This paper examines debates over the nature, purpose, and reform of geographical education in schools in the eighteenth-century German-speaking territories. Attention is paid to contemporaries' concerns over the cognitive content of geography -- what geography was -- and, in greater detail, to their views concerning how the subject might be…

A long tradition of both State and religious interest and support characterised provision for education on the island of Ireland from the 1700s. Following the partition of Ireland in the 1920s, the newly created political entities of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland forged separate and distinct education policy trajectories that largely…

This paper explores the unheeded religious roots of the modern conviction to standardised, scientific education policy and its inherent sciento-social epistemology. In doing so, it traces the discursive roots of this hierarchical but non-governmental idea of social governance from its 16th century Scottish Presbyterian predecessors to its…

The debates surrounding the reform of national education in Britain and Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century were often framed as a binary struggle between the religious establishment, which sought to retain control of the national schools, and dissenters who viewed education reform as an important step towards dismantling the state churches'…

We study whether compulsory religious education in schools affects students' religiosity as adults. We exploit the staggered termination of compulsory religious education across German states in models with state and cohort fixed effects. Using three different datasets, we find that abolishing compulsory religious education significantly reduced…

The dualisms between theory and practice, individual and society, intellectual and manual, as identified by John Dewey in the 19th century, find their direct correspondence in the writings of a contemporary Christian writer of his era, Ellen G. White, whose publications and life work led to the development of what is now one of the single largest…

Focusing on Indonesia's case, this research discusses how booming internet use impacts students' faith, functioning as both threat and opportunity concerning students' religious inherency and sustainable religious education (RE). This qualitative study analyses six public junior high schools and 48 interviewed participants. To reveal various…

This article reports on research into the influence of teachers' religious beliefs in religious education. Drawing on accounts from eleven teachers in Controlled Schools in Northern Ireland, it shows the contested space many of them occupy in relation to handling personal beliefs, teaching about diverse religions and articulating a public…

The United States occupations of Cuba and Puerto Rico following the War of 1898 instituted immediate reforms to the educational systems of the islands. The imposition of public school systems modeled on those of the United States and a concurrent wave of Protestant schools established by American missionaries are well-known features of the…

After the partition of Ireland, the newly established parliament in Belfast was given control over education. The unionist government, mainly representing the majoritarian Protestant population, embarked on a reform of the pre-existing denominational education system and tried to persuade all the churches to transfer their schools to state control…

A century after partition, this article presents a critical reflection on efforts to address educational disadvantage in Northern Ireland using a Foucauldian genealogical theoretical framework. Beset by religious, political and cultural divisions from the very formation of the state in 1921, the article charts the history of opportunities heralded…

The present study assesses how education impacts religiosity. Education is instrumented using the changes in the Canadian school leaving age laws. The data are from the Canadian General Social Surveys collected between 1990 and 2011. The effects of education on both affiliation status and religious attendance are considered. Education is found to…

"The Soul of the American University" is a classic and much discussed account of the changing roles of Christianity in shaping American higher education, presented here in a newly revised edition to offer insights for a modern era. As late as the World War II era, it was not unusual even for state schools to offer chapel services or for…

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…

Northern Ireland (NI) is emerging from a violent period in its troubled history and remains a society characterized by segregation between its two main communities. Nowhere is this more apparent than in education, where for the most part Catholic and Protestant pupils are educated separately. During the last 30 years there has been twofold…