“Through the Looking Glass …”
From Comfort and Conformity to Challenge and Collaboration: Changing Parent Involvement in the Catholic Education of Their Children Through the Twentieth Century
Nance Marie Millar
Thesis submitted to the School of Sociology and Anthropology, University of New South Wales, for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
July, 2006 Dedicated to the memory of Blessed Mary MacKillop, RSJ, whose life and work in education inspired this thesis.
Also to Tony Millar and our family, who have sustained me throughout this project and in memory of my parents, Elizabeth and Joseph Dalton, who were ‘my primary educators’. ABSTRACT
This sociological investigation examines the changing role of parents in the education of their children in Catholic schools in New South Wales over the twentieth century. Catholic Church documents specifically state primary parental responsibility for their children’s religious education. Catholic schools were established to inculcate faith, and assist parents’ role. This thesis asks, to what extent that role has been realised?
It unravels the processes that determined and defined the changing role of Catholic parents during this period, and identifies significant shifts in institutional thinking and practices related to parents and resultant shifts in cultural and social perceptions. After half a century of conformity and comfort, a significant era followed as the Australian Church responded to challenges, including financial crisis for Catholic schools, reform in the Australian education system, and the impact of the Second Vatican Council.
Cohorts from three generations were selected. Interviews and focus groups elicited memories that were recorded and analysed, in terms of the integral questions; the role and involvement of parents in Catholic schools. Participants recalled their own childhood in Catholic schools and, where applicable, as parents educating their own children, or as religious teachers. The analysis was theoretically informed by the work of Durkheim, Greeley, Coleman and Bourdieu. A review of Church documents and commentaries through the twentieth century, bearing on the education of children, showed the official Church position.
Despite numerous rhetorical statements issued by Catholic authorities, emphasising the role of parents as ‘primary educators’, the practical responses ranged from active encouragement to dismissal. Teachers in Catholic schools and related bureaucracies were, seemingly, reluctant to initiate a more inclusive partnership role. Gradually, and in a piecemeal fashion, the Catholic Church and its schools have been responding to growing parental consciousness of their role and responsibilities.
i A significant shift was signalled by the New South Wales Bishops in establishing the Council of Catholic School Parents, to be supported by a full-time, salaried Executive Officer, in 2003. But any accommodation to new understandings of parent/teacher, or family/school relation is complex and not to be oversimplified as a simple sharing, or ceding of authority.
ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Grateful thanks to my Supervisor, Ann Daniel for carefully guiding me through the process with her wise and inspirational insights. She encouraged me constantly and displayed a keen interest in my topic. Her skills and experience were superbly complemented by my Co-Supervisor, Frances Lovejoy, who offered perceptive comments and unfailing reassurance.
Special thanks go to the participants in this research who gave of their time in recounting, enthusiastically their memories of school days, and later experience, as parents or teachers in the Catholic Education system. Several of the first cohort are now deceased; may they rest in peace.
Cardinal E. B. Clancy who graciously assisted with the methodology and presentation of the Catholic Church Documents, Chapter 4.
Laurie Alsop, Equity Officer of the Equity and Diversity (Disability) Unit at the University of New South Wales, who gave me gentle and inestimable support.
Maryanne Bokan, Adrian McMinn, Margaret Astar and Ros Khan, Librarians at the University of New South Wales, who assisted with reference search and bibliographical detail.
Dominic Fitzsimmons and Coralie Venus of the Learning Centre of the University of New South Wales, who provided access to background courses preparatory to writing this thesis.
Mina Roces, of the School of History at the University of New South Wales, who introduced me to the stimulating world of Oral History.
iii Student colleagues Jan Ali, Monica Kerretts-Macau and particularly Norbert Ebert who gave unstinting, generous assistance with formatting the thesis.
Carol Sullivan and Deborah Broder, of the School Administration who have given practical, patient and understanding help.
Marie Lourey, Archivist at the Sydney Catholic Education Office who gave valued, unlimited access to their records. Margaret Watts, Librarian at the Veech Library, Catholic Institute of Sydney, who made available the necessary Church Documents and, related materials.
The sustained support of Danielle Cronin, Executive Officer and Roger O’Sullivan of the Council of Catholic School Parents, New South Wales Catholic Education Commission.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Archbishop James Carroll, Brother W. X. Simmons, cfc, and Ann Clark who consistently encouraged me in my work. May they rest in peace.
I am also indebted to Peter Hancock, cfc, who supervised my Masters Thesis, and prompted my embarking on this current project. Barry Lamb, fms, was in various ways of tremendous practical help in locating related literature for this study.
Sister Alexis Horsley PBVM, Mt. Erin Presentation Convent, Wagga Wagga, Sister M. Francis Murphy, OSC. St.Clare’s Convent, Waverley, Sister Veronica Powell RSM, Sister Barbara McDonough RSM, Holy Cross School, Woollahra, and Mr. Harry Stephens, Christian Brothers’, Lewisham, all of whom, by their courtesy, gave permission for the use of archival photographs and records. Mrs Norma Birmingham and Mrs. L. Gilmour who provided the photographs and other material from Ganmain. The excerpts from “Around The Boree Log”, were included by the courtesy of Father F. Mecham.
Appreciation of my friends who have given me steadfast, optimistic support over the period of the research.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
LIST OF FIGURES viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix
LIST OF APPENDICES x
1. THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN NEW SOUTH WALES 1
The three periods of the twentieth century 2 Relevant literature 3 Historical background and sociological overview of the three periods 5 Church response to change through the twentieth century 8
2. THEORETICAL CONCEPTS INFORMING THE STUDY 12
Ideas, theories and constructs 12 Parents’ delegation of their role 22
3. METHODS 46
Background to the study 46 The Aim of the Research 49 Theoretical framework 53 Analysis of the Data 61
v 4. THE CODE OF CANON LAW AND RELATED CATHOLIC CHURCH DOCUMENTS 64
Part 1: Church documents 64 The Code of Canon Law 1917 69 The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church 80 The Revised Code of Canon Law 1983 83 Revised Emphasis and Expansion of the Role of Parents explicit in the Revised Code of 1983 89
Part 2: The Catholic School 96 The Family 98 The Future 100 Rights of the Family and the Australian Catholic School 102 Summary 106
5. PARENTS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY - THE FIRST COHORT 108
Historical overview 108 Parents’ role in education 110 Withdrawal of government funds 112 The Catholic school and the Irish factor 115 1. Childhood memories of first cohort, parents and religious teachers 121 2. Religious teachers’ perceptions of parent involvement in their schools 126 3. Parents’ perceptions of parent involvement in Catholic schools 131 Conclusions 140
6. LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 146
Overview of social trends of second fifty years 147 Secular documents 154 State Aid 160 Parent involvement and participation 168
vi 7. PARENTS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS - THE SECOND COHORT 1950-1975 181
Catholic Church Documents and relevant literature 182 1. Childhood memories of second cohort, parents and religious teachers 185 2. Religious teachers’ perceptions of parent involvement in their schools 195 3. Parents’ Perceptions of Parent Involvement in Schools 213
8. PARENTS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS – THE THIRD COHORT 1975-2000 233
The Catholic Community and cultural diversity 1975-2000 236 l. Childhood memories of third cohort, parents and religious teachers 238 2. Religious teachers’ perceptions of parent involvement in their schools 253 3. Parents’ perceptions of parent involvement in Catholic schools 270
9. “BREAKING THE ENCHANTED CIRCLE OF COLLECTIVE DENIAL” 287
Conclusion 287 What can be attributed to these changes? 297
Bibliography 304
Official Catholic Church Documents 323
Appendices 327
vii LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Tea Parties and other events to raise funds in support of the school community of St. Clare’s Waverley, 1800s
Figure 2: An Invitation to the Social for the parents and parishioners, 1914
Figure 3: St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations: Boarders’ Picnic at The Rock, Mt. Erin Convent, Wagga Wagga, 1899
Figure 4: St. Patrick’s Day Procession, Holy Cross College, Woollahra, 1950 and Christian Brothers High School, Lewisham, 1939.
Figure 5: Orchestra, Mt. Erin Convent, Wagga Wagga, 1909
Figure 6: Presentation Convent showing the first nuns, Ganmain, 1906
Figure 7: ‘The Old Convent Bus’, The means of transport for nuns and students, early 1900s
Figure 8: Organisation of authority in the Catholic school system between 1939-1950
Figure 9: The Hibernians, 1907
viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AEF Association for Educational Freedom
APC The Australian Parents Council
CCSP The Council of Catholic School Parents for New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory: the New South Wales Catholic Education Commission
NSWCEC The New South Wales Catholic Education Commission
NCEC The National Catholic Education Commission
NSWCSC The New South Wales Catholic Schools Committee
P and F’s The Federation of Parents and Friends Associations of Catholic Schools, Archdiocese of Sydney.
PPSU The Parent Participation in Schools Unit, formerly of the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Education Office
PRG Parents’ Resource Group for Teachers
PTA The Parents and Teachers Association
SACS The Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board of the Sydney Catholic Education Office
ix LIST OF APPENDICES
1. The University of New South Wales Subject Information Statement
2. Informed Consent Form
3. Interview questions for three Cohorts
4. Table of Pseudonyms for participant cohorts
5. Application for a Provisional Government School, Ashbridge, 1900
6. Annex to application for establishment of a Public School at Ashbridge, 1908
7. Annex to Application for the Establishment of a Provisional School at Parish of Devlin, 1910
8. Parent Participation in Schools Unit Information List of Services
x CHAPTER 1
THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN NEW SOUTH WALES
I am become as part of all I have met. Yet all experience is an arch where through gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades for ever and for ever when I move. (Alfred Lord Tennyson 1842: ‘Ulysses’)
Throughout the centuries the Roman Catholic Church has issued documents stating its positions on various matters of social, cultural and political significance, including the ‘Role of Parents in the Catholic education of their children’, the focus of this study.
I have been a long-term participant/observer of the field, its patterns and practices. At an earlier time, prior to contemplating this research, I had several opportunities to be an observer/participant of the teacher/parent relationship. My roles have included that of Welfare Worker for an extended period in various settings, and subsequently, as a researcher in Pastoral Care. Years of participation in the Catholic Education Office and working with students in the Catholic schools system, provided me with a detailed knowledge of that system. As welfare worker, researcher and writer, as well as in a parental role, I gained an informed view of the Catholic Education system prior to undertaking this formal study of the parent/teacher relationship, specifically in Catholic schools, as it evolved from early in the twentieth century.
The parent/teacher relationship and their joint responsibility for the education, socialisation, faith and personal development of the child in the context of the Catholic school community, constitutes the basis for this study. It focuses on the role of parents in the Catholic education of their children, and how it has been played out from early in the
1 twentieth century to the Year 2000, in Catholic schools in New South Wales. This sociological investigation seeks to unravel the processes instrumental in determining or defining the role of parents in Catholic education. The study is designed to appraise the perceptions of the role of parents as viewed by the parents themselves and the teachers, firstly as children, and then in their adult roles.
Parental responsibility is described in the twentieth century Church documents, including the Code of Canon Law and related official documents. Three cohorts of parents and teachers were interviewed, selected on the basis of their experience of three distinct periods of the twentieth century: early twentieth century to 1950, 1950 to 1975, 1975 to 2000. As the research is of a historical, sociological and cultural nature the three periods selected, take into account the effects of the changes in the Church and society, that influenced expectation and practice, during those decades.
The three periods of the twentieth century
1900-1950 Major social events such as two World Wars and the Great Depression had affected Australian families. These events, as well as the Catholic culture prevailing in Australia through those years, might have been expected to influence parental and teaching role and the relationship between teachers and parents intent on the education of children.
1950-1975 Significant social shifts that occurred during this Post-War period of reconstruction, included the great influx of migrants to Australia, the ‘baby boom’ era, the ‘revolution’ of the 60s in the Western World, and the Vatican II Council of the Catholic Church. The Post- Vatican II Council upheaval in the Catholic Church, over-lapped with the flow-on of social and cultural effects of the 60s, produced massive social changes. These changes are reviewed in relation to society generally, and the Catholic community in particular.
2 1975-2000 Social events and social trends during this third period, further affected a national religious culture, prompting shifts in institutional thinking and practices, related to parents and their involvement.
