ABSTRACT
A new impetus for research in religious education emerged in Britain during the early 1960s, heralded by seven key figures: Harold Loukes (reader in education, University of Oxford), Violet Madge (senior tutor, Rolle College of Education), Ronald Goldman (lecturer in educational psychology, University of Reading), Kenneth Hyde (senior lecturer in divinity, Furzedown College of Education), Edwin Cox (lecturer in education, University of Birmingham), R. J. Rees (researcher, University College of North Wales, Bangor) and Colin Alves (lecturer in divinity, King Alfred’s College, Winchester), each of whom published a major study between 1961 and 1967. This new impetus for research was driven by some very practical concerns. Under the terms of the 1944 Education Act (Dent, 1947) religious instruction was a compulsory component of the school curriculum throughout the maintained sector. Twenty years later significant shifts in the social, political, educational, moral, religious and theological climates were raising questions about the appropriateness and effectiveness of this statutory provision (Mathews, 1966; Cox, 1966). Research was seen as useful both to understand the situation and to underpin the case for change.
