Primary schools have been in the news for months due to historic levels of underfunding, which the cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated. In general, primary schools in Ireland, 89% of which are Catholic, inspire high levels of trust and affection in local communities.
There are some exceptions, most notably where schools are over-subscribed and parents find it hard to get a place there. This distress is most acute among parents and guardians of children with additional needs, who often have a bitter fight to access what their child needs, again due to lack of funding and adequate facilities.
There are also a small minority who resent having to send their child to a Catholic school but have no alternative.
The mostly positive attitudes to Catholic schools, both primary and secondary, can mask a real clash between the vision the Church has for Catholic schools and how parents, boards of management, senior and middle leaders, and teachers regard their school.
For the Church, schools exist to bring people closer to Christ, through every aspect of school life, whether it be during maths or PE, fundraising for charity, or prayer.
Vision
How many of the important stakeholders share that vision?
Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE) is an international research-based partnership between academics in universities and Catholic education bodies. (Partners include Mary Immaculate College, Limerick; Notre Dame University, Fremantle, Australia; Boston College; St Mary’s University, London; University of Glasgow; and the International Office for Catholic Education.)
GRACE (Ireland), funded by the All Hallows Trust, the Presentation Sisters SE and NW, and the Irish Jesuits, has done important research on Catholic education, published as, Identity and Ethos in Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Ireland: Exploring the Attitudes and Behaviours of Stakeholders at both primary and post-primary level.
There are some eyebrow-raising statistics. While 98% of principals and 88% of teachers identify as Roman Catholic, only 91% of self-declared Catholics believe in God.
Among teachers, only about a quarter attend religious services weekly, while another quarter attend a couple of times a year”
It reminds me of an old joke. A hapless tourist wanders into a sectarian ghetto in Northern Ireland. When challenged as to what religion he is, he declares his atheism, only to be challenged as to whether he is a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist.
Most of the self-declared Catholics do not attend weekly mass. Only two-thirds attend twice a month. Just over two-thirds of principals and deputy principals, across both primary and secondary, describe themselves as ‘committed and practising Catholics’. Almost a quarter say that they are ‘committed to Christian values, but not a practising Catholic’.
Among teachers, only about a quarter attend religious services weekly, while another quarter attend a couple of times a year.
The reports surveyed principals, deputy principals, Boards of Management, non-teaching staff, and teachers. Predictably, older people are both more likely to declare themselves religious and to attend mass more regularly. Teachers are both the youngest group and the least religious.
Of Board of Management members, just three out of five know that their school has a mission statement based on Gospel values. Only two out of five believe that school policy documents are linked to this. (This mission statement heads every single policy document, many of which are reviewed annually.)
Responsibility
Principals are left carrying much of the responsibility for the Catholic ethos. Religious education is supposed to be allocated half an hour a day at primary level. Just 17% of teachers say they teach RE every day, and 40% of teachers teach the subject twice a week or less.
Principals can request that this happen, but they cannot enforce it. Part of the reason for the low levels of adherence, I imagine, is an overcrowded timetable, and also that teachers see it as somewhat optional rather than central.
The picture that emerges is of schools where the majority of people think Catholicism is about how we behave towards others, but do not see helping themselves or their students grow in faith in Christ as the top priority, much less the source of our concern for others.
Ironically, parents who do not believe in much themselves would be likely to be the most vociferous objectors”
What can be done? It might be better to support a small number of schools that offer the full message of Catholicism than to go on propping up large numbers of schools that are Catholic-lite.
This would be a seismic change in Irish education and Irish Catholic life. I sense that there is little appetite for such a radical move among bishops and clergy.
Ironically, parents who do not believe in much themselves would be likely to be the most vociferous objectors, followed by teaching staff who would not like to be managed directly by the State.
Our schools are Catholic enough to be pleasant places, but often not Catholic enough to help form the next generation of believers. Funding is not the only problem these schools face.
Faith not funds is the biggest challenge for Catholic schools
Primary schools have been in the news for months due to historic levels of underfunding, which the cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated. In general, primary schools in Ireland, 89% of which are Catholic, inspire high levels of trust and affection in local communities.
There are some exceptions, most notably where schools are over-subscribed and parents find it hard to get a place there. This distress is most acute among parents and guardians of children with additional needs, who often have a bitter fight to access what their child needs, again due to lack of funding and adequate facilities.
There are also a small minority who resent having to send their child to a Catholic school but have no alternative.
The mostly positive attitudes to Catholic schools, both primary and secondary, can mask a real clash between the vision the Church has for Catholic schools and how parents, boards of management, senior and middle leaders, and teachers regard their school.
For the Church, schools exist to bring people closer to Christ, through every aspect of school life, whether it be during maths or PE, fundraising for charity, or prayer.
Vision
How many of the important stakeholders share that vision?
Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE) is an international research-based partnership between academics in universities and Catholic education bodies. (Partners include Mary Immaculate College, Limerick; Notre Dame University, Fremantle, Australia; Boston College; St Mary’s University, London; University of Glasgow; and the International Office for Catholic Education.)
GRACE (Ireland), funded by the All Hallows Trust, the Presentation Sisters SE and NW, and the Irish Jesuits, has done important research on Catholic education, published as, Identity and Ethos in Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Ireland: Exploring the Attitudes and Behaviours of Stakeholders at both primary and post-primary level.
There are some eyebrow-raising statistics. While 98% of principals and 88% of teachers identify as Roman Catholic, only 91% of self-declared Catholics believe in God.
It reminds me of an old joke. A hapless tourist wanders into a sectarian ghetto in Northern Ireland. When challenged as to what religion he is, he declares his atheism, only to be challenged as to whether he is a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist.
Most of the self-declared Catholics do not attend weekly mass. Only two-thirds attend twice a month. Just over two-thirds of principals and deputy principals, across both primary and secondary, describe themselves as ‘committed and practising Catholics’. Almost a quarter say that they are ‘committed to Christian values, but not a practising Catholic’.
Among teachers, only about a quarter attend religious services weekly, while another quarter attend a couple of times a year.
The reports surveyed principals, deputy principals, Boards of Management, non-teaching staff, and teachers. Predictably, older people are both more likely to declare themselves religious and to attend mass more regularly. Teachers are both the youngest group and the least religious.
Of Board of Management members, just three out of five know that their school has a mission statement based on Gospel values. Only two out of five believe that school policy documents are linked to this. (This mission statement heads every single policy document, many of which are reviewed annually.)
Responsibility
Principals are left carrying much of the responsibility for the Catholic ethos. Religious education is supposed to be allocated half an hour a day at primary level. Just 17% of teachers say they teach RE every day, and 40% of teachers teach the subject twice a week or less.
Principals can request that this happen, but they cannot enforce it. Part of the reason for the low levels of adherence, I imagine, is an overcrowded timetable, and also that teachers see it as somewhat optional rather than central.
The picture that emerges is of schools where the majority of people think Catholicism is about how we behave towards others, but do not see helping themselves or their students grow in faith in Christ as the top priority, much less the source of our concern for others.
What can be done? It might be better to support a small number of schools that offer the full message of Catholicism than to go on propping up large numbers of schools that are Catholic-lite.
This would be a seismic change in Irish education and Irish Catholic life. I sense that there is little appetite for such a radical move among bishops and clergy.
Ironically, parents who do not believe in much themselves would be likely to be the most vociferous objectors, followed by teaching staff who would not like to be managed directly by the State.
Our schools are Catholic enough to be pleasant places, but often not Catholic enough to help form the next generation of believers. Funding is not the only problem these schools face.
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