Relevant literature Some earlier studies about Catholic education initiated by Corrigan (1930) Catholic Education in New South Wales and Eris O’Brien (1935), The Early History of Education in Australia, examined the problems of Catholic education against background of “convictism”. Eris O’Brien (1935) endeavoured to view them as ‘expressions of the political controversies’ of the times, during which attempts were being made to provide religious instruction for Catholic children. Research carried out by Fogarty (1959) Catholic Education in Australia 1806-1950, traces the arrival of the religious Orders of teachers and the establishment of Catholic schools in Australia. Extensive research by Flynn over three decades appraised Catholic Schools from religious faith perspectives, with some inclusion of parents’ views. Flynn (1975; 1979; 1985; 1993) and Flynn and Mok (2002). Haines’ research (1976) Lay Catholics and the Education Question in Nineteenth Century New South Wales and that of Luttrell (1996) Worth the Struggle-Sydney Catholic Schools 1820- 1995, continue the history of Catholic education.
A study by Hogan (1978) titled The Catholic Campaign for State Aid tells of parents’ political role in this campaign through the Australian Parents Council, the Sydney Federation of Catholic Parents and Friends’ Associations and the Australian Association for Educational Freedom.
Following on, Coman (1986: 11) addressed the issue of Parental Interest Group Impact on Educational Policy as a problem, in the ‘inability of Catholic parents to influence the direction of things in relation to the opening, development and closure of schools’- in New South Wales. In 1977 Millar investigated Parent/Community Involvement and Families of other Cultures in Personal Development Programs in English and Scottish Schools. Millar further explored the subject of Parent Involvement and Participation in Personal
3 Development Education in New South Wales Schools, focusing on the complementary roles of parents and teachers, in a Kindergarten to Year 12 approach in 1988. While parent participation was limited to Personal Development Education in schools, it was envisaged that the concept would be extended to all aspects of education eventually.
These researched studies have acknowledged the authentic role of parents in Catholic education and in support of this premise, numerous secondary documents consisting of books, publications, pamphlets and articles became available. Titles included, Parent as Informal Teacher (Smith 1982), A Handbook for Leaders for Working with Parent Groups (Shaw and Matthews 1980), Parents in Schools (Renwick 1984), For Effective Personal Development: Are Parents the Missing Link? (Millar 1986). These are just some examples of publications during those years. More recently, at a Catholic Conference for the International year of the Family, sponsored by the Catholic Education Commission of New South Wales, significantly, the title given to the Conference was Beyond the Rhetoric, Families, Schools and Parishes: Building Effective Partnerships (O’Hearn 1994).
However, there appears to be no published research outlining the historical origins of parent involvement in Catholic schools up to the present time. Currently, parents are actively involved in Catholic education in New South Wales, as representatives on decision-making committees, education boards and parent councils. This study of the processes related to the evolving role of parents in Catholic education promises to be an exploration of a relatively untravelled area.
Background to the nominated parent role The role of parents in the Catholic education of their children has been described in official Church documents as ‘parents being the primary educators of their children’, a teaching promulgated by members of the hierarchy and clergy over the latter part of the nineteenth century, and throughout the twentieth century. It specified that parents were responsible for their children’s religious education and this was to be sustained by the Catholic school system, established for the transmission of the faith. However, parents tended to delegate their role to teachers because they believed the teachers and priests were better educated.
4 Consequently, while the principle of parents being ‘the primary educators of their children’ is stipulated, the recognition of this edict and the actual involvement of parents in their designated role at the school level seems to be debatable over the twentieth century.
Historical background and sociological overview of the three periods
Early twentieth century-1950 The members of the Catholic Church in earlier times were historically, ethnically Irish and socially, working class. Most were poor and poorly resourced. Free immigration to New South Wales began in the late 1830s, and after the discovery of gold, termed the ‘Gold Rush’ in the 1850s, O’Farrell (1992: 82), reports, there was a marked increase in immigration, which resulted from the Great Famine in Ireland. Parents sought a better life for their children and viewed education as an important means towards achieving upward mobility in society. A large majority of the religious orders of teaching brothers and sisters also came from Ireland, to an Australia, that was regarded as the equivalent of a missionary country. The schools having been set up to perpetuate the Catholic faith the parents supported the teachers and all united in this universal aim. In those early days, the schools were built in poor socio-economic areas, in order to cater to the needs of the families residing in them. Music, art, drama and theatre were taught in the schools, and the parents saw the education of their children as developing the ‘social and cultural capital’, that would advance them in life.
Throughout the first half of the twentieth century the artistic and cultural Catholic traditions were instituted in a period of strong cultural and economic investment in Catholic schools. These traditions only changed slowly. Vocations for the priesthood and religious orders of nuns and brothers flourished, and ‘the faith was strong’. Catholics ‘knew their place’ in the Church and society.
1950-1975 Following World War 2, and the ‘baby boom’, which lasted from approximately 1946 to 1964, society moved through a rapid social and cultural change. Catholics themselves, were starting to review the influence of religion on their own identities, and the cultural
5 relationship of it in terms of acceptance in the wider Australian community. Previously, sectarianism had prompted Catholics to see themselves as separate from mainstream and to set up social institutions, such as hospitals, marriage guidance counselling, welfare organisations in parallel with those provided by the States and other religions.
In the 1960s the Second Vatican Council commenced in Rome (1962-65) and ushered in great changes in the Catholic world. A move towards ecumenism and the recognition of other religions led to the breaking down of Catholic insistence on their separate ways of managing their lives. At the same time, other major social changes were having their impact on the traditional Catholic culture.
These radical changes in society and the Church’s response to them, upset customary structures. The Church’s response was strongly influenced by the emergence of new interpretations of the Church’s teachings in the light of Vatican II, including review of the place of the Church in the modern world. Social pressure groups formed in society at large, which were allied to protest the accepted ‘norms’ of society. These groups included: the women’s movement which advocated the rights of women, sexual equality with men, sexual freedom (made possible by the newly invented contraceptive pill), a woman’s right of choice with regard to abortion, Hippie-Flower Power and the drug culture. The Hippie movement commenced in the United States, and evolved from a rejection of authority in terms of familial and societal constraints, with regard to sexuality and lifestyle. Groups of young people chose to band together living in ‘communes’ in different parts of the world. It was coined ‘the age of Aquarius’ and the music, lyrics, fashion and ‘hair style’ were indicative of an ‘alternative, cultural lifestyle’. Flower Power was allied with the Hippie Movement, and flowed on from it. It had sprung from San Francisco in a direct protest against the ‘draft’ and the Vietnam War. The drug culture was an integral part of both at the time.
The decrees on Catholic education that then issued from the Second Vatican Council, were of major significance in shifting the relationship between families and schools. In Australia, Government documents on education in the following years, also influenced this change.
6 The exodus of teachers from their religious orders in the late 60s and 70s, many to marry, left the Catholic school system in a hazardous state. Possibly this change affected the children also, as they probably had viewed ‘Brother’ or ‘Sister’ as symbolic of a special way for life. Lay teachers, previously in the minority, gradually became the majority in Catholic schools. In order to replace the former ‘voluntary’ staff or the teachers from religious orders, who had conducted the Catholic schools, salaries had to be found for the dramatic increase of lay staff.
Government State Aid Finance to Independent and Catholic systemic schools, became a vexed issue. At this time, Catholic authorities encouraged parents to participate more actively, and to become involved in their children’s education by attending meetings at schools, in the community and political gatherings. The basic aim of these meetings was to secure recognition of the need for Government assistance on the basis of a social justice principle.
1975-2000 As the Catholic parents themselves were better educated in the 60s and 70s than their predecessors, they were more vocal in their desire to express their expectations and opinions about the Catholic education their children were receiving. The Catholic school in the past had, to a large extent, assumed the role ‘in loco parentis’, but now teachers had to view their role more broadly, to include parents. This meant consultation in the 80s and 90s, and accountability. Some parents were actively seeking involvement in their Catholic school communities and educational authorities were reinforcing the primacy of the parental role, in order to accommodate them. While tuckshops, sporting events, library assistance, mothers’ clubs and Parents and Friends Associations were established in most Catholic schools, Government grants to Catholic schools stressed the involvement of parents on decision-making committees.
Some parent groups in the 80s and 90s became formally part of the State and Archdiocesan educational bodies. In New South Wales, a Parent Participation in Schools Unit, initiated
7 by a voluntary group of parents, recipients of a Schools Commission Innovations Grant, was formally recognised and funded by the Sydney Catholic Education Office in 1980. In the year 2003, the New South Wales Catholic Education Commission appointed a Parent Executive Officer to work full-time with the Parent Council of that body. The Council comprises parent representatives from the various dioceses of New South Wales.
Church response to change through the twentieth century I examine what the institutional Church has said in the official documents over the years about parent involvement, and how this links with the actual practice at the three particular periods of the twentieth century, from the perspective of parents and teachers. These formal statements of Church teaching preface the tracing of changes that have occurred in the attitudes and practices regarding parent involvement in Catholic education in the twentieth century, as reported by the various participants in the study.
How Catholic parents were viewed, particularly by Church authorities in relation to education and schools, is central to this thesis. Equally important is how Catholic parents saw their own role. The study examines how the situation was, why it was so, and how and why it changed.
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Catholic Church documents specifically laid down the responsibility of parents for their children’s religious education and they were to be supported in their role by the Catholic school system. Parents were actually nominated as ‘the primary educators of their children’ according to the Code of Canon Law, and Catholic schools were established to inculcate in the children ‘the Faith of their Fathers’ (Eris O’Brien 1930: ix).
In the early days of the colony education was considered by various Governors of New South Wales to be a means of ‘getting children off the streets’ and separating them from their parents, who, in earlier times were of convict origin. Schooling, it might be argued still fulfils this function, but has undergone many changes. These encompass the perceptions of the parents themselves, and their role in Catholic education as well as those
8 of the teachers in the Catholic schools. The main themes from the Church’s documents are outlined in Chapter 4.
Briefly, the sociological questions that emerge from a review of these documents relate to how the parent role was viewed by various Church authorities; the social context of the times; the transitional phases in terms of the prevailing cultural system of religion; the reasons for Catholic schools in terms of social reproduction and transmission of the faith; the recognition of both Church hierarchy and Government administrators of the influential role of parents in the education of their children who constituted ‘social and religious capital’; the changes in socio-religious identity, role and status in the community generally, and the Church in particular, as experienced by Catholics.
These inevitably had consequences for the ‘muted’ voice of parents in their role in the nineteenth and in the first half of the twentieth century, and might prompt changing parental views in the second half of the twentieth century. Parents, in this later period, began to express their ‘right’ to participate in their children’s Catholic education, as set out for them in Church documents. As teachers in schools had become accustomed to parents being supportive of them within the parameters set by them, some degree of tension started to surface.
In exploring the changing parent-teacher relation through the twentieth century sociological themes emerged and guided its analysis: cultural and social reproduction; issues of power and authority, and their maintenance to promote social cohesion; education as key component of socialisation; stratification, that is, inclusion and exclusion in society and within the Catholic Church and school communities; and the concept of the institutional Church and community, which provided a sense of belonging. These are described with reference to this study in Chapter 2.
Limitations of the study The parent role in education is focused only on parents in Catholic education and those living in New South Wales. The study was about European Australians and their children’s
9 Catholic education as they were the category to which I had access. To have included indigenous parents and children would require another thesis in terms of contact and cultural understanding.
The generalisability is limited, as the research was conducted exclusively in Catholic schools in regional and rural New South Wales. However, the homogeneity of the Catholic Church and its schools in Australia warrant the study being broadly representative of Australian Catholic education.
Significance of the study Research related to the parent role in Catholic education and how it has changed over time is relatively unexplored. The perceptions of the role as set out in official Catholic Church documents as viewed or understood by the parents themselves and then, in turn, as seen and understood, by teachers, is a notable and feature of this study. Also, in explicating what has been relatively unexplored this study may provide guidance and understanding for development of the parental role and lead to a sustained collaboration.
Organisation of the study This Chapter 1 introduces the Study and draws from Australian histories that provide an understanding of how the Catholic Church in Australia identified itself, at the beginning of the twentieth century: the time at which this study begins.
Chapter 2 outlines theoretical, sociological perspectives adopted for the study and details sociological concepts used in the analysis of all data.
Chapter 3 describes the variety of qualitative research strategies and the reasons for their selection. Included in the research methods are those termed oral history, focus groups and interviews.
Chapter 4 reviews the Church position as presented in Code of Canon Law and related official Catholic Church documents. The practice/implementation at the school level of this decree is to be examined in the light of the data from three cohorts of parents and teachers,
10 representing three different periods, potentially reflecting sociological change over the twentieth century.
Chapter 5 presents parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of parent involvement in Catholic education, from the first decade of the twentieth century to 1950. These participants recalled their perceptions of their parents’ role, when they themselves were very young and later, their own attitudes, values and practices as parents, and as religious teachers in Catholic schools.
