An exploration of ethos in Irish Muslim schools: ethnographic insights and perspectives from parents and teachers

Islam is the fastest growing faith in the Republic of Ireland, with the number of adherents reported in 2012 at 50,000. However, despite this number there are only three Muslim primary schools. Empirical research on Muslim schools in Ireland is currently very limited. This article aims to provide insight and understanding into the role of ethos as a lived experience among children in Muslim primary schools in contemporary twenty-first century Ireland. The data for this ethnographic study were based on observations and interviews with Muslim parents and religion teachers in two Muslim Irish state-funded schools. This study revealed both similarities and variations between the schools, despite being under the same patronage. These were significantly notable in how the ethos was manifested and experienced by Muslim pupils, in terms of prayer, dress code and physical environment. The article concludes with some implications for the research.     

Schooling,the Protestant churches and the state in Northern Ireland: a tension resolved

In 1998, Byrne and McKeown examined the churches’ roles in Northern Ireland’s (NI) schooling system. NI was then governed by direct-rule from the UK’s Westminster Parliament. The authors concluded that the desire of the Protestant churches to re-establish their influence in schools was ‘unlikely to succeed’. This was contrasted with the ‘success-story’ of Catholic influence in schooling. This article tracks the fortunes of the Protestant churches in NI’s educational policy developments in the last 18 years. Of particular interest are the government’s proposals to establish an Education and Skills Authority (ESA) under a new Education Bill. A careful reading of the Protestant churches’ annual education reports indicates the alarm with which these proposals were met. In the early years of the new millennium it seemed that the conclusions of the 1998 paper were prescient. However, extensive lobbying by the Protestant churches in a changed (devolved) political context secured almost all their demands. This article concludes that the ‘tension’ (claimed in the 1998 paper) between the Protestant churches and the state has largely been resolved. The article evaluates the significance of recent developments for the Protestant churches and their involvement in schooling. More critically, the propriety of these developments is questioned asking if they mark an advance for the Protestant churches and/or schooling in NI.     

Teaching about Christianity: a configurative review of research in English schools

This article presents a systematic review of empirical research on teaching about Christianity in state schools in England between 1993 and 2013. First, I explain the background to this religion’s current place within English religious education. The value of a configurative review is set out, and inclusion criteria are outlined, leading to the selection of 58 publications. Then the article’s theoretical frame is explained, drawing on activity theory, and the analysis is set out under three broad organising principles: (1) Teachers’ professional and pedagogical intentions; (2) How teachers draw on different pedagogical strategies to enact these intentions, for example systematic or thematic approaches; and (3) How these intentions and strategies affect pupil learning, such as pupils’ conceptions of difficult topics. The implications for research in religious education are then drawn together, notably the need to consider the pedagogical issues for different religions individually.     

Called to be holy: the transformative potential of Christian service programmes in Catholic schools

This is the second in a series of four papers which seeks to articulate theologically and practically the consequences of the ecclesial identity of the Catholic school. The series is based on the principle that the ‘marks’ of the Church – one, holy, catholic, and apostolic – are also marks of the Catholic school, since the Catholic school is within the Church and derives its ecclesial identity from the Church. Each paper analyses one of these ‘marks’, discerning what it means theologically and practically for the Catholic school. In this paper, the second of the marks of the Church and therefore of the Catholic school – holiness – is discussed in terms of what it means to be, and to continually become, holy. In reference to a current research project, Christian service programmes in Catholic schools are analysed in regard to what they already contribute to the formation in holiness of Catholic students, but also in terms of what more they may become. It is argued that for their potential for growth in holiness for teachers and students to be fully realised, Christian service programmes need to be more than just charitable works, and that they need to engage critically with inequity and injustice in keeping with the Church’s radical social teaching.     

Reducing bias in psychometric assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse students from refugee backgrounds in Australian schools: A process approach

The present article examines a process developed within Brisbane Catholic Education to reduce bias in assessment of students from refugee backgrounds when there is a concern about a possible intellectual disability. Several factors impacting upon assessment are described including previous trauma, language, lack of previous schooling and acculturation difficulties. A proactive process (Support Process for the Assistance and Assessment of Students from Refugee Backgrounds) is described involving broad‐based, longitudinal collection of data by the school psychologist as part of a support team. Factors to consider in conducting standardised psychometric assessments are discussed. Strengths and limitations of this process as well as the need for future research into its effectiveness are summarised.     

Teaching practices to save America's schools: The legacy of B. F. Skinner

The research and practices found in behavior analysis and the behavioral models of instruction suggest a common set of effective teaching practices. Implementation of these practices could save our schools. They have implications for the students, parents, teachers, and supervisors in our schools. They are presented herein as standards for effective pedagogy and schooling from the viewpoints of students, parents, teachers, and supervisors. Indeed, they may be the necessary ingredients for adequate schooling. All of these practices are feasible now, and all of the parties involved in schooling stand to benefit from their implementation!     

