE teacher, #9 Buddhist, New South Wales). A Baha’i teacher described this process: “I guess the most meaningful experience would be seeing the change in the children. When they’ve been with us since kindergarten when they get up to year six you see that change in them. They become open-minded. Their heart is full of love and kindness” (female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales). She commented that after primary school these students went on to become youth leaders in high school, organising youth groups both in and outside of school, teaching the younger children “what they have learnt because they’ve seen a transformation in themselves and they would like to bring about that change in the community and that is interesting to watch” (female SRE teacher, #4 Baha’i, New South Wales). Similarly, the Muslim interviewees commented that the SRE program has such a positive impact on the graduates that a number of them returned to become SRE teachers after completing their schooling. One Muslim teacher gave the example of a group of young mothers in the Kingswood area, where their school did not offer Islamic RE. They came to her and gathered enough volunteers to undergo the training, so now that school has Islamic scripture classes “so that really brings such a warmth and again such a wonderful feeling that we’ve got individuals like that who are willing to do something that’s not only for themselves but as a collective” (female SRE teacher, #1 Muslim, New South Wales). Another Muslim teacher gave the example of university students who were protesting about Muslim girls having their scarves pulled off. Even if the girls did not themselves wear the hijab, they still supported the demonstration “because they’re proud of their Muslim identity to go and protest and put up banners and tell the other students that they are there, speaking up because Islam is such a wonderful religion because of what their scripture teacher taught them. So when they say it out loud,

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yes, that’s priceless to me, to say the least” (female SRE teacher, #5 Muslim, New South Wales). However, that personal connection with face-to-face teaching has been challenged with the onset of COVID 19, when the providers had to move quickly to offering their classes online. This mainly occurred in the state of New South Wales as discussed in the next section.

9.12 Moving On-Line with COVID 19 With the closure of all schools in Australia, SRE/RI classes needed to move on-line with little time for preparation. New South Wales (NSW) was the only one of the six Australian states and two territories where the government agreed to allow providers from all the faiths and Special Ethics Education (SEE) to provide learning from home with resources that parents could access for their children available for the time that children were not in face to face SRE classes. The New South Wales Department of Education also provided backup and support with guidelines as well as weekly Zoom meetings for all the SRE providers to help them prepare online lessons. As well, the Department’s website was linked to providers’ websites, facilitating online learning. As the coordinator of one Hindu provider noted, this was “undeniably important in giving children hope and faith in God during these unprecedented times” (female SRE coordinator, #6 Hindu, New South Wales). The providers from the different faith communities took different approaches, based on budget and other practical considerations but there was cooperation across the faiths in terms of the provision of a joint portal as explained below. Catholic RE took the approach of preparing PowerPoint presentations based on the lesson plans in their Teacher’s Manual, as well as including all the materials and activities such as readings from scripture passages, with voice overs for the younger children, stories and songs. Since the students did not have workbooks with them, they were encouraged to write journal entries. Another approach was that of Islamic RE, where they decided to record 25 lessons in a professional studio, based on their Term 2 Syllabus. Five of their teachers were selected to present these lessons, with a short script of around seven minutes which was edited and posted on the provider’s lesson web pages. As well, associated worksheets could be downloaded and printed and supplementary video links were selected for each lesson that the students watched. After consulting with colleagues in some private schools, Jewish RE decided to use a specific, online education platform and they were able to transfer their full curriculum to the platform, as well as enabling them to creatively build the lessons to be as interactive as possible. A few teachers were selected to be involved with the process. Parents were sent the weekly log-on code and could either register and be sent the code as each new lesson was uploaded, or could check the form every week for the new code and log on anonymously.

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The Christian providers partnered to have a joint portal which had curriculums from major providers including Anglican, Catholic and material from the other providers who work together in schools under Combined Christian SRE. As well, the Christian community shared this infrastructure to create a mirror portal for the All Faiths SRE group and material was put up by the Jewish community, a number of Islamic SRE providers, Hindu and Buddhist providers. The Department of Education advertised these learning from home resources (Catholic, Anglican Combined Christian, All Faiths and SEE) to all parents across New South Wales through the school websites. Despite the pressures of the very short lead-in time, and the other challenges associated with moving online, the coordinators, teachers, parents and students responded positively to the new system. From the educators’ point of view, they were “delighted to know that scripture was available online as they were concerned for their students’ spirituality” (female SRE coordinator, #1 Muslim, New South Wales). As with all home schooling, the parents, or a member of the family, had to have some level of involvement in the SRE classes, especially primary age children. All the faith communities reported that they have received very positive feedback from the parents. This can be seen with some of the comments the faith communities received: … So overall both boys found the lessons clear, engaging, appropriate lengths and gave very positive responses. (Sydney grandmother’s feedback, male SRE coordinator, #18 Christian, New South Wales) … so that means they are perfect for their attention span at this young age. (Sydney parent of three primary age children’s feedback, female SRE coordinator, #1 Muslim, New South Wales) … Someone wrote to tell me of a friend’s daughter teaching her grandchildren: “The SRE Learning at Home is Fantastic! Really Great and the kids are really enjoying getting into it”. (male SRE director, #… Christian, New South Wales)

Clearly one issue for some parents was the lack of computers, laptops and internet facilities. The corollary of this was that some faith providers found that they could reach students with whom they previously had no possible access or contact. The respondents also noted that, while they were looking forward to returning to face-to-face teaching, they had benefitted from the steep-learning curve and that they would incorporate some of the features of online pedagogy into their regular teaching approaches once they return to the classroom. Indeed, those teachers involved in the process were “excited to learn new skills” (female SRE coordinator, #2 Jewish, New South Wales). In this way, while COVID 19 created significant challenges, moving to online teaching and learning has also had benefits in terms of pedagogic innovation. The interviewee responses to the question on their most meaningful teaching experience elicited rich data about the pedagogic approaches used by these teachers. The key issues emerging from their responses will be discussed and analysed in the next section.

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9.13 Discussion and Conclusions As discussed earlier, the scholarly literature has been highly critical of SRE/RI pedagogy describing it as essentialist, dogmatic and indoctrinating, thereby having a harmful effect on children (Hitchens 2007; Dawkins 2006). Byrne based her comments on interviews with informants who had bad experiences in both New South Wales and Queensland, as well as through classroom observations, and there is some basis for this critique (Byrne 2014). As our research has demonstrated, there is value in retraining this religious education program, but at the same time we argue that it is necessary to bring SRE/RI pedagogy into the twenty-first century ensuring a more constructivist approach. As our findings demonstrate, most of the interviewees in this study were very aware of the need to ensure that they utilise current teaching and learning methodologies. They stressed the importance of exploration and responding in a positive fashion with their students’ questions. They also incorporated interactive and experiential education techniques into their classrooms. As we have discussed in our methodology section, there is a selection bias in the recruitment process which requires interviewees to volunteer to participate in the study. It is possible that the volunteers were more reflective teachers, who believed in a constructivist approach and that this was apparent in our findings. However, a number of the participants were RE coordinators for their provider, or directors, so clearly in their leadership roles they would be encouraging the teachers they are working with to also be innovative and reflective in their teaching approaches. They would also be playing an active role in curriculum development for their faith community, and as such would be very aware of the importance of ensuring that all lessons complied with twenty-first century norms. The graduate interviewees expressing the student voice also stressed the fact that their experiences of SRE/RI classes involved creative and constructivist approaches, which is why they enjoyed participating in the classes. Many of our interviewees commented on how much the students loved coming to SRE/RI classes, and we also witnessed this in our previous study of Jewish RE (Gross and Rutland 2015). As well, the teachers believed that the classes could create a transformation in the students. These transformative experiences described by all the teachers of the different faiths demonstrate that even though SRE/RI classes are only offered in government schools for one short period a week, those students who voluntarily attend can have very positive experiences that can be transformative. Teachers may be faced with doubts and troubling issues relating to deep questions, such as what is the meaning in life, or what is the nature of God? Yet, the students, even at a very young age, may be enabled to pass through the threshold into the tunnel of the liminal phase and then have the transformative experience of new knowledge and understanding (Meyer and Land 2006; Cousin 2006). This was described by some of our interviewees in this way: “when their eyes light up, they’re like oh! I hadn’t seen that, whoo!” For these teachers, this was the most meaningful aspect of their SRE/RI teaching. As Rymarz

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(2016) notes, achieving this aim is a pedagogic process, which requires the teacher to be willing to employ reflective and constructivist teaching techniques. Those students and parents who choose SRE/RI need to be empowered to make informed choices through critical enquiry. Taylor (2017) argues that indoctrination leads to closed-mindedness, which she sees as harmful for students. By encouraging SRE/RI volunteers to understand the importance of questioning and encouraging exploration this harmful impact can be mitigated. Some of the pedagogic approaches which facilitate this are life story telling, role play and case method teaching (Wang 2013). In addition to incorporating experiential and informal teaching and learning techniques into the SRE classroom, reflection is another key component in effective pedagogy.

9.13.1 Indoctrination vs Education An important component within the values education of SRE/RI is to ensure that students should not be presented with a dogmatic approach to values. Rather, they should be exposed to the variety and multidimensional religious approaches to ethical dilemmas within their specific faith community and encouraged to grapple with this plurality central to crucial moral and ethical beliefs (Swanson 2010). Thus, students need to be provided with the opportunity to reflect on their values and beliefs within contemporary society, including the moral challenges which they face. This can be achieved through religious education and it is important for students growing up in the current materialistic, globalised world. Thus, “at its best, religious education can have a significant role both in developing (without inculcation, still less indoctrination) students’ sense of value and in giving them access to a broader sense of what wellbeing consists of than they might otherwise have access to” (Haydon 2010, p. 199). Religious education can also provide students, particularly in high school, with strategies to deal with and reflect on the “deep questions” of life. As well, students need to consider issues relating to conflicting values, which can also occur. To give an example from Judaism, the rabbis of the Talmud struggled with the fact that key values of truth and peace can, at times, conflict. They used the example of what does one say to a bride at her wedding when she is not beautiful, and debated the conflict in this case between the truth and peace, not upsetting the bride on her wedding day (https://www.sefaria.org/Ketubot.17a?lang=bi, accessed 20 October 2018). To be successful, the teachers need to consider the ethnic, cultural and religious background of the students in their SRE class, and this demands professional reflection and finding a balance “between abstract moral ideas, including religious beliefs and the practical situation in the classroom” (Carr 2010). By taking into consideration the social context of their students with their family background and community connections, teachers can also avoid indoctrination (Taylor 2017).

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Another element in ensuring that SRE/RI teachers and students utilise critical religious pedagogy rather than a monolithic, essentialist approach of religious hegemony, has been greater government involvement. This has been the case in both New South Wales and Queensland, where the government is planning an active oversight in terms of curriculum and basic teacher accreditation.

