Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society

This book explores the advantages of and challenges concerning Special Religious Education (SRE) in multicultural Australia and argues for the need for General Religious Education (GRE) as well. Through the lens of the most recent scholarship, and drawing on an in-depth qualitative study and specific case studies, the book examines the current debate on the role of religious education within government schools. It addresses key concepts of values education, spirituality, health and wellbeing, and cultural and religious identity. It analyses why it is important to retain SRE, together with GRE, as government policy. It explores highly relevant, controversial and contested issues regarding SRE, including the 30% of Australia's population who declare themselves as having "no religion", and brings fresh insights to the table. While secularization has increased in both the national and international spheres, there has also been an increase in fundamentalism within religious beliefs. Events such as the September 11 terror attacks and the more recent mass shootings by white supremacists and eco-fascists in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Pittsburgh and San Diego in the USA are reminders that religion is still a major actor in the twenty-first century. This poses new challenges for the relationship between church and state, and demonstrates the need to revisit the role of religious education within government schools. While the importance of GRE is generally acknowledged, SRE has increasingly come under attack by some researchers and teacher and parent bodies as being inappropriate and contradictory to the values of the postmodern world. On the other hand, the key stakeholders from all the faith traditions in Australia wish to retain the SRE classes in government schools. The book addresses this burning issue, and shows that it is relevant not only for Australia but also globally.

Auteur
Professor Zehavit Gross (Ph.D.) is the Head of Graduate Programme of Management and Development in Informal Education Systems in the School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. She holds the position of UNESCO Chair in Education for Human Values, Tolerance Democracy and Peace and is the Head of the Sal Van Gelder Center for Holocaust Instruction & Research, School of Education Bar-Ilan University. She is the Immediate Past President of the Israeli Society for Comparative Education (ICES). In 28/1/16, she was invited to the UNITED NATIONS to participate and give an address in a special discussion on the future of Holocaust Education all over the world. Her main areas of specialization are peace education, interfaith and religious education and Holocaust education. Her research focuses mainly on socialization processes (religious, secular, feminine and civic) among adolescents. She is currently involved in four international research projects and is an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Sydney (NSW). Her book together with Doyle Stevick, entitled As the Witnesses Fall Silent: 21st Century Holocaust Education in Curriculum, Policy and Practice, was published (2015) by Springer and was sponsored by UNESCO. Her latest publication is Migrants and Comparative Education: Call to Re/Engagement (Brill/Sense, 2020). She is the recipient of a research grant for the years 20162018 from The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Israel Scientific Foundation (ISF) grant on Holocaust Education in Arab and Jewish Schools, 20172021. She is the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Scholar Award from the Religion & Education SIG at the American Education Research Association (AERA). She won recently (2020) the Israeli Hope in Higher Education Award from Ben Gurion University, Israel, for her unique interfaith project between Israeli Muslim, Christian and Jewish students. Suzanne D. Rutland (OAM, Ph.D.), Professor Emerita, the Department of Hebrew, Biblical & Jewish Studies, University of Sydney, is a renowned Australian Jewish historian. She has published widely on Australian Jewish history, edits the Sydney edition of the AJHS Journal, and has written on issues relating to the Shoah, Israel, Soviet Jewry and Jewish education. Her book, The Jews in Australia, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2005. In 20082009. Suzanne received a government grant from the Australian Prime Ministers Centre for research on 'Australia and the campaign for Soviet Jewry'. The product of that research was published in 2015, co-written with Australian Jewish journalist, Sam Lipski, entitled Let My People Go: The Untold Story of Australia and Soviet Jews, 19591989 (Melbourne: Hybrid Publishers). It was the joint winner of the 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Award, Australian History Section. Her latest book is Lone Voice: The Wars of Isi Leibler, published by Gefen Publishing House and she is currently working on a book dealing with Jewish communal advocacy since 1945. She is a member of the Australian expert delegation for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and is a member of its Education Working Group. In January 2008, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia from the Australian government for services to Higher Jewish Education and interfaith dialogue.