Chapter 4: Core Beliefs & Values

Meaning of the Culture of Catholic Schools

- Effectiveness of Catholic Schools research (1985)

o Effects of five factors on student’s higher education were examined
o Students home background, the formal classroom curriculum, the informal curriculum of the
school, thee religious education curriculum, and the quality of school life
o Informal curriculum (climate, spirit, ethos) accounted for 75% of explained variance in
relation to students’ academic achievement
o The results of this study demonstrate:
 Some schools develop a culture/ethos of achievement in which all students perform
better academically. Strong cultures: schools in view of their traditions and spirits
create a high level of expectations.
 When a classroom is cooperative and enthusiastic, students are challenged more,
and teachers go out of their way to present stimulating content.
 Rutter found that certain processes at work in schools had a combined effect that
was greater than the influence of separate individual factors
- Clarification of School Metaphors: Climate, Ethos & Spirit
o Ethos & Spirit: pervading spirit or character of the school which is often portrayed in symbols
such as academic excellence, sporting achievement, community involvement or religious
activities
o Climate: essentially a dynamic entity which varies within most schools and can change
dramatically over time (the text refers to this as school culture)
- The Culture of Catholic Schools: It’s Meaning
o Culture is the most distinctive feature of effective catholic schools
o Complex social-psychological processes
o The core beliefs and values of the school: it’s soul. What the school stands for: nature of
persons, the role of education, the place of faith in Jesus Christ, the Church’s mission in
education, and catholic traditions and values like the eucharist
o The expressive symbols of the school: its models. School uniform, ceremonies, religious
images, school mottos, buildings, masses, etc.
o The traditions of the school: Its story. Core beliefs and values.
o Patterns of behaviour in the school: its rituals or way of life. Distinctive patterns of meaning
and behaviours against students, teachers and parents which become accepted as the way of
life of the school

Influences on the culture of catholic schools

- The World: Post 1989:

o The power of the powerless
o Michail Gorbachev: we need spiritual values, we need a revolution of the mind, we also say
that the moral values that a religion generated and embodied for centuries can help in the
work of renewal in our own country. People of many confessions live in the Soviet Union. All
of them have the right to satisfy their spiritual needs.”
o Cardinal Basil Hume (addressing educators): “An inner conviction and commitment drained
out of communist society and a vacuum was created, human hearts remained unsatisfied
and restless; the present peaceful revolution became almost a foregone conclusion. The
message for us in all this is clear and urgent. We neglect at our peril inner conviction,
coherence and growth.
- Youth in Australian Society:
o Growth in the suicide rate of people under 24
o Drug abuse and drug related deaths
o Decline in employment opportunities
 o Reflection of confusion, hopelessness, and loneliness
o Disconnection with society, inability to handle human limitations
o Over emphasis on intellect and rationality in daily life
o Deeper religious yearning for:
 A quest for the transcendent in a disconnected world
 A quest for community to deal with human limitations
 A quest for the imagination in the face of technology, information systems, and the
idolatry of the intellect
- Characteristics of Australian Youth: A Summary
o Something new is always happening
o Parents are not used to so much change
o Affected by the fact mothers are working outside the home
o An indulged generation
o Confused by gender roles
o Pessimistic about their future
o Consider Australia ‘a pretty good place’
o A strong need for security
o Have fun and escape pressure
o Constantly looking for the latest everything
o High school is seen as social not educational
o Boredom is the enemy
o Youths believe moral values are declining
o Environment is a high priority
o Generally, believe they will be able to get what they want out of life
- Approaches to education
o Education as transmission:
 Primary emphasis on the mastery of traditional subject matter and skills
 Left brain, analytical, problem solving
 Ignores the imagination
 Teacher works through the curriculum with students
o Education as transaction:
 Primary importance on interaction between the curriculum, teacher and learner
 Student is central
 Uses intelligent interactions
 Left brain, analytical, problem solving
 Ignores the imagination
 Two-way interactive process
o Education as transformation:
 Recognises the wholeness of the learner
 Stresses the connection between the inner spiritual world of the student and the
outer world of the curriculum
 Student and curriculum interpenetrate one another

Catholic Education as Transformation: Religious Basis of the Culture

- The incarnation: transformation of persons

o At one point in time god took the extraordinary step of becoming one of us in the person of
Jesus
o Jesus is God in person: fully human and fully divine
o God transformed human nature and gave it a new dignity and importance
- The incarnation: transforming the vision
o Communication centred on Christ as the saviour
o Deep respect of individuality and integrity of each person
 o All men and women are children of God who have been embraced by Christ redemptive love
o Sense of mission and service
- Educational mission:
o To proclaim the good news: the person and message of Jesus
o To live as a transformed community which manifest the good news and reveals the presence
of Christ to the world today
o To serve all people and the world in love and compassion
- Catholic schools and the churches mission
o Teaching, Christian community, the service provided
o It cannot be emphasised too strongly that catholic schools have no reason to exist apart from
the church
- Catholic schools: transforming the person
o Transformation of the whole person: moral, physical, intellectual, vocational, social, spiritual,
emotional, aesthetic
o Faith and life. Jesus commanded all people:
 Love the lord, your god with all your heart (emotional and aesthetic)
 And with all your soul (spiritual development and development of the will)
 And with all your mind (intellectual development)
 And with all your strength (physical and vocational development)
 And your neighbour as yourself (moral and social development)
 Do this and you will live (Luke 10:27)
o Catholic schools endeavour to integrate faith and life within the daily activities of schools by
providing religious education with a sound academic and general education
o Vision statements:
 Founded on the person of Jesus Christ and is enlivened by gospel values
 Highlights the relevance of faith to life and contemporary culture
 Linked to the community of believers, shares in the evangelising mission of the
church
 Committed to the development of the whole person

The Catholic Character of Catholic Education

- Protestant principle: the utter transcendence of God

- Catholic principles: encompass all that is human and encourages people not to banish God.
o Sacramentality: sees God in and through all things
o Meditation: created realities not only react to or embody the presence of God, they also
make God’s presence effective
o Communion: there is no relationship with God, however intense, profound or unique that
dispenses entirely with the communal context of every human relationship with God.