Education was an instrument in Christian missions' and colonial powers' civilisation projects. At the same time, education was also instrumental in fostering opposition. This article approaches perceptions of education mainly from the perspective of Norwegian Lutheran missionaries in French colonial Madagascar during the 1940s. The focus is on how…

Historians have observed that the period 1860-1890 was educationally progressive. This paper identifies the renaissance with the creation of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in the aftermath of Church Disestablishment. Disestablishment legislation facilitated the inclusion of the laity in Synod. The paper argues that the lay-clerical…

The Good Friday Agreement (1998) between the UK and Irish governments, and most of the political parties in Northern Ireland, heralded a significant step forward in securing peace and stability for this troubled region of the British Isles. From the new-found stability, the previous fits and starts of education reform were replaced by a…

This paper explores comparatively and historically why Nordic and Continental welfare and education regimes differ in the degree of comprehensiveness of their primary and lower secondary school systems. It analyses how school reforms, reform attempts and coalitions in the post-war decades were shaped by different cleavage structures in Norway and…

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…

During the years of political violence in Northern Ireland many looked to schools to contribute to reconciliation. A variety of interventions were attempted throughout those years, but there was little evidence that any had produced systemic change. The peace process provided an opportunity for renewed efforts. This paper outlines the experience…

Societies which suffer from ethnic and political divisions are often characterised by patterns of social and institutional separation, and sometimes these divisions remain even after political conflict has ended. This has occurred in Northern Ireland where there is, and remains, a long-standing pattern of parallel institutions and services for the…

To what extent does the adoption of consociational power-sharing affect the design and implementation of education reforms? This article maps this territory through rich and detailed interviews collected in Lebanon, Northern Ireland, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 2012-2013. Insights from these interviews are corroborated by…

This article delves into the various religious influences on Dr. Felix Adler's spiritual development and the resulting theological and philosophical foundations for the Ethical Culture Society that he created in addition to the Society's schools. The discussion focuses on Dr. Adler's personal struggles with traditional Judaism in the face of…

This paper examines the evolution of the state-supported denominational education system in Ireland in the context of increasing social diversity, and considers the capacity for incremental change in a system of institutional pluralism hitherto dominated by a single religion. In particular, we examine challenges to the historical arrangements…

This paper offers a historical perspective on government policies for the rationalisation of higher education (HE) in Ireland through a critical re-appraisal of the initiative for "merger" of Trinity College and University College Dublin. The initiative launched by Donogh O'Malley in 1967 was the first significant attempt by an Irish…

In this paper Merry examines in detail the continued--and curious--popularity of religious schools in an otherwise "secular" twenty-first century Europe. To do this he considers a number of motivations underwriting the decision to place one's child in a religious school and delineates what are likely the best empirically supported…

The purpose of this study was to uncover real importance and volume of schooling interlaced with political practices through placing the education in a pragmatic position in forming national epistemologies and political ambitions by non-Muslims who desire to establish a geography by virtue of having specific national histories, cultures,…

Inclusion is increasingly understood as an educational reform that responds to the diversity of all learners, challenging the marginalisation, exclusion and underachievement which may result from all forms of "difference". Leadership for inclusion is conceptualised here as driving a constant struggle to create shared meanings of…

The article provides an overview of the development of teaching science in Hungary during both the time of the dual monarchy and the newly established independent Hungary after 1920. The integration of Hungary into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1867-1918) strengthened the effect of German speaking European science, the results of which were…