Evidence on Curriculum—History and Religious Education

Abstract

This chapter deals with teaching history in schools and especially teaching the history of the violent conflict itself. History education is important because it can and has contributed to violent conflict by reinforcing negative images of the ‘other’ and emphasising the superiority of particular groups. Second, religious education is discussed as religion and the way it is transmitted from one generation to the next has often played a part in the causes of violent conflict through its portrayal of the superiority of one religion over another. The chapter reviews evidence on history education from a range of countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia before providing a section specifically on Lebanon and Guatemala. Evidence on religious education is reviewed in relation to Lebanon and the Middle East, more generally South Sudan and Sri Lanka. The evidence reviewed in this chapter does not support the idea that either history or religious education has been transformed and is currently being used as an effective tool of peacebuilding in post-conflict, developing societies.