Suchergebnisse

Critics, past and present, of state-funded denominational education in Scotland after 1918 have often asserted that the system has promoted social division, separateness and even fostered sectarianism. This lecture – the Cardinal Winning Lecture, 2017, delivered to the St Andrew's Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education, University of Glasgow – disagrees with these views. Instead, the presentation argues that Catholic schooling, in addition to its recognised importance in Christian spiritual formation, has been a crucial influence promoting the integration of a formerly disadvantaged and marginalised community into modern Scotland. 'Integration' is defined for this purpose as the process of incorporation into mainstream society as equal citizens. The lecture considers the long and rocky road to this achievement by setting the educational experience within the broader context of Scottish religious, social, political and economic history in the twentieth century.

This contribution to the theme of 'Scotland and the Two Irelands' takes the form of a discussion between Michael Rosie, editor of Scottish Affairs, and Professor Sir Tom Devine, the pre-eminent scholar of modern connections between Scotland and Ireland. In the discussion Devine unfolds the migrant autobiographies of the Devine and Martin families, from rural Ulster, through industrial Lanarkshire, and into Scotland's professional classes. The account sheds light both on the migrant experience, and on the centrality of secondary education for twentieth century Scottish social mobility.