Christian Privilege and Oppression in Canadian Public Schools
Abstract
There is evidence that the Christian religion has privilege in Canadian public schools. This is problematic in a multicultural country where people of various faiths reside. This research ex-plores the manner in which Christian privilege exists and promotes a certain message in public schools. Thirty-two individuals were interviewed, including students, parents, educators and administrators in an effort to access many experiences. Using thematic analysis, specific themes emerged and were examined and categorized. Findings support that there is a place for religion in public schools, but not when it marginalizes or inflicts specific beliefs onto anyone, particularly students. Instead, teaching about religion from a non-biased perspective should be included as meaningful and purposeful instruction. A multicultural model of education is pro-posed in order to create safe schools grounded on inclusion, and offer meaningful instruction where many world views are embraced, challenged and celebrated in order to create informed global citizens.
Description
Keywords
Education--Curriculum and Instruction
Citation
Knowler, S. (2017). Christian Privilege and Oppression in Canadian Public Schools (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25325