Religious Education in Europe – John Keast

It hardly requires saying that religious education (RE) in Europe is extremely diverse, so this brief account will inevitably be rather generalised. The diversity is a result of many differences in the histories, languages, constitutions, traditions and cultures of the various countries of Europe. All of these aspects affect the development, nature and provision of RE. The complexity of this diversity makes it difficult to get a comprehensive view of all that has happened, or is happening, regarding RE across Europe.

First, terminology is important. For most educationalists in the UK, RE has come to mean a professional and educational process of learning about and from religion. In community schools, RE is not ‘confessional’ (though there are many meanings to that term) in the sense of nurturing children into confessing a faith for themselves. This is usually regarded as the role of the family and faith community, including in some cases, faith schools. In most schools then, RE is regarded as open, plural and inclusive, sometimes even being called religious studies.

However, for very many people in Europe, RE has a confessional intent, not just because it may be controlled by churches or other faith groups, but because RE means education ‘into religion’ or a religious education. In many European countries, RE may therefore be quite different from the rest of the school curriculum. It may be controlled and taught by people who are not teachers, or provided outside the normal curriculum and teacher training arrangements. Attitudes to RE of this kind are often shaped by more general attitudes to churches or other faith communities, or to power issues connected with them: for example, whether churches are state churches. Europe’s largely Christian heritage and its continuing influence are deeply influential on the thinking and practice of many European peoples. The social structure of many European societies is often rather different from the UK, with higher levels of religious observance or influence.

There is evidence, however, of some change taking place as a plurality of religions and their contribution to Europe’s continuing development becomes more widely recognised. RE is tending to take on a more multi-faith and educational character. Some scholars link this with a continuation of secularisation, increased migration and globalisation. Often European countries look to the UK for a model in developing this kind of RE, on the grounds that the UK has been deeply influenced by such factors for a longer period.

Broad Patterns in Europe

Within the diverse provision and nature of RE in Europe, some broad patterns can be distinguished. The Scandinavian countries have, by and large, separated their RE from Lutheran dominance and provide a curriculum similar to that of the UK, although there are variations both in curriculum and arrangements. Indeed, some aspects of Norway’s RE curriculum are currently the subject of dispute at the European Court of Human Rights.

German, Swiss and Austrian RE depends largely on their individual states (i.e. counties or provinces that make up the national federation), and are a mixture of Catholic, Protestant, Islamic and/or ethical courses. Germany, for example, has a constitution where RE in schools is taught according to agreements made with Protestant or Roman Catholic authorities; it is now trying to work, with some difficulty, similar arrangements with Islamic authorities.

In practice, much of the curriculum, methodology and resources may be of a multi-faith character. In Southern Europe (e.g. Greece, Italy, and Spain) RE very much represents the dominant Christian culture of those countries, with little teaching of ‘other faiths’, though often with withdrawal arrangements for ethics courses instead of religious ones. In Spain, for example, there has been a quite radical change in the prominence of the role of the Roman Catholic Church in religious education in recent years.

Most educationalists in the UK are familiar with the French prohibition on RE in the curriculum of state schools, as part of the separation of church and state dating from the early 20th century (except in Alsace-Lorraine). France is often regarded as the paradigm of a ‘secular’ education system. However, teaching about religion is making some kind of comeback in France following the Regis Debray report of 2002 which recommended an increase of knowledge of religions to help raise standards in literature, philosophy, history, etc. as well as dealing with social issues. At the present moment, though, France seems unlikely to introduce the teaching of RE as a subject into its national curriculum. The view that RE is essentially ‘confessional’ is deeply held, but the teaching of “religion as fact” (similar to learning about religion in the UK) is gaining greater momentum, with the publication of new materials and the establishment of teacher training arrangements. What is not clear is how teachers of ‘religion as fact’ react when pupils begin to ask questions about the significance of this fact, and apply their learning to their own thinking, their own living, and their own society (as learning from religion in the UK does). Events over the past year or two in Paris and other French cities would seem to indicate that the French education system has a long way to go yet in dealing with the ‘facts’ of religious diversity and influence in society. Similarly, the banning of the wearing of religious symbols in French schools reveals some tensions in the French approach to religion and schools, including RE.

