Representations of Religion in the Ontario Secondary School Curriculum

Abstract

The Canadian province of Ontario has a long and complicated history with religion in its K-12 education system, culminating in a status-quo where public funding is provided to schools offering either a mandatory, confessionally Roman Catholic form of religious education or a non-mandatory, secular form of “education about religion”. In an effort to better understand the present state of religion-related instruction in Ontario public education, this study examines the representation of religion across relevant portions of the Ontario secondary school curriculum that are shared by both Roman Catholic and secular public schools. Content analysis showed that insofar as mandatory teaching elements are concerned, the curriculum engages with religion across a range of different subject matter contexts but also entirely within courses that Ontario high school students are not required to take. Of particular note is the representation of religion as having apparently no bearing on the principle thrust of Canadian history since 1945. Spirituality, as well as other matters which might reasonably be considered religion-adjacent, are represented as being integral components of Indigenous Canadian cultures, with the distinctive term “world view” frequently employed as an analogue for such topics in this context.