ABSTRACT
The European debate is very important to religious education (RE) in individual states. At the very least, the European discussion takes us from focusing on parochial issues and provides examples of different educational systems, traditions and approaches. Of the many developments in RE within public education that have taken place in Europe, three key areas are selected to explore. The first concerns important European institutions and their role in fostering particular rationales for studying religions in public education and in developing standardsetting policy recommendations. The second is the professionalisation of RE and related fields, through the formation of European professional organisations and through the establishment of the European Wergeland Centre, a European educational centre, based in Oslo, including religious diversity in its remit to cover human rights, citizenship and intercultural education. The third is European research on RE, with particular reference to the following: a European Commission Framework 6 project – the REDCo Project – conducted between 2006 and 2009; the growth of doctoral research in RE in Europe; and a European book series on ‘Religious Diversity and Education in Europe’ in which many publications on research and theory in RE in different parts of Europe appear, including books from the REDCo Project.