Education,queer theology,and spiritual development: disrupting heteronormativity for inclusion in Jewish,Muslim and Christian faith schools

Voices critiquing heteronormativity in faith schools often rely on an understanding of such schools as arbiters for heteronormative religious orthodoxies. Many proponents of Jewish, Muslim and Christian schools offer compelling responses to such claims by providing inclusive perspectives on faith schooling. By applying a queer reading of temporality to a critique of the latter body of work, this paper will argue that these perspectives, despite their commitments to inclusion, have affinities with logics of heteronormativity through their appeal to a language of hospitality that reproduces adherence to heteronormative binaries and identity frames as originary and normative. From here, the paper will suggest that queer theology’s understanding of the transcendent in relation to immanence offers resources for reframing discussions around heteronormativity and faith schools in ways that speak to the inclusive commitments of those critiqued in this paper, while also eschewing reproductive determinism as a basis for understanding spiritual development.     

Religious education programme of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong: Challenges and responses since 1997

The Catholic Church, the largest school-sponsoring body in Hong Kong, is a major provider of religious schools and educational programmes. In 2006, the Catholic Diocese released its first centralised and comprehensive curricular document concerning religious and moral education (RME) in Catholic schools. Taking this programme as a reflection of the Church’s response to the challenges of a changing social milieu, severed church–state relations and shortcomings in Catholic education in post-1997 Hong Kong, this article reviews the framework and principles of the new curriculum. While retaining strong religious elements in its curriculum, the Catholic Church has widened and re-oriented its programme, and re-designed the contents and pedagogical methods. The new programme is characterised by adjustment and differentiation, upholding Christian faith, and selective absorption of Chinese culture. This article also discusses problems in the implementation of the new programme, including organisational compartmentalisation and an underdeveloped political dimension in the content.     

Questions of condom use in the Muslim and Catholic response to HIV and AIDS in Nairobi,Kenya

Religious leaders in Roman Catholic and Sunni Muslim communities in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi are charged with responding in an official capacity to the pressing concerns facing their respective communities both theologically and practically. However, speaking about sexuality from a religious perspective particularly on the use of condoms in AIDS prevention has been rather troublesome topic many leaders and clergy find problematic discussing openly. This paper offers a comparative analysis of Muslim and Catholic views on sexuality by establishing the parameters within which to consider the presence and activity of Catholic and Muslim leaders in Kenya and the holistic, grassroots approach in responding to the AIDS epidemic in Nairobi regarding condom use.     

Making Muslims: The Politics of Religious Identity Construction and Victoria's Islamic Schools

Islamic schools in Australia have become a subject of notable societal and academic interest, but discussions on the purpose of these schools are often approached from the perspective of concerns about national security or the integration of ethnic minorities. Given the growing popularity of Islamic schools in the Australian educational landscape, critics of such schools often assume that their pedagogical climate, curriculum and “separatist” environment does not foster the formation of cultural citizenship. This essay analyses the complex interplay between religion, Islamic identity formation and the politics of schooling in diasporic settings on the basis of an analysis of the experiences of graduates of Islamic schools in Victoria. It provides an insight into the multidimensional role Victoria's Islamic schools play and enables a better understanding of how the schooling of Muslim students in Victoria's Islamic schools relates to the development of an Islamic identity, which is critical to a conceptualizing of how Islamic schools are considered sites for religious identity construction.     

Peaceful schools

This article is based on the presentation Anna Lubelska made at the 12th International Conference on Children’s Spirituality. Anna is Director of Spiritual England which is a not for profit organisation set up in 2009. Its aim is to promote the importance of spirituality and to help increase access to opportunities for spiritual development. Its remit covers spirituality in all faiths and no faith. Anna worked for many years in community development and services for children and families. This year she started the Peaceful Schools Movement which encourages schools to become more peaceful. For example, schools are enabled to engage creatively with their pupils to design quiet rooms and gardens, alongside undertaking activities such as the practice of mindfulness and training in conflict resolution, all within the context of a whole-school ethos of dynamic peacefulness.     

Researching Faith Maturity Questions on the Methods and Findings of Valuegenesis

The issue of Catholic elementary-school survival is complex. This study found in general that astute management is more important than overall wealth. Major contributors to survival include integrated church/school financial planning; a combination of a certain level of church support for the school and efficient school management; and clarity about the role of the school in the Church's evangelical mission. The most vulnerable moments for the Catholic elementary schools, presuming otherwise strong management, are during times of sweeping neighborhood change. This study produced some financial ratios that may be helpful in strenghtening Catholic elementary schools.     

Intergroup contact,friendship quality and political attitudes in integrated and segregated schools in Northern Ireland

Background This study examines the effects of integrated and segregated schooling on Northern Irish children's self‐reported contact and friendship with members of the other denominational group in school and community settings. Aim To assess the effects of cross group friendships and cross group contacts in school and outside school on children's political attitudes. Sample A cross‐sectional design was employed with 1732 children being assessed at three age levels 11,12 & 14 years in eight‐matched integrated, maintained (Catholic) and controlled (Protestant) schools. Method Lisrel modelling was used to investigate the interrelationships among cross group friendship quality, cross group contacts in school and outside school and children's political attitudes. Results Intergroup contact within and outside school was reported frequently in integrated schools but only occasionally in segregated schools. Modelling revealed that cross group contacts in school and outside school were both associated with less extreme political attitudes. Friendship quality with cross group members had no significant effects on political attitudes. Conclusions The results provide support for educating Protestants and Catholics together as a means of moderating attitudes and creating cross‐community friendships in a divided society.     

