Symposium on Catholic Schools and the Changing Global Landscape for Faith-Based Education: An Introduction

Abstract

Despite the fact that faith-based schools serve tens of millions of students (the estimate for the Catholic Church is at 62 million students enrolled in K12 schools globally in 2016), the role of faith-based schools remains largely ignored in policy discussions. The articles and essays in this symposium aim to inform current debates on the role of faith-based schools, and particularly Catholic schools. The focus on Catholic schools is driven by the fact that they are the largest network of faith-based schools globally. It is clear however that many issues faced by Catholic schools are also faced by other faith-based schools.

Keywords:

• Faith-based schools
• Catholic schools
• Islamic schools
• Africa
• Catholic education
• Sustainable Development Goals

Ensuring that by 2030 all children complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education is one of the goals adopted by the international community under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Agenda 2030. While the Millennium Development Goals emphasized the completion of primary education, a stronger emphasis has been placed on learning apart from schooling under the SDGs, starting from attending preschools and going up to secondary completion and beyond. Faith-based schools in general, and Catholic schools in particular, have an important role to play to achieve the SDGs. In Africa, one in ten students enrolled in primary education is enrolled in a Catholic school, and many other children attend institutions affiliated with other Christian denominations. Among Muslim populations, madrasas (or medersas) as well as other types of Arab-Islamic schools also have a large footprint in Africa and Asia. In some Asian countries, Buddhist monastic education remains common. Contributing to the education of children is also a priority for other faiths.

Despite the fact that faith-based schools serve tens of millions of students (the estimate for the Catholic Church is 62 million students enrolled in K12 schools globally in 2016), the role of faith-based schools remains largely ignored in policy discussions. In some countries support is provided by governments to reduce the cost for parents of sending their children to a faith-based school if they so desire, but in other countries this is not the case. Estimates published in this review for OECD and a few partner countries suggest that governments in those countries save up to $63 billion per year in purchasing power parity thanks to the role played by just Catholic schools (Wodon 2019a). If all faith-based schools were taken into account and the estimates were provided for a larger set of countries, the estimates of budget savings would be even larger. Although debates remain, the literature suggests that some faith-based schools perform relatively well in terms of student learning while also having lower operating costs than public schools. Such assessments are context-specific and should not be generalized, but they should also not be discounted.

While there is an emerging literature on faith-based schools, this is still an under-researched area. The articles and essays in this symposium aim to inform current debates on the role of faith-based schools, and particularly Catholic schools. The focus on Catholic schools is driven by the fact that they are the largest network of faith-based schools globally. It is clear however that many issues faced by Catholic schools are also faced by other faith-based schools.

Catholic and other faith-based schools are facing a number of challenges. Globally, and especially in low and lower-middle income countries, many school systems are failing to educate students adequately (World Bank 2018). Even if Catholic schools may do relatively better on student assessments than public schools, it does not mean that they are doing great. In addition, beyond cognitive skills, socio-emotional skills are a must. In an increasingly globalized world where technology is changing the nature of work (World Bank 2019), children must acquire the foundational skills they need to thrive. Catholic and faith-based schools need to do better, as is the case for public and other private schools. At the national level, challenges abound as well, although they differ greatly between countries. In some developed countries, the share of students enrolled in Catholic schools is declining rapidly—the United States is a case in point. In much of the developing world, this is not the case, but the ability of Catholic schools to maintain their identity, especially when the schools are funded by governments, is not a given.

The first paper in this symposium (Wodon 2019b) examines whether faith-based schools are likely to continue to play an important role in the education of large numbers of students in the future, and if so, where their role is likely to be most prominent. Demographic, religious, and enrollment trends suggest that enrollment in faith-based schools will continue to grow rapidly, but there will also be a fundamental shift with a rising concentration of students in faith-based schools located in Africa. This may have implications given the learning crisis affecting the continent. It also has implications for research. As illustrated by two of the papers in this symposium, much of the research on faith-based schools focuses on the faith identity of schools. This is natural and even warranted, but except for schools dedicated primarily or exclusively to religious education, there is broad consensus that schools must also provide a solid education and ensure that fundamental skills such as literacy and numeracy are acquired. Unfortunately, as is the case for public schools, this is often not the case for faith-based schools in the developing world and especially in Africa.

The second paper in the symposium is an essay by Charles Glenn (2019), who asks whether Catholic distinctiveness matters in Catholic schools. Focusing on debates and experiences in the United States, Glenn argues that for many decades, public and Catholic schools have promoted rival understandings of character and human flourishing. He suggests that contemporary public schools have largely abandoned such goals, and that many Catholic schools have also neglected them to focus on academic achievement. Glenn argues that this trend is both practically unwise and civically irresponsible. Glenn’s plea is a passionate and experienced one as a leading author on those issues for many years. Readers may agree or disagree with Glenn’s assessment of whether public schools in America have indeed abandoned their role in promoting good character. My own impression is that public schools, like Catholic schools, aim to educate the whole person. But it is clear that given an increasingly competitive environment, a higher emphasis has been placed in many schools, whether public or Catholic, on preparing students for the labor market and college, possibly at the cost of other endeavors.

