Religious segregation and teacher education in Northern Ireland

Abstract

This paper surveys the extent of religious segregation in teacher education in Northern Ireland and notes that there are elements of separation within a general context of (increasing) common teacher education. With reference to liberal and communitarian theories the case for separate teacher education is considered. It is acknowledged that a case can be made for forms of separate teacher education in a liberal society but that certain limits or expectations should apply. A common teacher education is found to be desirable but it is suggested that in order to justify its dominant status in a plural environment it must be accommodating of religion, encourage dialogical engagement around concepts of shared fate and cultivate a sense of community.

Keywords:

• teacher education
• religious education
• liberalism
• common education
• communitarianism
• religious segregation

Notes

1. Statistics were made available upon enquiry from the Registrar’s Office, Queen’s University Belfast and the School of Education, University of Ulster.

2. It is not possible to include the Open University students in this analysis as the OU does not gather information on students’ religious or community backgrounds.