Responding to the growing internationalisation of schools in Japan, a debate arose among scholars of religion on the need for religious education. Some had argued that religious education would promote intercultural understanding; others warned it could facilitate nationalistic ideologies.

In the meantime, however, ethics became an official (graded) subject in elementary and junior high schools nationwide. A question arises, how will teachers without any knowledge and training in religious culture, teach ethics to children from different cultural and religious backgrounds?

This paper shows a practical use of a method for measuring religious awareness adopted from the sociology of religion for educational purposes. The researcher used an interview pole containing a specific set of questions to assess teachers’ religious awareness. The preliminary outcome revealed teachers’ lack of awareness about their own culture and (non)religiousness.

Besides that, the interview process itself proved useful as it helped teachers become aware of their existing knowledge and experience with religion. Also, as teachers themselves conducted the interviews, they noticed significant differences among each other.

In teacher’s education at least, such “selfreflective learning” taken from the sociological study of religion could be used to promote teachers’ interest for their own historical roots, beliefs and values and a deeper understanding of multiple dimensions of religion as a step toward achieving multicultural competence.