Chapter 6 (in a manner similar to Chapter l) draws on published historical, social and political research to identify events and trends, which influenced the role of parents in the latter half of the twentieth century.
Chapter 7 presents the accounts given by the second cohort, parents and teachers, 1950- 1975, and offers three perspectives: childhood memories, parents’ perceptions and teachers’ perceptions.
Chapter 8 continues the study and presents three perspectives: childhood memories, parents’ and teachers’ perceptions as told by parents and teachers of the third cohort, 1975- 2000.
Chapter 9 develops conclusions that identify gaps between dogma (Church teaching) and practice (between the ideal and the real) and that trace the changing relation between teachers and parents, between family and school, as fields of practice. Contested authority became apparent as the third cohort of parents and teachers reflected on recent experience.
11 CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL CONCEPTS INFORMING THE STUDY
Discovering what is unveiled and veiled by ordinary language. (Bourdieu 1993: 32)
Parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children. Their role as educator is so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it (Vatican II, Gravissimum Educationis, 3).
Ideas, theories and constructs Prior to commencing this study I read widely seeking ideas – theories and constructs, that facilitate and interpret social action, and the meanings and values that inspire such action. Reading and reflecting on classical and contemporary sociology continued as the field work engaged me. This Chapter brings together the social theory and sociological concepts that enlightened what the participants spoke about and structured my interpretation of continuity and change evident in the relation of parents to the school, and teachers, in the New South Wales Catholic system. Quite simply this Chapter synthesises the sociology brought to bear on the accounts given by three generational cohorts of parents and teachers.
The purpose and the means of providing education are outlined according to theories proposed by Dewey and Durkheim. Education as a form of social capital, the focus of analysis, is represented by Bourdieu and Coleman, with some variations on the same theme, by some other contemporary researchers. To interpret the empirical data, sociological constructs explaining the nature of religion, authority, community, institutions, identity, role, culture, conformity, diversity and participation are drawn into the ‘analysis’.
12 The premise adopted in this study is that education is the means of developing the social capital on which children can draw to deliver dividends throughout their lives. The educational process which began in the family, is furthered in the school and community, allowing children to act appropriately, to form the accepted values and to fit productively into their culture. Their habitus (Bourdieu 1990) is thus created. Parental involvement in children’s education advances the process and forges continuity between home and school to develop children effectively and harmoniously.
The habitus The habitus is the educational process of socialization which is acquired in early childhood within a family, and as such underlines and amplifies the Catholic parent’s role. A family group, a school community or a club, are examples of such social formation that can produce and reproduce lasting, useful relationships, and secure material or symbolic profits. Each group or community, according to Bourdieu (1986: 251), has institutionalised forms of delegation which enable it to concentrate the totality of the social capital in the hands of a single agent, such as a family or small group of agents, church, schools and the associated bureaucracies. Power may be exercised in representing the group with the aid of the collectively owned capital.
Education Education, Dewey (1968: 22) proposes is the fostering, a nurturing and a cultivation process, essential to the growth process of the young. He claims that the need for teaching and learning is apparent in early life to convey or transmit the attitudes, language and culture of the older members to the child. In Durkheim’s (1956) view education is the influence exerted by adult generations on those who are not yet ready for social life. Additionally, education by providing the means, secures in children, the essential conditions of its own existence. In this manner dispositions are formed which enable the child to participate in the continuous and progressive life of society. This process takes place through the environment, which is the sum total of ‘conditions necessary for a person to function’ (Dewey 1968: 22).
13 The educational processes are the means of providing social continuity of life. Renewal occurs by transmission, which includes a process of re-adaptation to the environment of the needs of those who exist within it (Dewey 1968: 2). Incorporated in the renewal process of physical existence, are the ‘beliefs, ideals, hopes, happiness, misery and practices’ of individuals.
Education occurs by means of a ‘habitus’ (Bourdieu 1990: 52), which involves ways of acting, thinking and feeling that are inculcated by the older members of society into the younger (Dewey 1968: 2). Bourdieu (1990: 53) defines the concept of the habitus as a ‘system of structure and structured dispositions, which denote a process of being, a habitual state’ and, in particular a predisposition, tendency or inclination. Dewey (1968) maintains, that the deeper and more intimate educative formation of ‘disposition’, is non consciously integrated, as the young gradually participate in the activities of the various groups to which they belong. Moreover, he estimates that the development of attitudes and dispositions in the young cannot take place by direct conveyance of beliefs, emotions and knowledge. It happens through the intermediary of the environment, such as the family.
The role of education according to Durkheim (1956) is the means of arousing and developing in the child a certain number of physical, intellectual and moral states that are demanded of him by both the pluralist society as a whole, and the special milieu for which he is specifically destined. Dewey (1968) makes the point that just as nutrition and reproduction are important to physiological life, so is education an integral part of social life.
Society significantly, according to Dewey (1968) continues to exist by transmission and communication within groups hence they come to own things in common. For Durkheim (1956) this collective life of society can only survive if there is a certain degree of homogeneity. In order to form a community or society those who exist in it, share aims, beliefs, aspirations and knowledge (Dewey 1968: 4). They participate through communication in a mutual understanding and elements of social capital, such as trust and reciprocity, that facilitate ongoing collective action. This in turn ensures similar emotional
14 and intellectual dispositions, such as responding to certain expectations and needs that are absorbed. The cohesive nature of the Catholic community incorporated many of these facets. However, Durkheim believes that without some diversity, also acknowledged by Karmel (1973) and Wyndham (1957), all co-operation would be impossible, and he takes this further in that education is the means of perpetuating and reinforcing the essential similarities that make for a rich social cohesion.
For each individual, Durkheim (1956: 29) asserts there is a system of ideas, sentiments and tendencies that express not only personality, but are also reflected in the group or different groups, of which individuals are part. These are religious beliefs, moral beliefs and practices, national or professional traditions, collective aspects of every kind. Their totality forms the social being and for the new being, there is that collective influence through education that is integrated with and presents what is best in each one (Durkheim 1956: 76). He considers the ideal of man as constituted by society is the focus broadly speaking, of education. This ideal of man is upheld in the Catholic Church documents.
In support of this ideal, Durkheim (1956: 41) believes that the role of moral education is, without doubt, to initiate children into various duties, to create in them, particular virtues. Such education develops in children the general aptitude for morality, and such a moral education is addressed in Catholic Religious Education.
As society becomes more complex, Dewey (1968) claims, it becomes necessary to provide a special social environment. Three of the most important functions for this particular environment are proposed as follows:
i. Simplifying and ordering the factors of the disposition it aims to develop, ii. Purifying and idealising the existing social customs, iii. Creating a wider and better balanced environment than that by which the young would be likely, if left to themselves to be influenced. (Dewey 1968: 22)
15 Learned people such as teachers, facilitate in the learning process by certain teaching methods and books (Dewey 1968: 334). Intentional education signifies a specifically selected environment, the selection being made on the basis of materials and method aimed towards growth in the desired direction.
Durkheim (1956: 79) stresses that children belong to their parents, who are responsible for children’s intellectual and moral development, reinforcing the premise that ‘parents are the primary educators of their children’. The State should be limited to serve as an auxiliary, and when necessary, as a substitute for the family. Consequently Durkheim (1956) considers the State should serve families by establishing schools to which they can send their children in order to stimulate a ‘thirst for knowledge’. He argues that as education has a collective function above all, if its aim ‘is to adapt children to the social milieu in which they are destined to live … it is impossible that society should be uninterested in such procedure’ (Durkheim 1956: 72).
The School The school constitutes another environment, and the criterion of the value of a school education is the extent to which a desire is created for continuing growth and knowledge. It supplies the means for making the desire, in fact, effective. However Dewey (1968: 53) believes that while schools become an important method of imparting formal knowledge and forming dispositions of the immature, it is only one way compared with other ‘agencies’ in the young life. He cautions that as formal teaching and training grow in extent, there is the danger of creating an undesirable split between the experience gained in more direct associations, and what is acquired at school (Dewey 1968). It is assumed he is essentially referring to the family, and that the school and home should be in tandem, thus reinforcing the relationship between them. Durkheim (1956: 87) strengthens this premise in emphasising that teachers and parents need to be aware of their responsibility in what they convey to the child, consciously and non consciously, as ‘authority figures’ in the life of the child. The greatest influence, according to Durkheim in this growth and development, lies with those most significant in the child’s life, such as parents and teachers. Berger and
16 Luckmann (1991: 151) further this notion by stating that children assume the roles and attitudes of the ‘significant others’ and internalise them, thus making them their own.
To sum up, Dewey upholds the significance of the family in the child’s early and ongoing educational formation, and described the important functions for a special environment, such as the school. For an individual, Durkheim (1956: 85) emphasises, there is a need to be able to adapt to different circumstances and conditions in life, as it is an ongoing process. He observes that from birth to the ‘well-defined’ character, an individual must come to play a useful role in society, and the distance is considerable. Education is the enabling process for the child to grow and develop in covering the distance.
Social Capital In Catholic education the relationships surrounding a person are created by Catholic schools, a setting which includes a wider network of church and parish. It constitutes supportive interdependent groups of adults and ‘others’ who, with their children, are united around a system of shared beliefs and values – especially with regard to the nature and role of education. A study, by Coleman and Hoffer (1987) revealed, that families who comprised Catholic school communities, provided a source of rich social capital. It translated into better academic performance for students, especially the disadvantaged, who are most likely to lack social capital from their families. Coleman and Hoffer (1987) suggest that religious organisations are among the few in society that cross generations beyond the family, to exert a unique influence.
The socialisation of children occurred in earlier times in the home, where extended family members lived together with current generations in one household, and the neighbourhood was generally supportive (Coleman 1987; Karmel 1973). Currently an erosion of social capital is occurring, Coleman (1987: 37) alleges, due to changes in the family. These changes include the norm of the nuclear family, older family members living separately, both parents working, the role of mass media in putting forward conflicting values and messages and a breakdown in family and neighbourhood ties (Karmel 1973).
17 Catholic schools stressed the importance of an education founded upon Christian Values and a sense of community. To have real significance, social capital must be reflected in the events, day-to-day decisions of the school that are shared by parents, teachers and priests. Clark and Ramsay (1989: 25) maintain that in being guided by a ‘vision’ which values social capital, the principal and other school leaders must consciously develop a sense of community (Karmel Report 1973), and cohesion (Durkheim 1956) within the school. The emphasis needs to be on co-operation and working together to pursue common goals, versus individualism and competition.
The essential components of relationships in social capital terms, are those in social reality, that are based on trust, reciprocity, mutuality, co-operation, time and social fabric (Cox 1995: 5). This description of such a framework and ‘social reality’ is reflected in the vision of the major religious traditions (Malone 1999: 10). To further the concept of social capital at the school level, Clark and Ramsay (1989: 25), the Karmel Report of 1973, and Church documents emphasise the importance for the principal to establish an active Parents and Friends group. The role of the group needs to extend beyond fund-raising, and encourage programs and activities, which bring together adults, families and children. They advocate that principals and school leaders, should regularly estimate the degree to which a school’s vision is being pursued and reinforced. When parents are included in sharing the ‘vision’ of a school, a significant dimension of community is incorporated, which honours the culture, traditions, values and relationships within it. To extend this notion to the students, a sense of identity and culture related to personal growth and cultural renewal is integrated.
Bourdieu (1986: 21) describes the social world as the total sum of accumulated history. When he speaks of the notion of ‘capital’ he views it as accumulated labour, which, when effectively appropriated by agents or groups of agents, enables all concerned to acquire social energy in the form of ‘living labour’. Over time capital accrues and has the potential to produce profits and reproduce itself, either as it exists or offers the possibility of expansion, such as economic interests.
18 This concept of ‘capital’ as constructed by Bourdieu (1993: 33) provides a means for analysing the logic of how ‘capital’ is accumulated, transmitted and reproduced. He proposes that ‘capital’ is manifested under three different forms:
i. Economic capital that can be converted into money and be institutionalised in the rights of property. ii. Cultural capital, which in some instances, can be converted into economic capital, and is institutionalised in the form of educational qualifications iii. Social capital that consists of social obligations and connections, that can be converted into economic capital, within certain conditions. It may even be institutionalised in a title of nobility. (Bourdieu 1986: 243)
Cultural Capital can be presented, according to Bourdieu (1986: 243), in three ways. It incorporates long-lasting dispositions of the mind and body, such as values and certain acceptable modes of behaviour. In the objectified state it can take the form of cultural goods, such as books, paintings, instruments and writing. The institutionalised state takes on a different form of objectification, as it deals with educational qualifications, which confer entirely ‘original properties’ on the cultural capital (Bourdieu 1986: 243). The notion of cultural capital became apparent to him during educational research, which examined the unequal scholastic achievement of children, not necessarily allied with the effect of natural aptitudes. He suggests that the scholastic yield from educational action depends to a considerable extent on the cultural capital previously invested by the family.
