Religion and Worldviews in Education: The New Watershed (Routledge Research in Religion and Education)

This timely book offers a critically important contribution to debates around the meeting place of religious and secular worldviews in education.

Edited by five leading figures in the field, and drawing on expert international scholarship and research, the book provides cutting-edge analysis that bridges the religious and secular in global educational contexts. Considering the role of the United Nations, UNESCO, OECD and PISA in varied international contexts, the book draws on critical analysis of primary empirical research and secondary critique to offer a coherent blend of theoretically complex yet practical analysis of policy implementation. Throughout this accessible and logically structured volume, the authors assert that the meeting place of religious and secular worldviews is one of the most important and pressing issues for religion in education.

As a field-defining work of research into education, religion and worldviews, the book will be essential reading for scholars, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of religious education, religious studies, philosophy of education and international education.

Liam Gearon is Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, and Associate Professor at the Department of Education, University of Oxford. A philosopher and theorist of education, Liam Gearon is a specialist in critical, historical and contemporary analyses of education in multi-disciplinary contexts. Concurrently Conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, he was formerly Adjunct Professor at the Australian Catholic University and also previously Professor of Education at the University of Roehampton and Research Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Plymouth. With a published doctorate in English Literature, he is the author or editor of over 30 books and over 70 articles and book chapters.

Arniika Kuusisto, PhD, is Professor of Early Childhood Education at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, and Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of Education, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the agentic construction of values and worldviews along individual life trajectories from early childhood to teacher professionalism, as well as young children’s existential resilience. At present, she leads the Academy of Finland funded (2018–2023; grant 315860) ‘Growing up radical? The role of educational institutions in guiding young people’s worldview construction’ research project.

Saila Poulter, PhD, is Senior University Lecturer in Religious Education at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. She has the title of Docent in education at the University of Jyväskylä. Her research interests concern religious and worldview education, teacher professionalism, and citizenship education. Poulter’s current research is on diversity of worldviews in early childhood education and care, children’s grief in institutional contexts and performative religious education.

Auli Toom, PhD, Full Professor of Higher Education, works as Director of the Helsinki University Centre for University Teaching and Learning (HYPE) and Vice-Dean for research at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Dr. Toom is a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. Her research interests include teacher knowing, agency and teacher education as well as teaching and learning in higher education. She leads and co-leads several research projects on these themes and supervises PhD students. She serves on editorial boards in different journals and has acted as a reviewer for many scientific journals, conferences and international research programs. Her research articles have appeared in several scientific journals and edited books. She also works as an expert in many international research and development projects.

Martin Ubani (PhD, MTheol) is a Professor of Religious Education at the University of Eastern Finland. His research interests focus on religion in public education. He serves on several editorial boards of scientific journals. He also serves currently in the evaluation council of the Finnish Education and Evaluation Centre. He is a research fellow at Van Leer Institute Jerusalem.