Inside Australian RI—Intent And Implications

Abstract

In Australia, religion is one of the least understood areas of public education. This chapter outlines the research, its context and findings, and the theoretical foundations for exploring ideologies in education. The survey of adult ideologies and pedagogical preferences for teaching religion provided an extraordinary opportunity to also investigate the implications of those preferences in the attitude development of children. The author wanted to understand how children's attitudes to religious diversity might be influenced by what they learned in religious Instruction (RI). No similar studies have been undertaken in Australia and very few are available in international literature. Schools that participated in the adult survey were invited to consider a more detailed case study, which involved interviews with children. As with the adult survey, at that time there was divisive media debate in New South Wales schools regarding a trial of a proposed ethics alternative to RI.Keywords: Australia; child psychology; New South Wales schools; religious diversity; religious Instruction (RI)