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The relationship between attending a Jewish secondary school and one’s beliefs and identity in adult life

Date: 2021

Topics: Main Topic: Education, Jewish Schools, Jewish Pupils, Jewish Education, Jewish - Non - Jewish Relations, Interviews, Schools: Seconday / High Schools, Religious Education, Religious Belief

Abstract: Faith schools remain a topic of debate in contemporary Britain. In 2017, faith schools accounted for 33.7% of state-funded mainstream schools. Faith schools differ from other state-funded mainstream schools in many ways. For example, they have the ability to control the content taught in their Religious Education and Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) syllabuses and have control over their admissions arrangements. This project explores the impact Jewish schools can have on one’s adult beliefs, through a small-scale study. This study analyses online questionnaire responses from 25 participants aged 19-27. All participants in this sample attended the same Jewish secondary school in London, referred to as ‘School A’. The responses show that faith schools can have a significant effect on one’s adult beliefs, due to the ways in which they teach pupils about different religions, political ideologies, and sexuality. This was found to be mainly due to the perceived exclusion of other religious beliefs and opinions. Despite this, most of the participants still felt able to express themselves and their beliefs. Moreover, this study’s participants felt that their adult beliefs were more significantly impacted by their family and community, rather than by their school. The study’s findings highlight a need to improve the inclusivity of SRE teaching in Jewish schools. This project recommends that further research is conducted on the impact of attending a Jewish secondary school on an individual’s beliefs later in life, and whether this is also representative of all UK faith schools.

The Meaning of Jewish-Muslim Relations in Europe for Christian Education: Potentials and Limitations of a Three-Way Conversation

Author(s): Schweitzer, Friedrich

Editor(s): Aslan, Ednan; Rausch, Margaret

Date: 2019

Topics: Jewish - Muslim Relations, Main Topic: Other, Dialogue, Interfaith Dialogue, Jewish - Christian Relations, Religious Education, Christianity

Abstract: This chapter, written from the perspective of Christian religious education, considers the meaning of Jewish-Muslim relations in Europe in terms of Christian education. The subtitle intentionally avoids the more current term of “trialogue” by referring to “three-way conversations” in a more neutral and technical manner. The reason behind this choice of terminology is not that the concept of “trialogue” is rejected altogether, but that the use of this concept in religious education discussions is often limited to the normative vision of bringing the three so-called Abrahamic religions together in a peaceful union. In many cases, this normative vision operates at the expense of a more analytical approach, which also considers the specific difficulties that arise in three-way conversations between the three religions. Against the background of such observations, the chapter describes and critically discusses the understanding of “trialogue” in religious education. Among other things, it shows that the idea of an Abrahamic religious unity makes less sense from a Christian point of view than from the perspective of Judaism and Islam, especially in the context of education and in respect to religious practices in the three religions. At the same time, the chapter emphasizes the need for educational approaches that do justice to the historical backgrounds of the different forms of coexistence and encounter between the three religions as well as their meaning for religious education today.

Selbsteinschätzung von katholischen SchülerInnen Polens in Bezug auf ihre Einstellung zu den drei abrahamitischen Religionen

Translated Title: Self-assessment of Catholic schoolchildren in Poland regarding their attitude towards the three Abrahamic religions Results of a student survey in a medium-sized city in Poland

Author(s): Halczuk, Piotr Daniel

Date: 2021

Topics: Attitudes to Jews, Religious Education, Youth, Schools: Non-Jewish, Surveys, Main Topic: Education

Abstract: Nach Papst Franziskus ist es wesentlich, eine „Kultur der Begegnung“ in einer pluralen Welt zu entwickeln. Dazu soll auch der katholische Religionsunterricht in Polen beitragen. Seine Aufgabe ist es, dass SchülerInnen im eigenen Glauben wachsen. Damit ist auch eng verbunden, dass SchülerInnen sich engagieren,nach ihrem Glauben im Alltag zu leben, auch in Beziehungen zu den anderen. In diesem Beitrag wird zwei Fragen nachgegangen: Welche Voraussetzungen hat der römisch-katholische Religionsunterricht Polens im Hinblick auf die „Kunst der Begegnung“ mit dem Judentum und dem Islam? Und: Welche Einstellung zu Christentum, Judentum und Islam haben Jugendliche im Alter von 15 bis 16 Jahren? Das kann mithilfe einer hermeneutischen Analyse des Lehrplans für den Religionsunterricht und einer Befragung zur Einstellung von SchülerInnen zu ihrem Glauben und zu anderen Religionen beantwortet werden. Auf diese Weise werden die lehrplanbezogenen Voraussetzungen des Religionsunterrichts mit der Selbsteinschätzung von SchülerInnen in Bezug auf ihrer Einstellung (ihre persönlichen Überzeugungen) zu den drei abrahamitischen Religionen nebeneinandergestellt. Dieser Blick kann neue Perspektiven für den Religionsunterricht in Polen eröffnen.

