Mater Dei Institute of Education, Clonliffe Road
Dublin
Ireland
- Democracy and community development
- Human rights
- Religion
- Youth and education
The Irish Centre for Religious Education is a research centre located within Mater Dei Institute. It seeks to support research, partnership, and innovation in the field of religious education. The Centre currently has two dedicated staff members, as well as a number of associated staff members from Mater Dei and postgraduate students who are actively involved with the Centre's activities. Sources of funding include the Mater Dei Institute Educational and Research Trust. The Centre collaborates with colleagues at Mater Dei, as well as with other academics and practitioners throughout Ireland and Europe who are interested in religious education.
The ICRE is committed to good practice in teaching, learning, and research in the field of religious education. It embraces an interdisciplinary approach encouraging education, philosophy, theology, religious studies, and the humanities in general, to engage in their own conversation with religious education and together dialogue around themes significant for religious education and for society. The ICRE is interested in a wide variety of subjects related to religious education, including but not limited to: religion and society, the nature and function of religious education, religious education, education, and the humanities, religious education and faith development, lifelong religious education, and religious education and schooling. In this way it hopes to contribute to the development of the teaching of religion and beliefs, and therefore to personal development, social cohesion, and active citizenship.
The ICRE is involved with hosting conferences, providing CPD for teachers, supporting research students, and publishing in the field of RE.
The ICRE is the only centre in Ireland focusing on the area of religious education. This has given us the opportunity to have a voice in the important discussions going on within Ireland regarding cultural and religious diversity. Our Centre also has a number of international contacts with whom we collaborate, and we would hope these collaborations would be productive in new relations beyond Europe that we hope to foster.
We at the ICRE are interested in continually expanding the network of people with whom we collaborate. Further, as the ALF is concerned with issues of cross-cultural understanding, including beliefs, we feel that the network is concerned with the very issues which are at the core of the ICRE's mission.