Integration and identity in Muslim schools: Britain,United States and Montreal

Despite discrimination in mainstream Canadian society, local Muslim communities are a significant resource for immigrants. Recruited by friendship and kin networks, some families choose to educate their children in private full‐time Muslim schools which provide academic/economic credentials and social support. This research depicts a Muslim school in Montreal which both reflects Quebec society and nurtures minority ethnic/religious identity. For many parents, Arabic language classes, academic standards and behavioral norms were as important as the school's religious affiliation. Rejecting the hypothesis that emphasizing religious and cultural identities distanced children from mainstream society, some felt that the psychological and social effects of affirming a child's background were vital to integration and participation in mainstream society. In addition, the school also provided entry into social networks which offered parents an important support system.     

New Digital Technologies: A Kairos for Catholic Education in Rwanda

ABSTRACT

While the Catholic Church in Rwanda endeavors to revitalize Catholic Education, the Government of Rwanda is trying to leverage the use of digital technologies to raise access, improve the quality, and strengthen the relevance of education and training to the labor market. The purpose of this article is therefore to explore and assess the value and potentially constructive educational benefits offered by digital technologies in Catholic schools. The Catholic Church is one of the key educational development partners of the Government of Rwanda. Approximately 41% of students attend Catholic schools in Rwanda. The article scrutinizes some ethical concerns associated with the emergence of digital technologies in schools. Then it critically analyzes the position of the Catholic Church vis-à-vis digital technologies and sheds some light on their ethical and responsible use in Catholic schools. Consequently, the article suggests some actions that may be undertaken by the Catholic Church in order to assist the youth to make an informed choice among a diverse range of options offered by digital technologies in a way that aligns with the Catholic social teaching and tradition.     

Relations of Power in Different Spaces: An Exploration of the Schooling Experiences of Children in an HIV/AIDS Context

In this article we explore how the concept of relations of power in different spaces plays out in the lives of school children living in an HIV/AIDS context, and how processes of inclusion and exclusion are associated with particular spaces. The article uses Foucault's (2000) identification of four distinct relations of power to argue that within different school spaces we find economic, political, judicial and epistemological relations of power that are embedded in the way children experience reality. The study was conducted in five primary schools, three secondary schools, one early Childhood Education (ECD) centre, a special school and their communities in the province of KwaZulu Natal. Participants were teachers, learners, out of school youth, and members of community organisations working in the district. Data collection methods included individual and focus group interviews. Within the focus group interviews various participatory research techniques were used, including ranking exercises, projective activities, transect walk, body mapping, photo voice. The findings in the study revealed three complex and contradictory schooling spaces: policy space, curriculum space, and safe spaces in which learners' schooling lives are played out. The study showed that space is fundamental in the exercise of power as revealed in the exclusionary and inclusionary ways in which children experienced their schooling lives.     

Mosques,Churches, and Civic Skill Opportunities in Indonesia

This article examines the role of houses of worship as institutions where individuals acquire civic skills that can be deployed for political participation in the world's largest Muslim‐majority democracy: Indonesia. Drawing on participant observation and interviews in Muslim, Protestant, and Catholic religious communities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, this article investigates three questions: (1) What opportunities exist for individuals worshipping in Indonesian churches and mosques to develop and practice civic skills as part of their religious engagement? (2) Does civic skill opportunity vary across religious denominations? and (3) What factors might explain variation across different religious settings? The study shows that mosques offer fewer prospects for their worshippers to develop civic skills than do churches. These denominational differences can be explained by a house of worship's management practices, which are shaped by its degree of autonomy, style of worship, and the relative size of the religious denomination.     

Understanding Islam in Ireland

The article describes the growth of the Muslim presence in Ireland, covering its origins and the rapid development of Islamic institutions and communities, both Sunni and Shi^ci, over the past fifteen years. It traces the stages in the development of schools and mosques, the involvement of the Muslim community in Irish public life and recent initiatives in interfaith dialogue, and proceeds to an assessment of the present situation in what has become the world's most globalized country. The history of Muslim communities in Northern Ireland is also briefly described.     

‘You can’t buy love’: trivializing and the challenge for religious education

While there has been an increase in empirical research which explores the spirituality of children, few studies have explicitly named and described factors which may inhibit children’s expression of their spirituality. This paper, emanating from the author’s own research into children’s spirituality in Australian Catholic primary schools, presents and describes one such factor, which has been termed trivializing. An example of hermeneutic phenomenological writing—the text—in which trivializing was revealed is presented, followed by a reflection upon the text guided by van Manen’s lifeworld existentials (lived body, lived time, lived space, lived human relations). In the light of this reflection some initial implications for nurturing the spirituality of children within the primary religious education classroom are presented.