The ethnic separation of the school system in Northern Ireland along Catholic and Protestant community lines limits opportunities for daily cross-community interaction between young people. Recent research has shown that, whilst the deployment pattern of teachers is largely consistent with this divide, a small proportion of teachers has diverted…

Scholars studying Christian higher education frequently suggest that faculty are the campus constituents with the most influence over the future of an institution's Christian mission. Thus, both faculty hiring and development are important elements for maintaining and strengthening the Christian identity of a university over time. Despite this…

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…

There has been growing interest by British policy-makers in the importance of acknowledging the role of migrant children's background in their educational progress. Therefore, this article draws on studies of language-ethnicity and of language-religion to understand the linguistic and the religious heritage of four groups of Brazilian migrants in…

Religion in public schools has long been a controversial issue. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that teachers and administrators cannot lead prayers in public schools, and a decision in 2000 barred school districts from sponsoring student-led prayers at football games. At the same time, the court has held that students retain a First…

Previous studies assessed the intercultural competence of groups of individuals including primary and secondary school teachers, students that have studied abroad, and students enrolled in a specific course at an institution. However, few, if any, studies have investigated the intercultural competence of a cohort of freshmen at the university…

In this article, the author addresses many of the key points in each of the special section articles to which he responded. He observes that they are all very important pieces of research in that they clearly add important information to the existing body of research. The author notes that the articles provide insight on school climate in…

This article presents the findings of a large-scale survey (n = 1049) of ethnic awareness and attitudes among three to four-year-old children in Northern Ireland. In drawing upon and applying Bourdieu's notion of habitus, the article demonstrates how, even at this age, the children are already beginning to embody and internalize the cultural…

Based on individual-level data from 2008 Afro-barometer survey, this study explores the relationship between religion (religious affiliation and religious importance) and trust (interpersonal and institutional) among Ghanaians. Employing hierarchical multiple regression technique, our analyses reveal a positive relationship between religious…

In Northern Ireland, where the majority of children are educated at schools attended mainly by coreligionists, the debate concerning the role of schools in perpetuating intergroup hostilities has recently been reignited. Against questions regarding the efficacy of community relations policy in education, the research reported in this paper employs…

This paper considers issues related to integration in education, specifically those related to the integration of ethnic/religious populations in conflict. The case study we will use is the educating together of Catholic and Protestant children and Palestinian and Jewish children in two troubled societies, Northern Ireland and Israel, where…

Analyzes data from a national survey of American Jews which show that denominational differences are substantial and more influential within this group than they have commonly been assumed to be. Findings suggest that recent research may have underestimated the potential importance of contemporary denominational differentiation for American…

This examination of nation-building in Ireland portrays a successful example of an enclave people who first developed a consciousness of nationhood and then acquired statehood. Both processes were problematic. Factors which influenced this transformation are the following: (1) the definition of Irishness; (2) language; (3) religion; (4) history;…

Research continues to illustrate the resonance and intensity of feeling that attachment to a locality can generate, within this highlighting the gender-specific impacts created by the intersection of ethnicity and locality. Within the ethnically segregated working class communities of Belfast, the importance of locality takes on added…

Using survey data spanning four decades, this study investigates the relationship between religion and family life, giving particular attention to parental values for children and approaches to child-rearing. Results show that religious involvement is more strongly related to child-rearing orientations than traditional denominational differences.…