9.13.2 Accreditation, Monitoring and Transparency A key factor in the growing awareness of the SRE/RI providers in the importance of education rather than indoctrination has been government involvement in curriculum development in both New South Wales and Queensland. In response to the various critiques of the SRE/RI classes (Byrne 2014; Maddox 2014), both state governments now require much greater transparency and clarification of curriculum goals and materials of each of the faith communities, as well as mandatory preservice programs and better accreditation systems for all the volunteer teachers. These accreditation programs ensure that the voluntary teachers are aware of and follow government norms in terms of teaching approaches and content within government schools. These accreditation programs make it clear that there are some religious concepts which are no longer acceptable as community norms in the twenty-first century. While this has placed extra strains on the various providers, given the voluntary nature of most those involved, all providers have understood and accepted the importance of this increased government oversight. Indeed, as seen in the responses of the various providers to the question relating to online provision of materials, the providers in New South Wales really appreciate the involvement of the Department of Education. This is another way of encouraging a more open approach to special religious education.

9.13.3 Educating Against Fundamentalism All these approaches are important in avoiding a fundamentalist approach in special religious education, which is indoctrination, and results in extremism and closedmindedness. Drawing on Nandy’s (2002) concepts, Zembylas et al. (2019) delineates two different forms of religious education: religion-as-faith, which refers to educating about religion as a faith with a focus on beliefs and practices; and religionas-ideology, which refers to religious instruction which draws on nationalist and political themes with a monolithic perspective downplaying the particularity of the Other and thereby encouraging extremism. Religion-as-ideology seeks to appeal to the more affective side of students’ brains. On the other hand, religion-as-faith includes a cognitive approach, as it seeks to convey knowledge and understanding of the faith tradition, as well as affective education. The former is more closed-minded and fosters more fanatical approaches; the latter encourages a more open-minded and reflective approach, and allows for critical religious pedagogy.

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By encouraging critical engagement and pedagogic bricoleur in SRE/RI teaching and learning, students can be encouraged to think rationally for themselves, rather than slavishly following a certain religious ideology. Whilst this puts demands on the voluntary SRE/RI teachers, their teaching is more than a vocation and they want to succeed and also to ensure that these classes continue to be offered in government schools. As Zembylas et al. (2019) stresses, teachers have agency and this also applies to the way SRE/RI teachers approach their subject in government schools. This can also affect the way they teach about their beliefs and practices outside of the formal school setting, while using constituents of emotional and cognitive engagement. By being exposed to some basic professional development and being aware that they have to convey their content and use methodologies that are within mainstream norms, there can be a flow-on effect to churches, mosques, synagogues and temples. Learning new pedagogic approaches and understanding the importance of exploration can only improve what they are doing, hence reinforcing their basic aims.

9.14 Pedagogical Bricoleurs Zembylas et al. (2019) argues that “to be effective pedagogical bricoleurs (Freathy et al. 2017) who can renegotiate hegemonic confessional ideologies and interreligious ideas, teachers need to be provided with intellectual and practical ‘tools’” (p. 182). To achieve this aim, first the voluntary SRE/RI teachers need professional development that discusses Australian government educational norms and policies and provides strategies for these teachers to update their pedagogy to foster intercultural understandings and social cohesion. Secondly, there needs to be institutional support from the state governments’ Departments of Education and Multiculturalism, Better Balanced Futures and the individual providers to enable revision of existing curricula, integrating the pedagogical principles discussed in this chapter. These principles include the need to integrate socialisation and education. Finally, it is important to develop activities that promote critical thinking, pluralism and dialogue and to develop students’ ability to think critically and analytically in their own faith tradition (Zembylas et al. 2019). Understanding and implementing these steps are important in order to bring SRE/RI pedagogy into the twenty-first century. Older, established teachers have often grown up with fundamental religious ideas and didactic teaching approaches. By encouraging them to become pedagogic bricoleurs through teacher education they can move from a more static, essentialist and fundamentalist approach to a more flexible, pluralistic and reflective approach. Teachers can have a significant impact on their students, which can be transformative, but this can be either negative or positive. For the social cohesion of our contemporary society, it is important to ensure that they become educators, opening their students’ minds, rather than indoctrinators, leading to closed-mindedness, that is they teach rather than preach. Following its 2015 review, the state of New South Wales has started to take steps along the lines discussed above and Queensland has also begun some curriculum review. The

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reflective responses of many of our interviewees from all six faiths demonstrate that this process of change has begun. More resources need to be invested to strengthen this process in order to ensure that SRE/RI teachers become pedagogic bricoleurs rather than indoctrinators.

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Kolb DA (1984) Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ Kress JS (2014) Experiential Jewish education has arrived! Now what? J Jewish Educ 80(3):319–342 Land R, Rattray J, Vivian P (2014) Learning in the liminal space: a semiotic approach to threshold concepts. High Educ 67(2):199–217 Lovat T (2010) The new values education: a pedagogical imperative for student wellbeing. In: Lovat T, Toomey R, Clement N (eds) International research handbook on values education and student wellbeing. Springer, New York, pp 3–18 Maddox M (2014) Taking God to school: the end of Australia’s egalitarian education? Allen and Unwin, Sydney McEntee GH, Appleby J, Dowd J, Grant J, Hole S, Silva P, Check J (2003) At the heart of teaching: a guide to reflective practice. Teachers College Press, New York McLaren P (2017) Life in schools: an introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education, 6th edn. Routledge, London and New York Merry MS (2018) Indoctrination, Islamic schools, and the broader scope of harm. Theory Res Educ 16(2):162–178 Meyer JHF, Land R (eds) (2006) Overcoming barriers to student understanding: threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge. Routledge, London and New York Meyer JHF, Land R (2003) Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (1): linkages to ways of thinking and practising. In: Rust C (ed) Improving student learning—theory and practice ten years on. OCSLD, Oxford, pp 53–64 Miller J (2018) International seminar on religious education and values. York, St John University, UK. Unpublished conference paper Minus J (2010, June 25). Creationism creeps into NSW schools. The Australian. Retrieved from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/creationism-creeps-into-nsw-schools/newsstory/96cf10dc8b8b65b27953fa1e491c2d1c. Accessed 7 Aug 2020 Morales H, Barnes M (2018) The Baltimore mural project: an approach to threshold concepts in religious studies. Teaching Theology and Religion 21(3):185–196 Nandy A (2002) Time warps: silent and evasive pasts in Indian politics and religion. Hurst and Company, London, UK Oser FK (1991) The development of religious judgment. In: Oser FK, Scarlett WG (eds) Religious development in childhood and adolescence. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp 5–25 Parsons T (1967) Sociological theory and modern society. Free Press, New York Raviv Z (2000) On truth, tradition, and respect in Jewish education. J Jewish Communal Serv 76(4):275–291 Reimer J (2007) Beyond more Jews doing Jewish: clarifying the goals of informal Jewish education. J Jewish Educ 73(1):5–23 Reisman B (1991) Informal Jewish education in the United States: a report for the Mandel Commission. Mandel Foundation, New York Rodgers CR (2002) Seeing student learning: teacher change and the role of reflection. Harvard Educ Rev 72(2):230–253 Rymarz R (2016) A response: threshold concepts in Religious Education and Theology. J Adult Theological Educ 13(2):163–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/17407141.2016.1213952 Sagi A (2002) Criticism on the Jewish identity discourse. In: Sagi A, Ilan N (eds) Jewish culture in the eye of the storm: a jubilee book in honor of Yosef Ahituv. Hakibutz Hameuchad and The Center of Jacob Herzog for Jewish Studies, Tel-Aviv, pp 248–292 Schon DA (1987) Educating the reflective practitioner: toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco Schon DA (1988) Coaching reflective teaching. In: Grimmett PP, Erickson GL (eds) Reflection in teacher education. Teachers College Press, New York, pp 19–30 Sfard A (1998) On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educ Researcher 27(2): 4–13

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Chapter 10

Thematic Curriculum Analysis: Teaching Care and Compassion in SRE

Abstract This chapter will provide an in-depth study of the teaching and learning approaches of the different faith groups in New South Wales to the key value of “care and compassion” from the Australian government’s national values framework. This detailed study was undertaken through discourse analysis of the different lesson plans which are used by all the key faith groups in New South Wales, including the various Christian denominations, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Baha’i and Buddhism. Each of these lesson plans will be discussed in this chapter. An important component of our analysis is examining the process of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in relation to the lesson plans, which involves fostering the goals of developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, building relationship skills and responsible decision making. This specific analysis has the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of the strengths of SRE/SRI, its contributions to SEL, of which care and compassion are central concepts, as well as clarifying ways in which the SRE/RI pedagogic approaches can be improved and brought into the twenty-first century. We argue for incorporating more effectively the various reflective, critical and bricoleur pedagogic approaches with both cognitive and affective engagement as discussed in Chapter 9. As well, we posit that the implementation of the threshold concept will enable students to address “troublesome knowledge” relating to intercultural competence and the universal messages of their own religion by passing through the phase of liminality and moving to transformation as a pedagogic imperative (Meyer and Land 2003, 2006; Rymarz 2016). These approaches will assist students with difficult and challenging knowledge, ensuring that the teaching and learning of this core concept in values is education and not indoctrination and incorporates the goals of SEL learning.

The aim of this chapter is to gain an understanding of the teaching and learning approaches of the different faith groups to the key value of care and compassion from the Australian government’s values framework. This has been undertaken through a study of the different lesson plans which are used by key faith groups in New South Wales, including the various Christian denominations, Judaism, Islam, Baha’i and Buddhism. This specific analysis has the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of the strengths of SRE, as well as clarifying ways in which the approaches can be © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_10

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improved and brought into the twenty-first century through drawing on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and incorporating more effectively the various pedagogic approaches discussed including reflective, critical and bricoleur pedagogy, cognitive and affective engagement, and social and emotional learning.

10.1 Introduction and Background The secular schooling system has no integrative models capable of coping in a multifaceted manner with fundamental abstract concepts that arise in applied teaching. Below we present an integrative multidimensional model, holistic in nature, that involves all components of the human personality, that is, head, heart and hands, which are the major components of social and emotional learning theory. The model addresses the possibility of processing the concepts of care and compassion as the foundational concepts for creating relationships of interfaith respect and fraternity, thereby contributing to a multicultural society. The authors of this book also argue that care and compassion are central to all religious belief as illustrated in Fig. 10.1 and as such as are a key constituent of SRE.

