HDS - Program in Religious Studies and Education

Program in Religious Studies and Education

Mission and Goals

The Program in Religious Studies and Education is intentionally small in order to support each student's own growth and learning as well as to foster a community of educators. Each year we admit 12-15 students who form cohorts and move through the program sequence together. In addition to participation in the wider HDS community, PRSE students also form strong relationships with each other, PRSE faculty, staff, mentor teachers, and alumni/ae through course work, weekly dinners, the internship experience, conferences, and alumni/ae networking. Fostering communities of educators is a central aspect and strength of the PRSE.

Philosophical Foundations

The PRSE is predicated on the assumption that an important goal of compulsory K-12 education is to train citizens to become informed and active members of a participatory and multicultural democracy. At the core of the program is the notion of education as vocation: the conviction that one teaches because partnership in shaping the future of our multicultural democracy is work that matters. From this perspective, the values emphasized in the preparation for teaching available through the PRSE are: 1) a deep respect for and appreciation of adolescents as multifaceted, capable, imaginative, and energetic young citizens; 2) an understanding of education as a profoundly moral enterprise; and 3) a commitment to fostering the ideals of democracy with a special emphasis on social justice, respect for human dignity, and multicultural (including religious) literacy. Through coursework and field experiences in the schools, students learn about adolescent development, critical theory, and a wide range of educational methods and pedagogies as they formulate their own understanding of education as vocation and the frameworks that best represent that articulation.

Content Standards and Curriculum Development to Integrate the Study of Religion

Religion and religious worldviews are woven into the fabric of world civilizations in both their historic and contemporary manifestations. Though it is impossible to understand the human endeavor without considering its religious dimensions, misrepresentations of the First Amendment have led to either the virtual absence of religion in public education or the unconstitutional promotion of a particular religious worldview as paramount. Both foster a tacit acceptance of religious illiteracy that promotes an inaccurate, partial view of civilizations and human experience. Consequently, citizens of the United States are not only ignorant of the world's religious traditions (all of which are practiced here in the U.S. in growing numbers), but they are also left without adequate tools to understand the profound role that religion plays in contemporary cultures and conflicts.

Through the PRSE, students study the religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment and develop curricula and programs that incorporate the study of religion and religious worldviews in secondary schools within First Amendment guidelines. The program also sponsors professional development opportunities for educators in the field who wish to enhance their knowledge in this arena.

Religion, Education, and Public Policy

Debates regarding religion and public education have been at the forefront of the national agenda for decades. In addition to issues that address or engage religion directly, religious perspectives and worldviews have influenced public policy about education throughout U.S. history. The PRSE promotes opportunities for students to explore the public policy dimension of the relationship between religion, values, and public education through course offerings, public lectures, and field education opportunities.

The Harvard Divinity School Study on Teaching About Religion in the Schools (H-STARS)

In the spring of 2005, the PRSE launched a qualitative online research project entitled the Harvard Divinity School Study on Teaching About Religion in the Schools (H-STARS). The study was initially funded by the Center for the Study of World Religions and is directed by Diane L. Moore, Professor of the Practice in Religious Studies and Education and director of the PRSE. The aim of the study is to gather data about 1) where religion is incorporated in middle and secondary school curricula in both public and independent contexts; and 2) what resources teachers utilize when teaching about religion. Currently there are no comprehensive data available that are related to the study of religion in the schools, and this effort will help provide information for the creation of relevant educational resources and teacher training opportunities.

The Vocation of Teaching

Throughout all aspects of the PRSE, we promote the following three assumptions about teachers in general and middle/secondary teachers in particular:

Good teachers are skilled professionals whose work is vital to our common good. They should be afforded respect, recognition and the appropriate systems of support that will enable them to fulfill their important responsibilities.
Good teachers are scholars whose intellectual scope is both broad and deep. They are responsible for mastering vast arrays of knowledge in their field(s) of expertise and for keeping abreast of new developments.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, good teachers recognize their profound role as moral agents who are capable of either advancing or hindering the fundamental democratic ideals of a) respect for human dignity across the multicultural spectrum and b) the promotion of social justice that provides the structural conditions for that respect to be made manifest. This moral dimension of education is represented in both what teachers teach as well as how they teach, and exemplary educators are well aware of this tremendous responsibility.

In addition to their roles as professionals, scholars and moral agents, we in the program encourage teachers to also think of themselves as capable public intellectuals who have the capacity to make significant contributions to public discourse in both form and content. A well-functioning democracy requires citizens to actively engage in thoughtful, informed, transparent, and respectful public debate about a range of matters, including those that are deeply controversial. The best middle and secondary school teachers are able to help their students embrace complexity and develop the skills to respectfully resolve differences. They are, therefore, especially equipped to model respectful discourse in the public square and to challenge debates that are predicated on disrespect and/or false representation of opposing views.

In sum, the PRSE encourages educators to be able to articulate and defend what they believe the larger goals of the educational enterprise should entail and to be vigilant about insuring that their everyday practices are in alignment with those goals. In this way, we hope teachers will work to create learning communities that model and inspire the highest aspirations of our multicultural democracy.

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