Catholic Schools and Sectarianism in Scotland: Educational Places and the Production and Negotiation of Urban Space

Abstract

This article explores the role of state-funded Catholic schools in debates about the causes and manifestations of sectarianism in Scotland. It suggests that debates between proponents and opponents of state-funded Catholic schools (and indeed faith schools more generally) have been largely aspatial, focusing on the teaching ethos within schools -empirically weak conceptions of the impacts of segregated schooling on social networks, and abstract national-level accounts of religion, ethnicity, identity and belonging. The article argues for a focus upon the productive power of schools as place nodes within a network of urban spaces and the agency of pupils in identity and friendship construction. It suggests the need to recognise the specifics of the social, spatial and political national and local contexts within which faith schools are situated. It concludes with an examination of educational policy responses to sectarianism in Scotland, arguing that they have focused on disrupting the spatial ordering of faith schools in an attempt to realign the physical boundaries of segregation and the visibility of difference in urban space.

Inter-group contact at school and social attitudes: evidence from Northern Ireland

“…The problem with this line of argument is two-fold. First, it may underestimate resistance to policy 'solutions' that threaten schools as cherished symbols of ethno-national and religious identity (see Flint, 2012). Second, and related, it potentially misses opportunities within existing systems that might more effectively produce desired reconciliation outcomes.…”

Does equality legislation reduce intergroup differences? Religious affiliation, socio-economic status and mortality in Scotland and Northern Ireland: A cohort study of 400,000 people

“…double the percentage difference in house ownership compared with Northern Ireland) as was the differential in age-adjusted mortality rates, especially among men. One explanation for this inequality is sectarian conflict which is most overt in relation to provision of Catholic schools and among fans of rival sports clubs (Bradley, 2006;Flint, 2012). More profoundly, lower socio-economic status and concomitant health problems among Scottish Catholics relative to Protestants have been attributed to discriminatory employment practices and latent sectarianism (Walls and Williams, 2003;Walls and Williams, 2004).…”

Joining together or pushing apart? Building relationships and exploring difference through shared education in Northern Ireland

“…In England, concerns about the impact of faith schools have been evident in the media and political responses to socalled 'race riots' in Bradford and Oldham in 2001 and recent anxieties about 'Islamic radicalism' in secular and Muslim schools (Dugan, 2014;Home Office, 2001;Mears and Ibrahim, 2005), the latter leading to the publication of guidance on the teaching of 'British values' in schools (Department of Education, 2014). In Scotland, ongoing concerns about sectarianism have been manifest in criticism of state-funded faith schools, most of which are managed by the Catholic church, for entrenching religious segregation (Conroy, 2001;Flint, 2012). In Northern Ireland, which experienced 30 years of conflict along ethno-religious lines, the education system has perhaps been particularly contentious because its separation along denominational lines -that is, between controlled/Protestant and maintained/Catholic schools -reflects the major fracture within Northern Irish society as a whole (Gallagher, 2004;Grayling, 2005).…”