The centre cannot hold: decolonising the RE curriculum in the Republic of Ireland

In Ireland primary RE is a fractured, contested, complex and changing territory devoid of a common language and characterised by a proliferation of syllabi and curricula generated for increasingly diverse school types. For centuries the dynamic decolonising process has led to a questioning of former...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British Journal of religious education
Authors: Kieran, Patricia (Author) ; Mc Donagh, J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: [publisher not identified] [2021]
In: British Journal of religious education
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Ireland / Elementary school / Religious instruction / Curriculum
RelBib Classification:AH Religious education
KBF British Isles
Further subjects:B decolonial process
B primary RE
B Ireland
B 5 waves of decolonisation
B Curriculum
B Catholicism
B de-linking
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:In Ireland primary RE is a fractured, contested, complex and changing territory devoid of a common language and characterised by a proliferation of syllabi and curricula generated for increasingly diverse school types. For centuries the dynamic decolonising process has led to a questioning of former orthodoxies and an attempted de-linking of the place and potency of the RE curriculum as well as a fundamental change in perception of the nature, identity and purpose of RE. Placing particular emphasis on the work of a variety of decolonial and postcolonial critical theorists, the authors engage in a theoretical interpretation of 5 keys waves of curricular decolonisation in Ireland. from the 16th to 21st centuries and argue that a historical contextualisation is vital in attempting to understand its nature. Currently RE’s perceived hegemonic status is challenged and its very existence within the curriculum is in jeopardy, as it faces a form of ‘cultural oblivion’. The repackaging of religion under the more acceptable form of human rights and world religions with a confusion and conflation of values, ethics and RE and a hybridity of curricular styles and content is symptomatic of the latest wave of this decolonising process.
ISSN:1740-7931
Contains:Enthalten in: British Journal of religious education
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2020.1810634