Greek-Cypriot teachers’ perceptions of religious education and its contribution to peace: perspectives of (in)compatibility in a divided society

The politicisation and securitisation of religious education in Greek–Cypriot schools

“…The six participants were selected with the use of snowball sampling on the basis of four criteria: geographic area (urban/rural); gender; teaching experience; and religious standing (Christian Orthodox believer/atheist) (see Table 1). These criteria of ‘purposive sampling’ reflected our experience of working with teachers on these matters for many years (Loukaidis and Zembylas, 2017; Zembylas and Loukaidis, 2018) to ensure that there was maximum variability in their views of religious education.…”

“…To the point that there is identification of otherness in ethnic terms, namely, the Cyprus conflict involves Greeks and Turks, religion is unavoidably implicated, thus national and religious identities are strongly entangled and are often used in a unified manner (Papastephanou, 2005). Undoubtedly, then, RE in Greek–Cypriot schools has a clear political function: it socialises children in the culture and practices of Greek Orthodoxy through a confessional model and exclusive narratives of ethno-religious identity (Loukaidis and Zembylas, 2017). By ‘confessional’ here we mean that the religious beliefs and doctrines of a particular religion are taught in RE.…”

“…As shown in recent studies (Loukaidis and Zembylas, 2017; Fontana, 2016), the political function of RE in conflict-affected societies is unquestionable, as politics and religion are very much entangled in public and school life, whether one is willing to admit this or not. What is less clear though from research in this area is how the pedagogical and the political are aligned in RE, namely, how the intertwining of biographical, religious, historical and political factors within a conflict-affected society constitute a pedagogical and political imperative for RE to address issues of peace and security in the first place or to deliberately choose to avoid them.…”

History education in schools in Iraqi Kurdistan: representing values of peace and violence

“…A number of specific challenges face educators who teach HE in divided and post-conflict societies. Research often suggests that teachers in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Palestine/Israel, Cyprus and other similar countries are unsuccessful in their attempts to reconcile histories in a divided school system where conflicting groups establish an "us and them" dichotomy (Bekerman and Zembylas 2012;Hadjipavlou 2007;Loukaidis and Zembylas 2016). In Macedonia, attempts to harmonise HE have failed because "the past is an issue of controversy" and ethnic groups have completely different interpretations of historical events (Van der 2012, 10; Cole and Barsalou 2006).…”

Peacebuilding Strategies in Conflict Societies Through Art Education: Cyprus

“…As regards scientific studies, no research activities are identified which correlated art education and peace culture. It is observed that these studies are mostly related to teacher perception, pedagogy, history courses, and conflict and ethnic group topics (Bekerman & Zemblyas, 2016;Loukaidis & Zembylas, 2016).Likewise, when the literature is examined, no scientific studies are identified which correlated art education and peace culture in the entire island. It is believed that a study which would cover this topic would add a new dimension to the field.…”