In the pluralised contexts of many contemporary Australian Catholic schools, cultural and religious diversity is a reality that could be ignored or potentially utilised to enhance learning. This case study probes the perceptions of parents regarding their children's engagement in Religious Education in a Catholic school and in particular,…

The teaching of Islam in Western and non-Western societies may be located along a continuum from critical to non-critical paradigms. Islamic religious education is dominated by the non-critical paradigm and a devotional discourse of religious education. This is true in both Islamic and non-Islamic countries and is relevant to the teaching of both…

The purpose of this article is to introduce the theory of interfaith learning and development to the scholarly community. Building on the work of others, the authors adopted an interdisciplinary, equity-oriented approach to developing the theory, which also serves as the basis for a framework intended to guide and inform interfaith practice.…

This article offers reflections and proposes practices that embody principles of diversity and inclusion while embracing spirituality in higher education. This approach to integral education is informed by the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and Haridas Chaudhuri, founders of the California Institute of Integral Studies. It blends Eastern philosophy…

Mualla Selçuk, Professor of Religious Education Faculty of Divinity & Director of Continuing Education Center Ankara University, begins by writing about the studies she conducted early in her career on the ways that the Quran addresses diversity. She describes how she found those passages that spoke of diversity among human beings as an…

Children and young people have the inalienable right to be part of a learning community. Nobody can learn on his/her own. Education is always a communal enterprise. In this article the concept of the "spiritual learning community" is developed as a contemporary answer to the socioeducational issues raised by Martin Buber and John Dewey…

Exploring spirituality and religion continues to be an important component when considering multicultural issues. However, understanding how to incorporate spiritual and religious diversity into counseling courses continues to be a challenge for educators. An exercise using drama therapy was developed to explore religion and spirituality.

Brains and gender, separately and in their interrelatedness, are hot items today in popular journals and academic literature. It is in particular the complexity of the interdependence of physical-, psychological-, and contextual-related developments of feminization in education that we focus on these contributions. We argue that a combination of…

Pluralism and engagement with diverse religious, secular, and spiritual worldviews can contribute significantly to college student growth and civic engagement. But these concepts can be difficult to measure in the framework of student learning. This article describes a process and product undertaken by Elon University, Interfaith Youth Core, and…

Background Context: There has been much recent discussion on the role of spirituality in higher education, and much emphasis in the past 20 years on the importance of attending to diversity and equity concerns, though for the most part these discussions have been separate. This paper takes up the suggestion of scholars such as Barbara Wallace who…

This article outlines five activities that provide an environment conducive to the wholeness of each child and the health of a group: including, attending, embracing, releasing and remaining. Including is hospitality offered to difference, so that each child shows up; attending is a just distribution of attention, so children learn meaningfully;…

Through the arts, people holistically learn, interact with greater multicultural diversity than elsewhere, and form connections with others. Participating in the arts gives adults experiences, contexts, and tools to help them reexperience, revision, and reconceptualize multicultural diversity in their lives and communities. To illustrate aspects…

In this reflective essay, the author considers the interpretations, perspectives, and intentions she brings to religious education, and how they become part of the curriculum, influencing not only what she teaches but how she perceives the needs of students. She asserts that instead of focusing on curriculum to solve cultural diversity issues,…

This article considers the notion of difference as we experience it in our daily lives, and specifically, within the classroom between pupils and teachers. Drawing on research and work with schools in the south of England, the paper describes how the Working with Others Unit at the University of Brighton has developed a practical process approach…

This article revolves around two questions: Is there a "spiritual" dimension to good teaching? If so, do spiritual considerations have a place in teacher education? Defining spirituality as "the eternal human yearning to be connected with something larger than our own egos," the author answers both questions in the affirmative,…