Québec’s Non-Confessional Ethics and Religious Culture Curriculum in Catholic Denominational Schools: Reflections by Secondary School Teachers

Abstract

Pursuing the goal of integrating the cultural and religious diversity of Quebec, the nondenominational Ethics and Religious Culture program is compulsory since 2008 in all Quebec schools. To achieve this objective, teachers are required to adopt a professional stance of impartiality to avoid influencing the development of students' viewpoints and promote harmonious coexistence. This article comparatively analyzes reflections by teachers from private Catholic schools and nondenominational public school on their professional stance of impartiality. Contrary to our speculations, the implementation of the professional stance of impartiality does not seem to have any connection with the confessional character of schools.