Unimportance Attached to Religious Education in State Schools in England and its Reasons According to Stakeholders

Abstract This article explores the unimportance attached to religious education, which is among compulsory subjects in state schools in England, and the reasons behind it according to stakeholders. Religious education policies and approaches developed in England are sometimes presented as models to other countries including Turkey. However, the importance shown to religious education after years of implementation of these policies and approaches has not been explored much in Turkish religious education literature. In order to explore the issue, interviews were conducted with religious education stakeholders in England and related studies were examined. Interviews and related studies reveal that religious education in England has been treated as a minor subject. On the one hand the subject has been marginalised. On the other hand, even those who normally consider religious education as an important subject have been alienated from religious education in state schools due to religious education policies and approaches. Internal problems such as poor provision and unclear purpose and problems such as exclusionist policies and distancing from ‘religious’ education seemed to be contributory factors. Moreover, insufficient support due to general education policies and external problems like secularisation and materialism also seemed to contribute to this result. These findings should be taken into account in order to better understand religious education policies and approaches applied in England. Summary In this article, the unimportance attached to religious education, a compulsory subject in state schools in England, and the reasons behind it are explored. There are two reasons why such an exploration is needed. Firstly, religious education policies and approaches developed and applied in England are sometimes presented as models to other countries. Indeed, there is a growing interest from Turkish academics in English religious education , particularly in religious education approaches developed in England such as "phenomenological religious education", "critical religious education" and "gift to the child". However, importance attached to religious education after years of implementation of these policies and approaches have not been explored much in Turkish religious education literature. This study, therefore, fills the gap in Turkish religious education literature by exploring this issue and contributes to better understanding of English religious education. Secondly, such an exploration will help us to understand Turkish religious education better. As