What should also be clear is that many parents choosing faith-based schools do so because they see the schools as placing a stronger emphasis on moral values and the transmission of their faith. This is the case not only in the U. S., but also elsewhere, and it applies not only to parents choosing Catholic and other Christian schools, but also to parents choosing Arab-Islamic or other faith-based schools. This matters not only for the type of education received by children, but also for whether children are able to go to school or not. For example, in some Muslim communities in Africa, qualitative evidence suggests that some parents may not trust public schools for the education of their adolescent girls. Availability of faith-based schools in those communities may help to ensure that all girls can pursue their education.

The third paper, an essay by Kevin Baxter (2019), considers options for stemming the enrollment decline in Catholic schools in the United States—thereby avoiding the fate of Nokia—and specifically the role that could be played by the National Catholic Education Association. One challenge is to ensure a pipeline of effective future leaders for Catholic schools. Another and perhaps even more pressing challenge is the issue of affordability, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. While half of the states have adopted some form of school choice legislation, for example by providing vouchers to disadvantaged students, public funding remains very small nationally as a share of Catholic schools’ revenues. One idea to help solve the issue of affordability is to use underutilized assets of the Church, such as buildings or property, to generate income that could be used to reduce tuition. Another strategy to boost enrollment is to better communicate what Catholic schools bring to the table to parents who may consider the schools for their children. But Catholic excellence cannot simply be assumed: it must be demonstrated, including with adequate data since parents are savvy customers. Finally, there may also be a need to move beyond the traditional governance model for Catholic schools centered on the parish.

The fourth contribution in the symposium, an article by D’Agostino, Dowd, and Mugo (2019), focuses on the experience of Catholic schools in Kenya, a country with a very large network of Catholic schools funded by the government. The authors argue that to meet the challenges of the 21st century, faith-based schools must navigate a complex interplay of changing social, cultural, economic, and political factors. Using data from focus group discussions with head teachers in government-aided Catholic schools, they ask how government regulation affects the ability of the schools to pursue their distinctive mission. In many ways, head teachers welcome the government’s role and the funding provided for the operating costs of the schools. The relationships between the schools and the government are broadly seen as positive. At the same time, as has been documented in other countries, many head teachers also share a concern that state control over management and governance functions decreases the autonomy of government-aided Catholic schools in ways that may threaten the integrity of their mission.

The fifth paper in the collection is an essay by Philippe Richard (2019), who uses a sociology of organization lens to discuss the role of the International Office for Catholic Education (OIEC) in representing the Catholic education movement at the international level with organizations such as ECOSOC, UNESCO, Council of Europe, and in promoting exchanges of good practice between Catholic schools and their leaders globally. While the Catholic education movement is generally strong, in terms of the number of schools the movement operates and the quality of the education being provided, the ability of OIEC to perform its role is limited. Funding and capacity constraints are at play, but some of the organizational features of OIEC also play a role. OIEC functions as a horizontal network of peers with national Catholic education associations as members. It does not have substantial influence on these national associations or the schools they manage. There are signs, however, that OIEC’s capacity to serve Catholic education globally may be increasing. After a period of decline, OIEC’s World Congress organized in New York in June 2019 gave a lot of hope to participants. OIEC may be at the start of a period of increased relevance.

The last paper (Wodon 2019c) is an article devoted to measuring the economic contribution of Catholic schools globally. While the main contribution of faith-based schools to human capital is not economic, there should be no doubt that the schools do make an economic contribution. Investing in people is one of the best decisions that countries can make for sustainable development. A country’s wealth is the assets base that enables it to produce income or Gross Domestic Product in the future. According to recent World Bank estimates, human capital wealth, estimated as the present value of the future earnings of the labor force, accounts for two thirds of global wealth, and an increasing share of countries’ wealth as they become more developed (Lange, Wodon, and Carey 2018). The paper provides an empirical analysis that suggests that through their contribution to human capital wealth, Catholic schools may contribute US$ 12 trillion to the changing wealth of nations.

To conclude, Catholic and other faith-based schools are already making major contributions to efforts to achieve the targets set forth in the SDGs—not only for education, but also more broadly given the importance of education for achieving the other SDGs. Challenges and opportunities differ depending on the country. But as developing countries and especially African countries account for a growing share of enrollment in Catholic and other faith-based schools globally, the challenge for the schools to provide a quality basic education will only grow. Networks of faith-based of schools will need to be able to respond. This does not mean that their core mission of imparting values and faith to students should be weakened. This mission should be respected, with indeed one of the messages of this symposium being that the schools’ evangelical mission should be pursued hand in hand with their basic education mission to improve learning.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Quentin Wodon

Quentin Wodon is a Lead Economist at the World Bank and a Distinguished Research Affiliate with the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame. The analysis and views expressed in this paper are those of the author only and may not reflect the views of the World Bank, its Executive Director, or the countries they represent.