The education provided by Canada’s faith-based schools is a subject of public, political, and scholarly controversy. As the population becomes more religiously diverse, the continued establishment and support of faith-based schools has reignited debates about whether they should be funded publicly and to what extent they threaten social cohesion.
These discussions tend to occur without considering a fundamental question: How do faith-based schools envision and enact their educational missions? Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent offers responses to that question by examining a selection of Canada’s Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic schools. The daily reality of these schools is illuminated through essays that address the aims and practices that characterize these schools, how they prepare their students to become citizens of a multicultural Canada, and how they respond to dissent in the classroom.
The essays in this book reveal that Canada’s faith-based schools sometimes succeed and sometimes struggle in bridging the demands of the faith and the need to create participating citizens of a multicultural society. Discussion surrounding faith-based schools in Canada would be enriched by a better understanding of the aims and practices of these schools, and this book provides a gateway to the subject.

Avi I. Mintz is an assistant professor in the University of Tulsa’s School of Urban Education. He has published articles in Journal of Religious Education, Studies in Philosophy and Education, Educational Theory, and Journal of Philosophy of Education.

Avi I. Mintz's profile page

Graham P. McDonough is an assistant professor of education and an associate fellow at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria. He has published articles in Catholic Education and International Studies in Catholic Education. His book, Beyond Obedience and Abandonment: Toward a Theory of Dissent in Catholic Education, is forthcoming.

Nadeem A. Memon is the director of the Islamic Teacher Education Program, a collaboration between Razi Group and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He also teaches courses in equity and education and Muslim studies at OISE/UT and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Avi I. Mintz is an assistant professor in the University of Tulsa’s School of Urban Education. He has published articles in Journal of Religious Education, Studies in Philosophy and Education, Educational Theory, and Journal of Philosophy of Education.

Graham P. McDonough's profile page

Nadeem A. Memon is the director of the Islamic Teacher Education Program, a collaboration between Razi Group and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He also teaches courses in equity and education and Muslim studies at OISE/UT and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Nadeem A. Memon's profile page

Religious education is a particularly contentious topic in an increasingly secular society. And yet there is surprisingly little scholarly literature on this topic. The editors seek to address this gap through this excellent and much needed contribution to the field.... Given this ongoing controversy in Canada, Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent can ideally help foster a healthier and more informed debate about the role of religious schools there.

Aruba Mahmud, Western University, London, ON, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Volume 31, number 3, Summer 2014, 2014 July