In January 2015, three attackers walked into the office of the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, opened fire and killed twelve people, including a Muslim policeman, in the deadliest terrorist attack on France for 50 years. We live in a time of suspicion and fear, not least because religion has returned to the centre stage of collective memories in Europe and in the United States. Amidst claims of threats to national identities in an era of increasing diversity, should we be worried about the upsurge in religious animosity in the United States, as well as Europe? Paola Mattei and Andrew Aguilar show that French society is divided along conflicts about religious identity, increasingly visible in public schools. Republicanism, based on the solidarity and secularism, is viewed by many as the cause of discrimination and unfairness against minority groups. Policies invoking laïcité are frequently criticised as a disguised form of Islamophobia. Secular Institutions, Islam, and Education Policy suggests, on the contrary, that secularism in France is a flexible concept, translated into contradictory policy programmes, and subject to varying political interpretations. This book presents original data showing how schools have become, once again, a central theatre of political action and public engagement regardinglaicité, an ideal grounded in the republican origins of the public education system in France.

1. The New Challenges to the École Laïque: Integrating Islam2. Faire l'Islam Laïc: The Makings Of French Islam3. The French Republican School: L'école Laïque and its Historical Origins4. Policies Towards Religion in French Public Schools, 1989-20045. Rising Education Inequalities In French Schools6. The Post-2004 Ban and the Integration Of Muslim Students: The Limits of a Narrowly Legalistic Approach7. Cultural and Religious Conflicts in the History of American Schools8. Assimilation and Educational Achievement of Minority Groups in The United States9. Secular Institutions between Policy and Politics