Edited by Leni Franken and Bill Gent

Publisher: Routledge

Publication Date: January 9, 2023

Against the backdrop of labor migration and the ongoing refugee crisis, the ways in which Islam is taught and engaged with in educational settings has become a major topic of contention in Europe. Recognizing the need for academic engagement around the challenges and benefits of effective Islamic Religious Education (IRE), this volume offers a comparative study of curricula, teaching materials, and teacher education in fourteen European countries, and in doing so, explores local, national, and international complexities of contemporary IRE.

Considering the ways in which Islam is taught and represented in state schools, public Islamic schools, and non-confessional classes, Part One of this volume includes chapters which survey the varying degrees to which fourteen European States have adopted IRE into curricula, and considers the impacts of varied teaching models on Muslim populations. Moving beyond individual countries’ approaches to IRE, chapters in Part Two offer multi-disciplinary perspectives – from the hermeneutical-critical to the postcolonial – to address challenges posed by religious teachings on issues such as feminism, human rights, and citizenship, and the ways these are approached in European settings.

Given its multi-faceted approach, this book will be an indispensable resource for postgraduate students, scholars, stakeholders and policymakers working at the intersections of religion, education and policy on religious education.

Table of Contents

• Islamic Religious Education in Europe: Introduction
Bill Gent & Leni Franken

• Part I. Islamic Religious Education in Europe: Country Reports

1. Islamic Religious Education in Austria
Michael Kramer

2. Islamic Religious Education in Belgium
Leni Franken & Caroline Sägesser

3. Teaching ‘Religion – Islam’ in Bulgarian Public Schools
Nonka Bogomilova

4. Islamic Religious Education in Cypriot State Schools
Dilek Latif

5. Education About Islam in Danish State Schools
Mette Buchardt & Nanna Ramsing Enemark

6. Islamic Religious Education in England
Bill Gent, Mike Diboll & Farid Panjwani

7. Islamic Religious Education in Finland
Tuula Sakaranaho & Inkeri Rissanen

8. Islamic Religious Education in France
Diane-Sophie Girin

9. Islamic Religious Education in German State Schools
Eva-Maria Euchner & Kathrin Hackner

10. Islamic Religious Education and Teaching about Islam in Greece
Angeliki Ziaka & Marios Koukounaras Liagkis

11. Islamic Education in the Netherlands
Ina ter Avest, Cok Bakker & Leni Franken

12. Education About Islam in Norwegian Religious Education
Bengt-Ove Andreassen

13. Islamic Religious Education and Education About Islam in Sweden
Jenny Berglund

14. Islamic Religious Education in Switzerland
Hansjörg Schmid, Andreas Tunger-Zanetti & Monika Winter-Pfändler

• Part II: Interdisciplinary Exploratory Essays on Islamic Religious Education in Europe

15. Comparative Perspectives on IRE in Europe
Oddrun M. H. Bråten

16. Islamic Religious Education in Europe and European Recommendations as Mutual Challenges
Martin Rothgangel

17. Teaching and Learning About Islam in Educational Terms
Geir Skeie

18. Varieties of Islamic Religious Education and the Link with Citizenship Education
Siebren Miedema

19. Democratic Education on Religion and Ethics in Islamic Religious Education Contexts
Olof Franck

20. Teaching About Islam: Insights from Hermeneutics
Farid Panjwani

21. Postcolonial and Feminist Perspectives in Islamic Religious Education
Marianne Bøe

22. Islamic Education within the Muslim Minority-Context of Europe: Pedagogy, Politics and Future Directions
Abdullah Sahin

23. Religious Education and Social Cohesion – A Normative Stance
François Levrau

24. Compulsory, Objective, Critical and Pluralistic Teaching about Religions? Incentives and Disincentives under International Human Rights Law
Jeroen Temperman

• In Conclusion: Post-Secular ‘Islamic Religious Education’ in Europe – Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects
Leni Franken

About Editors

Leni Franken is a Senior Researcher and Teaching Assistant at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Bill Gent moved into academic research on aspects of Islamic education at the University of Warwick, UK, following a career as a schoolteacher, adviser and inspector.

Source: Routledge