Who's left out? Exclusions in the context of a life course-oriented religious education

The implicit orientation of religious education in both schools and religious communities towards middle-class families leads to the almost complete exclusion of socially disadvantaged children, youth and adults as subjects of religious learning by life-course based models of religious education. Starting with a critical assessment of milieu-based forms of exclusion in various places of religious learning, this contribution lays out theoretical perspectives towards including individuals affected by poverty and develops empirical research perspectives based on a biographical case study of an informal process of religion-related education (“Bildung”) as experienced by one socially marginalised youth.

Poverty / Social Disadvantage; Religious Education; Exclusion / Inclusion; Empirical Research; Biographical Educational Processes