Good practice in religious education in Europe

The Good Practice in Religious Education in Primary Schools in Europe Project aims to identify and disseminate examples of successful and innovative classroom practice to religious education by teachers across Europe. Herewith we present case studies from different countries designed to enhance the work of primary religious education teachers across Europe by providing them with models of good practice. The project acknowledges the importance of religious education in the classrooms of European schools. As an important subject in all of the represented countries religious education contributes to learning about religions that focus on knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs in the world today and learning from religions that offers students opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development developing their own focus and also to learning through religions that brings these aims together in a more integrated way according to different approaches to religious education in the countries. It also underlines the relation between religious education, the wider curriculum and whole school initiatives. Increasingly an integrated perspective is being adopted when it comes to the development of schooling and its respective structures and concepts. With contributions from Austria (Gerlind Herrgesell and Helmar Pollitt), Bulgaria (Bojidar Andonov), England and Wales (Derek Bastide), Estonia (Pille Valk and Olga Schihalejev), Finland (Sari Nevalainen and Juha Luodeslampi), Germany (Petra Freudenberger-Lötz and Friedhelm Kraft), Italy (Maria Luisa Mazzarello), the Netherlands (Henk Kuindersma and Johan Valstar), Northern Ireland (James Nelson) and Norway (Elisabeth K. Haanes and Heid Leganger-Krogstad).