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Byrne, R. (Richard)
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Byrne, R. (Richard)
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Byrne, R. (Richard)
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Publication
Theorising Catholic Education through the lens of Bernstein and Bourdieu
2017-03-10, Byrne, R. (Richard), Devine, Dympna
The broader theoretical frameworks of both Bourdieu (and his concepts of habitus, field, doxa, collusio and capital) and Bernstein (and his concepts of classification, framing and ritual) provide a deeper understanding of the distinctiveness of Catholic schooling. This article presents a model for theorising Catholic schooling in which levels of action can be seen to be at work in Catholic schools whereby the habitus of the participants can be closely aligned with the framing of a school’s values through consensual rituals and other leadership practices. The stronger the alignment between these levels generates an experience of collusio and the greater the extent that agents within a Catholic school generate practices towards preserving Catholic spiritual capital, the more strongly that school is classified from other types of schools with its own distinct voice and identity. We conclude by demonstrating how this model was applied in researching Catholic schooling in Ireland.
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Publication
‘Catholic schooling with a twist?’: a study of faith schooling in the Republic of Ireland during a period of detraditionalisation
2017-09-04, Byrne, R. (Richard), Devine, Dympna
The role and impact of religion and faith based schools are increasingly debated within a wider context of school reform, rights and plurality in multi-ethnic societies. Ireland represents an interesting case study internationally because of the extent to which Catholic education is structurally embedded as normative across the education system. Yet, Ireland is in a process of detraditionalisation and wider societal changes are occurring. Drawing on Bourdieu and Bernstein, and a mixed methodological study of Catholic secondary schools in one archdiocese, we present a typology of Catholic schooling in transition. This identifies a continuum of Catholicity (from strong to weak) among our study schools that is mediated by dynamics of social class in an increasingly competitive and diverse system. We argue this has implications for considering the role of a recontextualised model of Catholic faith schooling, underpinned by principles of social justice in a multicultural and more secularly oriented society.