The school as part of the educational system is the other main agent that contributes, Bourdieu (1986: 244) argues, towards the reproduction of the social structure by the reinforcing aspect of hereditary transmission of cultural capital. At the same time, he points out, the accumulation of cultural capital in the embodied state requires culture and cultivation. This requires time and personal cost, he argues, on the part of the investor such as a parent or a school. This hereditary transmission can be heavily disguised, even intangible as it is non consciously acquired (Bourdieu 1986: 245). Critical in the
19 accumulation and acquisition of resources pertaining to cultural capital, is the relationship of appropriation between the agents.
Bourdieu (1986: 249) defines social capital ‘as the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network…consisting of institutionalised relationships of mutual acquaintance or recognition’. It provides links between members in a group and their resources, also providing each of them with the backing of the collectively owned capital, a resource to action. The purpose of social capital can be viewed as reaping economic reward, and receiving mutual benefits. It is therefore a means through social connections, to resources that are pursued in a capitalist society, for example, acquisition and appreciation of works of art.
The family is the main ‘state’ for the accumulation and transmission of this kind of capital. Bourdieu (1993: 32) suggests ‘connections’ such as networks, between members of a particular group, must be striven for on an ongoing basis. Social capital is the outcome of strategies either individually or collectively, aimed at establishing or reproducing social relationships that may be utilised either in the short or long term (Bourdieu 1986: 251). The relationships may be in the neighbourhood, school community, workplace or amongst one’s family.
According to Winter (2000) Coleman defines social capital not by what it is, but by what it does, or by its function. ‘The function identified by the concept of social capital is the value of these aspects of social structure to actors as resources that they can use to achieve their interest’. This definition echoes Bourdieu’s (1986: 251) of connections or group memberships, which provide access to a group’s resources for each member of the group. Coleman in viewing it as a ‘resource to action’ proposes a basis from which other collective actions, might be undertaken to meet mutual interests. The stimulus for parents to participate in the campaign for State aid and the Parents and Friends’ Associations, are examples described in this study.
20 The ‘aspects of social structure’ to which Coleman (1988: 100) refers, comprise obligations and expectations, information channels, norms and effective sanctions that constrain or encourage certain kinds of behaviour. These ‘exist in the relations among persons’, which are a feature of social structures, rather than social relations. Important to the generation of social capital is closure, which is taken to mean sufficient ties among members of a group to ensure the observance of the group’s norms. Arguably it is suggested that this is how conformity is maintained. Starratt (1990: 51) used the analogy of social drama and the school to illustrate how the ‘players’ learn their respective roles, in order to be able to blend self-expression and their responsibilities in the larger social drama of society. The parents, teachers and priests are assigned to part roles in this social drama, and the principal, Starratt (1990) considers, has the dominant role. Fitzgerald and Pettit (1978) found in their research of School Councils in State schools that their success or otherwise, depended on the principal’s stance.
Both Coleman and Bourdieu view social capital as a means of increasing an individual’s resources. If Bourdieu is interested in social capital as a resource for economic capital for individuals, in a range of social settings, Coleman is interested in how social capital in family and community networks, is a resource to create human capital for individuals. He explains how human capital and education are linked, and comprise the skills and abilities that a person possesses (Coleman 1988: 100). Winter sums up ‘social capital is a resource to collective action’. That resource comprises the norms and sanctions of trust and reciprocity, which operate within social networks.
Coleman, Hoffer and Kilgore (1982) carried out research that showed that students in private schools (in 1980) scored higher on achievement tests in mathematics and verbal skills (but not in science) than did students of similar backgrounds in public schools. They found that there was greater social capital in Catholic and religious based schools. The difference in Catholic schools, they argue, was not the result of greater curricular demands or anything else within the school, but was due to different relations of the school to the parental community (Clark and Ramsay 1989). They concluded that the community of the Catholic school, which was usually part of a parish structure, was of great importance in
21 reducing student dropout. In effect this church and school community, with its social networks and its inherent norms with regard to behaviour of young people, constituted social capital beyond the family.
Parents’ delegation of their role Parents have delegated much of their children’s education to the schools, Coleman (1987: 34) contends, and cites sex education as an example. If this is so, Coleman (1991) believes schools must devise strategies to reinvolve parents with their own children and one another in the school community. Burbidge (1998: 25) postulates, that co-operation is always more likely if people expect to be involved with each other, and in this instance, parents and teachers. However there has been a tendency to keep activist parents at arm’s length, consequently a fortress mentality has developed (Coleman 1991; Karmel 1973).
Religion Religion and religious values figure strongly in Catholic schooling. The social contexts within which religions are ‘developed, celebrated, inculcated’ and reproduced, require an examination of the ways in which differences in religion, ‘shape the direction of social change and affect patterns of behaviour’ (Bouma 1992: 28). Furthermore, Bouma (1992) explains religion is both shaped by, and capable of, shaping its social context. There are two major traditions Greeley (1973: 126) states in the sociology of religion, which not only reinforce one another, but also complement each other. Weber stresses the meaning function of religion, while emphasis on religion as community, is in the tradition of Durkheim.
Durkheim (1995: 54) proposes two dimensions of religion. Firstly, religion is ‘a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things’ that are considered to be set apart, and forbidden, and unify those who observe them. In the second dimension, the notion of religion is inseparable from the idea of church, that is a moral community comprising the faithful, both laity and priests. Religion consequently, is ‘an eminently collective thing’, and an individual within a church, experiences a sense of social inclusion. The culture of the community has a strong influence on the religion one follows and the forceful nature of
22 it, as exemplified in the social commitment of nineteenth century Irish Catholics to their Church.
Religion, according to Mol (1977: 266), ‘stabilises a system of meaning, reinforces a definition of reality and sacralises identity’. Bouma (1992: 166) more succinctly states ‘religion is a means by which people organise their lives with a certain purpose’. He takes this further in describing it as ‘binding the here and now with that which is beyond’ thus inferring a meaningful dimension, the transcendent. Religion is integrated by faith and ritual, which involves commitment.
Religions are socially constructed, celebrated and organised. For the purposes of this study, the most effective definition states: ‘Religion is a shared meaning system which grounds its answers to questions of meaning in the postulated existence of a greater environing reality and its related set of practices and social organisation’ (Bouma 1992: 17). The function of religion for Durkheim, is to bind communities together as they experience shared meanings, action and symbols. Bouma (1992: 10) refers to instances where religion has divided communities rather than uniting them, for example Ireland and Beirut. However, a particular religious affiliation can promote greater cohesion as each becomes more united in the conflict involving a different affiliation. This was apparent in the case of the Catholic community in New South Wales in relation to the pervasive sectarianism which existed in earlier times (O’Farrell 1992).
Religion binds communities, promotes cohesion, infers a meaningful dimension related to the transcendent, symbols, ritual celebration, a shared cultural and sacralised identity, which suggests the notion of church, and denotes a strong socially constructed base. Bouma speaks of religious faith and ritual by which people find a certain purpose in their lives and a meaningful dimension. He, with Durkheim (1995), view belief and practice as the very substance of religion, and in this ‘binding the faithful’ into one community, it also embraces a ‘sharing’ component (Bouma 1992: 9). Moreover, faith is the sustaining element in the religious community incorporating a shared culture and identity. Bouma (1992: 16) postulates that a successful religion is one that persists with time, that will also
23 incorporate a wide range of mechanisms to connect the individual to the community, and then the community and individual, to the larger ‘ennobling, transcendent reality’. These mechanisms include among others, song, art, poetry or inspirational discourse which evoke a sense of awe at being in relation with the beyond (Bouma 1992: 16; see also Mol 1983: 107).
The benefits that flow from the group Bouma (1992: 16) concedes, include validation for the religious experiences as a shared collective action. A recent study of religious retreats illustrates the influence of such collective action (Flynn 1993: 241). Retreats were not only important for the students but were also widely appreciated by them. They were considered to be beneficial as they provided a challenge to the faith of the late adolescents, and developed a sense of community in senior class students. In reflecting on the Retreat, some students volunteered that they felt ‘as close to God as I could ever imagine’, and others felt the same; ‘we learned to accept the views of others’; ‘the only disappointment being, that it ended’.
Greeley (1973: 15) argues that, despite the forces of secularisation and change which are vigorously at work, religion has persisted with ‘high levels of religious involvement in the midst of a supposedly scientific and secular technological society’.
Meaning systems are determined by the transcendent element. Thus, Bouma (1992: 10) claims, a distinction can be made between religious and non-religious meaning systems. Non-religious meaning systems can also function in the same way. We get our meaning system from families, schools, friends (Bouma 1992: 6), and no meaning system can be lasting over time with out social organisation which will ensure the continuity of belief and practice (Bouma 1992: 16). Roles will be established within a hierarchical leadership, buildings will be erected, and a form of association will emanate from the organisation, for example, Churches and Catholic schools.
The religious leader is, in the final analysis, the man who understands the meaning system better than others (Greeley 1973: 222). He has a commitment to a special life of
24 communion with God. Religion provides individuals with leaders, such as priests, whose role is to provide comfort and challenge when one attempts to contend with the ‘ultimate’. Durkheim (1961: 155), acknowledges the role of the teacher in that he is like the priest in his authority because ‘he is the agent of a moral order greater than himself’.
This notion of the ultimate recurs in sociological studies of religion. Bouma (1992: 11) describes ultimacy as functional and substantive. Functional ultimacy refers to the role, a meaning system plays for groups and individuals, and it becomes apparent in two ways. The first refers to meaning systems, which are essentially related to ultimate questions. In explaining Bouma (1992: 11) contends that while meaning systems function in order to answer questions of ultimate concern, it is also necessary to recognise the significance of what ‘people do to make their lives meaningful’. The substantive ultimacy carries with it a property meaning of the system itself, and Bouma (1992: 12) seemingly agrees with Berger (1967), who views religion as the ‘ultimate integrator of other sources of meaning’. The meaning system must be grounded in some transcendental reality. A binding of the present with the beyond has to transcend the mundane daily functioning of life. It must be authentic in the hope it offers, the sacrifices it demands or the eternal destiny, that it affirms. Consequently it is recognised as something much greater than the person or group.
In distinguishing between these two forms of ultimacy, Bouma (1992: 19) observes that religion which is based on a premise that is not essentially related to the ultimate, will possibly be minimally meaningful to the individuals, who embrace it as such, over time. However it is the ultimate or sublime aspect of a religion that conveys spiritual connotations in that a sense of awe or wonder, is reflected. A religion, which has the inherent ultimate feature, is more likely to attract continued belief and commitment, than one where it is absent (Bouma 1992: 12).
Sacralised identity Integral to an understanding of religion is sacralisation, described by Mol (1977: 202) as ‘the process of safeguarding and reinforcing a complex of orderly interpretations of reality, rules and legitimations’. In Western societies, Christianity is often the sacraliser of
25 particular systems of meaning (Mol 1977: 203). Bouma (1992: 19) claims that because religion can affect social action, social structure and social change, it is major factor in social life. To all appearances, religious institutions like the Church that were so dominant and strong in earlier times, appear to have a diminished patronage. McCallum (1987: 414) reinforces this premise in acknowledging that while there has been a declining affiliation to traditional churches, it has been more pronounced in Protestant churches than in Catholicism. Nonetheless, Bouma (1992: 19) argues that the religious functions remain a force. Greeley (1973: 16) acknowledges, that the context has changed but ‘the basic functions religion plays in human life, are essentially the same’.
x Religion functions in several ways to support and develop community and consequently, the individual. Religion: x Provides individuals with a faith – or meaning system enables them to cope with the question of the Ultimate, x Provides individuals with some feeling of belonging with the communal group, whose members share ultimate commitments, and thus provide strong basic support for one another, x Strives to integrate with the rest of human life the profound and disturbing forces of human sexuality, x Offers individuals a channel for coming into intimate contact with the Powers that are real, a contact which is frequently mystical and even ecstatic, x Provides individuals with certain leaders, whose role is to provide both comfort and challenge when individuals attempt to ponder the ultimate. (Greeley 1973: 16)
Bouma (1992: 23) in Durkheim’s terms, insists that the effects of religion are of a social ilk. He concedes it is the coercive force of social gatherings that strengthen the community. Furthermore people, are influenced by their social milieu; by what others do, say, or think. The collective community offers beneficial reinforcement to the individual through religious ritual and allegiance. This situation was apparent in the earlier twentieth century where social life for Catholics revolved around the church, school and parish.
