Religious Education within the Home
From my experience very little of this takes place within the Christian community. Whereas in previous generations mothers and particularly grandmothers taught children, at minimum, to say grace before meals and prayers at night, the present generation of young mothers are not passing this on, largely because they themselves missed the experience. This is due to a general breakdown in the traditional nuclear family situation and growing secularism and individualism.
Where younger families are joining the more evangelical/charismatic type churches, they are joining without having had any previous religious teaching at home, and what they received at school was inadequate and may even have been counter-productive. Such families receive most of their religious teaching from their faith community.
The situation with other faith groups may, though not necessarily, be the same. Certainly large numbers within the 'secular' Jewish community still observe the Sabbath meal and main festivals as religious festivals, while it is difficult to find the religious aspect of Christmas amongst the secular tinsel and glitter. For the Jews there is still a religious aspect to preparing the meals etc which is not the same for the Christians.
Religious Education in the Faith communities
The number of Christian Sunday Schools, where traditionally women taught, has generally declined over the past 30 years. This is because such a school is only viable in a sizeable congregation. Where schools are in existence the teachers once more frequently feel under-resourced and even under-valued by the main congregation. They are certainly not adequately trained.
The larger, more successful churches run courses in Christian nurture along the lines of Alpha. While some people may feel liberated by this type of teaching, others can feel restricted. This is because much of this teaching emphasises family and moral values, which are either not the norm for many today or are simply unattainable. This can also lead to a sense of alienation and exclusion.
From my experience of the local Muslim community, probably the majority of children, both boys and girls, as young as four years attend an after-school Koranic class. These classes are always taught by men. Teaching is by rote in a disciplinary fashion. Girls are further taught at home, by both father and mother and indeed other relatives, about family values and moral behaviour.
Brief conclusion
My feeling is that women are still expected to teach in traditional ways that may no longer be appropriate nor do justice to their full potential as educators. Women are not receiving opportunities for theological education and training, which would equip them for such roles, because in many contexts women are still not seen as theological educators. They are still expected to focus on family and moral values which in themselves can be restricting, unless this is reinforced by theological or doctrinal reflection and education.
Anne Davison is Inter Faith and International Adviser to the Church of England Diocese of Chelmsford. She is also the Deputy Moderator of the Advisory Group on Interreligious Relations of the World Council of Churches.