Education and Religion：Global Pressures, Local Responses

In most countries, whether secular or otherwise, education and religion are closely interlinked and no matter how hard the state tries, it can be very difficult to remove the ties between them. This book investigates the links between education, religion and politics.

The dominant feature in creating a common culture between peoples, each of which has its own distinct heritage and practices, is religion. Globalisation is leading to a redefinition of the state, community and local identity, this latter often perceived as resistance against the forces of unity, whether through culture, economic activity or language. Recent world events have focused attention on the interplay between education, religion and politics like never before. Even more pertinent is the fact that the involvement of politics in decisions about religion and education is often central and impossible to disentangle.

Education and Religion covers all the major religious traditions – Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh – and cites global examples throughout the world. It aims to understand the underlying complexities in the struggle to reconcile education, religion and politics in an informative and sensitive way.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.

Keith Watson is Emeritus Professor in Education, Management and Training at the Centre for International Studies, University of Reading, UK. He is author of Education in the Third World (2010) and co-author of Comparative and International Research in Education: Globalisation, Context and Differences (2003).

William I. Ozanne is Adviser to the Archbishop of Birmingham on inter-faith relations , Secretary of the Archdiocesan Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, and visiting lecturer in Inter-Faith Studies at St. Mary's College Oscott, UK. He is founder and an executive editor of the International Journal of Educational Development.