Fig. 10.1 An integrative paradigm of peace education and religious education demonstrating the centrality of compassion, Italy (Gross 2018)

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The terms “care and compassion” include a number of different concepts which have a strong religious connotation. According to the Macquarie Dictionary, the word “care: includes concern for others, solicitude and the desire to look after those in need.” The word “compassion” is defined as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another suffering misfortune accompanied with the desire to alleviate the pain or remove its cause”. These two terms encompass the concepts of pity as well as mercy, that is “kindness shown by not punishing or hurting an offender”. Within the religious context, mercy especially relates to God, or a higher spiritual being, showing compassion for suffering human beings, and it also includes the concepts of benevolence and forbearance. Compassion is a controversial subject with different theorists coming to conflicting conclusions as to whether it is a distinct emotion or if it is based on moral principles. Goetz et al. (2010), have sought to gain a better understanding of compassion, which they claim has been neglected in traditional emotional taxonomies and research. They define compassion as “the feeling that arises in witnessing another’s suffering and that motivates a subsequent desire to help” (2010, p. 2), leading to a “reduction of suffering” (p. 6), and argue that sympathy and pity belong to the same emotional family but are slightly different. The realisation of the importance of understanding compassion has been highlighted in recent research that has focused on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL language) where learning to develop care and concern for others is one of the central components (Singh and Duraiappah 2020). SEL focuses on the importance of the intra- and inter-personal spheres, in terms of interacting with others and dealing with our own emotional experiences (Kress and Rotstein 2018). There are five main elements in this theoretical model: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making (Elliott et al. 2018) (Fig. 10.2). Compassion is an important element of social awareness and in developing relationship skills, as it involves the ability to empathise with others, as well as the desire to help others, both elements of care and compassion, that also require emotional understandings. It has been argued that “emotional literacy regarding careful and nuanced expressions of emotions is an important aspect of education for children and young people in their development… and subsequently to the articulation of a life orientation” (Agten 2019). This development of emotional literacy includes the desire to show compassion and to help others. As a recent UNESCO review stresses: “Scientific research and ancient wisdom have both concluded that constructive human qualities can be cultivated as skills. Happiness is a skill and so are attention, prosocial attitudes, compassion, and mastery of our thoughts and emotions” (Singh and Duraiappah 2020, pp. vi–vii). Developing these skills can be difficult for students, creating a roadblock, especially when connected to emotional issues that can relate to troublesome learning. Cousin (2006) argues that “while this is very often the case, we need to be aware that this difficulty cannot be abstracted from the learner or the social context” (p. 1). As discussed in Chapter 9, in relation to this, “the idea of liminal states provides a useful metaphor to aid our understanding of the conceptual transformations [that]

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Fig. 10.2 Diagram showing the five core competencies of SEL and the external factors influencing them

students undergo, and the difficulties or anxieties that attend these transformations” (p. 1). Assisting students to overcome such a roadblock in developing compassion, especially for the “Other” about whom they may have fears or concerns, is a challenge but at the same time a pedagogic imperative (Rymarz 2016). This is because it is very important for SRE/RI teachers to enable their students to gain an insight into the universal messages of their own faith tradition, as discussed in Chapter 7, in order to broaden the scope of the intercultural competence (Dervin and Gross 2016) and understandings of the students. There are three theoretical models for compassion. The first sees it as a form of emotional distress; the second, not as an emotion on its own, but part of sadness or love, tenderness and caring; and the third stresses that it is a distinct emotion, with some overlap with sadness, which is different from the previous two concepts. The research of Goetz et al. (2010) demonstrates a clear difference between both distress and sadness, with their focus on the self, compared with compassion which involves a focus on others, creating a positive sense of helping unlike distress and sadness. The authors also argue that there is a clear connection with the autonomic nervous system, with compassion being associated with heart deceleration unlike distress which leads to acceleration, and that there are other physiological differences with people’s reaction to compassion, compared with sadness and distress. Thus: … compassion is a distinct emotion— best suited to synthesize the existing empirical data. Compassion arises as the result of appraisals of suffering, and is associated with signaling

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behavior (e.g., soothing tactile contact), reduced heart rate, subjective feelings of concern, and social behaviors that alleviate suffering. This approach also incorporates many of the claims of the other hypotheses into a coherent framework. (p. 18)

Thus, showing compassion has a physical impact on a person. The research by neuroscientist Richard Davidson (2003) and his team has demonstrated a neurological link between giving care and compassion and the brain. On the basis of this, they have developed a “kindness curriculum”, highlighting the importance of “cultivating these basic human qualities in young children” (Singh and Duraiappah 2020, p. 8). It is this scientific foundation which has seen increasing stress on incorporating SEL learning based on critical inquiry into the curriculum across all the stages as an important initiative of the twenty-first century because the brain needs to develop the skills of empathy and compassion. Compassion is an emotion with a relational character. It has a social element that impels people to relate to sorrow, physical or mental illness, or any other human tribulations and suffering manifested in something external to them: a person, an environment, including my home, my school. Compassion makes people step out of their self-centred comfort zone in order to help others and alleviate their suffering by providing warmth and care. It is an emotion with societal implications and is capable of changing its social structure and hierarchy so that SEL pedagogy is very important in terms of assisting children to be more thoughtful, caring and compassionate (Singh and Duraiappah 2020). The emotion of compassion is an essential ingredient that typifies God in the religious beliefs of almost every faith community and includes the concept of mercy. The world behaves according to the rule of law, but the rule of mercy is also important for human society. The various religions consider the rule of mercy as reflecting God’s goodness and grace: it is not a given but occurs as the outcome of a divine action that goes beyond the letter of the law, attesting to His goodness and grace. The action of compassion in the human sphere requires individuals to think about the good of their fellow human beings. It expresses a physical and mental action of downplaying the self for the sake of bringing others into one’s own existential mental space. The concept of compassion is a vital foundation for living in this world, and equally for education and acceptance of the “Other”. Since compassion is a central concept in every religion, it can provide an excellent foundation for intercultural and multicultural education (Dervin and Gross 2016). The UNESCO review of SEL argues that: Cultivating attitudes of altruism (concern for the well-being of others) and compassion (concern for the suffering of others), combined with a desire to help, can empower individuals to take a proactive role in their interactions with others. Such a mindset may, in turn, promote acting in ways that are more thoughtful, kind and caring towards others, whether they are individuals from the same group or from a group with different beliefs and values than one’s own. (Singh and Duraiappah 2020, p. 23)

By cultivating an understanding of compassion for all regardless of color, ethnicity or religious beliefs through SEL, SEL and SRE can assist in the development of multicultural mindset and intercultural competence which has the potential to assist in creating greater social cohesion.

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Which existential area does the emotion of compassion belong to? Is it part of the cognitive domain in human existence or is it purely emotional? Does it involve emotional engagement or cognitive engagement? Some maintain that compassion derives from a conscious, rational decision to show compassion, and is not at all the outcome of an emotion. In contrast, others argue that compassion fundamentally is part of the human emotional system. Yet others contend that the emotion of compassion is chiefly a conscious step applied by an individual and is produced by feelings. Compassion that stems from awareness but does not bring into play the human emotional system, will usually not be fulfilled because it will not lead to action. The emotional system helps the individual to assimilate the thought and— via the emotions—to bring it to practical implementation. In contrast, compassion that is not based on cognitive awareness can also be problematic since people may show compassion for the undeserving. In relation to this, the Hebrew Sages said: “He who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate” (http://www.acpr.org.il/english-nativ/06-issue/shochetman-6.htm). Therefore, there is something in the inner emotional mechanism that causes individuals to act humanely towards those who deserve it. But when the feeling deteriorates or is biased, it can become flawed and cause an individual to act brutally towards compassionate people. It has been recognised that SEL pedagogy is important in countering bullying and aggressive and violent behaviour, helping children to learn how to deal with emotions of anger and hatred by calming themselves, but it is important to ensure that “these frameworks are grounded in empirical evidence” (Singh and Duraiappah 2020, p. xxvii). Thus, for compassion to be effective within the human domain, it requires both emotion and rationality based on empirical evidence. In his writings, Emmanuel Levinas (1987) describes compassion as the “supreme ethical principle,” an opportunity to recognise and respect the “Other”, and to enable individuals’ spiritual growth. Allport (1954 [1979]), who developed the contact theory, argued that contact between people creates a relationship that sees compassion as a means for meaningful communication between individuals. Compassion is an intersubjective process where the subject both interacts and is acted upon, and it happens within the domain of mutuality and reciprocity. In fact, simple human interactions enable great empathy and also generate compassion. The applied aspects of activating the concept of compassion in life are found in the spirit of the humanistic and social theories, dating back to the early 1900s with John Dewey (1938 [1959]), Maria Montessori (1997) and developed further with Jean Piaget (1932), Lawrence Kohlberg (1976, 1973), Erik Erikson (1981, 1968 and 1950) and Robert Selman (2003). The most recent research has focused further on the importance of social interaction and the emotional level of learning, including the ability to empathise with suffering and the desire to help others (Singh and Duraiappah 2020; Shin 2018; Elliot et al. 2018). Without activating compassion, human interactions cannot be maintained. The human relationship is based on the compassion and mercy that people show to others, through willingness to open their hearts and “step outside” of the self—to give up aspects of the self for the benefit of creating profound relationships with others. Education in the social and emotional realms can assist students

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to develop compassion as part of their moral compass, and can help them to move from Piaget’s heteronomous stage to the autonomous stage. The cognitive psychologist, Jean Piaget (1932), argues that there are two levels of thinking in moral judgement. The first level is the heteronomous level, which deals with obedience to authority, reward and punishment, and the second one is the autonomous level, which focuses on the way an individual deals with moral laws through an intrinsic approach. According to the first approach, an individual does or does not do a specific action because he obeys the authority or because he is afraid of punishment. According to the second level, a person acts according to moral laws. He does not steal, not because it is forbidden but because it harms the natural symmetry of human being. Thus, one understands that stealing goes against the natural justice of human beings through one’s inner conscience. Piaget, who developed these levels of thinking, found that the heteronomous level is part of the younger ages, because their intellectual development is not that advanced, whilst as people mature, they move to the autonomous level. Piaget’s student, Lawrence Kohlberg (1973, 1976), develops these ideas and analysed three stages of moral development, with each stage divided into two sub-levels (a total of six levels). He defined the three main stages as pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional morality. The first stage, the pre-conventional, is split into first an orientation of obedience to authority and punishment, and second to self-interest, namely doing something to meet one’s own needs. The second stage is the conventional, again divided into two levels, the first being conformity to social norms, and the second relating to authority and maintaining the social order due to following social norms. The third stage, the post-conventional, is the level that one acts out of a social contract where there is a social agreement of how to behave. The final level in the third stage is the conscience and morality of individuals who do good deeds and obey the laws due to universal ethical principles, and because they do not want to hurt the symmetry of the other. They are fully in tune with the needs of the other and no longer absorbed with self. Kohlberg argues that the progression from one stage to the next is incremental, age related, and that there is a clear relationship between a child’s intellectual and moral development. Moreover, this progression through the stages is true of all human beings regardless of their culture, religion and ethnicity, and is a product of socialisation. He believes that there are common patterns of social life relating to family, peer groups and social structures across the spectrum of human societies, and that the development of children’s ability to be able to think how others would act enables cooperation. By progressing to the final stage, children are able to be more inclusive and can be more effective in handling complex dilemmas (Kohlberg 1973). Following Socrates and Dewey (1938 [1959]), Kohlberg argues that a child’s moral development is the most important goal of education. He also stresses that it is important for public schools to educate for ethics and morality, and that it was possible to do this without indoctrination. He stresses that human beings are motivated to explore, but within the framework of their exploration, they look towards key adults as role models. Thus, schoolteachers can play a very important part in children’s

