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Religions and schooling in Irland

The Irish education system is characterized by strong denominationalism. Due to growing cultural diversity in recent years, this feature has come under increasing scrutiny (Smyth and Darmody 2011). This is manifest in ongoing public debate about the role of religious institutions in the management and governance of Irish schools as well as about the place of religion in the school curriculum and how it should accommodate religious diversity in the composition of the classroom and the wider society (Catholic Schools Partnership 2011; Smyth and Darmody 2011). These debates have important implications for the role of the Catholic Church in schooling in Ireland, an important site of religious socialization of the next generation.

This public debate has stimulated some empirical research on religion in Irish schools. One study using survey data and case studies of 14 schools in urban and rural locations in Ireland found that some non-Catholic parents were concerned about the religious instruction received by their children in a Catholic school. Children themselves had broadly positive views of religious instruction mentioning in particular the emphasis on global religions in the religious education programme (Smyth and Darmody, 2011).

More information:
 Catholic Primary Schools in the Republic of Ireland: A Qualitative Study, Catholic Schools Partnership, 2011.
 SMYTH, E., DARMODY M., ‘Religious Diversity and Schooling in Ireland’, in DARMODY M., TYRRELL N., SONG S. (eds), The Changing Faces of Ireland: Exploring the Lives of Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Children, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2011.

D 9 October 2012    ABrian Conway

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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