Faith in the Future
20 November 2009
Faith schools – what is their place in a Western democracy? Do they open up or close down the life choices available to children who attend them? What is the impact of a religious upbringing? These debates, which have run for decades, are brought to a new level of sophistication in a book published by the Institute of Education London (IOE) this month.
Faith in Education, edited by Graham Haydon, Reader of Philosophy of Education at the Institute, attempts to get to the heart of debates about religious upbringing and autonomy and the place of faith schools within a liberal society.
The contributors are scholars with research interests in philosophy of education from a range of faith traditions, working in the UK and internationally. They pose key questions such as:
What is the justification for faith schools, and for state support of these schools?
What is distinctive about upbringing and education within a faith tradition?
Is an upbringing and education within a faith tradition compatible with the development of autonomy?
Could it be possible that autonomy can be developed through faith?
Notable sparring partners are Harry Brighouse, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Visiting Professor at the IOE, and Michael Hand, Reader of Philosophy of Education at the Institute.
Brighouse, an atheist, has reservations about faith schools, but supports their place, with state funding, in an imperfect society. "If the government withdrew funding from religious schools, so that religious schooling was no longer available within the state system &hellip many if not most deeply religious parents would be tempted to send their children to private religious schools which would be much less subject to public influence and, more importantly, would not be invested in the public sphere." he writes.
Hand argues, meanwhile, "It is morally wrong for both parents and teachers to use non-rational means of persuasion to impart religious beliefs to children, and we should not be deterred from condemning this practice by our legitimate qualms about the use of coercive power to prevent it."
Mark Halstead, research professor at the University of Huddersfield, says faith schools promote tolerance by helping students to develop a strong self-concept and a positive faith identity for themselves. In addition, "Faith schools allow religious believers the same freedom that humanists, secularists and relativists enjoy in the common school – the freedom to choose a school whose values are broadly consistent with those of the home," he writes.
The collection is a tribute to the work of Terence McLaughlin, who was Professor of Philosophy of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London. He made important contributions to the philosophical literature on the common school, and wrote extensively on the nature and justification of upbringing and education within a religious faith.
The timely debates in this book will be of interest to students and scholars, both within the philosophy of education and more widely. It will also provide a useful tool to leaders, supporters and critics of faith schools as well as policy-makers in informing their understanding of this key educational issue.
For more information, requests for interviews or review copies contact:
Diane Hofkins, interim press officer, IOE d.hofkins@ioe.ac.uk
Notes for editors
Faith in Education, edited by Graham Haydon, ISBN 978-0-85473-853-3, £15.99, paperback, 146 pages, can be ordered from all online book retailers or directly from John Smith's at the Institute Bookshop, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL. Tel: +44 (0)20 7612 6050. Fax: +44 (0)20 7612 6407. Email: ioe@johnsmith.co.uk, www.jscampus.co.uk/ioe.
The book launch for Faith in Education is being held on Wednesday 9th December 2009 at 5.30 pm in the Nunn Hall, at the Institute of Education, University of London, 20, Bedford Way, London.WC1H 0AL.
Contributors: Graham Haydon (Institute of Education London), Gerald Grace (Institute of Education London), Hanan Alexander (University of Haifa), Eamonn Callan (Stanford University), Richard Pring (University of Oxford), J. Mark Halstead (University of Huddersfield), Harry Brighouse (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Michael Hand (Institute of Education London).
The Institute of Education is a college of the University of London, specialising in teaching, research and consultancy in education and related areas of social science and professional practice. The Institute conducts over one-third of the educational research in the UK and last year's Research Assessment Exercise judged that 35 per cent of the work it had submitted was "world leading", while much of the remainder was of international significance.