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development of morality, values and ethics in terms of being role models as well as providing cognitive knowledge. We are all creatures of compassion and mercy, who were born as the result of compassion, and, therefore, we are obligated to show compassion. It is interesting to note that in Hebrew, the word for mercy/compassion (rachamim) derives from the root r.ch.m., which refers to the same organ where human creation takes place—the womb—in Hebrew rechem. The womb is a natural biological mechanism where the unmediated relationship is created between the sperm and the ovum, between the mother and the embryo taking shape within her. The woman is the receptacle where life and spirituality are generated, and thus it also symbolises the location where compassion is generated and takes shape. Goetz et al. (2010) have demonstrated how compassion is a common value across many nations and religions, with the concept of benevolence ranking highly with most groups. The various studies of different cultures demonstrate that “suffering and need are universal elicitors of compassion” (p. 20). At the same time, it is important to recognise cultural factors which can contribute to different goals for social and emotional development. Religion is an important component of culture so that alignment of the teaching of care and compassion with specific religious values can help ensure that students develop empathetic and helping relationships (Singh and Duraiappah 2020). As well, in recognising this connection between the values of care and compassion and religious beliefs, Erikson’s developmental theory can add to our understanding of how to foster these values. A key element of the teaching of care and compassion in SRE is the development of a strong religious identity which relates to this key value through belief in God or a higher being. Erikson (1968) was the first to develop a definition of identity that includes the concept of sameness and continuity. He (1950, 1968), in his developmental theory, described the development of an individual as an identity formation process. This is an ongoing process which continues throughout life and is divided, according to Erikson (1950), into eight stages. At the centre of each stage, there is a crisis or conflict which leads the individual to one or two possible outcomes: a positive or negative solution. A positive solution of the crisis will strengthen the individual’s sense of wholeness, and will improve the individual’s ability to make judgments and to succeed in reaching personal expectations and those of society. A negative solution of the crisis may lead to the development of an unstable, ununique and unsocial personality. The fifth stage, identity vs. identity confusion, takes place during adolescence and the transition to adulthood. For Erikson there are eight main “virtues” that an individual needs to develop: hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, care and wisdom (Capps 2012; Erikson 1981, p. 32). Shin argues that Erikson emphasised “the psychosocial aspects of the virtues that, as an innate ability or strength, can be nurtured and cultivated throughout an individual’s life as the basic inner strengths needed for an individual to stand in the face of life’s adversaries” (Shin 2018, p. 685). Therefore, SEL can assist students to develop an understanding of the concepts of care and compassion and they are strengthened through emotional and caring relationships with key people in one’s life, including family, teachers and friends.

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Erikson argues that exploration is a prerequisite for identity achievement, which involves the three components of self-awareness (such as identifying one’s emotional state), self-regulation (the ability to calm oneself during times of stress) and responsible decision making (the ability to anticipate consequences of one’s choices), which are key components of SEL (CASEL, https://casel.org/core-competencies/; Kress and Rotstein 2018). This dimension of the identity formation process was further developed by Marcia (1980) and is defined as “identity work” (Grotevant 1987, p. 204). Drawing on Lichtenberg (1989), who outlines five “motivational systems” influencing behaviour, Morgan (2010) posits that his “exploration-assertion motivational system” is a significant factor contributing to attachment (p. 14). Morgan uses this analysis in relation to a child’s willingness to move away from an attachment figure in order to explore his or her surroundings, thereby developing an integrated model of human attachment and identity. In the case of SRE, teachers aim to create a sense of attachment not just to family, school and society in general, but to the religious beliefs of their faith community. With the significant changes of the twenty-first century, there has been an increasing interest in adolescents’ identity exploration, which begins during upper primary school in Years 5 and 6 (Halevi and Gross 2018). This includes important further distinctions between in-breadth exploration (weighing various alternative commitments before choosing one or more) and in-depth exploration (thinking and gathering information about a current commitment) (Luyckx et al. 2006). These important major styles of exploration were developed in light of criticisms (Schwartz 2005) that Marcia’s identity status model both ignored the social component of identity as described in Erikson’s theory (Côté and Levine 1988) and disregarded the developmental component of the identity formation process (Bosma and Kunnen 2001). Modern teaching in SRE needs to incorporate the exploration element into its lesson plans and teaching and learning approaches, according to the age of the children, as well as the key other pedagogic issues, in order to make it more relevant to the postmodern world, with all its challenges. Within this pedagogic framework, it is important to incorporate SEL skills into the curriculum because learning to emphasise the importance of showing compassion is not something that children learn by a process of osmosis. In regard to Jewish education, Kress and Elias (2001) argue that: Successful efforts to build children’s SEL skills start in the early elementary grades - or even preschool – and last through high school. Establishing a common language for social and emotional skills allows these skills to be reinforced by various school personnel throughout the day and facilitates the developmental attainment of skills as students progress through the grades. (Kress and Elias 2001, p. 185)

They compare this process to that of learning “to play sport or a musical instrument” because these are complex learning processes that need constant practice and have to be broken down into manageable segments with “clear expectations for social and emotional behavior established” (p. 185). SEL pedagogy, which includes the concept of compassion, needs to be embedded in the curriculum and requires ongoing reinforcement within the educational process.

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Compassion is a central feature in every religion because God is seen as definitive goodness and works to do good in the world. Accordingly, the attitude to compassion has philosophical cognitive aspects that attempts to conceptualise that emotion. Pope Francis, for example, sees the connection between the head, heart, and hands (clearly concepts of SEL) as an inherent religious philosophical relationship attesting to the relationship of the Holy Trinity. Thus, educators who plan to teach the concepts of care and compassion need to feature in their pedagogic work rational, emotional and practical elements or, in the language of Pope Francis, they must call on the head, the heart, and the hands: “Mercy, both in Jesus and in us, is a journey that starts from the heart to get to the hands. What does this mean? Jesus looks at you, heals you with his mercy, tells you: ‘Get up!’, And your heart is new” (https://fll.cc/en/ inspire/pope-francis-mercy-from-heart-to-hands/, accessed 28 October 2018). These concepts are central to developing SEL skills and, as is stressed in the literature, need to be fostered throughout a student’s career (Kress and Elias 2001; Elliott et al. 2018; Kress and Rotstein 2018; Singh and Duraiappah 2020). Cattaro (2018) discusses the need to synthesise the development of ethos and culture in the educational community. He explains that culture, in this concept, “accepts community values and the interdependence that is reflected and honored in respectful relationships, and recognizes the bond of the community” (p. 51). Ethos reflects “the deeper convictions of the community lived in morals, beliefs, attitudes and virtues” (p. 53). He suggests initiating a culture of encounter, which involves an authentic atmosphere of respect, esteem, sincere listening and solidarity, without the need to blur or lessen one’s identity. Such a culture is capable of responding to “the many forms of violence, poverty, exploitation, discrimination, marginalization, waste and restrictions on freedom” (p. 58). He argues that “culture in dialogue with capital produces an encountering capital that has an effective impact on the social and personal skills of actors (both educators and students), and an affective impact on the social engagement of the educational project in the local community” (p. 58). Cattaro here explains the importance of SEL since the essence of social and emotional learning incorporates his concept of the culture of encounter. He advocates the need to initiate a dialogue between praxis, ethos and culture (p. 60). In so doing, students’ social and emotional skills can be enhanced, contributing to an important but neglected part of a child’s education (Kress and Elias 2001). This study of the lesson plans on care and compassion seeks to analyse them with the various theoretical frameworks discussed above.

10.2 Methodology This chapter draws a different methodology from the previous chapters as the study examined and analysed the lesson plans dealing with the value of care and compassion of eight different religious providers operating within the SRE framework: Anglican, Baha’i, Baptist, Buddhist, Catholic, Islamic, Hindu and Jewish. The plans were

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chosen by the providers who sent them to the “Better Balanced Futures” committee coordinator. This approach of using the value of care and compassion as a case study was carried out according to Stake (2000) and Yin (2004). A case study can be used to investigate complex phenomena not yet theoretically described. It contributes to our knowledge of individuals, groups, and uncharted phenomena (Yin 2004, p. 1). Yin argues that the case study method is appropriate when the goal is to uncover contextual conditions of a contemporary phenomenon, and when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context are not evident (Yin 2004, 2009). The goal is to produce an integrated, holistic description of real-life events, and to establish a framework for discussion and debate (Lovat 2003). In order to analyse the lesson plans qualitatively and develop our grounded theory, we employed a constant comparative method (Strauss and Corbin 1997), enabling a more nuanced understanding of the main phenomenon investigated. Our analysis consisted of five stages: 1. open coding, in which recurring topics in the lesson plans were identified and defined 2. axial coding, involving the formulation of categories defining criteria and continuing theoretical sampling 3. selective coding, which consists of refining and finalizing criteria to include a series of categories 4. formulating the hierarchy and identifying core categories; and 5. creating a category-based theoretical structure linked to the literature, and proposing a theoretical model (Gross and Rutland 2017b).

10.3 Findings As discussed in the literature there are different ways to interpret the value of compassion, which can include the concepts of helping, forgiveness and loving kindness (Goetz et al. 2010). This analysis demonstrates how the different New South Wales faith groups interpret this value through an examination of their lesson plans, with some focusing on the element of helping, others focusing on forgiveness, and still others on the concept of loving kindness, all which are social awareness and relationship building which are core competencies of SEL. Thus, for example, the lesson plans of Islam focused on the concepts of helping others in their nine-week lesson unit dealing with care and compassion, with a stress on caring for others that also included animals and the environment. So, when discussing Islam’s attitude to animals, the teacher needs to “explain to the students that Allah has created the animal, just like He created humans and other things. We must at all times treat Allah’s creation with kindness and compassion” (“Islam teaches me to care”, Lesson 1, p. 3). Each lesson tends to move from the

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more universal value of helping others to the more specific elements of what Allah and Muhammed required from Muslims. This unit also introduces relevant terms in Arabic, such as Silatur-Rahim, which is the Muslim concept of caring for family, friends, of brotherhood and love. In the story of Ahmad and Hamza (lesson 7), the importance of friendship is stressed as a form of compassion which is valued by Allah and is central to relationship building within the school community. Some of the other faiths also focus more on the importance of helping in relation to compassion. The Baha’i lesson plan stresses the need to help people in trouble, and provides various examples of specific cases and the best way to react. To illustrate this point, the children are also told the story of a simple woman who wished to meet with Abdu’l Bahá as he travelled the world. However, she was told she could not see him as he was in a meeting with some very important people. She started to walk away, deeply disappointed, when his voice was heard saying he wished to see her: ‘A heart has been hurt. Hasten, hasten, bring her to me!’. This story demonstrates the compassion of Abdu’l Bahá who was prepared to interrupt an important meeting to ensure that a simple woman was not distressed at being unable to meet with him and to help her. This story has both social and emotional messages in terms of relationship building. Another element of compassion is forgiveness, and a couple of the faiths focus on this aspect of compassion. Thus, for Judaism, the focus is on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when Jews ask their fellow human beings for forgiveness for any wrongdoing they might have committed against them and also to God (Hashem). The lesson plans also notes the importance of being sympathetic and having concern for others. The aims of this unit are set out clearly as follows: Year K-2 Students will be able to: (a) Associate Yom Kippur with the act of forgiveness and being compassionate to others Year 3–4 Students will be able to: (b) Students will be able to explain the difference between asking for forgiveness and forgiving others as an act of compassion Year 5–6 Students will be able to: (c) Explain the positive feeling associated with Yom Kippur by being able to forgive and be compassionate to others (d) List some of the confessions mentioned (Unit, Yom Kippur, BJE SRE, p. 3). Songs, again, are embedded in the unit, with a traditional Jewish prayer, Adon HaSlichot, Master of Forgiveness, referring to God: Master of Forgiveness, Examiner of Hearts, Revealer of Depths, Who speaks righteously

