ERIC Number: EJ1277676
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0141-6200
EISSN: N/A
The Centre Cannot Hold: Decolonising the RE Curriculum in the Republic of Ireland
Kieran, P.; Mc Donagh, J.
British Journal of Religious Education, v43 n1 p123-135 2021
In Ireland primary RE is a fractured, contested, complex and changing territory devoid of a common language and characterised by a proliferation of syllabi and curricula generated for increasingly diverse school types. For centuries the dynamic decolonising process has led to a questioning of former orthodoxies and an attempted de-linking of the place and potency of the RE curriculum as well as a fundamental change in perception of the nature, identity and purpose of RE. Placing particular emphasis on the work of a variety of decolonial and postcolonial critical theorists, the authors engage in a theoretical interpretation of 5 keys waves of curricular decolonisation in Ireland from the 16th to 21st centuries and argue that a historical contextualisation is vital in attempting to understand its nature. Currently RE's perceived hegemonic status is challenged and its very existence within the curriculum is in jeopardy, as it faces a form of 'cultural oblivion'. The repackaging of religion under the more acceptable form of human rights and world religions with a confusion and conflation of values, ethics and RE and a hybridity of curricular styles and content is symptomatic of the latest wave of this decolonising process.
Descriptors: Religious Education, Course Descriptions, Postcolonialism, Critical Theory, Curriculum Development, Educational Change, Educational History, Values, Ethics, Civil Rights, Foreign Countries, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Irish, Laws, Catholics, Foreign Policy, Self Concept, Power Structure, Educational Policy, Protestants, Catholic Schools, Educational Philosophy, Nationalism, Educational Legislation, Elementary Secondary Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Ireland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A