UCL Discovery

Abstract

This edited collection brings together papers by sociologists, political scientists, historians and legal specialists who consider how contemporary cultural and religious diversity challenges and redefines national constitutional and legal frameworks and concepts and how these frameworks and concepts - spontaneously or under social pressure and/or prompting from the European Court of Human Rights respond to this diversity. These issues are considered in the context of education. Education is a particularly interesting and sensitive area. In those Secular States that enforce a strong separation between the Church and the State, the educational sector is seen as a tool to shape future citizens, outside of any religious influence. But even in those States where Church and State mingle to an extent, the education sector is conferred particular significance as schools are perceived as central to building a cohesive society. Secondly, because education is often addressed to children, special attention is also required on that ground. The influence that teachers are deemed to have over their pupils may thus justify greater restrictions on teachers’ religious freedom than on other employees in other sectors. Our aim is twofold: to document and explore the diversity of responses to the accommodation of religious differences in an educational context and to draw a comparative analysis.