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We have sinned before You, Have mercy upon us. The children are then taught another little song: I’m so sorry, forgive me Be my friend and please believe me. If I hurt you, I was wrong. Please listen to what I say: From now on I do promise to behave the right way. I’m so sorry, forgive me, Be my friend and please believe me. (Unit, Yom Kippur, BJE SRE, p. 4) These two songs are directly connected with the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a 25-hour fast day when Jewish people are required to apologise to anyone they may have hurt during the year, and also pray for forgiveness for their sins to God. Such requests for forgiveness are seen as an integral part of compassion. In Judaism, God is seen as displaying the ultimate level by showing mercy and forgiveness. These songs represent two levels of compassion. The first one, the prayer to God as “Master of Mercy”, is heteronomic, while the second song is autonomic, where the child takes the initiative by not only asking for forgiveness but also promising to behave better in the future. It also involves the concept that a good friend will forgive one for any hurt caused or any wrongdoing and all these elements include the five core competencies of SEL. For the Baptists, forgiveness is also a central plank of compassion. The lesson stresses that to seek the forgiveness of someone one needs to start with an apology. Their lesson plans include teaching the five key rules relating to apologising to ensure that one’s apology is effective: 1. Admit specific details (no ifs, buts or maybes) [self-awareness] 2. Apologise and acknowledge the hurt [self-awareness, social awareness and relationship skills] 3. Accept consequences [self-management and self-management] 4. Ask for forgiveness [social awareness and relationship skills] 5. Alter your behaviour (Topic 9, worksheet 5) [responsible decision making]. As can be seen, these key rules include the five central competencies of SEL. They also focus on the Gospel story of the miraculous recovery of Lazarus after he was presumed to be dying thanks to Jesus’s miraculous cure.

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The cartoon above (GSY_Eep–2018, Lesson 14) presents a very emotional story relating to Jesus saving Lazarus, which would appeal to young children. It is a linear process between cause and effect, and highlights value of compassion and caring appealing to young children’s emotions to develop social awareness. Another key concept is that of loving kindness, with the Anglican lesson plans drawing on the gospel story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate the point. Although there were tensions between the Jews and the Samaritans, when a Jewish man was injured and lying on the road, it was a Samaritan, rather than a Jewish priest or Levite, who stopped to assist him. The aim of the lesson is: To help students to understand that those who are part of God’s kingdom love everyone, even those who are different from them, because God has loved them first! This is how you can recognise those who follow Jesus. (A2, Upper Primary, Lesson 5, p. 1)

The outcomes were set out as follows: • Students will learn about: – how the Samaritan man showed love to the Jewish man – how Jesus wants us to show love to others because God loved us first.

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• Students will learn to: – state how they can show God’s love and kindness to others. (A2, Upper Primary, Lesson 5, p. 1) This story stresses the concept that one needs to show compassion to everyone, even if they are different or your enemy, just as the Samaritan assisted the Jewish man, even though there were tensions between the Jews and the Samaritans at the time. This story includes the concept of self-management, because the Samaritan was able to manage his feelings and show love to a Jewish man, and social awareness of helping another human being as well as relationship skills and responsible decision making. One of the Roman Catholic lesson also drew on the concepts of love and showing kindness as being part of compassion. Their unit drew on the stories of various saints to illustrate this point. For example, their Lesson 7 activity sheet highlights the story of Dr. Mary Glowrey, who was one of the earliest women to graduate as a doctor in Victoria in 1910 and who felt a calling to travel to India as a medical missionary when she learnt of the high death rate there. She left Australia in 1920 and established a hospital in Guntur, training locals as pharmacists, nurses and midwives. Later, she established the Catholic Hospital Association in India. She said that her only regret in life was that she had not done enough, that she could have done more. This story provides a role model for the children, with the students being asked how she represented the feet, hands and eyes of Christ. Dr. Glowery demonstrated a high level of social awareness and responsible decision making in her desire to assist others less fortunate in India. Her critique of her achievements, that she could have done more, indicates a strong self-awareness of her limitations in terms of what she would have liked to have achieved. Similarly, the Buddhist unit focuses on the concept of loving-kindness and the need to bring joy and kindness into all one’s activities, as well as the importance of unconditional love. They provide a definition of compassion with different examples and raised the concept “to give back to life” (“Loving Kindness and Compassion”, LN Example). In their PowerPoint presentation for the class, they provided many different illustrations from everyday life and included these two images:

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(“Loving Kindness and Compassion”, LN Example)

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These simple images, together with the message from the Dalai Lama convey the importance of loving-kindness. They stress that it is possible to be kind, that it is viable, and that it should be an integral part of the students’ everyday life and the routine of human existence. The first slide conveys in SEL language the importance of social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making. The second image also stresses that the duration of kindness should be infinite. In this way, the Buddhist message emphasises “universal compassion”, that should not just occur when responding to suffering, but should be for all people at all times, so that “unlike our limited compassion, which already arises naturally from time to time, universal compassion must first be cultivated through training over a long period of time” (“Loving Kindness and Compassion”, LN Example). This supports the argument that SEL pedagogy should be ongoing and constantly reinforced (Kress and Rotstein 2018). Particularly in the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as in Hinduism the lesson content also stresses the role of God or the divine as examples of providing care and compassion. In the case of Islam, the focus is on Allah but also on his prophet, Muhammed. For example, in one lesson, the children are told: During the emigration, Abu Bakr took great care of the Prophet. While they were traveling, Abu Bakr would circle around Muhammad PBUH to protect him from anyone that might attack him. We should also look out for our friends as Muhammad PBUH and his Companions did. (Lesson 5, Term 3)

This story stresses the fact that Muhammad’s followers cared for his safety and protected him from danger and that this should be an example for the students to also take care of their friends in the same way. The lesson devoted to the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha stressed the importance of religious belief. The children are taught a song and told that they: 1) Learn the Eid Takbir: Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest) – three times Lailaha illa Allah (There is no God but Allah) – once Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest) – twice Wa Lilahil Hamd (And Praise is for Him) – once. The refrain of this song is: All over the world Under the big-blue sky Muslims unite to worship Allah It’s a time of brotherhood, a time of peace Muslims are singing praises to Allah Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest) Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest). (Lesson 6, Term 3) This is an example of social awareness within the SEL core competencies. Because of the fact that Allah is the greatest, he is the source of compassion and care. Therefore,

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his followers have to care, and employ compassion and brotherhood in their own lives. In the case of the Christian denominations the focus was more on Jesus with his being a living example of how to behave in a compassionate manner. A song, composed in the medieval period, personalises the message of Jesus to do good in the world through one’s eyes, feet, voice and hands, that is one’s different senses of sight, touch and hearing and speaking. The message of the song includes all the five competencies of SEL.

(Roman Catholic Student Activity Book, Lesson 7, ‘Living like Jesus’ Christ our Light and Life SRE Curriculum, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney)

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Similar messages are conveyed by the Baptists with the story of Lazarus discussed above, while the Anglicans in Lesson 5, “God’s People Love Everyone”, includes the following teacher’s prayer:

This approach indicates the reciprocity element of the concept of compassion and in SEL language it means the reciprocity of self-awareness and social awareness. An example of the reciprocity of compassion is seen in the Roman Catholic lesson plans of the story of the woman who was considered to have been involved with many bad deeds, but who came to Jesus and expressed love and concern. “There is the concept that if one gives to God, God will give to you in return.” Reciprocity includes social awareness and relationship skills. In the Judaism unit, the focus is on God as the Master of Forgiveness, with the lesson plan for Years 5 and 6 setting out the following: Following the ten days during which we apologise to our family and friends, comes Yom Kippur. Most of that day is spent in the synagogue asking HaShem to forgive us. One of the prayers sung on Yom Kippur is ‘Adon HaSlichot’. Please note that the aim in teaching the prayer differs from grade to grade. Listen with students to ‘Adon HaSlichot’ (found on the BJE site.) Before Listening: Explain that the song is admitting to HaShem our wrongdoings toward Him and asking Him for forgiveness.

As discussed above, this lesson involves key core components of SEL pedagogy, but seeks to convey importance of self-awareness in asking for forgiveness through the prism of belief in God. In Hinduism for Stage I (Years 1 and 2), the children are told the “Piglet Story (God’s mercy)”, where there is a family of pigs with the mother, father, and 12 piglets,

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who are living peacefully in the forest. The king’s hunters came to kill “the cruel animals, the tigers, leopards, foxes, and wolves” who were terrorising the nearby villagers. The mother and father pigs went out to defend themselves against the hunters and were killed, leaving the 12 piglets hungry and defenceless. When Lord Shiva and Devi Uma, “the divine parents to all living beings in the world” in Hindu tradition heard them crying out, Lord Shiva went down to earth, turned himself into a mother pig and fed the piglets with divine milk so that they could look after themselves. In the lesson, the story ends: At the same time, Mother Uma Devi asked her doubts to Lord Shiva, “My dear Lord, pigs are considered to be the ugliest and foolish among all animals living in the world. But, you have shown your grace to them and given your divine knowledge as milk to them. What is the reason behind this act, my Lord?”. Lord Shiva smiled with love and kindness. “In my view, I never see any difference between the love of man, animals or birds; or beautiful or ugly. When the innocent newborn babies cried in hunger, it has become my duty to protect them. So, I gave them pure divine wisdom and strength mixed with the motherly milk. Now, they have become bodily and mentally strong and wise with divine knowledge”.

The children are then asked about moral values and taught that the lesson of the story is “respect every living being and nature such as plants, wetlands, land, air and earth. We should also show kindness to everyone” (Stage 1. Year 1. Term 2, Sydney Murugan Temple). This story uses the action of the divine parent, Lord Shiva, as an example of loving kindness which the children are encouraged to follow. This story incorporates the core competencies of SEL by showing through the divine kindness how one can practice self-awareness because Lord Shiva thought through the issues and managed the situation by changing himself into a mother pig; social self-management and relationship skills in terms of assisting others, regardless of their appearance or nature and responsible decision making to save the lives of the 12 piglets. Thus, our study showed that care and compassion is a major value within all the religions we studied, and is perceived as a core element of the SRE/RI curricula. A careful analysis of the lesson plans of the major religious providers dealing with care and compassion demonstrates the commonality of focus on these values, but also reveals a different level of emphasis in the specific approach of each religion. In some cases, the emphasis focused on helping, in others, on forgiveness and still others, on loving kindness, which reflects the uniqueness of each religion’s beliefs. However, they all include elements relating to the core competencies of SEL as well as illustrating the pedagogic approaches.