In noting the essential social nature of religion, its cultural force should not be ignored. Greeley (1973: 55) cites Geertz, (1968: 641) who explains religion as a cultural system.
26 Culture is a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms, by means of which human beings communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life. (Geertz 1968: 641)
Culture, as specifically focused on the individual, moulds not only the human person, but also the community in which one lives (John Paul II 1993). However, culture may divide more than religion unites. Lewins (1978: 6) in his study of Italian immigrants seeking acceptance in the Australian Catholic Church, notes its three fold divisions of authority: Rome, the Australian hierarchy, and the parish, with the maintenance and preservation of authority in each category. While the faith of migrants was shared with their Australian born members of the parish community, their culture kept them separate within the whole (Lewins 1978). This effective exclusion continues as Flynn (1993: 402) observes ‘immigrant parents to Australia struggle with a new language without the traditional religious practices of their homelands. Flynn like Lewins in his earlier work, advocated schools should continue to develop creative ways of supporting and nurturing the faith of migrants, as well as single-parent families, and those in which, both parents are working.
Culture is manifested materially through: symbols, myths and rituals (Arbuckle 1993: 23). A symbol is ‘any reality which by its very dynamism or power leads to another deeper reality through a sharing the dynamism that the symbol itself offers’ (Arbuckle 1993: 38). This can be by way of thought, imagination, or feeling. Each symbol has two qualities, meaning and emotion. The meaning conveys a message, which evokes positive or negative feelings. An example of a Christian symbol is the crucifix, found in Christian churches, and also in Catholic schools, hospitals and institutions throughout the world. The statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the various saints, also link the Catholic group and the individual to the transcendent, which involves ‘reason, action and emotion’ (Bouma 1992: 10). These symbols permit individuals to communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge regarding an attitude to life (Greeley 1973: 56).
Religious symbolism was very apparent in the classrooms of Catholic schools in the 1950s and 1960s. Campion observed:
27 Catholic schools certainly looked religious. Almost every teacher belonged to a religious order and wore the order’s habit. The walls carried crucifixes and pictures of Christ and Mary and the saints. Some schools were made-over churches or were used as churches at the weekend. From the gables, crosses signified their purpose. In the grounds, there might be a grotto modelled on the one at Lourdes where the Blessed Virgin Mary had appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Elsewhere, there might be a statue of the Sacred Heart or of the founder of the order. School children wore medals, scapulars and other religious insignia. Everywhere you looked you saw evidence of an unseen order of reality. (Campion 1987: 142)
The third element of religious culture, myth, Mol (1977: 233) identifies ‘as it articulates and reiterates a system of meaning by continual repetition’. Arbuckle (1993: 38) speaks of a myth as ‘a story or tradition that claims to reveal, in an imaginative or symbolic way, a fundamental truth about the world and human life’. In a school the stories and traditions, which are expressions of core beliefs and values are lived out, and are transmitted from one generation to the next. Current practice is not only influenced by them, but future practices also. People tend to create or share meaning, by stories about themselves, their group or their heroes and saints, thus perpetuating past traditions (Bouma 1992: 9).
Through ritual and celebration, religion establishes relationship with the particular community, as they not only share the same beliefs and practices, but in the ritual celebration of them, a sense of security and belonging is instilled. The overall aim of ritual is to preserve the wholeness of the individual, society or institution to which it belongs (Mol 1983: 107).
The concept of authority Authority emerged as a significant issue in this study. Authority according to Weber, is inherent in leadership, which is allied with power. Praetz (1980: 6) puts forward an example of leaders who are able to bureaucratise and gain power from… ‘special knowledge and confidential information gathered as officials in the general course of their duties’. They are able to influence decision making she proposes, while also selectively advocating the areas where decisions will be made. They determine priorities of relevance and at the same time ‘shape others’ perceptions, cognitions and preferences in such a way that they accept their role in the existing order’ (Praetz 1980: 6).
28 Weber (1962: 20) defines ‘power’ as ‘the opportunity which permits one individual to impose his will on the behaviour of others even against their will’. He aligns power with domination effective through influence being exercised on others. The expectation implied is that they would not only respond to explicitly articulated behaviours, but they would also obey such ‘commands’. This style of relational concept was based on the belief in the legitimacy of the authority by all concerned. The three types of legitimate domination that Weber (1968: 215) considers underpin the demands for obedience are:
traditional, which is established on a belief that is ‘sanctified in immemorial traditions, custom and the legitimacy of those exercising authority’. It suggests an implicit message of obedient compliance because that is what those before us, have always done. (Weber 1968: 227)
It is the type of domination exercised by patriarchs, tribal or clan elders.
Charismatic, which is attributed to heroic individuals and those of exemplary character, someone who possesses the gift of grace, and inspires others to follow and comply (Weber 1968: 215).
The third type, legal-rational, carries a certain status, which rests on a belief in the ‘legality of enacted rules and for those elevated to authority, to issue commands’.
Thus the superior is himself subject to an impersonal order by directing his actions to it in his own dispositions and commands. A person obeying authority in this instance does so only in his capacity as a ‘member’ of the organization, and he is only obeying the ‘law’. Bureaucracy could be considered to be the archetypal case (Weber 1968: 217).
Authority confers status, that is the honour and respect attributed by others. Durkheim regards respect as intrinsic to the status, or social position, of religious, both priests and teachers. They have a particular gift and a sacred calling as God’s representatives (Durkheim 1961: 155).
29 Compliance with authority is based on belief in the legitimacy of the source demanding it, for example, the church. Weber (1962) considers that authority not only elicits obedience, but it is also willingly given. Consequently power in the form of authority is established through the allegiance of the group or society, when it is exercised (Daniel 1983: 155). A significant point Parkin (1990: 74) notes is that ‘a positive commitment on the part of the subordinate members, to the authority they obey, is a cardinal feature of domination’. At the same time it is noted that a subordinate group or class could accept commands as ‘valid norms’ out of ‘a genuine belief in the worthiness of those in control and support for the aims they were pursuing’ (Parkin 1990: 76).
Normative compliance from a subordinate group is voluntarily instituted rather than stemming from compulsion. However Weber (1968: 214) estimates that people may submit from individual weakness and helplessness because there is no other acceptable alternative. Parkin (1990: 77) cites Weber (1968) in proposing there is also the possibility that authority figures ‘concoct myths about their own superiority and natural fitness to rule’, thus enhancing their status. Oppressed social groups sometimes are impressed with the superiority of their authority figures, drawing on this premise for adaptation to their plight.
However, Weber (1962: 72) contends that there may be a variety of motives for people’s conformity to authority. The most common is associated with ‘custom’ which carries with it prestige that is considered to be exemplary or binding, or ‘possesses a certain ‘legitimacy’. Such authority carries a conscious belief in the worth of it and is measured by a standard connected with ‘ethics, aesthetics or religion. This is called ‘value-related conduct’ (Weber 1962: 59).
Furthermore, Weber (1962: 75) indicates in another milieu, legitimacy of authority stems from belief originating in religious attitudes which infer that ‘salvation depends on obedience to authority’. This kind of authority is termed conventional and carries with it the connotation that any deviation from the ‘norms’ within a definable social group will incur palpable disapproval. It follows that such a ‘system of authority will be considered as law,
30 especially if unusual behaviour is met by psychic sanctions…which are aimed at maintaining conformity or as a punishment for disobedience’ (Weber 1962: 75). Usually these mandates are administered by men who are charged with the responsibility for them. Weber (1962: 76) nominates this process as ‘a means of legal coercion’ which can also be a means of church discipline related to ecclesiastical law.
McKenzie (1966: 3) draws attention to the focus on authority that was evident in the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church. The notion of ecclesiastical authority needs to be distinguished from the use of authority, and it ‘has no more right to be unfair and imprudent than has any other authority’ (McKenzie 1966: 4). Furthermore, it is suggested that ecclesiastical authority does not fail, should it exhibit some defects. However even when it is prudent and fair, which is the minimum one can expect of any authority, it may not necessarily succeed because it is ‘church authority’. McKenzie argues that genuine obedience is given only to moral power, not to force or coercion. It is also not measured by the degree of control which results. A distinction is made between authority and power, and authority and persuasion; ‘where force is used, authority has failed; and where arguments are used, authority is left in abeyance, (McKenzie 1966: 6). Moreover, ‘ideally obedience is given naturally and almost spontaneously, to the wise and good man whose authority is based on his power to see further, plan more effectively, conceive a nobler idea than his subordinates’.
At the same time, Weber (1962: 81) portends that the ‘oldest and most universally held legitimacy of authority is based on the sacredness of tradition’. But the validity of authority continues, as a result of the many vested interests which are embedded in it, and aimed at its perpetuation. To consider past traditions as a commitment to the future, they must be recognised as dominating the individual, and hence being preserved across generations (Durkheim 1961: 257).
In terms of the church, Weber (1962) suggests that charismatic priesthood develops from a universalistic, other-worldly way of life, incorporating religious doctrine and worship.
31 These elements are thus combined in an institutional structure, which is a bastion of tradition (Bendix 1966).
The Concept of Community The concept of community is central to this study’s analysis of the community of the Catholic school and Church. Durkheim’s proposition of community is eminently appropriate as it is related to collective life, that provides an individual with a sense of belonging and identity. For Durkheim, social cohesion has a moral basis. The term community according to Black and Hughes (2001: 2) has been used to describe groups of people, who ‘share a particular purpose, a task or function together, or who have some form of identity in common, though not necessarily associated with the same locality’. The shared function may be related to a variety of societal settings and shared identity of national origin, religion or some other feature. However, they claim that there are two major types of communities; based on location and/or interest. For the purposes of this study, while it is proposed that both types of ‘community’ may apply, the focus on the religious, social dimension of ‘community’ in terms of Church, school, and family, is more applicable.
Black and Hughes (2001: 3) follow Durkheim’s notion that in defining community subjectively, ‘one’s community is the group with which one identifies, and which provides us with a particular sense of identity’. They consider that the advantage in defining community in this particular style, is that ‘it resonates with the lived experience of people while reflecting the kinds of relationships and patterns of communication, that are important to them’. They acknowledge that traditionally religious and ideological beliefs, have figured significantly in formulating ‘a common set of values and offering a vision of what a community could be, based on certain ideals and ultimates’.
Vanier (1979: 14) in furthering Durkheim’s concept, describes community as ‘one that truly aids personal growth … all share in a vision, which promotes a sense of belonging by the particular style of their interpersonal relationship’. Additionally, community is defined by Douglas:
32 small, face-to face in its interactions, and many sided in its relationship. Secondly, participation in its decision-making process is widespread. Thirdly, the members of a community hold beliefs and values in common, its most perfect example would be fully consensual. It holds together by virtue of a network of reciprocal exchanges. (1986: 13)
Collective action depends on the complex interlocking of multiple reciprocal exchanges which maybe direct or indirect according to Douglas (1986: 31). She explains it as ‘the rational individual is tied into a complex set of relations whereby he must act trustfully because he has no choice’. Additionally, social sanctions will be applied to penalise uncooperative behaviour. At times a person is laid under such powerful coercion that there is really no choice but to obey (Douglas 1986: 31). In applying this notion practically, Douglas (1986: 24) notes that systematic constraints on collaboration can apply on a huge gamut, from the small groups such as the local Parent Teacher Association to labour unions, to parliamentary constituencies to international cooperation. She speaks of hidden self-sustaining mechanisms which do so. No one who is interested in explaining collective action ‘can lightly dismiss the formidable problems to be faced by a small community trying to stay in being’ (Douglas 1986: 24). Additionally, she indicates that small of scale fosters mutual trust, which is the basis of community. This view is supported by Daniel (1998: 7), who describes how a small community, by virtue of its homogeneity, and shared identity of value and belief, functions like a ‘finely tuned machine, is held together by the interdependence’. Hence, community life develops through mutual trust amongst all its members (Vanier 1979).
Durkheim (1961: 71) claims that the milieu to which an individual clings, is pervasive and absorbs the person. This results from a ‘felt need’ by those who constitute the community. It emanates from external arrangements that necessitate such organisation (Durkheim 1961: 238). Furthermore, Douglas (1978: 6) insists some effects, have a historical significance in that they have ‘long, slow fibres which reach back many years’. This research concurs.