Jødisk mangfold i norske KRLE-lærebøker?

Translated Title: Jewish diversity in Norwegian KRLE textbooks?

Author(s): Herberger, Tyson; Aschim, Anders

Date: 2021

Topics: Attitudes to Jews, Diversity, Religious Education, Main Topic: Education, Orthodox Judaism, Ashkenazi Jews

Abstract: I hvilken grad kommer mangfoldet innen jødedommen til uttrykk i norske lærebøker i KRLE? Artikkelen undersøker framstillingen av jøder og jødedom i tre mye brukte læreverk for grunnskolens ungdomstrinn, med utgangspunkt i spørsmålet om representasjon, slik det er definert i Robert Jacksons fortolkende tilnærming til religionsundervisning. Selv om indre mangfold i noen grad tematiseres eksplisitt i bøkene, finner vi at det særlig er bestemte grupper som får representere jødedommen i tekst og illustrasjoner. Begrepene ortosentrisme og askenormativitet brukes for å karakterisere framstillinger som gir henholdsvis ortodoks og askenasisk jødedom en hegemonisk posisjon.

Życie religijne i jego organizacja w gminie żydowskiej we Wrocławiu

Translated Title: Religious Life and Its Organization in Wroclaw Jewish Community

Author(s): Banasiewicz-Ossowska, Ewa

Date: 2015

Topics: Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Community, Jewish Organisations, Synagogues, Rabbis, Religious Education, Jewish Revival, Conversion

Abstract: Artykuł dotyczy różnych aspektów życia religijnego i praktyk religijnych we współczesnej gminie żydowskiej we Wrocławiu, odnosząc się jednocześnie do zmian, jakie następowały w tej sferze od momentu powstania powojennej gminy wrocławskiej. Wskazuje na podstawy prawne istnienia i prowadzenia działalności religijnej przez gminy żydowskie, na identyfikację religijną gminy wrocławskiej oraz tworzącej ją społeczności. Podkreśla rolę rabina w procesie odradzania się żydowskiego życia religijnego we Wrocławiu i integrowania członków gminy. Odnosi się m.in. do cotygodniowych i dorocznych świąt religijnych celebrowanych w gminie, specyfiki sprawowanej liturgii i odmawianych modlitw, stosunku do reguł kaszrutu czy religijnych obrzędów praktykowanych przez członków wspólnoty. Zwraca uwagę na zjawisko powrotów do judaizmu, w dużej mierze osób młodych, poprzez obrzęd konwersji, ale jednocześnie także na proces zastępowania wiedzy religijnej przez poczucie wspólnoty.

The Vanishing State: Religious Education and Intolerance in French Jewish Schools

Author(s): Arkin, Kimberly A.

Editor(s): Seligman, Adam B.

Date: 2014

Topics: Main Topic: Education, Jewish Schools, Jewish Identity, National Identity, Religious Education

Abstract: France does not offer religious education in public schools. The French state does, however, fund private religious schools. The author focuses on the unintended consequences of one aspect of this practice—the decision to finance, but not regulate, Jewish day schools. The French Department of Education intends for Jewish school students (like their Catholic school counterparts) to see themselves as simultaneously French AND religious. But in the mid-2000s, the reality was quite different. The author argues that the content of religious education did not necessarily stop day schoolers from generalizing their trust beyond other Jews. Rather, it was the context of Jewish schooling that allowed Jewish students to understand themselves as “not French.” By funding and ignoring day schools, the State made this context, and thus the separation of religious and national identities, possible.

