Catholic Teacher Preparation

Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Preparing for Mission

Richard Rymarz, Leonardo Franchi, Teresa O'Doherty, Judith Harford, Thomas O'Donoghue

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781787560086
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación comparada

The expectations of the Catholic Church and the demands of the state are a precarious balancing act that have been apparent throughout the history of Catholic education. It is a relationship that is under scrutiny, even in the contemporary context. Drawing on the works and lives of key figures in the history of teacher preparation in Catholic education internationally, this important text illuminates the contributions they made and the challenges they faced. In providing this rich historical synthesis, the authors invite further reflection on the most appropriate methods of teacher preparation for contemporary Catholic schools and on possible contributions to wider teacher preparation from cogitating the history of the Catholic tradition. This book addresses teacher preparation for Catholic schools at both the 'pre-service' and 'in-service' levels by looking at the Church and its relationship with the state. The former will allow opportunities for a deep study of the role of 'faith' in Teacher Preparation, while the latter focuses on how a distinctive faith-based model of education can be in dialogue with the expectations of civil society. By using this multi-layered framework, the book offers exciting and innovative opportunities to inform contemporary practice from international examples, proving an invaluable text for researchers in the fields of comparative education, theology and the sociology of religion.

PART I

Chapter 1

Exploring Catholic Education

Chapter 1 is a broad-based introduction to the nature of Catholic education. It locates Catholic teacher preparation in the history of theological currents and sets the tone and lines of engagement for the chapters which follow. It is important at the outset to acknowledge the historical and contemporary reality that Catholic schools have attracted and continue to be popular with families of many religious and philosophical traditions. It should not be otherwise. This situation requires careful historical analysis and evaluation of how the theologically underpinned worldview of Catholic Christianity has shaped thinking on the preparation of teachers for (and in) such fluid contexts.

1.1. Catholic Teacher Preparation: Theological Themes

In any study on Catholic education, the aims, scope and nature of teacher preparation can never be far from the surface. It is, of course, a welcome sign that there is great interest in how teachers are prepared for work in school. What is necessary is a flexible yet strong definition of Catholic teacher preparation regarding its aims and where it should be located.

Sr Clarissa Doyle OP explored teacher preparation in the USA in the 1950s. She raised similar concerns to those identified more widely in subsequent years in other national contexts. Sr Clarissa’s work is, therefore, a good point of reference. She makes a number of still relevant points, in particular the loose attachment of teacher preparation to the life of the university, describing this relationship as ‘incidental’, and thus limiting the effectiveness of the teacher preparation programmes as they lack the input of the wider academy.¹ Referring specifically to what should be available for prospective Catholic teachers, Sr Clarissa makes eight recommendations:

(1) Teacher education must be an all-institution function: i.e., involve all areas of the university.

(2) Written programme objectives should be ‘imbued with the supernatural aim of Christian education’.

(3) Faculty (staff) should have understanding of modern school teaching and an ability to make a Catholic philosophy of life function in their classes.

(4) Careful selection, screening and supervision of teacher education (sic) candidates is required.

(5) Structure of curriculum should allow for experiences in all major fields of knowledge.

(6) Programmes should be regularly evaluated.

(7) There should be specific polices on the maintenance of a Catholic atmosphere in the institution.

(8) Administrators of teacher education programmes should have special preparation.

The final paragraph of the article is a cri de coeur for effective teacher preparation:

A strong program of teacher preparation based on the ideals of a Christian democracy can accomplish a great deal in a positive way to offset the disintegrating forces which are striving to undermine the American way of life. Capable and courageous teacher educators are the leaders in this able army of intellect and will.²

The issues highlighted above show that there is little difference in the challenges we face today in the field of teacher preparation. In common we find the following questions:

• What is the role of wider university studies in teacher preparation programmes?
• How do we manage and support the catholicity of our institutions and programme material, especially in the context of a perceived diminishing religious commitment among young people?
• To what extent can we establish fair and robust processes for identifying suitable candidates for teaching?

The final paragraph of Sr Clarissa’s article is, perhaps, (too) close to an Erastian vision of the Church and State. Are Catholic schools truly called to uphold ‘national values’, even if we could successfully identify what these ‘values’ actually are? Furthermore, the introduction of ‘Christian democracy’ as a political term is not as common in the Anglophone discourse as it would be in the European (Catholic) context. To see it quoted in a North American publication does, however, remind the reader of the importance of education as a public good, not just a project for the personal benefit of the individual. There is also mention of the ‘American Way of Life’, perhaps as an articulation of the notion of Christian democracy, but we are left wondering where this way of thinking will lead.

A contemporary rationale for Catholic teacher preparation is proposed by the St Andrew’s Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education, at the University of Glasgow:

Catholic Teacher Education (CTE) is the aggregation of academic and pastoral processes which inform the development of those who aspire to teach in Catholic schools. CTE equips intending teachers in Catholic schools with the content knowledge and methodological awareness necessary to be a successful teacher in the contemporary Catholic school. Underpinning the formation of Catholic teachers is the need to integrate a host of professional and religious values into their personal lives and so exhibit the unity of life which is at the heart of sound Catholic education.³

This boldly expressed paragraph on the high academic and personal demands placed on those who undertake and teach on such courses is worthy of more serious reflection and could, in time, offer a possible ‘charter’ for the field. It is right that any aspiring teacher should undergo rigorous academic preparation, be that in universities or schools; teachers committed to working in Catholic education need an equally well-constructed programme of personal and religious formation, allowing them in time to cultivate virtue and self-giving as intrinsic to their vocation.