Furthermore, individuals need to be able to ‘make sense of their surroundings’ by drawing on some principles, which are set up to guide them in terms of sanctioned behaviour and as
33 a means to exercising judgement of others, at the same time, justifying themselves to others. The collective nature of the group, in Durkheim’s sense is a consciousness that is manifested in two ways, by making penalties and carrying rules which justify them (Douglas 1978). Individuals can be perceived, Sargent (1994: 316) explains, as acting in terms of their own interests, and in Durkheim’s view, as needing restraint through social control. Consistent with this notion it is deemed, people in power, act on behalf of society or a group as a whole. Furthermore, for individuals to commit themselves to collective ends, they must have a genuine feeling and affection for the collectivity, thus ensuring collective cohesiveness (Durkheim 1961: 238).
Greeley (1973: 150) postulates that ‘man seeks community with his own kind, with those who share his own values and own his interpretation of the ultimate meaning of life’. Community, asserts Greeley (1973), is where religion is learned and practised and where individuals are most likely to join in close relationship with those who share the same interpretive schemes, culture systems and mythologies. If the authority of the group focuses particularly on certain beliefs and sentiments, Durkheim discerns, they consist of moral ideas and feelings. He considers them to be the vital part, closely bound to the very core of the collective conscience.
Collective life, Durkheim (1995: 44) aligns with myth and ritual as the basic elements of religion. The myth is associated with belief, and ritual is how belief is enacted. These shared sacred beliefs and practices unite people with one single moral community, which is called a Church. Religion, Durkheim believes is inseparable from the idea of church, and a ‘collective’ thing, which comprises the faithful, both laity and priest; thus the solidarity of the social group is sustained. Individuals come to think alike by internalising their idea of the social order and sacralising it (Douglas 1986: 13). Reinforcement of a sacralised identity requires commitment to a particular ritual of worship on a regular basis (Mol 1977: 266). At the same time, the collective participatory action ensures a certain cohesion, as individuals become united as community. Bouma (1992: 16) asserts that the repetitive nature of the ritual strengthens the institution and contributes to the viability over time.
34 The processes of cohesion and solidarity are reinforced, Black and Hughes (2001: 5) suggest through ‘sustainability, resilience and health’, and recognised as contributing to the notion of the strength of the community. ‘Strength’ can involve individuals in both physical and moral ways. The morally strong person maintains moral principles it is alleged, and strength is evident where the processes of equity, participation and collaboration are incorporated (Kenny 1994; Ife 1995), cited by Black and Hughes, (2001: 6). That sustainability is linked with the capacity to provide, not only current resources, but also a ‘flow-on’ for future generations (Black and Hughes 2001: 5).
Resilience is related to the inherent nature of the community able to withstand ‘shocks and stress’ which might threaten the stability of the community. The moral authority of a group is closely allied with its solidarity. Furthermore, Daniel (1998: 9) believes, the greater the strength and coherence of the group which incurs prolonged and frequent interaction of its members, the more comprehensively and pervasively does it command the loyalty and commitment of those members. Vanier (1979: 21) acknowledges that the ‘more authentic and creative a community is in its search for the essential, the more the members are extended beyond their own concerns, thus tending to unite’.
Religion survived, Durkheim (1995: 44) points out, because it is ‘a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things’. The celebration of rites provides an emotional bond for the participants for those who share in the ‘creed and celebration’ thus providing for the continuity of the rites from one generation to another.
Linking community and education Durkheim observes:
There is nothing more agreeable than collective life if one has had a little experience with it at an early age. It has the effect of enhancing the vitality of each individual. The child feels himself stronger, more confident, when he feels that he is not alone. (1961: 239)
35 Concept of participation Bernstein’s theory (1996: 6) of participation guides the investigation of the perceptions of parents and teachers in this research. It proposes the salience of Rights, Conditions and Levels, and offers some explanation for the historical exclusion of parents at the decision- making level. Bernstein suggests a school metaphorically holds up a mirror to its social milieu. In examining the distribution of images, Bernstein draws on the metaphor to assess what reflections are revealed to those who comprise the school community. The main point of his focus is centred on questions in connection with these images; ‘Who recognises themselves as of value? What other images are excluded by the dominant image of value?’
Furthermore, Bernstein identifies visual and temporal features of the images the school reflects that are positive and negative; they project a hierarchy of values, of class values. He also advances this notion a step further in asking about the acoustic of the school. Whose voice is heard? Who is speaking? Who is summonsed by this voice and for whom is it familiar?
In this research, the question arises, how clear was the reflected image of the parents in their school community? Or was it somewhat blurred and nondescript. As this study is centred around parental role as primary educators in the Catholic education of their children, this theory provides the necessary components to assess the degree to which the parents in the study were involved, and whether a shift has occurred over time, indicating change. A schools’ ideology may be seen as a reflection of actual church practice in this instance.
In translating his theory for an effective democracy in the school, Bernstein (1996: 6) specifies that there are certain ‘rights, conditions and levels’ that are to be negotiated. From Bernstein’s perspective, certain conditions are needed for the achievement of an effective democracy. Bernstein (1996) insists a mutual reciprocity must be present, between representative groups and individuals in the setting. They should have a stake in the institution. The parents, not only held a stake in the institution, they supported the school community financially and personally. In Bernstein’s proposition people are concerned not
36 only to receive something, but also to give something, establishing their ‘stake’ in the institution. However Bernstein (1996: 6) argues that whether the stake is fully realised or only in part, is not significant, provided that ‘there are good grounds or reasons for this situation’.
Bernstein (1996: 6) explains that for the conditions in his theory to be realised there are three inter-related rights for the individuals that have to be institutionalised. The model offers a means of gaining some insight into what takes place in educational systems. Enhancement is the first right, which enables individuals to experience boundaries which can be social, intellectual or personal. It extends individuals in that they step out of their designated roles of the past. This in turn can create tension points between past and possible futures, but in being open to new possibilities, change in a group situation is possible. Bernstein asserts, that this right also instils confidence, and if absent, it is difficult for individuals to act effectively, or voice opinions.
The second right is ‘inclusion’ socially, culturally and intellectually. Bernstein (1996: 7) acknowledges it is complex and emphasises that to be’ included’ does not mean to be absorbed. Therefore it requires ‘a right to be separate; to be autonomous’ and in the context of the research, infers parent involvement in the decisions related to the running of the school. Bernstein views ‘inclusion’ as a prerequisite for community.
The third right is the one of participation. Bernstein views participation as what actually happens in practice, and requires outcomes. It is not only about discourse or discussion, but participation ‘in the construction, maintenance and transformation of order’ (1996: 7).
However Bernstein raises points related to the way schools deal with the communication between the hierarchy of social groups, and their ‘differential power’ external to the school as related to external issues of social order, justice and conflict. At the same time, how does the school handle the hierarchies of knowledge, possibility and value within the school? Bernstein (1996: 9) cites Bourdieu (1993) in proposing that the school ‘accomplishes this trick by pretending that the hierarchy within the school is created by different principles
37 from those of the hierarchy outside the school’. In this way the school Bernstein believes, ‘masks the way power relations’ are set in place.
While external educational authorities stress the parent role is crucial for effective education, the school as an institution insulates itself between certain avenues of discourse, thus reinforcing the principles of their social division of labour (Bernstein 1996: 20). In this way Bernstein alleges ‘power’ preserves the insulation, and any attempt to change or challenge the degrees of insulation, ‘reveal the power relations on which the classification is based and what it reproduces’. In pursuing this premise, Bernstein claims that ‘the arbitrary nature of these power relations is disguised’; hidden by the principle of classification as such, due to the idea that the identities and order constructs are taken as real, authentic, and integrated. As a result contradictions, dilemmas, which may inhere in the principle of classification, are suppressed by the insulation. Douglas, (1978: 8) in agreeing with Bernstein, explains that there are visible and invisible pedagogies, and for teaching institutions, strong insulation holds so long as power is securely monopolised. Additionally, Douglas (1978: 8) deems insulations are the result of effective power, and the means of filtering and rationing information, limiting access and stabilising power from its source, to the ‘boundaries of control’.
In describing power and control, Bernstein (1996: 19) emphasises power establishes legitimate relations of order, while control carries the boundary relations of power, and socialises individuals into these relationships. However Bernstein postulates, that ‘control not only conveys the power of reproduction, but also the potential for its change’. Is this possible with a generational change?
Concept of Institutions In this research the concept of institution is significant, as the main focus is on correlated institutions of the Church, school and family and these, in forming a triad, are essentially interconnected.
38 Douglas (1986: 46 ) takes the view that institution legitimises social grouping. It is based on common assent to some founding principle. Institutions, according to Berger and Luckmann (1991: 72), ‘are historically produced, and establish predefined patterns of conduct’ aimed at applying control to human behaviour. In taking this premise further Douglas (1986: 46) portrays the process as one of convention, which arises when all concerned have a common interest in setting up a rule to ensure co-ordination. It is maintained as self-policing, as it is assumed there is no conflict of interest between those involved, and the expectation that no one will deviate. The convention becomes institutionalised when all accept the ‘conditions’.
The processes of habitualisation occur and become typifications, when they are reciprocated by individuals in a setting (Berger and Luckmann 1991: 71). They become institutionalised, when they are shared in a meaningful way by the ‘types of actors’, within their own biographical context. These discrete actions are essentially taken for granted and tend to limit choices (Berger and Luckmann 1991: 82). Specifically, typified actions are ‘related parts in a subjectively meaningful universe, whose meanings are not specific to the individual, but are socially articulated and shared’ (Berger and Luckmann 1991: 82). As institutions always have a historical basis, it is from this premise, that the typifications of actions are produced (Berger, and Luckmann 1991: 72).
Institutions are essentially directed to control human conduct. Maintenance occurs, Douglas (1986: 48) contends, by a process of encoded information and previous experience is encapsulated in an institution’s rules, thus providing a guide in terms of expectations of the future. Individuals are thus confronted with, historically, ‘undeniable facts’ and the institutions relentlessly exercise coercive power over individuals through the control mechanisms (Berger and Luckmann 1991: 78). Furthermore, they consider any segment of human activity that has been subsumed under social control, has been institutionalised. Institutions generally contain considerable numbers of people (Berger and Luckmann 1991) and similarity in an institution bestows sameness. This occurs, Douglas (1986: 55) proposes, as the roles to be played in the institutional context are clearly defined and constructed, from a body of transmitted knowledge and past experience. This, in turn,
39 sustains the motivating dynamics of institutionalised conduct (Berger and Luckmann 1991: 78) and social control.
Institutions veil their influence of control, Douglas (1986: 103) suggests so that it becomes unnoticeable. Furthermore, Bourdieu and Passeron (1977: 108) assert, that legitimate transmitters of the ‘pedagogic message’ present it in such a way, that obligations towards the institution are imposed. They speak of the institutionalised education system, which is to be conceived as an institution for the reproduction of legitimate culture. They submit that problems occur when there is a separateness and ‘distance’ between the school population, and organisation of the institution, or its system of values, and the pupils ‘cultural aspirations or parental motivation’. They infer that as it is the hidden aspects of the relations between the school population and the institutional organisation that tend to be problematical, the aim to produce relational concepts needs to be explored. Douglas (1986: 48) believes that the more efficiently institutions encode expectation, uncertainty is brought under control and behaviour tends to become embedded in the institutional conformity.
Legitimacy of a social institution requires a parallel cognitive validity to its objectivated means (Douglas 1986: 46). Additionally, Berger and Luckmann (1991: 111) claim, legitimation implies knowledge as well as ‘values’ and needs to be explained and justified. In the course of transmission it comes to a new generation as a tradition, rather than a biographical memory.
Berger and Luckmann (1991: 83) describe primary knowledge about the institutional order as knowledge on the pre-theoretical level. It is what everybody knows ‘about a social world, an assemblage of maxims, morals…values beliefs and myths’. At this level every institution supplies the institutionally appropriate rules of conduct. Subjective reality is thus always dependent upon specific plausibility structures, as the specific social base and social processes are required for its maintenance. One can maintain one’s self-identification as a person of importance, only in a milieu that confirms that identity (Berger and Luckmann 1991: 174).
40 Institutions survive by mobilising all their information processes in the task of becoming established (Douglas 1986: 102). Additionally, the instituted community discourages any personal enquiry, ‘organises public memory and heroically imposes certainty on uncertainty’ (Douglas 1986: 102). In this way, Douglas (1986: 102) estimates that as certain boundaries are set up, individuals claim their own identities and classify others, through the benefits of community affiliation. The choices available to them are within the context of their classification. However, a change can happen when individuals find they have some need for easier communication and perhaps a new focus. This occurrence as Douglas (1986) sees it, will be a response to the vision of a new kind of community.
