Education and Religious Commitment from a Cross-national Perspective: Field of Education and National Curriculum

This paper focuses on the connection between a field of education and national curricula in secondary education and individual religious commitment. This article builds on the idea that formal education is not only meant to transmit knowledge but also to create competencies that involve a combination of knowledge, skills, and social values. Moreover, institutional factors related to an educational system may shape religious commitment by providing opportunities and constrains promoted by a national curriculum. While the competencies approach sheds light on the connection between individual education and religiosity, the contextual approach helps in understanding the relationship between a national curriculum in secondary education and individual religiosity. This paper employs multilevel regression models and tests the research hypotheses using data from the European Social Survey (ESS), rounds 2, 3, and 4, and Eurydice 2013/2014. The results show that the field of education and the percentage of mathematics and sciences studied in secondary education should be taken into consideration when analyzing the connection between education and individual religious commitment.