New Thinking New Scholarship And New Research In Catholic Education

New Thinking, New Scholarship and New Research in Catholic Education gives a forum to many established and leading scholars to review and critically appraise the research contribution of Gerald Grace to Catholic education. The book demonstrates the way in which the field of Catholic Education Studies has developed under the influence of Grace, to become internationally recognised. This book demonstrates the ways in which Gerald Grace has shaped Catholic education since 1997. This begins with the primacy of empirical study and carefully conducted fieldwork when researching Catholic education. Many contributors focus on the way Grace champions the alignment between Catholic education and what we have come to know as the option for the poor. The collection also reflects Grace's intention to ensure the voices of women are properly represented in the field of Catholic education. The book is based on an inclusive and open principle that seeks to establish dialogue with educators of different faiths and different religious backgrounds, as well as secular and humanist critics. It will be of great interest to academics, scholars and students of religious education, the history of education and all those interested in the developing field of Catholic Education Studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book presents a range of perspectives on the current state of Catholic education in the opening decades of the twenty-first century. All of the chapters have their origin in an International Conference on Catholic Education, held at Heythrop College (University of London) in September 2016. The book brings together many leading scholars to present a survey of the latest research on Catholic education in areas such as the aims of Catholic education, Catholic schools and Catholic identity, leadership issues in Catholic schools and fresh thinking about the place of Religious Education (RE) in Catholic Education. This book demonstrates how the field of Catholic Education Studies has firmly come of age. Rather than being a subfield of educational or theological discourse, it is now an established field of research and study. As such, the book invites readers to engage with much of the new thinking on Catholic education that has grown rapidly in recent years. It offers a broad range of contemporary perspectives on research in Catholic Education and rich insights into current thinking about Catholic Education.

This volume presents an interdisciplinary and systematic review of Catholic Education Studies across Ireland and Britain. Taken together, the chapters drill down to the foundations, identity and leadership matters in Catholic education and schools. It is in reading the complete volume that a more precise picture of Catholic education in Ireland and Britain develops into sharper focus. This is important because it reflects and crystallises the complexity which has almost organically developed within the field of Catholic Education Studies. It also provides a powerful antidote to the naïve reductionism that would boil Catholic education down to just one or two fundamental issues or principles. Contemporary Catholic education, perhaps globally but certainly in Ireland and Britain, is best depicted in terms of being a colourful kaleidoscope of differing perspectives. However this diversity is ultimately grounded in the underlying unity of purpose, because each of the contributors to this volume is a committed advocate of Catholic education. The volume brings together a rich range of scholars into one place, so that these voices can be listened to as a whole. It includes contributions from leading scholars, blended with a plethora of other voices who are emerging to become the next generation of leading researchers in Catholic education. It also introduces a number of newer voices to the academic context. They present fresh perspectives and thinking about matters relating to Catholic education and each of them confidently stand alongside the other contributors. Moreover, these reflections on Catholic education are important fruits to have emerged from the collaboration made possible through the creation of the Network for Researchers in Catholic Education, which was established in 2016 under the auspices of Heythrop College, University of London.

It is only in the years since Vatican II that the new thinking about Catholic education has crystalised into shape. Vatican II and New Thinking about Catholic Education provides an opportune moment to take stock of the impact of Vatican II on Catholic education. This volume considers the various ways in which Vatican II and its teaching on education has been received and engages with the challenges and testing times that beset faith-based education in the twenty-first century. With insights from an international range of leading and influential advocates of Catholic education, the volume demonstrates the differing contexts of Catholic education and explores the ways in which Vatican II’s teaching on education has been received over the past four or five decades.

This book explores in a theoretical and practical sense the challenges and opportunities arising in the initial and ongoing formation processes for teachers in Catholic schools. It showcases a range of international perspectives on how prospective teachers for Catholic schools are prepared both academically and pastorally for their professional role. Divided into two parts, Part 1 of the book focuses on certain countries in the Anglosphere; each country with a dedicated chapter in which the academic and pastoral approaches to teacher formation are examined in the context of its particular cultural, political and religious landscape. Part 2 of the book examines specific areas of interest with particular reference to what it means for the Catholic Church’s mission to offer suitable formation to its corps of teachers. Building on the editors' previous work, this book offers a fresh perspective on this subject by bringing together observations from selected local contexts on what Catholic teacher formation looks like as a set of organised processed and structures. It also shows how the study of educational themes offers challenges to current practices, but also opportunities for fruitful engagement with other educational perspectives.

It is only in the years since Vatican II that the new thinking about Catholic education has crystalised into shape. Vatican II and New Thinking about Catholic Education provides an opportune moment to take stock of the impact of Vatican II on Catholic education. This volume considers the various ways in which Vatican II and its teaching on education has been received and engages with the challenges and testing times that beset faith-based education in the twenty-first century. With insights from an international range of leading and influential advocates of Catholic education, the volume demonstrates the differing contexts of Catholic education and explores the ways in which Vatican II’s teaching on education has been received over the past four or five decades.

In the World Library of Educationalists, international experts compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key article, salient research findings, major theoretical and practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands and see how their work contributes to the development of the field. Gerald Grace is renowned internationally for his research and teaching in the areas of Catholic education, spirituality, leadership and effectiveness in faith schooling, and educational policy. In Faith, Mission and Challenge in Catholic Education, Gerald Grace brings together 15 of his key writings in one place. Starting with a specially written Introduction, which gives an overview of his career and contextualises his selection within the development of the field, the chapters cover: - the interactions of faith, mission and spirituality in the development of Catholic education - how to replace ideology, polemic and prejudice in discussions about faith-based schooling with evidence-based argument - understanding the distinctive nature of concepts such as ‘leadership’ and ‘effectiveness’ in faith-based education - using ‘mission integrity’ as a key concept for the evaluation of contemporary Catholic schooling - examining the interactions of Catholic values, Catholic curriculum and educational policy developments. This book not only shows how Gerald Grace’s thinking developed during his career, it also gives an insight into the development of the fields to which he contributed.

Knowledge of Catholic educational scholarship and research has been largely confined to specific national settings. Now is the time to bring together this scholarship. This is the first international handbook on Catholic educational scholarship and research. The unifying theme of the Handbook is ‘Catholic Education: challenges and responses’ in a number of international settings. In addition to analyzing the largest faith-based educational system worldwide, the book also critically examines contemporary issues such as church-state relations and the impact of secularization and globalization.