Identity and inter religious understanding in Jewish schools in England

Author(s): Ipgrave, Julia

Date: 2014

Topics: Main Topic: Education, Jewish Schools, Religious Education, Interfaith Dialogue, Multiculturalism

Abstract: This article sets up a dialogue between auto-referential (looking to self) and allo-referential (looking to the other) approaches to religious difference and applies these to education for inter religious understanding in Jewish schools. It begins by arguing that the multiculturalism of the 1980s and 1990s set up a duality of self and other, with the responsibility for looking to ‘the other’ (allo-reference) resting largely on the majority community and the licence to look to self (auto-reference) being given to minority communities. Within the Jewish community, multiculturalism supported and legitimated the development of an inward-looking Jewish identity-based education. This was challenged in the 2000s however by the new outward-looking emphases of the community cohesion agenda, and so Jewish schools have had to negotiate a place for themselves between auto- and allo-reference. Brief case studies illustrate contrasting ways in which two schools have positioned themselves in relation to these two poles. In School A, the imperative towards ‘the other’ attempts an openness to ‘the other’ in ‘the other’s’ own terms, whereas in School B the same imperative towards ‘the other’ is framed within the auto-referential framework of being and doing Jewish.

L’identité juive et la compréhension interreligieuse dans les écoles juives en Angleterre

Translated Title: Jewish identity and inter religious understanding in Jewish schools in England

Author(s): Ipgrave, Julia

Editor(s): Hirsch, Sivane; McAndrew, Marie; Audet, Geneviève; Ipgrave, Julia

Date: 2016

Topics: Main Topic: Education, Jewish Schools, Religious Education, Interfaith Dialogue, Multiculturalism

Les images de juifs et du judaïsme dans les manuels scolaires d'histoire en France

Translated Title: Images of Jews and Judaism in French history textbooks

Author(s): Allouche-Benayoun, Joëlle

Editor(s): Hirsch, Sivane; McAndrew, Marie; Audet, Geneviève; Ipgrave, Julia

Date: 2016

Topics: Main Topic: Education, Religious Education, Curriculum, Attitudes to Jews

Giving voice to ‘the silent minority’: the experience of religious students in secondary school religious education lessons

Author(s): Moulin, Dan

Date: 2011

Topics: Schools: Non-Jewish, Religious Education, Interfaith Relations, Main Topic: Education

Abstract: This paper explores the experiences of secondary school students from religious backgrounds in Religious Education (RE). A total of 16 loosely structured, group, pair and individual interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 34 school-age members of four religious communities: one Jewish and three Christian. The findings make a useful contribution to ongoing debates concerning pedagogy and practice in secondary RE. Members of the religious communities consulted often found their tradition stereotyped and simplified in RE lessons. Respondents also found that at times they were expected to be, or felt the need to be, spokespeople or representatives of their religion. However, experiences of religious intolerance and prejudice, or the fear of it, were common. This led to some students being reluctant to reveal or discuss their religious identity in lessons.

Negotiating and constructing religious identities in English secondary schools: a study of the reported experiences of adolescent Christians, Jews, and Muslims

Author(s): Moulin, Daniel

Date: 2013

Topics: Jewish Identity, Schools: Seconday / High Schools, Religious Education, Main Topic: Education

Abstract: The increasing diversity of societies is one of the most important educational issues of the globalised era. However, while some attention has been paid to the schooling experiences of racial, ethnic and immigrant minorities in Western societies, little research has been conducted with religious adolescents.
This thesis explores the complexities of religious adolescents’ experiences of English secondary schools. As an exploratory study, I employed an emergent research design carrying out loosely-structured, group and single interviews at eleven places of worship to investigate the schooling experiences of 99 adolescent Christians, Jews and Muslims. In order to interpret their reported experiences, I applied a theoretical model based on the Students’ Multiple World Framework in conjunction with concepts of religious identity negotiation and construction.
The interview data show how Christians, Jews and Muslims negotiate their religious identities in the context of the numerous challenges presented by secondary schools in a religiously plural and largely secular society. In classroom worlds participants perceived their religious traditions to be distorted, inaccurately or unfairly represented. In peer worlds participants reported that they could experience prejudice, and criticism of their beliefs. Christians, Jews and Muslims reported two principal management strategies in the face of these challenges, either: declaring their religious identity openly, or by masking it in public.
The findings of this study are highly relevant to debates about the role of religion in education, including those concerning faith and Church schools and the nature and purpose of the curriculum subject Religious Education.