In terms of a new generation Berger and Luckmann (1991: 79) propose that an expanding social order develops a corresponding protective cover of both cognitive and normative interpretations in legitimations. As the new generation learn the legitimations they become socialised into the institutional order. This is where a problem of compliance may emerge. Deviance from the proscribed courses of action is possible, if they become separated from the original social processes of their historical relevance (Berger and Luckmann (1991: 80). Institutions do claim authority over the individual and whatever subjective meanings the individual attaches to particular situations. Thus the more conduct is institutionalised the more predictable and controlled it becomes. Coercive measures can be selectively applied.
The concept of role Role is a key concept in sociological theory (Scott and Marshall, 2005). It draws together social expectations that are connected to particular social positions thus enabling the analysis of how such expectations operate in a given field. Sargent (1994: 84) describes how society requires certain social positions be occupied by those, who conform to certain sets of norms, attitudes and behaviours. Roles are the ‘bundles of socially defined attributes and expectations associated with social positions’ (Abercrombie, Hill and Turner 1988: 209). They consider role is sociologically important as it demonstrates how individual activity is socially influenced and thus follows regular patterns of behaviour, which can be identified with various types of social actors. Sargent (1994: 85) contests the notion of role theory as it ignores the ‘powerful influential economic infrastructure and the ideological
41 superstructure’, which determine the expectation for behaviour in social positions. Sargent (1994) alleges that social pressures that are exerted often persuade people to conform in a certain way.
In a review of recent development of role theory (Biddle 1986: 67) describes it, as being concerned with one of the most important features of social life, characteristic behaviour patterns as roles. He explains ‘persons are members of social positions and hold expectations for their own behaviours and those of other persons.’ But, role theory is problematical due to the various proponents who ‘are trying to deal with differing forms of social systems and making assumptions that are inappropriate in other realms’ (Biddle 1986: 68). However, role theory for Biddle (1986) is focused on a triad of concepts: patterned and characteristic social behaviours, parts or identities, that are assumed by social participants, and scripts or expectations for behaviours ‘that are understood and subscribed to, by all the performers’. He designates these concepts of role theory as role, social position and expectation. Some role theorists regard expectations as norms (prescriptive in nature), or beliefs (subjective probability) or preferences (or ‘attitudes’). Roles are thus generated, from the mode of expectation, for different reasons (Biddle 1986: 69). In agreement with other authors, he claims that expectations are the major generators of roles that they are learned through experience and subsequently integrated within the individuals’ awareness. Thus roles are conceived as shared, normative expectations that prescribe and explicate these behaviours. The norms have been learned and individuals may be relied upon to conform to them in terms of their own conduct, and to sanction others for conformity to them also.
Berger and Luckmann (1991: 92) claim that the origin of roles lies in the same fundamental process of ‘habitualisation and objectivation’, as in the origins of institutions. They believe that roles emanate from accumulated knowledge which contain reciprocal typifications of conduct in the process of formation, a process that they express as endemic to social interaction. All institutionalised conduct requires roles, which, consequently share in the controlling character of institutionalisation. Role represents institutional order and with its assemblage of the drama, depends upon the reiterated performances of its prescribed roles
42 by living actors. Goffman (1959: 141) views it as ‘the objective of any team is to sustain the definition of the situation that its performance fosters’. He acknowledges the fragility and the required expressive coherence of the reality that is dramatised by a performance, but goes on to point out that a discrepancy in the presentation if revealed, could be destructive for the audience. Alternatively, any concrete role performance refers to the objective sense of the institution, and thus to the other complementary role performances which contribute to the sense of the institution as a whole (Berger and Luckmann 1991: 93).
Religious roles, meaning systems, religious and otherwise, require social organisation of which, as previously stated, hierarchical leadership roles are instituted which are reinforced by continuity, belief and practice (Bouma 1992: 16). In their religious role Bouma (1992: 147) considers, that the clergy are one of three traditional professions, clergy, law and medicine. From early days, they were among the educated professionals and were expected to have, and to express opinions on the various issues of which, they were expected to be the source of all knowledge. They were among the dominant elite and were highly respected as such. However, ‘communities develop roles, which are described and organised into a hierarchy of responsibility as in the Catholic Church’ (Bouma 1992: 143). Role labels are instigated for those who are the ‘followers’ or ‘faithful’, and those who tend to lead. Role designations are given for those who are exemplary and others who do not quite live up to expectations, associated with the degree of appropriate adherence. As religious communities are formed, certain people – ‘the chosen’, for example the priest or religious teacher, are inducted into filling these leadership roles (Bouma 1992: 143).
The individual becomes part of the organisation or community, the social structure and culture through their assigned social roles, which confer identity, set down guides to behaviour, appropriate to their status. A degree of predictability associated with expectations of the way roles are performed, is thus instilled in the organisation or community (Bouma 1992). He maintains that social role analysis is directed to how the ‘cultural prescription for role performance impacts upon the role performance of the role
43 incumbent’, who is given a specific location in the social structure (community, group or organisation) (Bouma 1992: 143).
Role expectations, Biddle (1986: 75) observes, can appear simultaneously in at least three modes of thought: norms, preferences, and beliefs, that are learned through different experiences. It is possible that they may (or may not be) shared with others in a given context, each can affect behaviour, and in generating a role, all may be implied. The concept of consensus denotes agreement of expectations among the various persons. They ‘know what they should do, and all support the system in supporting the ‘norms’ with sanctions’. As a result social systems are better integrated and interaction between them, is smoothly expedited. It is also proposed that when members share beliefs about social conduct, the integration and cohesion of the social system can lead to collective action (Biddle 1986: 76)
Goffman (1959: 27) speaks of defining social role ‘as the enactment of rights and duties attached to a given status…it will involve one or more parts and that each of these different parts, maybe presented by the performer on a series of occasions to the same audience’. He considers that the participants become the dramaturgy with ‘emerging’, expected or assigned roles in the situation. It is argued that it can become problematical when someone acts differently from their expected role behaviour.
Finally, Biddle (1986: 87) concludes that most role theorists assume that expectations are formed in response to experience and that roles are largely generated by expectations. Others consider roles are tied to functions, while some theorists view roles, as those behaviours that validate one’s position or that project a self image.
The concepts reviewed in this chapter served to inform a sociological perspective for viewing the accounts given by the participants in this research. These concepts, or ways of thinking develop further as a conceptual interpretation of the shifting relation between teachers and parents in the context of changing cultural expectations and norms through the twentieth century.
44 The use of these ‘tools for understanding’ generated a strategic frame for ordering the data and building a more comprehensive and generalisable understanding of the changing nature of the crucial relation of parent and teacher engaged in the education of the child.
In analysing the data, the work of Durkheim was ever-present (the ghost of Durkheim haunts all my reflections). Hence reference to his insights to the universal significance of religion, recur throughout the thesis.
In the next Chapter the range of research methods and all the procedures that were adopted for collecting the data for the empirical field work including description of the participants are described.
45 CHAPTER 3
METHODS
Throwing a pebble in the pond!
Background to the study As a parent myself, I have worked with other parents in Catholic schools, in order to raise the level of awareness of the vital nature of their role in the education of their children. My own interest in this subject spans almost forty years, both as a parent, and in a variety of different roles. I have worked in a welfare role in formal and informal settings, such as drop-in drug referral centres, and an alcohol clinic of a major teaching hospital. During this time, I encountered young people who had been expelled from schools (Government and Catholic schools), for being rebellious and troublesome. It seemed that relationships between themselves and their parents and teachers, had been extremely poor and I observed that there was practically no contact between parents and the school.
Twenty years ago, I conducted a study in Pastoral Care with problem students in schools, which raised the question ‘How do I know they really care?’ (Millar 1980). From this study, it became clear that although parents and teachers were telling the students they cared very much about them, the ‘care’ was not felt by the ‘difficult’ young people. There was little contact between parents and teachers, except when parents were summoned to hear about their ‘difficult’ son or daughter.
46 I have been a Pastoral Guidance Worker in Catholic secondary and primary schools for several years. Positive notions of parent participation became more evident when I carried out a research project on ‘Parent Participation in Schools in Personal Development Education’ (Millar 1988), when a Parent Co-ordinator was appointed in the school by the Principal. This move stimulated marked enthusiasm among the parents, as they worked with the teachers in the classroom in an accepting, collaborative relationship. In more recent research, I studied the intergenerational transmission of family poverty, the report was titled ‘Voices Crying in the Wilderness : Families in Poverty’, (Millar 1993). This research, conducted through a refuge, noted that parents who were currently residing at the refuge and former residents, who participated in the study, had not had contact with schools due to their uppermost need for survival. Feelings of inadequacy coupled with their own negative experiences of school, plus the lack of interest or contact from the school, clouded their perceptions of any role they might play.
As qualitative research is interpretative research, Cresswell (1994: 147) suggests that the foregoing information should be provided to demonstrate that the researcher is familiar with the topic, the setting and/or the informants.
Introduction to the research The research is of a historical, sociological and cultural nature. In order to situate it, major social events such as two World Wars and the Great Depression in the first fifty years are taken into account. Culturally, many Catholic parents had migrated from Ireland and a poor background. They saw their children as ‘social and cultural capital’ in terms of education for life.
In the second fifty years, unprecedented social change occurred associated with a questioning of authority related to conventional roles and behaviour, that had been set by the established social institutions. In the Catholic Church, the Second Vatican Council was held in 1965, aimed at bringing the Church into the Modern World. The reforms had far- reaching ramifications for Catholics throughout society. In Campion’s words:
47 To many it seemed that the Church was at last shucking off outmoded accretions from the past and that it was becoming more relevant to contemporary men and women, and hence more Christian. The Catholics of the new generation entered enthusiastically into the Vatican II reforms. The new generation of critical Catholics remained alive to questions of freedom of speech in the Church. (1982: 172)
Parents were more educated than earlier generations and readily expressed their views about the education of their children in Catholic schools. Many government reports emphasised the need for parents to be more closely involved in the school community.
The leading principle of Durkheim’s method in ‘treating systems of education in terms of their relationship to the total system in which they occur’, as cited by Parsons (1956: 17), ‘is one of the basic features of much contemporary sociological enquiry’. The relationship between the school and the family is the basis for this research. Parent involvement in a child’s education and socialisation, has been generally recognised as a vital element in a successful outcome (Clark 1983). This premise is supported by Latham (2001: 86) in that ‘parents are the first and most enduring teachers in a child’s life’. Catholic Church documents over the years have nominated parents as the primary educators of their children and steps have been taken in recent years to encourage parents to participate more closely in their children’s schooling (Keane 1999).
My examination of primary and secondary documents, i.e. Catholic Church Code of Canon Law, and the approved commentaries on these authoritative teachings, emphasise the responsibility of parents as primary educators of their children. The Documents of Vatican II and Papal Encyclicals related to Catholic education over the years reinforced the significance of the parent role. This constituted the foil against which practice was reviewed, practices that changed somewhat over decades. The facilitation or resistance emanating from the schools, teachers specifically, and the Church, more generally, entailed analysis of policy and practice and possible disjunctions between them.
I examine how Catholic Church decree links with actual practice during three particular periods of the twentieth century, from the perspective of parents and teachers. These
48 Church statements prefaced changes that have occurred in the attitudes and practices regarding parent involvement in Catholic education in the twentieth century, as reported by the various participants in the research.
How Catholic parents were viewed, particularly by Church authorities in relation to education and schools, is significant. Also how Catholic parents saw their own role. The study examined the role of parents as primary educators and their relation with Catholic schools and asked, how the situation was, why it was so, and how and why it changed?
This study was guided by specific questions:
x What were the processes that led to the change, including the manner in which it changed, and the conditions or contingencies impelling or pushing for a changed relationship between parents and their children’s Catholic schooling?
x To what extent did the relationship of parents with the institution of the Catholic school change?
x How was the change initiated and sustained in this relationship?
The Aim of the Research The aim of this sociological investigation is to unravel the processes which have been instrumental in determining or defining the role of parents in their children’s Catholic education. It involves an examination of the significant shifts in perception and institutional thinking and practices that have occurred related to parents, and the prevailing social conditions that have contributed towards these changes.
That overarching objective generated several empirical questions:
49 x What were the past personal experiences of parents and teachers as children in Catholic education?
x What roles did they play as parents, in relation to their own children’s Catholic education?
x How did these experiences and roles compare with official Church expectations?
x How did the teachers in the research project involve parents in their Catholic schools?
x Was generation a significant factor in determining or influencing the perception of the role?
x What factors contributed to the level/degree of awareness about the parent/teacher role in Catholic education?
x Was there a lack of formal awareness-raising, an unwillingness of parents to be involved, due to personal circumstances, or lack of knowledge of the expectations of them?
