Religions and Beliefs in Changing Times: Perspectives of Students in Third-Level Irish Educational Contexts

• In Event: Religion and Public Education

Abstract

Religion and belief matters deeply in Ireland, North and South. It is a complex, contested and challenging aspect of the Irish educational systems and cultural landscape on the island of Ireland; part of a long and protracted history of colonial oppression and political struggles underpinned by the Catholic-Protestant divide . The deficit in the literature on pre-service educators’ attitudes to religion and beliefs in Ireland North and South was a springboard to this multi-disciplinary, funded research. Perspectives of 1,200 second year university students, from 3 educational contexts in Northern Ireland and 3 in the Republic of Ireland, are explored within an analytical framework provided by the European Social Survey for understanding values and beliefs among its citizenry.

Authors

• Marie Parker-Jenkins, University of Limerick

• Patricia Kieran, Mary Immaculate College

• Anne Kathleen Ryan, Limerick Institute of Technology