Curriculum Judaism and Pupils’ Attitude Development

Author(s): Schmack, Yvonne Joy

Date: 2015

Topics: Education, Religious Education, Jewish - Non - Jewish Relations, Attitudes to Jews, Schools: Non-Jewish, Main Topic: Education

Abstract: The thesis examines the relationship between the teaching of Judaism and secondary school pupils’ perceptions of and attitudes to Jews. The study has two distinct contexts. The first is the perpetuation of negative attitudes towards Jews in England, and the second is the study of Judaism within Religious Education (‘curriculum Judaism’). Following an introductory chapter Chapters 2 and 3 analyse attitudinal development and the impact of strategies to challenge misconceptions. Particular reference is made to negative attitudes and behaviours to Jews in contemporary England and the impact of characteristics traditionally attributed to Jews. In Chapter 4 and 5 the context of curriculum Judaism is examined. Through a review of scholarly literature and policy documentation it is argued that the history of curriculum Judaism is unique and has been shaped by factors not conducive to presenting the tradition accurately. It maintains that teachers’ confidence in selecting appropriate content and teaching methods, and in challenging misconceptions, is pivotal for positive attitudinal development. Through a mixed methods approach, qualitative data is gathered from the three sources closest to curriculum Judaism - pupils, teachers and class textbooks. The data analysis in Chapter 7 and 8 contends that teachers often lack both confidence and appropriate knowledge to reflect the integrity of contemporary Judaism. Discussion of the selection and presentation of curriculum content and resources leads on to a consideration of the impact on pupils’ attitudes to Jews, with particular reference to the teaching of the Holocaust as a part of curriculum Judaism. The thesis argues that to meet the demands described above new approaches need to be established which develop teachers’ knowledge, discernment and confidence regarding appropriate content selection; effective learning experiences and strategies to effectively challenge misconceptions and stereotypes which inevitably develop into antisemitism.

Negotiating Cosmopolitanism: Migration, Religious Education and Shifting Jewish Orientation in Post-Soviet Odessa

Author(s): Sapritsky, Marina

Editor(s): Humphrey, Caroline; Vera, Skvirskaja

Date: 2012

Topics: Cities and Suburbs, Religious Education, Jewish Education, Main Topic: Identity and Community

Religiositet, nationalitet och sekularisering bland Sveriges judar

Translated Title: Religion, nationality and secularism among Sweden's Jews

Author(s): Lundgren, Svante

Date: 2013

Topics: Religious Education, National Identity, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Secularity

Abstract: Sveriges judar är liksom andra svenskar i hög grad sekulariserade. Det är därför ingen överraskning att de mer ser judendomen som en nationell tillhörighet än som en religion. Det passar bra i det svenska samhället där man idag uppskattar multikulturalism och förhåller sig reserverat till svensk nationalism.

The Future of Jewish Schooling in the United Kingdom: A Strategic Assessment of a Faith-Based Provision of Primary and Secondary School Education

Author(s): Valins, Oliver; Kosmin, Barry; Goldberg, Jacqueline

Date: 2001

Topics: Jewish Schools, Schools: Seconday / High Schools, Schools: Primary / Elementary, Religious Education, Education, Jewish Education, Parenthood, Main Topic: Education

Abstract: Jewish day schools are flourishing. While the UK Jewish population has shrunk by over 25 per cent since the 1950s, the number of children attending Jewish day schools has grown by 500 per cent. However, at the same time, Jewish day schooling is at a crossroads. It faces new challenges in adapting to the fast-changing social, political and educational environment of the twenty-first century.
This report examines key performance data, including national examination results and OFSTED inspection reports. It also includes data from in-depth interviews with education providers and parents throughout Britain.

The book analyses the strengths and weaknesses of full-time Jewish day schooling from a policy perspective. It attempts to answer key policy questions. Do Jewish day schools - as an example of faith-based schooling - work? To what extent do they meet the needs of pupils, parents, sponsors, Jewish communities and the wider society?

Anglo-Jewish Education: Day Schools, State Funding and Religious Education in State Schools

Author(s): Mendelsson, David S.

Editor(s): Grant, Lisa D.; Miller, Helena; Pomson, Alex

Date: 2011

Topics: Jewish Education, Jewish Schools, Jewish Children In Mainstream Schools, Religious Education, Main Topic: Education

Jewish Pupils’ Perspectives on Religious Education and Expectations of a Religious Community: A Case Study of the Jewish High School in Berlin

Author(s): Müller, Christine

Editor(s): Pomson, Alex; Deitcher, Howard

Date: 2009

Topics: Jewish Schools, Schools: Seconday / High Schools, Jewish Education, Main Topic: Education, Religious Education, Religious Belief, Religious Observance and Practice

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