Religious Education and ‘interfaith readiness’: how does a Religion and Worldviews approach prepare students for the religious diversity of university life?

This article offers the first empirical account of how a Religion and Worldviews approach to Religious Education (RE) prepares students to navigate worldview difference beyond school. Drawing on the experiences of 826 first-year undergraduates schooled in England and Wales, we explore how their experiences of ‘worldviews’ in the secondary school RE classroom relate to their readiness to engage with religion and worldview difference once they start university. Regression analysis reveals that worldview-related learning outcomes, specifically learning about the complex nature and internal diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews, as well as the role of personal decision-making in worldview formation, have the strongest positive relationships with a positive ‘pluralism orientation’ upon enrolment to undergraduate study. Perceived worldview diversity within the RE classroom is also important, highlighting the benefits of learning in contexts of assumed difference. Exploring differences by school type, level of RE studied, and students’ religious background, implications are drawn for national curriculum debates and pedagogical practice.