Catholic Schools in the Marketplace: Changing and Enduring Religious Identities

Figures & data

Table 1. Percentage of enrollment in primary and secondary education by type of school and religious orientation for the 2020–2021 academic year.

		Spain		Catalonia
		Primary	Secondary	Primary	Secondary
Total enrollment	Public	67.7	66.4	67.0	64.5
	Private subsidized	28.4	29.6	30.4	33.0
	Private independent	3.9	4.0	2.6	2.5
	Total	100	100	100	100
Private subsidized	Catholic	62.3	62.9	60.4	59.3
	Non-Catholic*	25.6	25.1	31.6	33.6
Private independent	Catholic	1.3	1.3	0.3	0.2
	Non-Catholic*	10.7	10.7	7.7	6.9
	Total	100	100	100	100

*This category comprises nonconfessional and other faith-based schools distinct from Catholic schools.

Source. Own elaboration based on Spanish Ministry of Education (2023) and Escuelas Católicas (2021).

Figure 1. Percentage of the population identifying as Catholic.

Source. Adapted from Astor (2020) and CIS data.

Table 2. Overview of analyzed school networks.

Size of the SN (number of schools)	Large-sized (>10 schools)	Mid-sized (5–10 schools)	Small-sized (<5 schools)	Total
	5	4	2	11
Founding religious community	Diocese or parish	Female order or congregation	Male order or congregation	Total
	2	5	4	11
Legal nature of the SMO in charge	Canonical foundation	Civil foundation	Religious community	Total
	3	6	2	11

Source. Authors’ elaboration based on the Catalan directory of schools and public subsidies for private school data (Catalan Department of Education, 2023).

Table 3. Distribution of networks’ schools by income level of the census track (%).

	Per capita income level
School network	Low	Middle-low	Middle	Middle-high	High
E01	0	19.2	73.1	7.7	0
E02	0	22.2	55.6	22.2	0
E03	0	10	60	30	0
E04	0	26.3	42.1	26.3	5.3
E05	2.8	22.2	55.6	19.4	0
E06	0	0	50	12.5	37.5
E07	16.7	33.3	25	16.7	8.3
E08	50	0	0	50	0
E09	5.3	15.8	47.4	15.8	15.8
E10	0	0	50	25	25
E11	0	0	80	20	0

Source. Authors’ elaboration based on the Catalan directory of schools (Catalan Department of Education, 2023) and the Spanish Household Income Distribution Atlas (National Institute of Statistics, 2020).

Census tracks are the smallest administrative units used in Spanish statistical registers. These units divide each municipality into units, which range between 1000 and 2500 inhabitants. Income level was categorized based on a constructed index in which 100 represents the average per capita income level for all Catalan census tracks. Based on this index, the categories in the table correspond to the following per capita income levels: <60 (Low), ≥60 - <80 (Middle-low), ≥80 - <120 (Middle), ≥120 - <160 (Middle-high), ≥ 160 (High).

Table 4. Typology of SNs according to their approach to religious identity.

Religious identity	Triggering factors and enabling conditions
Confessional: RE based on the tenets of Catholicism; organic integration of Catholicism into educational practices	Socially affluent school composition and strong or secure position in the educational market Relatively low autonomy from the founding religious community
Culture-centric: RE oriented toward providing an understanding of the history, texts, and manifestations of the Catholic tradition; emphasis on the cultural expression of Catholicism in educational practices	Heterogeneous school composition and relatively weak market position Medium or high autonomy from the founding religious community
Value-centric: RE focused on axiological and spiritual dimensions of religious traditions; focus on the role and potential of religious traditions in values education	Significant share of students from low socioeconomic and migrant backgrounds and secure position in the market High autonomy from the founding religious community and high organizational capacity

Source. Authors’ elaboration.

Spanish Ministry of Education. (2023). Estadísticas de la Educación [Education statistics] [Data set]. https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/servicios-al-ciudadano/estadisticas.html

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Escuelas Católicas. (2021). Datos y cifras de la Educación Católica. Curso 2020-2021 [Data and figures on Catholic Schooling. Academic year 2020-2021]. Escuelas Católicas.

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Astor, A. (2020). Religion and counter-state nationalism in Catalonia. Social Compass, 67(2), 159–176. https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768619898651

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Catalan Department of Education. (2022). Estadístiques de l’ensenyament. Curs 2021-2022. [Education statistics, academic year 2021-2022] [ Data set]. https://educacio.gencat.cat/ca/departament/estadistiques/estadistiques-ensenyament/cursos-anteriors/curs-2021-2022/

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