Neil McNicholas: Parents have faith in discipline of church teaching

Officially schools with a religious character were, and still are, “voluntary aided” which means that they are funded on a similar basis to other schools, but the governing body must pay a certain percentage of capital costs.

At the time that I was serving on such bodies, we also had more latitude than is the case now with regard to our admissions policy, which enabled us to give priority to the children of the parish community for whom the school had been established and whose parents were helping to finance their children’s education twice – firstly through their taxes and secondly through their contributions to the parish. At the same time children of other faiths or none were always welcomed if places were available.

Without intending any criticism of the way other schools may operate, one of the major principles that our schools seek to establish and maintain is a “Catholic ethos”.

Again this isn’t meant to suggest an exclusively Catholic character or culture within the school, but refers to the basic spiritual and pastoral values that underpin its daily life – and that, by definition, is actually all-inclusive.

And it’s here, I believe, that our schools can provide a lead as long as we are allowed to continue to operate on the principles established over the years, unfettered by the interference of those who appear intent on establishing their atheistic agendas.

Claiming to operate according to a Catholic ethos means nothing unless it is obvious to anyone walking into our schools as a visitor.

There will generally be signs and symbols of the faith dimension of the school, but it is in the atmosphere experienced in the school and, more importantly, in the behaviour and conduct of the pupils that the ethos bears fruit.

Non-Catholic parents are queuing up to enrol their children in Catholic schools for two basic reasons – firstly presumably they are happy with the academic standards of the school, but, secondly, our Catholic schools seem to run a pretty tight ship in terms of the standards of behaviour they insist upon.

I’m not saying for a moment that non-church schools don’t insist on, or enforce, high standards of behaviour. Nor, of course, that there aren’t any Catholic schools that do not.

However my personal experience in the schools of my parishes over the years indicates that parents are generally far happier with the standards of behaviour that our schools insist upon than they are with the local state schools, and that’s why they apply to our schools regardless of their own church affiliation or otherwise.

In turn then, and thanks also – hopefully – to good decisions when it came to employing head teachers and their staff, good behaviour then lends itself to equally good academic standards.

Exactly why this shouldn’t also be the case in our state schools raises more questions than answers.

The pupils in our Catholic schools are far from being angels (if only!) so that’s not the secret, and both good and not-so-good teachers will end up in either state or church schools with equal probability so that’s not the answer either.

If one factor might be the standard of behaviour that church schools accept and how insistent they are that high standards be respected and maintained, why can’t or don’t state schools maintain those standards?

Clearly, they don’t or parents would be beating down their doors (not literally of course – that’s no example to set their children!) as they are the doors of church schools.

Then, because standards of behaviour are often better, are the teachers in church schools happier, perhaps performing better and achieving more both professionally and personally? Is this something else the state sector needs to consider?

And much, no doubt, to the chagrin of those who would welcome the demise of church schools, the one thing that distinguishes them from state schools is faith.

That is the one factor that would seem to account for many of the differences we observe between the two. It’s the basis for the better behaviour, the greater respect, and the higher personal standards that church schools instill in, and expect of, their pupils – and their staff.

There is no equivalent in our state schools. Maybe that’s the problem and maybe that’s where the answer to raising standards is to be found.

Neil McNicholas is priest for St Hilda’s Parish, Whitby.