Forging the compact of church and state in the development of Catholic education in late nineteenth-century Scotland

O'Hagan, F. and Davis, R. (2007) Forging the compact of church and state in the development of Catholic education in late nineteenth-century Scotland. Innes Review, 58(1), pp. 72-94. (doi: 10.1353/inn.2007.0010)

Abstract

As post-devolution Scotland passes the milestone of a third Scottish parliamentary election, the question of state-supported Catholic education, and the peculiar nature of the 1918 UK legislation that underpins it, is once again the subject of intense scrutiny. Emboldened by devolution and fuelled by a wave of progressive UK and European law concerned with issues of equality and diversity, opponents of separate Catholic schools have renewed their demands for the provisions of the 1918 Act to be reviewed or, indeed, abolished. With the ninetieth anniversary of the passage of the Act approaching, influential commentators from across the political spectrum have argued that its principal terms reflect the social and religious controversies of a distant era, increasingly incongruent with the inclusive culture of a multiethnic and mostly secular twenty-first century Scotland.1 The character and scale of the objections currently levelled at the continued existence of Catholic schools in Scotland suggests that reconsideration of the transactions between Church and State that led to the signing of the 1918 Act is perhaps overdue – especially as a realignment of the relationship between the two forces seems currently to be well advanced.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: O'Hagan, Dr Francis and Davis, Professor Robert
• Authors: O'Hagan, F., and Davis, R.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > People, Place & Social Change
• Journal Name: Innes Review
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• ISSN: 0020-157X
• ISSN (Online): 1745-5219