Values, Religions and Education in Changing Societies

Education is a societal matter and takes place in relation to societal changes. Today, in many countries, it has to grapple with diversity and differences brought about by migration and changes in gender relations. Questions of values, human rights and th

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Karin Sporre · Jan Mannberg Editors

Values, Religions and Education in Changing Societies Foreword by Robert Jackson

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Editors Prof. Dr. Karin Sporre Department of Education Umeå University SE-901 87 Umeå Sweden [email protected]

Dr. Jan Mannberg Department of Education Umeå University SE-901 87 Umeå Sweden [email protected]

ISBN 978-90-481-9627-2 e-ISBN 978-90-481-9628-9 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-9628-9 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2010934644 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Foreword

This important book marks a new stage in the increasingly strong Nordic contribution to research and debates concerning religions and education internationally. In focusing on religion in relation to the multicultural nature of societies as a result of migration, and also on questions of gender, the book brings together highly topical local, national and global values issues. The Nordic conference on religious education and values has a history going back to 1977. Since that date, scholars from the Nordic countries have met periodically to share ideas and research findings and to engage in critical debate and discussion. It was my privilege to be a keynote speaker at the conference in Varmaland, Iceland, in 1999 and again in 2007 in Stavanger in Norway. One novel feature of the latest – the 10th – Nordic conference, held in Umeå, Sweden, in 2009, was its inclusion of a number of speakers from Southern Africa, together with guest participants from a wider range of countries and keynote speakers from Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Again the personal reverberations are strong for me, since I have had the privilege of working with Southern African scholars and researchers in the religion education field since 1994 (e.g., Jackson, 2003) as well as opportunities to work with colleagues on various projects in Europe and North America. There are very good reasons for the particular international broadening of the Nordic conference reflected in this book. Firstly, the editors have strong personal and institutional research links with Southern Africa, and with South African and Namibian scholars. Secondly, there is also important work on the two central conference themes being carried out in other parts of the world; thus significant work conducted by Canadian, German and British scholars, who also have academic links with the conference organisers, was included in the conference and the book. Thirdly, as indicated above, debates about religions and