Academies of virtue

Over 12 pages in this issue we are looking at just some of the components in Catholic education that set Church schools’ independent and public on private property apart from many of their state-owned counterparts.

There are many state schools that offer quality education in an affirmative environment with the help of dedicated educators and parents. The difference between state and Catholic schools resides in the consistency with which that quality is being offered.

Some state schools are excellent, some are ordinary, and some are appalling. When parents decide to send their children to state schools, they are exposed to the vagaries of chance, usually governed by location.

When parents decide to send their children to one of South Africa’s 342 Catholic schools, even those that are state-funded, the odds of finding a good school improve dramatically. Academically, this is confirmed by examination results and pass rates.

There is more to Catholic schooling than academic excellence, however. Take the time to read some of the panel advertisements in this issue, in which schools set out their philosophy of education.

Academic quality aside, they promise to develop our learners into self-aware, self-disciplined, responsible, tolerant, caring, thinking confident young adults who will make a difference, to encourage accountability and community outreach, to develop women of worth, and so on. These are not empty promises.

The Catholic school ethos is based on providing learners with a moral compass intended to guide them through adulthood. Of course, these schools do catechise their Catholic pupils and provide the spiritual sustenance of our faith, but that ethos finds greater expression in their aim to instill in all their learners gospel values such as integrity, compassion, charity, justice and personal responsibility.

Put succinctly, the Catholic school today aims to serve as an academy of virtue.

These schools have another advantage over state schools (and, indeed, many private schools) through the admirable work of the Catholic Institute of Education, an associate body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Through the CIE and its subsidiaries, the Centre for School Quality and Improvement and the National Schools Office, Catholic schools benefit from specialised research on educational and pedagogical matters, receive training and advice on school management, educational trends and policy, religious education, pastoral assistance, and have access to appropriate resources.

It is a reflection of the CIE’s merit that Botswana’s education authorities have prescribed some of the institute’s titles as reference books for teachers.

The CIE, and other associations of Catholic schools, also provide a network in which educators and school management can benefit from the insights and experiences, good and bad, of their counterparts.

Such a comprehensive support system immeasurably aids Catholic school principals, their teachers and governing bodies, most of whom operate in townships, to the obvious benefit of the learners.

All this makes the Catholic schools system an asset not only to the local Church, but to the whole nation