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Abstract
This article presents a systematic review of empirical research on teaching about Christianity in state schools in England between 1993 and 2013. First, I explain the background to this religion’s current place within English religious education. The value of a configurative review is set out, and inclusion criteria are outlined, leading to the selection of 58 publications. Then the article’s theoretical frame is explained, drawing on activity theory, and the analysis is set out under three broad organising principles: (1) Teachers’ professional and pedagogical intentions; (2) How teachers draw on different pedagogical strategies to enact these intentions, for example systematic or thematic approaches; and (3) How these intentions and strategies affect pupil learning, such as pupils’ conceptions of difficult topics. The implications for research in religious education are then drawn together, notably the need to consider the pedagogical issues for different religions individually.
Keywords::
Notes
1. Religious Education Council, 2013 is not included in the review. There are two reference lists for this article: those references that were in the review; other references. Those in the second are also identified in an endnote.
2. UK Government, 1988 is not included in the review.
3. Jackson, 2004 is not included in the review.
4. Revell, 2012 is not included in the review.
5. Nesbitt, 2013 is not included in the review.
6. Fancourt, 2015b is not included in the review.
7. Brown, 1992 is not included in the review.
8. Brown, 2000 is not included in the review.
9. Ofsted, 2007 is not included in the review.
10. Ofsted, 2010 is not included in the review.
11. Black and Wiliam, 1998 is not included in the review.
12. Brown, 2013 is not included in the review.
13. Gough, Oliver, and Thomas, 2012 is not included in the review.
14. ibid.
15. Evans and Benefield, 2001 is not included in the review.
16. ibid.
17. Francis et al., 1996 is not included in the review. Individual articles from this collection were included, but not all.
18. Cooling, 1994 is not included in the review.
19. ibid.
20. Engeström, 1987 is not included in the review.
21. Leont’ev, 1978 is not included in the review.
22. Afdal, 2014 is not included in the review.
23. Fancourt, 2015a is not included in the review.
24. ibid.
25. Barnes, 2014 is not included in the review.
26. Gearon, 2013 is not included in the review.