Initial teacher education in the university ‘My little ship, how ill-laden you are’

Initial teacher education programmes in universities must meet the needs of varying constituencies. Politicians, school leaders and academics, for example, understandably seek to influence how these programmes should look. Given the importance of well-qualified teachers for the building of effective schools, it is right that a range of stakeholders should have their say. The Donaldson Report on teacher education in Scotland (2011) has much to say regarding the academic content of teacher education programmes. It offers food for thought for those wedded to the ‘craft’ model of teacher education. Academic rigour and breadth of experience cannot be seen as inimical to the need to ensure that newly qualified teachers are, indeed, ready to teach. The rediscovery of liberal approaches to education studies and the value of the liberal arts can be key components of a reimagined teacher education process

Dynamics of Catholic Education: Letting the Catholic School Be School by Louis DeThomasis

No abstract available

Laudato Si’ and ecological education: implications for Catholic education

In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis has offered a ‘position paper’ on care for the common good. Chapter Six ‘Ecological Education and Spirituality’ is especially relevant for those overseeing the operation of Catholic schools. A deeper understanding of Laudato Si’ can be gained from comparison with two Magisterial documents written by the Pope Emeritus: the message for the World Day of Prayer of Peace in 2007 and the encyclical Caritas in Veritate (2009). Study of the issues raised in these texts offers a broad frame of reference. Using the method of document analysis, our understanding of Laudato Si’ can be viewed in context of contemporary Magisterial teaching on education. This term now marks a fresh direction in the underpinning principles of Catholic education

Jean-Baptise de La Salle and the education of teachers

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The Catholic school as a courtyard of the Gentiles

The setting up of the Courtyard of the Gentiles by Pope Benedict XVI has provided the Catholic Church with an official forum for dialogue with atheists. The intellectual energy surrounding this initiative can be harnessed to focus on how the contemporary Catholic school addressed its responsibilities to the Catholic community while offering a good education to people of other religious traditions. The Courtyard initiative is an opportunity for the Catholic educational community to re-consider its purpose as an ecclesial agent in a plural society. This article argues that the distinctive content and pedagogy it employs in this endeavor is a bold manifestation of contemporary radicalism in education