LONDON - 14 February 2008 - 460 words
Archbishop Nichols: 'Catholic schools are incubators of social values'
"Catholic schools are incubators of social values and of motivation towards serving the common good", Archbishop Vincent Nichols, told a reception at the launch of two documents prepared by his department, in London today.
In his keynote address, the Archbishop of Birmingham who is Chairman of the Catholic Education Service described the documents, "Catholic Schools and Community Cohesion: CES Guidance" and "Leading a Catholic School - The Best Job in the World", as "inspirational and informative".
The Archbishop joined head teachers and chairs of governors at the lunch held at the Commonwealth Club.
Archbishop Nichols said that the document concerned with community cohesion provided a wealth of illustration of how Catholic schools can be seen to respond to the challenge of community cohesion across a full range of activities.
He said "It is full of eloquent testimony from Catholic schools in different parts of the country concerning the ways in which they rise to this challenge."
He said: "This demonstrated very clearly how pupils' attitude to behaviour, relationships and self confidence were far more often excellent or very good in Catholic secondary schools than in other schools."
The Archbishop continued: "It is also important to remember that this evidence started categorically that Catholic secondary schools had a better record in stimulating a desire to learn, developing the responsibilities for living in a community and protecting pupils from bullying, racism or other harassment. These too are important contributors to the future stability of our society."
Archbishop Nichols said: "It can be said with confidence that Catholic schools are incubators of social values and of motivation towards serving the common good.
"In our schools pupils develop both the principles and the practice of a mature relationship towards others, working for the good of others, engaging in moral discourse by which to decide what is genuinely good and to be pursued, and developing an understanding of faith and of the religious truths that are to be found around them in our society today.
"Without these qualities the work of building a harmonious society in Britain is very much hampered. Catholic schools provide them and in this sense are very much part of a promising future for our society and not part of a problem."
Speaking about the second document and its accompanying DVD: "The Best Job in the World", Archbishop Nichols said: "We ought to be very aware of the change of the title in the Government's Department dealing with school education. It is now called the Department for Children, Schools and Families."
"What exactly this expansion of title will come to mean is, I suspect, still a matter for speculation. But there is no doubt in my mind that the brief being given to this Department is at least in part in recognition of the increasing frailty of family structure.
"Our experience of partnership between school and family is a very positive one and again there is empirical evidence to illustrate the fact that Catholic secondary schools keep the engagements of parents far better than do other others.
"However this shift of emphasis within the title of the Government's Department and its possible implications should be very much in our minds. We have a very clear understanding that the first educators of every child are its parents.
"This is, as it were, the order of nature and indeed a full expression of the responsibility of those who bring a child into the world. Their duty is to bring that child to maturity. We express this view very strongly in the principle that the school acts in the place of the parents."
Archbishop Nichols concluded: "We must be attentive now that this emphasis on the primacy of the parents is not subtly eroded. The full range of partnerships are vital for effective schooling and for giving children the best chance in life. But the school acts not in the name of the state as the educator but in the name of the parents as the educator of their own children."
Around one third of the total number of maintained schools in England are schools with a religious character as well as two out of every five independent schools.
© Independent Catholic News 2008
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