Hendek, Abdurrahman. A Comparative Study of Religious Education Policy in Turkey and England. PhD. Dissertation, University of Oxford Social Science Division, England, 201
A Comparative Study of Religious Education Policy in Turkey and England

Summary/Abstract: It has long been recognised that education policy has been questioned, critiqued and reformed in response to a variety of national and supranational factors. In the field of religious education, there has been a growing argument for comparative works to study this relationship between wider factors and religious education policy. This thesis seeks to present a comparison of religious education policy in state schools in two strikingly different countries, Turkey and England, by interviewing various policy actors, to unravel some of the complexities and contestations around national and supranational factors and their influence on religious education policy. The thesis reveals that wider factors have explicitly and implicitly shaped religious education policy by constituting a significant milieu that has constrained and enabled policy actors. Yet, the thesis also suggests that religious education policy can be better understood through a conflict theory lens, because policy actors have responded to and interpreted wider factors and their influence on religious education policy widely and contradictorily, reflecting their deeply held worldviews and beliefs. Furthermore, in the context of the collision of wider factors and rival policy actors, religious education has tended to converge on common problems such as confusion, marginalisation, accusations and on endless reform actions and discussion. The thesis suggests that there is a need for sensitising for plurality across and within societies and a need for more open and plural religious education policies. The findings of this thesis give insights into how different policy actors view and interpret national and supranational factors and their influence on religious education policy. The findings have relevance for debates about the role of religion in education within plural societies.

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