Debates on the best way to shape teacher preparation have special resonance for Catholic educators owing to the claims made by the Church about the role of the teacher in the life of the school.⁴ In summary, the teacher in the Catholic school has a vocation to develop a firm understanding of pedagogy rooted in a Catholic vision of the human person. These pedagogical principles emerge from the Church’s established philosophical, theological and cultural traditions. It would be unhelpful simply to say that Catholic schools only need to ‘teach the faith’ in the religious education curriculum in order to be a good Catholic school.⁵

While in broad terms these statements are accurate, there needs to be a nuanced distinction between the Church’s catechetical mission (as expressed in the initiatives of the New Evangelisation) and its wider educational mission; the latter involves much more active co-operation with groups which are not part of the Church. To a greater or lesser extent, Catholic schools play a central role in global education provision. In a certain sense, Catholic schools are a public showcase for the life and traditions of the Church and its cultural traditions in a plural world. This sociological reality requires the formation of an educational language which can speak fluently both to the community of believers and to the great mass of people who are not part of the Church.

To assist prospective and serving teachers moving towards such high ideals, some initial theological signposts are necessary. Study of theology (‘faith seeking understanding’) is an authentic and fundamental educational experience for Catholic educators, not an accessory to other branches of knowledge. The Catholic educational mission, while rightly oriented towards hospitality to people of all religious traditions, must be supported by robust and doctrinally rooted educational principles.

Three theological themes are essential to the public face of Catholic education and a teacher’s pedagogical formation: (1) a Catholic understanding of the human person; (2) the relationship between faith and reason; and (3) the importance of ritual as binding force. To illustrate this, we now offer a short relevant extract from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and, to facilitate contextualisation, some related educational implications.⁶

1.1.1. A Catholic Understanding of the Human Person: Catechism of the Catholic Church

The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God; it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude. It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfilment. By his deliberate actions, the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience. Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth. With the help of grace they grow in virtue, avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son¹ to the mercy of our Father in heaven. In this way they attain to the perfection of charity.⁷

1.1.2. A Catholic Understanding of the Human Person: Educational Implications

• The school is the community where the family is assisted in the integral education of the child. The Catholic school is called to promote human flourishing through ‘a call to centre everything on God’.⁸
• Education cannot be reduced to a sum of processes dictated by market forces and political ideology. The human person, not matter his/her faith background, is called to live a life of virtue, calling on others to grow with them in the virtues in order to place disinterested love (Caritas) at the heart of society.
• The dignity of each person must be respected at every level. The Catholic school must take seriously the need to encourage pupils’ and teachers’ active co-operation in the life and management of the school community, thus allowing the institution to become an exemplary model of Catholic Social Teaching.

1.1.3. The Relationship between Faith and Reason: Catechism of the Catholic Church

What moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason: we believe ‘because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived’.² So ‘that the submission of our faith might nevertheless be in accordance with reason, God willed that external proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal helps of the Holy Spirit’. Thus the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church’s growth and holiness and her fruitfulness and stability ‘are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all’; they are ‘motives of credibility’ (motiva credibilitatis), which show that the assent of faith is ‘by no means a blind impulse of the mind’.⁹

1.1.4. The Relationship between Faith and Reason: Educational Implications

• All knowledge has its source in God. Faith tells us that our reason is an essential element of education. In developing curricula for Catholic schools, a pedagogical focus has to be on showing how knowledge is authentically communicated.
• A Catholic educational community is not a site limited by adherence to a tradition of religious faith but, rather, sees its faith tradition as a valuable, indeed, indispensable source of energy for further research into the world we inhabit.
• For the Catholic school, education is the opening of the human mind to that which lies beyond our human comprehension, not just those phenomena and data which can be measured.

1.1.5. The Importance of Ritual: Catechism of the Catholic Church

In the Church’s liturgy the divine blessing is fully revealed and communicated. The Father is acknowledged and adored as the source and the end of all the blessings of creation and salvation. In his Word who became incarnate, died and rose for us, he fills us with his blessings. Through his Word, he pours into our hearts the Gift that contains all gifts, the Holy Spirit.¹⁰

1.1.6. The Importance of Ritual: Educational Implications

• The liturgical life of the Church gives necessary order to the life of the Catholic school, allowing members of the school community an opportunity to experience communio in a worldwide cycle of prayer.
• The Liturgical Year acts as form of whole-school spiral curriculum, presenting afresh each year the theological and cultural capital at the heart of the Church’s life.
• Liturgy reminds us that the end of all human activities is transcendent. The beauty of the Liturgy, as expressed in music, architecture and visual art, is a focus for reflection on the triad of Truth-Beauty-Goodness.

The three themes set out above offer some rich...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Introduction
• PART I
• PART II
• Afterword
• Appendix 1 – Catholic Teacher Preparation: Learning from the Gospels
• Appendix 2 – Catholic Teacher Preparation: Magisterial Documents
• References
• Index