Religie as eksterne determinant van die onderwysstelsels van die BRICS- lidlande : ʼn vergelykende studie

Abstract

Religion as external determinant of the education systems of the BRICS member countries: a comparative study Various internal and external determinants influence an education system. External determinants include language, demographics, geography, technology, politics and financial and economic trends. Religion is one of these external determinants that can influence an education system. The BRICS organisation consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and is one of the most organised and supportive international cooperative organisations that currently exist. Religion is regarded as a controversial and sensitive topic. The aim of this research is to determine how religion as an external determinant influences the education systems of the BRICS member countries. The study focuses on the differences and similarities that can be identified on the basis of religion as an external determinant of the various education systems of the BRICS member countries. The BRICS member countries were deliberately selected for this study because each member state is regarded as a ʼn secular country in terms of religion; yet each member state treats religion differently. The comparative method was used during the study to identify the best practices from the BRICS member countries. The interpretivist research paradigm was employed in the study, using the qualitative research approach. A document analysis was done in the study in order to analyse the content of policies, legislation, articles and government publications using content analysis to identify themes to be able to perform the comparison between the different education systems of the BRICS member countries. The main finding from the study is that religion as an external determinant of an education system does have a significant influence on the education systems of the various BRICS member countries. It is very important to observe and describe these findings from the context of the various member states. Best practices are proposed in order to try to improve the influence of religion as an external determinant on the education systems of the BRICS member countries.