Catholic education in Europe, education pluralism, and public funding

Abstract

According to Church statistics, 6.9 million children were enrolled in Catholic primary and secondary schools in Europe. Enrolment has remained relatively stable over the last 40 years in comparison to other regions of the world, contributing to education pluralism. This may be in part because in many countries, Catholic and private schools benefit from state funding, which helps in reducing out-of-pocket costs for parents to send their children to the schools. At the same time, public funding for private schools, including Catholic schools, often remains below the level of funding for public schools. This paper discusses enrolment trends in Catholic schools over time, compares the level of public funding for private and public schools, and looks at the relationships (or lack thereof) between such funding and enrolment in Catholic and private schools.

Keywords:

• primary education
• secondary education
• private schools
• public funding
• Catholic education
• education pluralism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 What is meant by education pluralism is not settled, as is the case for what pluralism more broadly may mean or require. For a discussion of various approaches to pluralism, see Stewart, Seiple, and Hoover (2020).

2 Article 24 of Belgium’s Constitution reads as follows: ‘§ 1. Education is free; any preventive measure is forbidden; the punishment of offences is regulated only by the law or federate law. The community offers free choice to parents. The community organises non-denominational education. This implies in particular the respect of the philosophical, ideological or religious beliefs of parents and pupils. Schools run by the public authorities offer, until the end of compulsory education, the choice between the teaching of one of the recognised religions and non-denominational ethics teaching. § 2. If a community, in its capacity as an organising authority, wishes to delegate powers to one or several autonomous bodies, it can only do so by federate law adopted by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast. § 3. Everyone has the right to education with the respect of fundamental rights and freedoms. Access to education is free until the end of compulsory education. All pupils of school age have the right to moral or religious education at the community's expense. § 4. All pupils or students, parents, teaching staff or institutions are equal before the law or federate law. The law and federate law take into account objective differences, in particular the characteristics of each organising authority that warrant appropriate treatment. § 5. The organization, the recognition and the subsidizing of education by the community are regulated by the law or federate law’.

3 On some of the values that Catholic schools aim to promote, see Congregation for Catholic Education (1977, 2017). On commonalities between Catholic and other Christian schools, see Barber et al. (2020).

4 As noted by Brenner (2019), there is no automatic link between education pluralism and the performance of education systems. Research may suggest the possibility of a positive relationship, but this remains debated.

5 See Oxfam (2019) and Abidjan Principles (2019).

6 This assumption is likely true to some extent, but for-profit or elite private schools could receive less funding from the state than Catholic and other schools aiming to reach the population as a whole.

7 ODA consists of disbursements of loans made on concessional terms (net of repayments of principal) and grants by official agencies. The agencies included are the members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), multilateral institutions, and non-DAC countries. Net ODA includes loans with at least a fourth comprised of grant elements, and factors in reimbursement of past loans.

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Quentin Wodon

Quentin Wodon is Director of UNESCO's International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa. Previously, he worked at the World Bank, including as Lead Economist, Lead Poverty Specialist, and manager of the unit on values and development.