10.4 Discussion The main aim of this chapter is to undertake content analysis of the lesson plans for teaching the values of care and compassion in SRE and to understand how SEL pedagogy is implemented to help develop in students the five core competencies—selfawareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making (CASEL 2017; Elliot et al. 2018; Singh and Duraiappah 2020). We

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argue that a well-structured SRE curriculum can draw effectively on SEL pedagogy and enhance the core SEL competencies. This approach aims to facilitate meaningful learning by using the religious concepts of care and compassion, which emerge out of the students’ family and community backgrounds. As we have demonstrated in the findings, the core competencies of SEL are embedded in the SRE pedagogic materials discussed in this chapter. Emerging from the religious beliefs of care and compassion, this SEL pedagogy can help to educate students in how to implement these concepts and contribute to repairing the world. Through drawing on the ancient texts and traditions, combined with the key religious figures acting as role models (Kress and Rotstein 2018), this combined approach of SEL and SRE can assist with social cohesion and help to address some of the global problems of contemporary society by developing social awareness and relationship skills as demonstrated in the discussion of the findings. All the teaching plans relating to the theme of care and compassion that we investigated sought to develop SEL competencies. Religious belief based on revelation has a strong emotional component, while the role of community in religious faiths relates to social skills. As well, in all the lesson plans from the different faith groups, the concept of human agency is embedded. Thus, asking for forgiveness is an example of human agency, since the person has to decide whether or not to undertake this action, and this relates to both self-awareness and self-management as well as responsible decision making. Similarly the concepts of helping others and loving kindness relate to social awareness and relationship skills. There is also an inter-relationship among these core capacities (Strahan and Poteat 2020). We also found that with its focus on developing skills in meditation, Buddhism has more of a focus on self-awareness than the Abrahamic faiths. This can be redressed through professional development because those elements also do exist in the Abrahamic faiths. Another key approach which SRE teachers can utilise is a combination of the ancient traditions as expressed through the texts (Hervieu-Léger 1998, 2000) and SEL pedagogy. This is particularly relevant to the teaching of texts and religious rituals, which includes prayer and meditation, to develop the core SEL competencies. For religious educators, being able to embed the core SEL competencies into the terms and texts in their own traditions is very important. In their 2018 study, Kress and Rotstein found that: Jewish rituals and practices, and related co-curricular activities, were seen as (and used as) venues for SESL [Social, Educational and Spiritual Learning]. Prayer services could provide opportunities for self-reflection. In fact, in many day schools, meditation or discussion of ethical issues are offered as alternates to traditional prayers. (p. 274)

Therefore, drawing on SESL pedagogy can encourage the students to also be reflective and this can facilitate their learning (Strahan and Poteat 2020). However, they also found that such approach can be “episodic”. We also found that this was a problem with our study, but to be effective such an approach needs to be ongoing to ensure that the SEL core competencies are reinforced during each year as well as across the key stages of development (Kress and Rotstein 2018).

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As Kohlberg (1976) points out, there are common patterns in the social life of all societies which are faced with common challenges in terms of offering care and compassion. A central aim of all the faith groups is to improve the actions of human beings in order to make the world a better place. To achieve this aim, the different faiths use God, with Christianity using Jesus, the son of God, and Islam using Allah and Muhammed, the prophet, or a higher spiritual being such as Buddha and his teachings, as an example and a role model of the perfect behavior. Research has demonstrated that young people need role models (Agten 2019) and that the classroom teacher can play an important role as a model for SEL competencies (Singh and Duraiappah 2020), but for religious believers it is the founders of their faith who can also contribute to developing moral and ethical values through the example of their lives and teachings. The lessons plans across the faith groups seek to encourage the students to follow these role models through their spiritual beliefs and so recruit the children to emulate the higher being’s example in their personal capacity. These messages relate to relationships within the family, the students’ peer groups and school, as well as helping others in society in general. However, whilst the aim of the various faith communities’ lesson plans was to enable the students to become more caring and helpful people, thereby facilitating a transformation, the approaches that we saw in both the content and pedagogy tended to be essentialist (Sagi 2002) and instrumental (Gross 2010). Our observation is that there is a tendency in religious education to focus on acquisition rather than participation (Sfard 1998, 2007) with the teaching approaches offering the students a fixed, one dimensional “commodity” that they are forced to acquire, rather than knowledge engagement. Therefore, it is not surprising that the SRE classes often do not achieve their aim of moral improvement and transformation. Yet, as we have discussed earlier, meaningful learning involves reflective teaching (Strahan and Poteat 2020; Gross 2010) and one needs to make sure that SRE teachers use a constructivist and not an essentialist approach, and incorporate Jackson’s (1997) concept of the interpretive approach. Not all the lesson plans incorporated these elements and a number still contained essentialist elements. Compassion is a challenge when it is presented not only as a condition, but rather something people do out of their free will. If it is done only under the threat of punishment, it will not be true compassion. Through using SEL pedagogy, SRE/RI teachers can change essentialist and instrumental teaching and learning into something that is more constructivist and reflective by drawing on the concepts of the SEL core competencies. This enables students to understand the threshold concept (TC) of compassion and experience a transformation in their understanding of this challenging concept. As Rymarz (2016) stresses, the threshold concept is a pedagogic imperative but it can take time for teachers to understand how to apply this approach in their own praxis. So, to achieve these aims of SEL and TC the professional development of SRE/RI teachers is paramount and is needed to create this essential pedagogic reform for SRE/RI. Applying Bob Jackson’s interpretive approach (1997) to SRE is a significant challenge, but one which needs to be met, because it enables the teaching and learning process to structure religious consciousness in the shadow of a complex and multilayered construct, which is part of the twenty-first century world. As discussed above,

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Jackson’s interpretive approach to the study of religious diversity consists of three basic tenets: representation, interpretation and reflection. This can be adopted and adapted to the arena of SRE in terms of teaching care and compassion but we found that SRE teachers tended to only focus on the first level of representations; therefore SRE teachers need to gain a better understanding of these concepts and how to incorporate them into their lesson plans in an age appropriate fashion through professional development. Particularly with the older groups, it is important to present different representations, aimed at revealing diverse voices and interpretations which in turn allow a critical reflective discourse to take shape (Strahan and Poteat 2020; Zembylas et al. 2019). The methodical approach which Jackson proposes will enable SRE teachers to structure learning systematically. Applying his interpretive approach to those epistemological and theological challenges in an increasingly racist and violent world will ensure a mature approach which transforms tough religious questions into a source of resilience and hope within each religious faith group (Gross 2014), where the concepts of care and compassion can play a key role by stressing that these apply not only to the students’ own religious community but to all of humankind (Gross 2014). The introduction of SEL pedagogy can again facilitate achieving this aim. In her article, Teaching Generation Me, Twenge (2009) has shown that “most young people no longer respond to appeals to duty; instead, they want to know exactly why they are doing something and want to feel that they are having a personal impact” (p. 404). In the language of SEL this incorporates “self-awareness and selfmanagement”. This was confirmed by the findings of our study of Jewish education (Gross and Rutland 2014), where the students desire to know that the instruction is relevant for their personal survival and will help them to be competent adults in their cultural context. This allows for a connection between self-awareness and social awareness. Thus, it is important to ensure that care and compassion are presented as an opportunity and not as a threat, and that the teaching of this value is not conditioned and manipulated by the SRE approach, but rather draws on SEL pedagogy. An analysis of the lesson plans show that most are stuck in the first level of Kohlberg’s pre-conventional stage and the heteronomous level of Piaget. Yet, Piaget argued that the heteronomous level applies only to the younger ages. This is the challenge of religious education because, on the one hand, SRE providers wish to convey the authority of God but, on the other hand, students need to be encouraged to accept this through constructing their free will, so that they will choose to accept the authority of God on their own volition. Therefore, when a lesson plan suggests a linear path between deed and punishment or reward in a very simplistic manner, it will not appeal to the “Me Generation” in the post-modern world. They need, rather, to explore concepts for themselves through SEL pedagogy so that through self- and social awareness they can develop both self-management responsible decision-making processes and their relationship skills. The students are searching for this more complex relationship with moral development and this should be further investigated as to whether it is being offered effectively in SRE classes. Within the framework of Piaget and Kohlberg’s theorisation, the issue of age appropriateness needs to be considered more carefully. For the older students, the message needs to be conveyed that true compassion is due to intrinsic factors rather

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than an extrinsic need. Many of the lesson plans did differentiate on the basis of age, but they tended to focus more on additional content rather than higher order thinking. Yet, as both Piaget and Kohlberg have demonstrated, moral development is connected with intellectual development, so that students in the older age groups need intellectual challenges as well as the introduction of SEL pedagogy to develop their social and emotional skills. For example, SRE teachers can present a dilemma and then discuss the approach of the individual SRE faith to resolving the dilemma using the above-mentioned Jackson’s interpretive approach combined with SEL pedagogy. In today’s neoliberal world, students often want a more universalistic approach to their Religious Studies learning. At the same time, they also want the instruction to be more relevant to their own lives rather than taking the traditional, particularistic approach (Gross and Rutland 2014). Yet, each major faith does have universalistic messages which SRE classes could focus on. These include the SEL core competencies, with teaching about the importance of the values of care and compassion through SRE being one venue to achieve this aim due to the universalistic messages of helping and forgiving others, as well as showing loving kindness. Another challenge is the relationship between education, with its focus on objective knowledge, and socialisation and its focus on subjective knowledge (Berger 1990 [1967]). There is a tension between students wanting, on the one hand, an objective approach, but at the same time desiring that both their classroom learning and their outside, informal activities would relate to the subjective rather than the objective perspective (Gross and Rutland 2017; Gross 2010). With the teaching of care and compassion, there is a need to bridge this gap between the objective messages of the religious faiths and the subjective world of the students. This can be achieved by asking the students to reflect on their own life and bring examples from their own experience. Some of the lesson plans were more successful in bridging this gap than others. More professional development with discussion and sharing across the faiths could assist SRE teachers to introduce pedagogic approaches, including the importance of social and emotional learning, to deal with this tension between objective and subjective knowledge. As Kohlberg argues (1976), children look towards adults as role models. The spiritual growth of students in SRE can be fostered by what the literature calls “a responsible adult”. This means that the SRE teacher’s role is not to indoctrinate, but rather to enable the students to deal with the inner conflict that they experience between accepting God’s authority, on the one hand, while at the same time being autonomous, as stressed in the postmodern world with its focus on individual freedom. This is in contrast to the SEL competencies of building social awareness and relationship skills through self-awareness, self-management and responsible decision making. Given the focus of all faith groups on the role and importance of community, as compared to the postmodern focus on individualism, this religious approach can contribute to enhancing the core SEL competencies. Professional development of both the supervisors and the teachers can assist them to achieve this aim through more effective lesson planning that draws on SEL pedagogy. Kress and Rotstein (2018) piloted such a program of professional development for what they called “Social, Emotional and Spiritual Learning [SESL]” through online webinars, mentoring and action-

