Researching Non-Formal Religious Education in Europe

The traditional focus on Religious Education at school can no longer be the only guiding principle for religious education research if this research is to do justice to the reality of religious education in general. The awareness of the meaning and scope of education outside of school has clearly grown. However, systematic research on non-formal religious education still remains rare, especially on an international level. It is the intention of this volume to strengthen the awareness of educational Settings outside of school by bringing together research results and research perspectives from different European countries and by discussing the question what non-formal education means in terms of religious education. The book includes presentations on specific research projects carried out by the authors themselves as well as summary accounts of the pertinent research from different countries. The chapters take up general questions of researching non-formal religious education as well as specific references to different programs such as youth work, Sunday School, kindergarten, confirmation work.

Following the increasing interest in non-formal education in general, this volume brings together experiences and results of empirical research in the field of non-formal religious education in seven European countries. The chapters describe the reality of non-formal religious education in contexts like youth work and Sunday School. The authors present insights from empirical research and discuss possibilities of research-based evaluation of presuppositions and effects of non-formal religious education.