In the course of the institutionalisation of modern school systems, the originally confessional schooling sector was largely transformed into a system regulated by public law, a process which is interpreted as secularisation. In a historical-comparative analysis, the secularisation paths of the classical educational nations England and France are…

During the 1850's and 60's there was increasing discontent regarding the provision of school education as controlled and managed by the Church of Scotland. This led to a number of Parliamentary Bills being brought forward proposing a new national system. The Church opposed these mainly on the grounds that there was no guarantee that Religious…

Milton Friedman is widely considered the intellectual father of the school choice movement. While Friedman deserves much credit, Father Virgil Blum stands out as an influential figure in the nascent school choice movement. Using archival research, this paper examines Blum's contributions to the movement. From his 1954 doctoral dissertation, which…

Past U.S. Supreme Court rulings have held that schools and school employees must be careful to engage in religious activities while at school that could appear to endorse a particular religion above others or coerce students to engage in religious activities. However, the June 2022 Kennedy v. Bremerton School District opinion suggests that the…

This paper charts the development of one of Ireland's first comprehensive schools located in Carraroe in County Galway. Through a systematic, historical analysis of Department of Education and diocesan correspondence, this article provides a unique insight into how official policy was reconciled at ground level. The analysis exposes the ambiguity…

Many public charter schools in the state of Hawaii are explicitly religious. For more than two decades, students at Hawaiian-focused schools have offered chants and prayers to the pantheon of gods who rule over skies, seas, and earth, including to the volcanic god, Pelehonuamea ("she who shapes the sacred land"), popularly known as Madam…

Since Indonesia's independence in 1945, policies related to Islamic education have undergone a shift from a domestication approach to an accommodation approach. This paper aims to examine the forms of government policies that have regulated Islamic education during this time period, and to analyze the underlying factors and consequences of these…

Under Communism, the Catholic Church in Poland played the role of guarantor of preserving the national traditions and defender of freedom. Such was one of reasons for removing religion from the state school curriculum by the government of Poland in 1961. The political transformation of 1989 changed the concept of the Polish state. Religion as a…

2022 marks one hundred years since the foundation of the Irish State, and thus an appropriate time in which to reflect on how educational policy has shaped the nation over the course of a century. This article examines one hundred years of education policy through an equality lens, asking how the concept of educational equality has been…

This study is based on an analysis of survey data from a national sample of K-12 public schools teachers (N = 5,237). The purpose of this article is to examine teachers' beliefs about nationalism and how it correlates to teachers' beliefs about religious liberty, and to what extent beliefs about nationalism are stronger than beliefs about…

Should religious schools be an option? Should they receive public funding? Are they bad for community cohesion? What should we make of the charge that they indoctrinate? How should they be regulated? People disagree on the answers to these questions. Some maintain that religious schools should not be permitted. If parents want to raise their…

A recent global reconnaissance of Christian higher education found a number of key themes that shaped current developments, such as the pressing challenges of secularization and nationalization but also the advantages of privatization and massification. This article provides an update to this older analysis by taking a birds-eye view of trends…

In recent years, many scholars have drawn a distinction between procedural and programmatic secularism. Procedural secularists seek to build communities wherein 'competing concepts of the good life' are afforded opportunities for expression. Programmatic secularists seek to limit the influence of religion within the public sphere. The 1870…

One of the major contributions of the Catholic school to the formation of people and to the mission of the Church is religious education. In the diversity of school systems in Europe, it is possible to identify three models: the politico-conciliar, the academic-curricular and the ethical-value-based. These models evolve in line with the religious…

The political theology of Rev. John Witherspoon (1723-1794) had a profound impact on the development of ideas on religion and government during the Founding Period as a prominent educator, clergyman, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. This paper uncovers the far-reaching impact of Witherspoon's political theology during America's…