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based research on the part of the participants, creating a “community of practice and supporting one another’s efforts” (p. 281). Exploration is another important element in education as compared with indoctrination. As discussed in Chapter 5, the need for exploration is a prerequisite in the process of identity formation (Morgan 2010; Grotevant 1987; Marcia 1980; Erikson 1968) and can be a critical factor in student motivation. This needs to be taken into account in SRE lesson planning. The current generation have a strong desire to explore their connection to their individual religious beliefs at a deeper layer. Yet, very often such belief is presented in the lesson plans in an authoritarian fashion, without providing the students with opportunities for an open-ended discussion as to why such behaviour is important. Particularly as they mature, students can be presented with dilemmas, which will enable them to explore for themselves the best approach towards helping others and ensuring that they are tuned into the needs of others, rather than just being self-absorbed in their own needs. Too often the message conveyed in contemporary Western society is that people should focus on their own needs and rights, with little focus on obligations. Drawing on SEL pedagogy, this gap can be overcome. In addition, as Davidson et al. (2003) have demonstrated, developing SEL competencies can also lead to improvements in academic results. The theme of care and compassion can be an ideal venue to examine why such individualism can be problematic at both the micro and the macro levels of society. Thus, such exploration needs to be encouraged by the SRE teachers in an age appropriate manner. Morgan’s research (2010) has demonstrated the connection between exploration and place attachment, using the example of a child gradually moving away from her mother to explore her surroundings. This reinforces Kohlberg’s theory of identity development that children need to explore but at the same time they also look to key adults as role models. Drawing on Morgan’s analogy, older students need to examine issues and criticisms, what has been described as “wrestling with God”, in order to reinforce their own religious identities and beliefs. The SRE teacher can help and guide them in their journey of exploration through showing the beauty of religious belief through a positive prism. This constructivist approach will work better than the essentialist approach which focuses on the construction of the authority of God or a higher spiritual being and the need to obey the religious laws. We have argued in Chapter 9 for the importance of incorporating experiential and informal education techniques into SRE (Gross and Rutland 2017a). An analysis of the various lesson plans of the different faith groups revealed that many of the faith providers have tried to incorporate the use of experiential educational techniques which involve Pope Francis’s “head, heart and hand” approach, which are SEL core competencies (Pope Francis Q and A on the challenges of Education, Zenit.org, November 23, 2015, https:qqzenit.orgqarticlesqpope-s-q-and-a-onthechallenges–of–education, accessed on 5 February 2018). This can be seen in the incorporation of prayer and song (heart), of discussion and reason (head), of appealing to the students’ feelings (heart) and of creative drawings and images (hands). These different pedagogical approaches can help to enhance the SEL core competencies.

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At the same time, each faith group has their own unique understanding of and approach to the concepts of care and compassion, drawing from the wellsprings of their spiritual beliefs. The need to adjust SEL pedagogy to the culture and concepts of individual faiths and traditions has been stressed by current research and highlights the key role SRE can play in developing the core SEL competencies (Singh and Duraiappah 2020). In this way, SRE can be “actualized by the pedagogies of Pope Francis weaving the heart, hands and minds within the educational practice, thus allowing the educative process to be interactive, combining the pragmatic with the Aristotelian concepts of logos with pathos” (Cattaro 2018, p. 54). If a reciprocal relationship of dialogue can be developed in the SRE lesson plans between head, heart, and hands “all three can be like concepts of the Holy Trinity: becoming one to form the whole, yet separate in function” (Cattaro 2018, p. 54). This will facilitate a conversation in the SRE/RI classroom between head, heart and hands. SRE also needs to create a synergy between culture and ethos (Cattaro 2018) and this is what the lesson plans attempt to do. Yet, they need to be more reflective and include the way the students comprehend and encounter religion in the educational process. As discussed, Jackson’s (1997) concept of reflection is very relevant here as SRE teachers need to integrate into the educational process the life histories of the students and the way they interpret the religious reality into their own lives. This will initiate a dialogue between Cattaro’s (2018) concept of praxis, ethos and culture (p. 60) as well as SEL competencies and enable to students to better understand the importance of helping and being kind to others. The experiential learning in SRE can facilitate transformation through its values education aspect, which also stresses religious belief. If this can be achieved through improved lesson planning and pedagogy, the education that is imparted through SRE, drawing on SEL pedagogy, will become more meaningful from a moral point of view. The lesson plans need to focus on a holistic approach which involves the integration between the head, the heart and the hands which we have demonstrated are the essence of SEL. Systematic experiential learning, combined with cognitive, social and emotional engagement, critical thinking and reflective approaches can facilitate a deeper understanding of core values such as care and compassion together with the five SEL competencies at both the micro and the macro levels. This pedagogy will contribute to a constructivist approach to the teaching of care and compassion and other key values, rather than an essentialist approach which can lead to indoctrination. By assisting teachers and providers to introduce these pedagogical approaches in the SRE classroom through ongoing professional development, they can ensure that teaching the key values of care and compassion is presented in a meaningful way, thereby developing students’ competencies to help in the betterment of the world. From the point of view of values education, such transformation is of central importance.

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Chapter 11

Conclusion and Recommendations

Abstract This book aims to substantiate the fact that religion still plays a key role in our contemporary society and that it is important to retain SRE/SRI in government schools. SRE provides a number of key benefits. These include firstly values education within the framework of belief in God or a higher spiritual being, which has been shown to be a powerful factor in empowering student decisions, fostering their ability to act and assigning student responsibility. Secondly, religious belief has been shown to strengthen students’ sense of identity and belonging and to have important psychological benefits for students’ mental health and wellbeing. Thirdly, retaining the rich mix of the different faith communities strengthens Australia’s multicultural fabric. Finally, SRE/RI classes provide safe places for students to explore the deeper questions of their religion and identity. At the same time, this study argues that SRE/RI pedagogy needs to be brought into the twenty-first century, ensuring best practice drawing on constructivist, reflected, critical pedagogy to achieve the core competencies of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). This is needed to meaningfully engage the next generation. To achieve this goal, SRE/RI providers, with government support and assistance, need ongoing professional development and more effective transparency, accountability and supervision. As well, for effective multicultural education, a combination of Special Religious Education (SRE) with General Religious Education (GRE) is needed, so that children can, on the one hand, explore their own religious identity, and on the other hand learn about and interact with children of different religious faiths. This book argues that adopting these best practice approaches will meet the criticisms expressed about SRE/RI pedagogy to ensure a robust SRE/RI curriculum which is suitably equipped to develop students in contemporary Australian society. A strengthened SRE/RI program will enrich Australian society and improve students’ mental health and wellbeing, assisting to equip them to be confident, functioning adults in the rapidly changing contemporary world.

This book argues that religion is still relevant for our society, despite the arguments of secular atheists who claim that religion is irrational and harmful to society and that all religions will disappear because of their irrelevance to contemporary, global society (Hitchens 2007; Dawkins 2006). There is a polarisation about the role of religious © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Z. Gross and S. D. Rutland, Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67969-9_11

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education in contemporary Australian society. Some educators argue against the continuation of Special Religious Education/Instruction (SRE/RI) in government schools (Maddox 2014; Bouma and Halafoff 2009; Byrne 2014), as well as being highly critical of government funding for private religious schools (Maddox 2014). In contrast, we believe that religious education should be maintained in the public sphere to ensure that religion is “on the table and not under the table”. At the government level, every effort should be made to minimise this polarisation by encouraging respect for different beliefs, whether religious or secular, while at the same time recognising that there are central moral and ethical principles that apply to all citizens of Australia. To achieve this aim, we have argued for the concept of “co-operative education” with a combination of Special Religious Education (SRE) and General Religious Education (GRE), also known as Worldviews Education as discussed in Chapter 1 (Halafoff et al. 2019; Halafoff and Bouma 2019). For New South Wales, parents can also choose Special Ethics Education, further extending parental choice and meeting the needs of “nones”. The intense debate around the continuation of SRE/RI has led some Australian states to either remove it entirely, or only permit these classes to operate on school grounds during non-curriculum times, before school, or lunchtime or after school. In New South Wales, following a major government study in 2015, it was decided to permit these classes to continue but to require greater transparency and accountability. This led to the formation of a multi-faith organisation, Better Balanced Futures, which is now working to become a nation-wide organisation. Through a qualitative study based on a grounded theory methodology, we were able to explore the challenges and advantages of SRE/RI as the system operates in the Eastern States of Australia, including the two most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria, whether the classes are offered during or outside curriculum hours. We conducted in-depth interviews with 55 directors, teachers and graduates, and an additional three interviews in relation to the impact of COVID 19, from six main faith communities—Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Baha’i. Due to ethical limitations of interviewing children, we decided to include the graduates of SRE, some of whom were also young university student teachers, so that the student’s voice could be heard and this added further understanding and colour to our study as the graduates reflected on their experiences as students. The responses discussed and analysed throughout this book help to shed a light on the advantages of retaining the system from the point of view of the (1) teaching and learning of key values; (2) developing identity capital and a sense of belonging; (3) reinforcing students’ health, well-being and spirituality; (4) adding to Australia’s multicultural fabric and social cohesion; and (5) creating a “safe” place for students to explore their religious beliefs and practices. While we have discussed and analysed each of these issues separately in Part II, drawing on the rich data from our interviewees, in point of fact there is an interrelationship and interconnection between these major issues. This book argues for the importance of maintaining SRE/RI because of its contribution to these issues, while at the same time ensuring that the programs are developed within a reflective, constructivist and critical lens.

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The recommendations from the 2015 New South Wales Government Report sought to achieve this aim and to redress the previous weaknesses in the system. The data from our findings highlighted both the advantages and challenges of the current system and revealed that SRE/RI providers and teachers are very aware of the need to upgrade their curricula and improve their teaching approaches in order to meet government criteria. They also acknowledge the importance of the accreditation requirements. By continuing to offer the choice of SRE/RI or in New South Wales of Special Ethics Education (SEE), while at the same time ensuring that the implementation of both meets with the highest pedagogic standards in current teaching and learning practices, the polarisation experienced at present can be minimised. Through SRE/RI, government schools can teach the nine key values delineated by the Australian government with the added dimension of religious belief. This can assist to contribute to students’ moral and ethical development and also strengthen young people’s personal identity (Côté 2005). The advantages of this have been demonstrated in current educational and psychological theories as discussed in this book. Drawing on this literature and our findings, we have argued that values education, identity development, spirituality and wellbeing are major constituents of SRE/RI. As such, our findings demonstrate that SRE/RI can be advantageous not only in primary schools but also for adolescents in high schools, as the contemporary study by Chen and van der Vanderweele (2018) on adolescence, religious upbringing and subsequent health and wellbeing has demonstrated. They found that high school students who engaged in regular prayer or meditation enjoyed better mental and physical health than other students. Recent research has also shown that expressing gratitude and giving, other elements central in all the faiths, also contribute to health and wellbeing, as does positive psychology (Seligman 2002). By fostering these elements through SRE/RI, these classes also help to reinforce student’s identity adding another layer to Côté’s theory of social capital. To remove SRE/RI at both primary and high school levels for those who choose it, would be to eliminate an important identity constituent, as well as the spiritual and religious element from values and religious education and practice. This has been clearly shown to be important for student and adult wellbeing through the relevant literature and our research findings. We found that SRE/RI can be perceived as a strategy to foster multiculturalism in schools with teachers being encouraged to focus on the universalistic elements of their religious traditions. Hence, following Jackson’s (1997, 2014) interpretive approach, SRE should provide reflective religious education (Gross 2010). For students to be able to negotiate their lives within the broader global context of being exposed to other religions (Ziebertz 2011), we have argued that they need first to have an understanding of their own particularistic identity. We observed that meeting the needs of small minority groups such as Baha’is, Hindus and other Eastern faiths, as well as the Abrahamic faiths, enriches a multi-faith society. The integrated setting of government schools, as compared with many private religious schools, enables students to mix with children from other faith groups and to share their experiences in SRE/RI classes in their general studies classroom. As well, the teachers reported

