Catholic Education in Scotland (Stephen J. McKinney)

This chapter on Catholic education focuses on the contemporary position and continued existence of state-funded Catholic schools in Scotland. It begins by briefly exploring a variety of issues concerning the discussion of Catholic schools: explaining terminology, and arguing that debates about Catholic schools are not conducted within a cultural and historical vacuum and that, within the discussion, the identification of various critical positions is imperative to understand the complexity and the limitations of the debate. This initial section includes a summary of the most recent census findings on religious affiliation in Scotland. The chapter then provides an overview of denominational schools in Scotland and locates Catholic schools within a broader examination of the contemporary faith schools debate that has emerged in England and Wales. It continues by offering a brief sketch of the history of Catholic schools, discusses the contemporary rationale for Catholic schools as articulated by the Catholic Church, and examines the current provision of Catholic schools and Catholic support systems. Finally the chapter discusses the contemporary challenges and opportunities that have emerged for Catholic schools: the changing nature of the pupil population; opposition to Catholic schools; the historical abuse reported in Catholic residential schools; and the recruitment of Catholic headteachers.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

The history of contemporary Catholic schools and the closely associated history of the Catholic community in Scotland are complex, and nomenclature can be ambiguous and confusing.

For the purposes of this chapter, the expression the 'Catholic community' will refer to all those who claim some link or allegiance to Catholicism in Scotland but who will have a wide variety of interpretations of Catholic identity, that may consist of religious, national, cultural and even secular elements, or combinations of these elements. One of the interesting features of Catholic schools in Scotland is that, apart from key celebrations in Catholic churches, the Catholic school may be the main, if not the only, meeting point for the full range of the Catholic community.

An important feature of the discussion and study of Catholic schools in Scotland is the status of those engaged in this discus-sion. The majority of academics writing about Catholic schools in Scotland, particularly those supporting Catholic schools, come from, or are associated with, the Catholic community in Scotland (e.g. Fitzpatrick, 1999; 2003; McKinney, 2011; O'Hagan,2006). This means that they have insider status, and can be considered by others to share certain preconceived views, be uncritically supportive of Catholic schools and possibly defensive of the position of Catholic schools in Scottish education and society. However, these 'insider' academics are the academics most likely to have the impetus and interest to research Catholic schooling in Scotland in any depth and hence add to the body of knowledge concerning this highly relevant topic for Scottish education and society. Arguably, some of the academics who challenge the continued existence of Catholic schools (e.g.

Brown, 1970; Bruce, 2003) also have some form of insider status, coming from a particular educational, sociological or philosophical perspective that has its own internal dialogues or discourses, shared opinions and degrees of conformity to accepted norms of beliefs. Therefore the notions of insider status and insider views are useful in that they challenge us to be critically aware of our preconceived views and intellectual standpoint as we engage with the subject of Catholic schools in Scotland.

The questions surrounding Catholic schools in Scotland are discussed, like many debates concerning Scottish education, in a variety of arenas and are frequently the object of media attention, often presented as a 'controversial' issue in the press.

This is disappointing as the debate touches on complex interconnected issues of religion, philosophy, education, culture and society that gain nothing from being trivialised or sensational-ised. The academic discussion, while following the media debate closely, has a responsibility to pose deeper questions and to engage with the complexity of issues that emerge from these questions and, where appropriate, challenge the media debate to discuss the topic accurately and fairly and to engage in a more nuanced manner.

The census results from 2011 indicate some important changes in the religious landscape in Scotland since the 2001 census. The census question asked: 'What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?' There was a noticeable decrease in the percentage of people who claimed to belong to the Church of Scotland, the largest Christian denomination (42.4 per cent to 32.4 per cent) and a noticeable increase in the number of people who claimed to have no religion (27.8 per cent to 36.7 per cent). Surprisingly, the percentage of people who claimed to belong to the Roman Catholic Church, the second largest Christian denomination, has remained stable at 15.9 per cent (841,000) since 2001. This statistic can be contrasted with the figures provided by the Catholic Church for the same period.These statistics indicate that the Catholic population in 2012 was 637,454 and national average weekly mass attendance for 2011 was 160,867. This indicates a marked distinction between religious affiliation and religious practice, with only 25.2 per cent actively participating in the principal form of worship.

CONTEMPORARY FAITH SCHOOLS IN SCOTLAND