Religious literacy of Australia’s Gen Z teens: diversity and social inclusion

ABSTRACT

Australia is a culturally, religiously and linguistically diverse country, however, learning about the religious dimensions of this superdiversity is inadequately reflected in the national school curriculum, notwithstanding recent attempts to address this at the state level in Victoria. Debates regarding the role of religion in school have raged across the country for decades and have impeded the introduction of learning about diverse worldviews and religions, and even research on this topic. Competing views of Australia’s national identity, as a multifaith and/or secular and/or Christian nation, continue to affect both policy and curriculum in Australia, and thereby the level of religious literacy of its citizens. Using data from a national study of young Australians and their worldviews, this research investigates levels of religious literacy and appreciation of religious diversity of ‘Generation Z’ Australians, for whom superdiversity is the norm. In doing so, it concludes that Australian curricula must evolve to include more content on diverse worldviews and better reflect the lived experiences of younger generations. This would in turn increase religious literacy and interreligious understanding in Australia. This study may also be instructive for those countries grappling to adjust to similar demographic and societal changes, challenges and opportunities.

KEYWORDS:

• Religious literacy
• generation Z
• education
• Australia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. LWR in Victoria’s schools was first implemented in 2016. Halafoff, Bouma and Jackson, are currently undertaking an analysis of this programmes, including its content, pedagogy and reception in schools, as part of another Australian Research Council (ARC DP180101664) project on ‘Religious Diversity in Australia,’ led by Douglas Ezzy. It is too early to report on any findings in this paper.

2. Selective schooling and partially selective schooling is common across Australian public schools. Students must satisfy particular requirements in academic, arts or sporting endeavours to gain entry to these schools.

3. Students in non-selective state schools are also likely to experience disadvantage related to socio-economic status, relative to students in Independent, Christian and state selective schools. This means that they are likely to continue demonstrate lower levels of literacy relative to peers in other schools, regardless of curriculum (Windle 2016).

4. For a more detailed account of education and PVE in Australia see: Halafoff, Lam, and Bouma (2019).

5. The Australian Curriculum contains both learning/subject areas and general capabilities across them: ‘Threaded across each subject area are the “general capabilities”, identified as being essential skills for ‘students to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century’ (Lingard and McGregor 2014, 103).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council ARC DISCOVERY PROJECT: DP160102367.

Notes on contributors

Anna Halafoff

Associate Professor Anna Halafoff is a sociologist and a member of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University. She is also a Research Associate of the UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations—Asia Pacific at Monash University. Anna’s current research interests include: religious diversity; interreligious relations; countering violent extremism; and education about religions and worldviews. She is the author of The Multifaith Movement: Global Risks and Cosmopolitan Solutions (2013) and co-editor, with Elisabeth Arweck and Daniel Boivert, of Education about Religions and Worldviews: Promoting Intercultural and Interreligious Understanding in Secular Societies (Routledge 2016).

Andrew Singleton

Professor Andrew Singleton is a sociologist at Deakin University. His research interests include secularisation, youth religion and personal belief. He is the author of Religion, Culture and Society (2014) and co-author (with Michael Mason and Ruth Webber) of The Spirit of Generation Y: Young People’s Spirituality in a Changing Australia (2007), a book about the first national study of youth religion and spirituality in Australia.

Gary Bouma

Emeritus Professor Gary Bouma AM is the UNESCO Chair in Intercultural and Interreligious Relations—Asia Pacific, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Monash University, Acting Director of the Global Terrorism Research Center. His research in the sociology of religion examines the management of religious diversity in plural multicultural societies, postmodernity as a context for doing theology, religion and terror, religion and public policy. He is the author or co-author of over 25 books. Recent books include: Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge University Press) and Being Faithful in Diversity: Religions and Social Policy in Multifaith Societies (ATF).

Mary Lou Rasmussen

Professor Mary Lou Rasmussen has undertaken research in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Her research focuses on building transdisciplinary understanding of sexuality and gender across diverse lifeworlds, taking account of issues related to sexual citizenship, cultural and religious difference and technologies of sexuality, education and health. She is co-editor, with Louisa Allen, of the Handbook of Sexuality Education (Palgrave).