Religious Diversity and Social Studies Education

Dear Colleagues,

This issue will explore how and to what degree religious diversity is being taught in K-12 social studies classrooms and included in official school curricula and teacher education programs. Religious diversity includes those with nonreligious worldviews, such as humanism or those who identify as spiritual but not religious. Examining religious diversity is timely, as Western societies are increasingly secular, yet the majority of citizens in 23 of the 34 countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center (Tamir et al., 2020) indicated that religion is somewhat or very important to them. In many contexts, migration contributes to religious diversity, as religion can play significant and complex roles in the migration experience (Frederiks, 2016). Thus, even with the changing landscape, religion still plays a considerable role in societies around the world. Given that social studies is the school subject most attuned to societal trends and their impacts on citizenship, social studies teachers and teacher education programs are grappling with how to teach about diversity and the increasing polarization that arises from religious diversity, as well as how to honour diverse religious identities so that all students can flourish.

Teaching about religion and religious diversity can be challenging because religion often permeates personal beliefs, experiences, and values that guide one’s behaviour. Teachers do not wish to offend, may be overwhelmed with what they need to learn before they are able to teach about religion, and may have fears about parental concerns. Moreover, both knowledge about religion and the pedagogical skills to teach it effectively may not have been addressed in their teacher education program. A common classroom approach is developing student attitudes of tolerance, a complex notion which, when overly simplified, can contribute to indifference (Brown, 2006; Stewart et al., 2020). To develop more fulsome approaches for K-12 classrooms, the scope of this issue includes several disciplines and educational fields, including philosophy, social studies education, religious education, curriculum studies, religious studies, the sociology of education, leadership studies, and such areas of sociology as identity formation. The stakeholders that can be studied include teacher preparation programs, pre-service and in-service teachers, school leaders, caregivers, branches of government charged with creating school curricula, and more.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

1. What can a comparative regional analysis tell us about how various countries recognize religious diversity (including nonreligious worldviews) in their school curricula, especially social studies, and prepare teachers to engage with, and teach about, religious diversity.
2. How can the theories of pluralism (Joustra, 2020), covenantal pluralism (Seiple and Hoover, 2022), multiculturalism, worldviews, social justice, and more, be applied to diverse K-12 classrooms?
3. How might students engage with religious diversity rather than merely discuss it, i.e., participate in dialogues, collaboratively study proposed solutions to contentious societal issues arising from religion or religious diversity, learn and practice civic skills, etc.? To what degree are religious literacy (Biesta et al., 2019; Moore, 2010) and worldview literacy (Shaw, 2022) helpful frameworks for engagement?
4. If religious diversity includes those with nonreligious worldviews, how can educators and teacher educators mobilize the resources found in religious and nonreligious worldviews to support the notion of living together well across differences?
5. How might the presence and study of religious diversity impact citizenship education? To what degree does citizenship education acknowledge and engage with diverse religious and nonreligious worldviews?
6. How do issues surrounding religion and religious identities contribute to or complicate current efforts to create socially just, equitable, and inclusive classrooms?

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References:

Biesta, G., Aldridge, D., Hannam, P., & Whittle, S. (2019). Religious literacy: A way forward for religious education? A report submitted to the Culham St. Gabriel’s Trust. http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.24170.47047

Brown, W. 2006. Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the age of identity and empire. Princeton University Press.

Frederiks, M. (2016). Religion, migration, and identity: A conceptual and theoretical explanation. In M. Frederiks & D. Nagy (Eds.), Religion, migration and identity: Methodological and theological explorations (pp. 9-29). Open Access. Brill. https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.aekc.talonline.ca/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w8h267

Joustra, R.J. (2020). The coordinates of covenantal pluralism: Mapping pluralist theory in the 21^st century. The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 18(4), 18-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2020.1834994

Moore, D.L. (2010). Guidelines for teaching about religion in K-12 public schools in the United States. American Academy of Religion. https://tinyurl.com/2p959fmv

Seiple, C. & Hoover, D.R. (2022). The Routledge Handbook of Religious Literacy, Pluralism, and Global Engagement. Open Access. Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003036555

Shaw, M. (2022). Worldview literacy as intercultural citizenship education: A framework for critical, reflexive engagement in plural democracy. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice. https://doi.org/10.1177/17461979211062125

Stewart, W.C., Seiple, C., & Hoover, D. (2020). Toward a global covenant of peaceable neighborhood: Introducing the philosophy of covenantal pluralism. The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 18(4), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2020.1835029

Tamir, C., Connaughton, A., & Salazar, A.M. (2020). The global God divide. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/07/20/the-global-god-divide/

Dr. Margie Patrick
Dr. Erin Reid
Guest Editors

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• religion
• religious diversity
• social studies education
• citizenship education
• teacher education