Catholic schools can lead the way for SA

by Admin · June 23, 2014

While many are aware of the enormous contribution Catholic schools have made to South Africa�s intellectual and social capital, there is growing uncertainty about their role today. EVONA RABELO argues that today, more than ever, Catholic schools have a key role to play.

Humankind today is under threat from forces of secular humanism and intrusive technology.

Determinist and materialist ideologies reduce humans to cogs in a mechanistic world, devoid of spiritual meaning.

Economic rationalists insist that the primary aim of schools is to graduate good citizens who will enhance the economy through appropriate work skills. Now is the time for Catholic schools to respond to these threats of dehumanisation by clearly defining our vision for education.

De La Salle Brother Louis de Thomasis, in his thought-provoking book Dynamics of Catholic Education, reminds us that although the Catholic school is not the Church, it shares in its evangelising mission and can promote the renewal of the Church, �becoming the exemplar of a spiritual dynamic that is so needed in our new globalised world�.

The Catholic school, he says, needs to provide �a liberating intellectual education and an experience of human and religious development for its students�.

The Vatican�s Congregation for Catholic Education, in its recent document, �Educating today and tomorrow�(2014), asks what will be religion�s contribution to educating younger generations to peace, development and fraternity in the universal human community.

Catholic schools are challenged to develop a better understanding of a Catholic perspective of human nature�in other words, a Catholic anthropology.

For example, do teachers and parents really know the story of Catholic beliefs about the human person?

Catholic anthropology draws its inspiration from the life and teachings of Jesus. His dream for the realisation of an �abundance of life� (Jn 10:10) epitomises the core of a Catholic anthropology�life lived fully to one�s potential as a relational being.

Hopefully teachers don�t just teach subject matter without reflecting on the assumptions made in the curriculum about human nature.

Do our life skills sessions on self-esteem and sexuality express what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God? Are our behaviour modification programmes formative and restorative? Is community development and social justice taken seriously? Do science lessons inculcate a sense of wonder for the mystery and beauty of God�s creation?

Educating youth is tough work; ask any principal or any teacher. And it�s getting tougher every year. Independent or public, the demands are exhausting. But we, who work in Catholic education, have at our disposal a real treasure�our special religious character. It allows us to promote a Catholic anthropology

Ultimately we want our children to be literate, numerate, critical thinkers who will find purpose in whichever economic enterprise they commit themselves to. But more than that, we want them to be attentive to relationships of justice with their fellow human beings and the earth. We want them to serve the common good and actively seek to make a difference to their world

Before the elections on May 7, I popped into a senior class at a high school where a life skills lesson was underway. The young people were engaged in robust dialogue about the ethical standing of certain political parties contesting the general election.

I spotted, on their desks, several copies of articles from The Southern Cross as well as Catholic Parliamentary Liaison briefing papers. What a wonderful example of faith engaging civic responsibility! And we have several other agencies within our Catholic network, that our schools can draw on to assist them in forming conscience and serving the common good.

We hear a great deal about the crisis in education. Despite receiving the largest tranche of the national budget�R232,5 billion�we are not seeing the fruits that we had hoped for. Our children perform dismally in international numeracy and literacy tests.

Out of 100 children who started school in 2002, 49% did not reach matric, and the 550000 who dropped out are now part of the 50% unemployed and unskilled youth of our country.

While the legacy of apartheid�s Bantu Education has a lot to do with this, there are a multitude of other factors at play. Against this national backdrop, Catholic schools consistently fare better.

There are about 26000 schools in South Africa today, of which only 348 are Catholic. The vast majority of these Catholic schools are public schools on private property (the Church or congregation owns the properties and buildings, but the salaries are paid by the state).

These schools are confronted by the same socio-economic constraints as the schools belonging to the state. And yet Catholic schools consistently achieve better results than regular state schools.

Just one example: in the Eastern Cape�s matric results in 2013, Catholic schools achieved an 84% pass rate, compared to a 39% pass rate in the province.

In a recently published book, How to Fix South Africa�s Schools, Jonathan Jansen and Molly Blank share ten strategies which they documented in their research in 19 successful schools across the country.

These strategies comprise the core of what we believe quality Catholic education espouses: a clear vision of the transformative power of education, committed leadership and passionate educators.

We need to improve school facilities. We need school policies to be implemented. We need ongoing monitoring and evaluation of our staff and academic results. But most importantly, we need to form people who will promote a Gospel vision.

We need to work hard at recruiting and selecting suitable leaders for our schools, and we need to provide them with ongoing training and formation opportunities.

The Department of Education will offer curriculum, assessment and management programmes for our school management teams, but who is going to form our leaders in the art of servant leadership? Who is going to provide opportunities for reflection to our teachers so that they can become mindful of their own spiritual journey and renew their call to teach?

Education is a spiritual enterprise�a teacher in a good Catholic school has many opportunities to grow into spirituality. The school year includes assemblies, rituals, retreats, religious education, liturgies, multicultural religious rites and practices, school chaplains, justice projects, celebrations of the liturgical seasons, prayers, professional formation times and sacred symbols.

Education in South Africa needs transformation. Authentic Catholic schools are well positioned to contribute to this renewal. Let us draw from the collective wisdom of our educational heritage and heed the Gospel call to be that �leaven� that the world and our children so desperately need at this time.

Evona Rabelo is the director of the Catholic Schools Office in Cape Town.