On the Front Lines: A Teacher's Experience with Québec's Ethics and Religious Culture Program

Abstract

The Ethics and Religious Culture Program (ERC) presents several practical challenges. Many public schools are ill-equipped to effectively teach about religious culture, whereas private schools tend to see the program as potentially undermining their tradition of confessional education. Despite these constraints, some public schools have found creative ways to integrate the religious culture aspect of the program in a secular setting and some private schools have found ways to teach the ERC course while respecting both the ministerial obligation to teach the program and at the same time respecting the religious character of the school. This article is an account of one teacher's private and public school experience working with the ERC program.