Who Controls Schools

Another part of the complexity and diversity of RE in Europe is found in the question “Who controls schools?” For many countries in Eastern Europe there have been vast changes in the ownership and control of education in the past twenty years: the collapse of former communist regimes, the re-establishment of church schools, new curricula etc. Some of the countries of the Balkans have a particular experience of this as the collapse of the former Yugoslavia was accompanied by terrible violence and war. In some of these countries, the links between religion and culture, national identity, pride and history, means that the control of the RE curriculum in schools is a matter of high political importance and contention, accompanied by tension and suspicion. Again, educational issues are linked to more general issues of how religions and denominations get on with each other in society and community. It is no accident, then, that some of these countries have made use of UK RE specialists in trying to take their RE curricula forwards.

Key RE Organisations in Europe

It is not surprising that the diverse historical and other arrangements concerning RE in schools across Europe is broadly reflected in the different organisations that contribute to or support developments of RE across Europe. Among these is the European Forum for Teachers of RE (EFTRE) recently (and significantly) chaired by a prominent RE specialist from the UK (Jeremy Taylor, Chair until 2004). EFTRE represents several organisations of teachers who mainly subscribe to the kind of approach to RE found in the UK, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, especially Germany. Another ‘familiar’ kind of European organisation is the European Association for World Religions in Education, often called a ‘European Shap’ in that it tries to be for Europe what Shap is in the UK, an influential group of highly qualified and well-respected experts in religion and RE dedicated to the study of world religions. Other organisations represent different approaches, including what might be termed faith based education or confessional approaches. Among these are the European Conference on Christian Education (ECCE), The Intereuropean Commission on Church and School (ICCS), and The International Association for Christian Education (IV).

Common Ground

Today there is a growing commonality in Europe in many ways. The Council of Europe and the European Union have brought different countries of Europe closer together politically, socially and legally. Many different European countries are experiencing social, population and economic changes that affect them all equally – consumerism, environmental degradation, immigration and racism, to name but a few. Common problems may need common solutions, and the need for greater social cohesion and better community relations is one. It is therefore possible to view European RE not just as diverse resulting from its history, but very similar in its need to relate to current social questions. How can education in general and RE in particular, help Europe face and deal with the religious dimensions of cultural difference, community relations and social cohesion? What RE should be taught to the wide variety of children co-existing in schools all over Europe? Who controls, teaches and resources it are no longer historical questions but are contemporary imperatives. The events of 9/11 brought this home to the Council of Europe (CoE), which since 2002 has been engaged on a project dealing with the religious dimension of intercultural education. The project resulted in the publication of Religious diversity and intercultural education: A Reference Book for Schools¹ in 2007. Beyond the political and social level, the increased power of the media and rise in globalisation mean that the young people of Europe are more interested in the diverse range of religious beliefs and practices (including secular ones) than before. TV, travel, the internet, global events and developments – all these require the curriculum to equip young people with the knowledge, understanding and skills to understand religion and religions and their current roles both in European society and beyond. There is a growing awareness of the educational and curricular imperative to develop the role of RE in Europe.

In the same way as the diversity of European RE is reflected by its organisations, so the common issues for all RE in Europe means that these different organisations are now also looking towards each other for common approaches to the development of RE in the future Europe. Most notably, the establishment in 1998 of the Co-ordinating Group for RE in Europe (CoGREE)² has started to bring together the range of organisations referred to above. These are beginning to cross the boundaries: confessional/non-confessional, the Catholic/Protestant, the north/south/east European. CoGREE organised a remarkable conference in Berlin in October 2005 that gave evidence of this. Significant inputs were made on the kind of RE Europe needs by speakers who reflected work in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and especially the UK. A real desire and need to expand the work of COGREE was identified, with talk of developing European standards for RE. If they could be brought into existence, such standards could inform RE practice across Europe in a way not seen in centuries. Significant and difficult questions remain as to how this might be done, of course. What is clear is that RE in much of the UK is in a good position to help other parts of Europe here. UK approaches that involve both national and local responsibility for RE, the links between RE and community cohesion being developed by SACREs, the nature of RE as set out in the non-statutory National Framework for Religious Education, the professionalism of subject organisations and RE resource providers- all these are examples of how RE of the kind needed across Europe is being articulated and provided in the UK.

John Keast (Chair of the REC)