The travail of multi-faith religious education in Britain

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to consider the post-confessional history of religious education in Britain, that is, multi-faith religious education, which is the form of religious education that succeeded confessional religious education, and to enquire why (and in what ways) it is in such a ‘lamentable’ state. The focus is on weaknesses rather than strengths, for it is weaknesses that are increasingly becoming apparent and increasingly discussed. Attention is given both to the commitments and ideas that have shaped the changing character of multi-faith religious education over the last fifty years and to identified weaknesses, as revealed in observational research in classrooms and in pupil surveys.