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that they appreciated mixing with the volunteers from the other faith groups and sharing their experiences, thereby assisting to multiculturalise the schools. A major problem facing Australian society today is that of religious bullying in the playground. Our research has demonstrated that there are four main faith groups that experience such discrimination: Muslims, Hindus, Jews and religious Christians. The opportunity in SRE/RI classes provides students with a “safe place” where they can discuss openly their religious beliefs and practices without fear of ridicule. Such exploration can add to their sense of well-being, acceptance and belonging. The graduate interviewees from these four faith groups shared openly with us their experiences of religious bullying in the playground and explained why SRE/RI classes were so important for them, and how much they enjoyed attending the classes and meeting up with their friends from their faith communities. These student voices with their specific examples assisted us to gain a deeper insight into the issue of religious bullying in the playground. As well, both the Muslim teachers and graduates stressed how much they appreciated being able to participate in Islamic RE in government schools as a sign of acceptance of their religious identity. With the increasing Islamophobia in Australia, the SRE/RI classes make an important contribution in mitigating the negative effects on Muslim school children by lessening their sense of fear and anxiety, which can lead to religious extremism. While significant literature exists on the need for minority groups to be exposed to other cultures, there is not enough literature on the ways in which a minority group can strengthen its own culture within a multicultural society. We found that SRE/RI classes can play a positive role in the child’s development by contributing to children’s sense of connectedness within the community, promote their feeling of security and provide them with a protective safety net of identity capital and spirituality (Gross and Rutland 2014, 2015). By encouraging respect of different traditions, both within and across faiths, children can learn to recognise the value of religious diversity. Thus, we argue that the challenge is to create more effective SRE/RI classrooms where the reality for all students is inclusiveness, assisting them to move along a path of belonging and to make meaning of the complexities of the human experience. If the various faith groups want SRE/RI to continue, our findings show that each provider needs to move from traditional methods of teaching religious beliefs, where an authoritarian approach was acceptable, to a more open-ended, inclusive approach which encourages and facilitates questioning and searching through a critical pedagogy and a bricoleur methodological approach. In meeting this goal, we can see three main shifts. The first is a cognitive shift, which is a constructivist perspective that shifts attention from discussing what religious education is, to a discussion about how we define and thus construct and conceptualise religious education. The second is the issue of relevance: religious education is situated within the emergence of global in addition to local relevancy spaces. Bringing in the global and universal perspectives can foster a greater engagement of students in contemporary society. The third is subjectivation: students act from a subjective standpoint so that there is a need to investigate current practices

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and materials to constitute new forms of subjectivation (Macgilchrist and Christophe 2011). Our study identified a number of relevant factors associated with religious transmission for the current generation. Religious education should be constructivist, with students gradually constructing their identity. Such instruction should be reflective, not instrumental (Gross 2010). Following Alexander (2001), SRE/RI should be situated “between the subjectivism and relativism of the left and the dogmatism and fundamentalism of the right” (p. xiii). There needs to be a dialectic between a compulsory, core curriculum and a flexible, open-ended, vibrant educational approach (Weisse 2011). We have argued that informal religious education is the most meaningful approach, together with experiential and interactive learning, for the transmission of religious knowledge and identity. This can occur through a variety of channels, including formal classroom instruction, camps and social learning. Students like to be directly involved with their learning, and when direct instruction is required, there are many modern technologies which teachers can employ, such as graphics, short video clips and the smart board (Twenge 2009). Sfard (1998, 2007) distinguishes between two kinds of educational discourses—acquisition (learning knowledge) and participation (being part of the broader religious discourse). She found that learning through participation meant that students were more engaged in their learning. While some SRE/RI teachers spoke about the participatory approach in their interviews, professional development can assist in creating greater awareness of this current pedagogic thinking. In our discussion of the teaching of care and compassion, one of the central values, we focused on is the issue of developing the core competencies of self- awareness, self-management, social awareness, building relationship skills and responsible decision making through Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). We demonstrated that in many of the lesson plans dealing with care and compassion, some of these core competencies did feature, whilst a few of the lesson plans included elements of all five competencies. It would be desirable for SRE/RI providers to be further exposed to SEL concepts so that they can incorporate them more specifically into their curriculum development. However, according to the graduates’ testimony, their teachers do not use these strategies, in many cases because they did not have permanent rooms with a clear allocation of resources. Incentives are required for these teachers to improve their skills, so that they can learn to use modern teaching techniques and make the subject matter more relevant, as well as the school administration being more supportive of these classes. In addition, more investment into producing local Australian quality SRE/RI teachers through a basic training course and professional development, as well as assistance in developing relevant teaching materials, are needed. There is also an increasing dichotomy between those concerned with maintaining religious particularism (uniqueness or fundamentalism) and those whose approach is more open and universalistic. We found that teachers utilised either a particularistic standpoint or a universalistic one. Yet, those teachers who were able to combine particularism with

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universalism succeeded in transmitting a deeper and multi-layered understanding of their faith’s beliefs and so cater more effectively to students in the postmodern world. At the same time, we believe that there is an acute need to understand the boundaries which are required to create respect for all faiths within the liberal state, so as to ensure that one faith does not undermine the other faiths in order to promote its own ends. In this regard, we posit that a combination of SRE and GRE is optimal, since it enables students to develop and reflect on their own identity capital, as well as understanding other religious faiths and the different perceptions of the ways to achieve a good and moral existence. This, however, is age related, since children first need to develop their own identity before they are able to understand broader identities.

11.1 Implications for Future Research The issue of effectively offering both SRE and GRE in Australian government schools has not been researched. We support the concept of “cooperative education” (Schweitzer 2007), that is a combination of SRE and GRE. Bouma and Halafoff (2009) note that there are “unhelpful beliefs” which include prejudices on the part of people who hold absolutist views regarding religion including about non-believers, or those who hold different religious beliefs from themselves on the one hand, and those who are secular atheists who are dismissive of religion and hold prejudiced views towards believers on the other hand. SRE and GRE are two very different approaches to religious education. Yet, by SRE/RI teachers fostering open-mindedness to ensure that they educate, rather than indoctrinate, combined with children gaining a cognitive understanding and developing a sense of empathy for the different groups in multifaith Australia through GRE, we propose that it may be possible to mitigate against these unhelpful beliefs, but this is still unchartered waters. The focus in this book has been on SRE/RI, but developing effective GRE programs which complement SRE is also a challenge which needs further research. In recent scholarship there is a debate over whether to use the terms “worldview” education, with its focus on both the religious and secular worldview, rather than Religious Education. Van der Kooij et al. (2017) argue for the former “because the encompassing character fits these discourses best” (pp. 172–173). They posit that there are three main elements that characterise a worldview: the first is that in contemporary society not all understandings of life are within a religious framework; the second is that the worldview is “organized”, that is it draws on texts and traditions that may not necessarily be religious, such as secular humanism; and finally that the approach needs to deal with existential questions such as the meaning of life. In this book we have used the terms “GRE” since this is a clearer term for the lay reader and key decision makers to understand. However, we believe that this term can incorporate the broader, innovative “worldview” concept as presented in the literature (Halafoff et al. 2019; Van der Kooij et al. 2017; Valk and Tonson 2016; Jackson 2014). In addition, the issue of how to implement worldview education needs

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further research, including more exposure to the concerns and challenges relating to both its content and pedagogy for educational planners. Reflecting on his experience from 2002 to 2010 as an orthodox Jewish rabbi leading a group of multi-faith “practitioners of cross-cultural, interfaith and peace building work” in the non-government organisation, “Together for Humanity”, Zalman Kastel, discusses the many challenges that they have faced in their work. He comments on the issues of grievances and the focus on justice as opposed to other key values and stresses the need for realism: [to] recognise each community as a collection of unique individuals, capable of both good and evil. Still, in some cases, the prevalence of anti-social and other problems, often related to extreme social disadvantage, looms so large that if we are brutally honest, we would actually be quite brutal. In these cases, it is sometimes necessary to see the other not as they appear to us, based on a collection of obvious facts, but as they can be based on their human potential, and broader positive aspects of their heritage and community.

He also argues for the need for openness “to values different to our own, but this must be negotiated with respect for our need to be true to our own principles and morals”. Also there is a need not to be unrealistic in terms of expectations both regarding one’s own faith group and also other key faiths. Kastel includes three key elements for successful interfaith work for social cohesion: empathy, intergroup contact and cognitive approaches. As we have discussed, these are substantial issues that we found are important in the teaching of SRE and validates our findings. These elements can also assist to foster GRE. In terms of empathy, this involves Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in which SRE/RI teachers can also highlight the universal elements within their own faith beliefs. As we have discussed in Chapter 7 dealing with multiculturalism, our interviewees were very aware of the importance of this and gave us examples from their own faith traditions, such as the belief in the Abrahamic religions that all humanity stems from Adam, so all are God’s creatures, and similar universal messages in Hinduism, Baha’i and Buddhism. We have also discussed the need to combine affective and cognitive knowledge in Chapter 9. In terms of intergroup contact, many Australian schools today are multi-faith due to the post-war immigration policies of Australian governments, especially with the end of the White Australia policy in the 1970s. Hence, by students of SRE/RI classes sharing their traditions in school assemblies and other school activities, intergroup contact can be fostered within the general school curriculum, as well as by introducing GRE/Worldview into the formal, compulsory school curriculum. This is an area where more research needs to be undertaken to understand how “cooperative education” can operate most effectively within the government educational framework.

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11.2 Recommendations One of the challenges facing SRE is the lack of professional development for its teachers, most of whom work in an honorary capacity as volunteers and lack any professional training. As well, many of them are older and have not been exposed to these current educational theories and pedagogy. To develop the skills required to teach in SRE/RI, professional development is an essential component. The challenge is to create awareness among the teachers of the five main pedagogic values found in the research: trust, respect, care, safety and creating a sense of belonging (Allen and Kern 2019). These improvements can be achieved by: • Introducing a basic training course through the Departments of Education for all SRE/RI beginning teachers that includes the various pedagogic approaches discussed above; • Opportunities for ongoing professional development, both within and across the faith groups; • More effective supervision and monitoring of the teaching body; • The establishment of a mixed-faith evaluation committee of curricula and lesson plans to ensure that the materials taught offer a broad and inclusive perspective that encourages the students’ autonomy in their religious beliefs; • Greater transparency in all aspects of SRE/RI teaching; • Developing a combined SRE/GRE program. Longitudinal and diachronic observations into changes in transmission of cultural and religious heritages are required to develop better strategies (Ziebertz 2003; Greenfield et al. 2000). Our findings relate to the sustainability of religious education in government schools via SRE/SRI as part of the rich tapestry of multicultural Australia. Our main conclusion is that developing a good balance between schooling, multiculturalism and religious commitment is a key challenge for the twenty-first century, of concern for the future mental health and wellbeing of the current generation and Australian public policy. As discussed, the radical changes that have occurred in contemporary society with globalisation, the impact of the increasing use of social media and individualisation, require new ways of thinking that can still draw inspiration from the chain of tradition while also introducing innovative educational approaches. To meet these challenges more research is required with open horizons in terms of recognising the ongoing role of religion in global society and improving the teaching and learning of religious education by drawing on the most recent, updated pedagogy in government schools.

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