In the long history of the Catholic school in Europe, it has taken various forms, linked to local cultures and to the history, particularly religious but also political, of each state. While it is possible to account for this diversity, it is also important to highlight common features and challenges, such as secularisation and globalisation,…

Like most Western nations and regions, Flanders and Québec are characterized by increasing religious diversity and secularization. Accordingly, 'learning to live together' is a main objective in their public education programmes. In spite of this similarity, both regions seem to interpret the concept of 'living together' in a different way and…

Rather than choosing between either catholic identity, or openness to otherness, the catholic dialogue school envisages, through the dialogue with the other, to stir the (re)discovery of one's own identity, and to introduce once again the Christian voice within the conversation. After introducing this project, I reflect more extensively on how to…

Inspired by the comparative method for RE as outlined by Bråten, this article elaborates on some similarities and differences between the present RE system in Flanders (Belgium) and the past RE system in Québec (Canada). After a brief outline of the societal level, the focus will be on the institutional level, where international, national and…

Since 2009, there is a discussion about how RE should be organised in state and 'private' (mainly Catholic) schools in Flanders. Especially the proposal to introduce non-denominational and integrative RE for all pupils in all schools stimulated the debate. More than ten years later, the RE system, which is based on (semi-)confessional and in state…

This paper analyzes the challenges embedded in the conflict between the right to accessible education, which implies a prohibition on discriminatory practices in school admission, and the right to adaptable education, which accommodates children's cultural affiliations. It shows that a normative lens, which examines the ways by which legal rules…

This article reflects on the place of RE in a pillarised education context, taking into account the fact of religious diversity and pluralisation among the school population on the one hand, and the freedom of religion and education of faith-based schools on the other. Particular attention will be given to Belgium and the Netherlands, which do not…

This article presents the epistemological paradigm in which Philosophy for Children (P4C) is embedded and the personal epistemological positions that are promoted by P4C, in order to address the concern that P4C might induce relativism in pupils. On the basis of theoretical considerations and empirical results, it is shown that P4C does not…

In spite of recent tendencies of secularisation and religious pluralism, most Belgian schools are Catholic schools, where Roman Catholic religious education is a compulsory subject. As we will argue, this can lead to a "de facto" undermining of the freedom of religion and education and a shift in the system is therefore required. In the…

This article focuses on Islamic education in Belgium. First, attention is given to the organization of Islamic classes in state schools, where some important problems occur, such as the lack of appropriate teachers and inspectors, the mono-confessional content of the curricula, and the absence of state control. Next, the content of religious…

This article responds to a question put forward approximately a decade ago by the history of education research group at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven: Did the child-centred ideas of New Education, as promoted by Ovide Decroly, influence the education policy in the former Belgian colony of Congo? Naturally, ideas were circulating that could…

In Belgium (Flanders), citizenship education is one of the cross-curricular achievements, but it is not scheduled as a separate school subject. Alternatively, citizenship education is integrated in diverse school subjects and particularly in the religious education classes. However, with this didactical approach, two problems arise. First,…

This paper employs the provisions of international human rights law in order to analyse whether and how liberal states should regulate Haredi educational practices, which sanctify the exclusive focus on religious studies in schools for boys. It conceptualises the conflict between the right to acceptable education and the right to adaptable…

The Eurydice network has been collecting data on instruction time for more than two decades. These data have been published in many Eurydice publications, notably all editions of the 'Key data on Education'. Since 2010, annually updated data on instruction time has been available on the Eurydice website. Since 2013, the Eurydice network has been…

Social capital theory, recent developments in the theory of identity and a small econometric literature all suggest positive attainment effects from faith schooling. To test this hypothesis, the authors use a unique data set on Flemish secondary school students from the 1999 repeat of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study to…