Secular Curriculum Research Articles

Incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK Law: Implications for education

This article focuses on the UK government's proposal to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, and the consequences of incorporation for the individual in the context of education. The first part of the article explores the mechanisms proposed for bringing about incorporation, and stresses in particular the importance attached by the government to upholding the fundamental principle of the sovereignty of the UK Parliament. In this context it emphasises the government's decision to deny to the British courts the capacity to strike down legislative provisions as being incompatible with Convention rights. The second part of the article goes on to explore (highly selectively) a number of key areas in which incorporation of the ECHR has the potential to enhance individual rights in the field of education, including parental choice of school, collective worship and religious education, and aspects of the secular curriculum. The discussion emphasises strongly the likely significance of the UK government's reservation to the second sentence of Article 2 of the First Protocol to the ECHR. Broadly, the conclusion drawn is that the incorporation of the Convention will have only a very marginal impact on the reality of individual rights to education.

Religion and Public Schools: Emerging Legal Standards and Unresolved Issues

In the past several years, a number of public school issues have generated volatile church/state disputes. Silent and spoken prayer, student-initiated devotional meetings, and religious challenges to the secular curriculum are among the topics eliciting active involvement of all three branches of government. Martha McCarthy provides a historical analysis of the efforts to clarify church/state/school relations and an in-depth look at recent Supreme Court rulings on this subject. McCarthy's work illuminates the sensitive issues involved and the current Supreme Court's stand in applying First Amendment guarantees in public schools.

The Establishment of Queen's Collegiate School in Trinidad, 1859-1867

Queens Royal College is a well known institution in Trinidad. This College came into existence in 1870 as a replacement for Queens Collegiate School, founded in 1859. This latter school was founded by the government with the social and political purpose of spreading English culture in an island racially and religiously divided, and culturally complex. A bridge to the English Universities was established through scholarships which were later won by many eminent Trinidadians. The school was regarded by the government as an extraordinary academic success, but the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church was opposed to the school on account of its secular curriculum and its cost. In an effort to conciliate the Roman Catholic Church the school was reorganised in 1870, and Queens Royal College was born.