Catholic schools in Scotland and divisiveness

Abstract

Faith schools and divisiveness is one of the key issues in the faith school debates in both England and Wales and Scotland. In Scotland the faith school debate is focused on Catholic schools. This paper, based on a review of relevant literature and the findings of a series of expert interviews, argues that the complexity of this issue of the divisiveness of faith schools in Scotland can be best understood through the adoption of six categories of divisiveness. These six categories illuminate the debate and raise important questions about the nature and position of Catholic schools in contemporary Scottish society. IntroductionThis paper examines the issue of Catholic schools in Scotland and divisiveness -in what ways can they be perceived to be divisive? It begins by contextualising the discussion within the, arguably, more sophisticated contemporary debate on faith schooling in England and Wales. I propose that this debate can be distilled into a number of key issues, one of which is faith schools and divisiveness. The article proceeds by adopting and exploring the threefold categorisation of this divisiveness suggested by Halstead and McLaughlin. Next the article applies the key issues to the unique faith school debate in Scotland and reconfigures the key issues, but still inclusive of faith schools and divisiveness. The article briefly discusses the conceptual landscape of the debate in the Scottish context before outlining aspects of the methodology for the research. The findings presented in this article confirm the applicability of the threefold categorisation of Halstead and McLaughlin to the Scottish scene, but add a further three categories that emerged from the research. The article concludes with a brief discussion of these six categories and suggests that the three further categories can also be applied to the faith school debate in England and Wales.

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

“…Pupils' subjectivities are not therefore simply imposed in the school environment, but rather are also influenced by pupils' non-school social and spatial identities (Pykett, 2009). These arguments appear to support the premise that schools in Scotland are symptomatic of, rather than the causes of, any sectarian divide (McKinney, 2008).…”

“…There are continuing debates in the United Kingdom and many other nations about the relationship between faith schools and national identity, social cohesion and urban segregation (see Flint [2009] for an overview). In Scotland, the debate has focused on the relationship between statefunded Catholic schools and (inter-Christian) sectarianism (Conroy, 2001;Walker, 2001;Bruce, 2003;Clayton, 2003;Flint, 2007;McKinney, 2008; see Bruce et al, 2004 andDevine, 2000 for historical and contemporary studies of sectarianism in Scottish society). The Scottish Executive and now the Scottish Government [1] have made tackling sectarianism a key national priority and have utilised educational policy as a primary mechanism for achieving this (Scottish Executive, 2006a,b;HMIe, 2007;Scottish Government, 2009).…”

“…The question of the possible divisiveness of faith schools in Scotland requires deeper examination (McKinney, 2008). Although the public sphere goes beyond physical spaces and is established through a variety of arenas (Madanipour, 2004), debates about the relationship between Catholic schools and sectarianism in Scotland (and faith schools and cohesion in Britain more generally) have been largely aspatial, focusing on the ethos of schools, national identity and belonging and empirically weak claims about the impact of social segregation.…”

Sectarianism: myth or social reality? Inter-sectarian partnerships in Scotland, evidence from the Scottish Longitudinal Study

“…More recently the Public Petitions Committee of the Scottish Government funded research into why Catholics were disproportionately represented in Scottish prisons, it being suggested that this manifested sectarianism in the exercise of sentencing in the criminal justice system; but it was concluded that this reflected deprivation factors (Wiltshire 2011, p. 26). Segregation along religious lines is a feature of Scotland's state schooling, but whether or not this contributes to sectarian division is a hotly contested issue (Bruce 2003;Conroy 2003;McKinney 2008).…”

Hospitality to difference: LGBT, religious education and the Catholic school

“…Being a minority faith group within the country, yet occupying such a prominent position in terms of distinctive educational provision, there have been significant tensions regarding the existence of Catholic schools in Scotland and strong opposition from sections of the wider Scottish community claiming they are divisive, indoctrinate children, breed sectarianism and contribute to the toxic undercurrent of religious bigotry that still exists in the country today, similar to that experienced in the North of Ireland (see for example, Bruce 2001;McKinney 2008McKinney , 2015. Of course, there have been numerous studies on this last 'phenomenon', which is very particular to this part of the world since, as we know, Catholic schools exist harmoniously with other schools elsewhere across the globe.…”