The empirical field work drew on a range of qualitative methods: individual, couple and focus groups interviews were developed. Oral History methods, in the light of the historical nature of the research, were also incorporated. The methods were approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of New South Wales.
Description of Participants Three cohorts of parents and religious teachers, totalling sixty participants, were selected on the basis of their experience during three defined periods of the twentieth century. Selection criteria required that the participants were recipients of Catholic education. They were asked to reflect on the degree of involvement of their parents when they were children at school. Secondly, some of the category became teachers in religious orders and, in each
50 particular period, their perceptions of the parental role in relation to children’s education, were recorded. Similarly, the parents interviewed were asked to reflect on how much they, as parents, were involved in their children’s Catholic education. The teachers and parents were interviewed in focus groups, as couples, and others individually.
The following illustrates the three periods of the twentieth century and the related numbers of dramaturgy (Goffman 1959; Starratt 1990) associated with each period:
First cohort 1900-1950, consisted of twenty-eight participants: nine parents and nineteen religious teachers.
Second cohort 1950-1975, consisted of sixteen participants: eight parents and eight religious teachers.
Third cohort 1975-2000, consisted of sixteen participants: eight parents and eight religious teachers. It was envisaged that with three different periods, some insight could be gained of the new place of parents in their children’s education, prevalent at each particular time.
Procedures and Interview Questions A Subject Information Statement (Appendix 1) and Informed Consent Form (Appendix 2), from the University of New South Wales, were sent to the participants. It has been deemed essential that prospective participants are given comprehensive information about the research. Hence, a signed consent form by the subjects was required after they had received the outline covering the purpose, description, method of recording the data, the length of time of the interview, and confidentiality connected with the research project. As tape- recording was the means of obtaining the data, an assurance was given, that the recordings would only be made with the participant’s full knowledge and explicit trust. Any written records and tapes were de-identified and are stored in a locked cabinet for a period of five years, or until the completion of the research project. At this time, the tapes will be destroyed. The outline contained a clause, that indicated that if respondents decided to
51 participate, they were free to withdraw their consent and to discontinue participation at any time without prejudice.
A set of trigger questions, designed by the investigator, formed the basis for the interviews. A set of questions were applied to each cohort, and extra questions relevant to the historical period of the twentieth century associated with each particular cohort, were included. Additional questions were given to each cohort of teachers, in order to assess how they had involved parents in their schools.(Appendix 3)
The questions were memorised and used by the interviewer exclusively in an informal, conversational manner (Patton 1990: 281). The discussion was tape-recorded. The data collected were analysed to discern emerging patterns and themes, which revealed or contributed towards an understanding of the parental role in Catholic education, and the changes that have taken place.
The qualitative research approach The qualitative approach enabled the collection of rich and detailed data that in turn revealed themes and patterns that generated a sociologically informed understanding of the changing nature of the parent-teacher relations. As Burns (2000: 11) suggests ‘ the task of the qualitative methodologist is to capture what people say and do, as a product of how they interpret the complexity of their world, to understand events from the viewpoints of the participants’. After all, as he adds, ‘it is the life-world of the participants that constitutes the investigative fields’. Furthermore, Bruner (1995: 165) considers ‘ one cannot reflect upon Self without an accompanying reflection on the nature of the world in which one exists’. Hence, the interviews with individuals, couples and focus groups in this research were selected as the means for obtaining the data.
The themes of qualitative enquiry, drawn upon for this research, as outlined by Patton (1990: 278) and Seale (1999: 112), provided qualitative data, offering detailed, thick description; with direct quotations capturing people’s personal perspectives and experiences. The personal contact and insight, allows the researcher to enter into the other
52 person’s perspective, and appreciate the rich variation in human experience. With direct contact she/he is able to get close to the people, situation, and phenomenon under study, thus facilitating the process (Patton 1990: 279).
In order to express the purpose of the enquiry, some aspects of the critical theory and constructivism paradigms were employed. They included:
structural and historical insights; understanding reconstruction, individual reconstructions coalescing around consensus; vicarious experiences, historical situatedness; trustworthiness and authenticity; passionate participant as facilitator of multi-voice reconstruction, seeking recognition and input. (Guba and Lincoln 1998: 211)
Theoretical framework Children were not only recognised by parents as ‘social and cultural capital’ but also, in similar terms by the Catholic Church. The aim of Catholic schools was the transmission of the faith from one generation to the next. The place of religion in the ‘education of the whole person was a central point’ (Vaughan 1881: 12).
The theories of Durkheim and Greeley in the sociology of religion and education, those of Bourdieu and Passeron (1977), interpreting social reproduction in terms of social and the concept cultural capital of Coleman (1989) that guided the research. Authority is maintained, Parkin (1990: 76) points out, where people submit to authority because there is no acceptable alternative. Durkheim (1956: 29) explains authority as ‘reconciling people to their plight and keeping them in their place’. These notions were significant in this research project. Community, conformity and relationships within it (Durkheim 1961), inclusion and exclusion (Parkin 1990), sectarianism (Clark, C.M.H. 1987) and marginalization (Mol 1977), are other concepts that informed the sociological guide to this investigation.
Oral History Methods Oral History Methods identified social customs and conditions of the times. The memories of the participants added a richness and depth to the data collection, and were drawn into
53 the theoretical analysis of the perceived notion of the parent role in Catholic schools over the twentieth century. However, in criticism of oral history, O’Farrell (1979: 5) suggests that the oral historian chooses the subjects to be interviewed and the questions to ask, and therefore oral testimony about historical data cannot be enough. Moreover, oral history does not claim to be the final avenue in an historical record. It will supplement other sources which support the authenticity of the data (Thompson, 2000). Furthermore, O’Farrell considers the basic problem with oral testimony about the past is that its truth is not primarily about what happened or how things were, but about how the past has been recollected. Thompson (2000) believes people remember most accurately what has been particularly interesting or important to them. The interview can also approach the point from different angles and in the current study, Thompson (2000) would agree, ‘recent rather than long term memory tends to become impaired in old age’. Furthermore, Thompson (2000) contends the researcher is looking for underlying truths contained in values, attitudes, beliefs and feelings.
Group memory ensures a continuing living link’ between generations (Hamilton 1994: 18). The collective memory of the subjects in the study indicated how traditions are transmitted from one generation to the next in the very fact, that the ‘mothers’ were the main decision- makers in the education of the children. Vansina (1973: 52) supports this idea in that ‘if the informant is an individual, the testimony will reflect the tradition as it is interpreted by the informant’. The notion of the mothers being the main influence in the education of Catholic children was authenticated by the category as a whole, thus ‘tapping into these collective memories within an individual’s story’ (Halbwachs 1980: 19).
Becker (1998: 17) uses ‘story’ as the generic term for explanations and descriptions, of how ‘in narrative form, something happened in the past, happens now and will happen in the future’. He presents the notion that as the ‘story unfolds’ it can be discerned how events and people of certain circumstances come to be the way they are.
In this research the portrayal of Catholic schooling from the perspective of parents and teachers recalling their earlier and more recent experience, was drawn in large measure
54 from interviews with these participants. The account of the social historical background of their lived experience relies substantially on published histories and secondary documents including the work of Campion, Fogarty, O’Farrell, Millar, Coman, Hogan, O’Brien, Corrigan, Haines, and Luttrell.
Couple and individual interviews After consent had been obtained by the researcher, for the couple and individual interviews related to each cohort in the study, the time and setting most convenient for the respondents was arranged. A set of interview questions was memorised by the researcher in a particular order, so that the data collected were sequential (Thomas, 2000). This interview format, according to Patton (1990: 279) is useful in that it leaves the interviewer free to ‘explore, probe and ask questions that will elucidate the information’. It also ensures that the same information is forthcoming when the same material is covered with all respondents.
Furthermore, Stewart and Shamdasani, (1990) consider that the researcher needs to establish rapport with the subjects by going over the procedures that are to follow. The tape-recorder needs to be tested and as part of the ‘warming up process’, a practice session between the respondents and the interviewer, of answering some non-threatening questions is helpful. The quality of the information elicited is largely dependent on the interviewer (Patton 1990).
Focus Groups Interviews. Research employing focus groups shares many of the characteristics and steps of other types of research. The method begins with a problem and has a clearly identifiable agenda. The problem definition requires a clear statement of what kinds of information are desirable and from whom this information should be obtained. A clear understanding of the problem or in general, research question, is crucial because it indicates the specific questions that should be raised by the moderator and identifies the particular respondents of interest. Focus groups provide a valuable research tool for social scientists and have been used in market research for some time (Morgan 1988).
Some of the participants decided to be interviewed together, consequently arrangements
55 for small focus groups were made.
Focus groups, are described as: ‘Focus groups involve persons specially selected owing to their particular interest, expertise or position in a community, in an attempt to collect information on a small number of issues’ (Sarantakos 1998: 180). This description is reinforced by Stewart and Shamdasani (1990: 10) as they define a group as ‘a number of interacting individuals, having a community of interest’. They go further in proposing that a certain depth is involved, as the information that is being sought is more profound than is usually acquired at the inter-personal relationship level. Another important feature put forward by Smith (1954), cited by Stewart and Shamdasani (1990: 10), is that the group will be small enough to allow genuine discussion among all the members.
The origin of focus groups stems from social research studies conducted by Merton and Kendall (1946), cited by Morgan (1988: 11), who wanted to examine the persuasiveness of wartime propaganda efforts. Other social scientists, according to Morgan (1988) translated this work into marketing research. However, this use of focus groups has been extended and has become an important research tool for applied social scientists who work in program evaluation, marketing, public policy, advertising and communications (Greenbaum 1998).
A distinction needs to be made between group interviewing per se and focus groups. While group interviewing employs a question and answer response, Gibbs (1997) emphasises the point that another dimension in focus groups includes the participatory interaction within the group prompted by topics as supplied by the researcher (Morgan 1988). The researcher gains access to data and insights that otherwise, may not be possible.
This feature became apparent in the study when involving the first cohort of elderly participants. As their responses were related to their experiences of Catholic schooling up to ninety five years ago, face to face focus groups provided a useful mechanism for stimulating their memories and encouraging them to articulate detail in the context of the times.
56 Focus groups generate data not readily tapped by other methods. They are particularly useful for exploratory research (Stewart and Shamdasani 1990). Focus groups produce a rich source of data expressed in the respondents’ own words and context, reflecting their attitudes, feelings and beliefs (Gibbs 1997). A significant feature is that the response is considered to be more genuine, unlike survey questionnaires where responses are expressed on five point rating scales or similar (Thomas, Steven, Browning, Dickens, Eckermann, Carey, Pollard 1992: 7).
In fact, the focus group method of research may offer the only feasible way to gather data from subjects who would be unwilling to participate or respond artificially to the usual methods (Dooley 1995: 273). This observation applied to the focus groups in the study, as one participant volunteered at the conclusion of the focus group interview – ‘that was relatively painless – compared with having to wade through a huge questionnaire’. However, the aim of any social research according to Sarantakos (1998: 16) is ‘to explore, explain, evaluate, predict and develop or test theories’ and this was the intention of the researcher in this study.
The purpose of focus groups can be summarised as follows:
As a main study it offers information about groups processes, spontaneous feelings, reasons and explanations of attitudes and behaviour. It also provides deeper levels of meaning, enables important connections to be made and identifies subtle nuances in expression and meaning. (Sarantakos 1998: 182)
Rezabek (2000: 1) cites Morgan (1997), as acknowledging that focus groups occupy a middle position in qualitative studies between two other tools of research used over a long time: participant observation and in depth interviews. Focus groups have traditionally been conducted in a face to face situation, whatever their purpose may have been. Electronic communication technologies have enabled researchers to draw on new ways of approaching this form of research, e.g. online focus groups (Rezabek, 2000).
57 In this study focus groups were particularly effective in discovering the beliefs, values and lived experiences of the three cohorts in the study, but especially of the elderly teachers who participated. In order to ensure successful facilitation of focus groups in terms of purposive, interactive conversation, combined with perceptive observation of the group members, certain procedures were established by the researcher.
Procedures for Focus Groups In focus groups individuals discuss a particular topic under the direction of a moderator who promotes interaction, and sees that the discussion remains on the topic of interest. The focus group can be adapted to provide the most desirable level of focus and structure. The researcher develops a set of questions related to the topic of interest, general or non-specific or both, and connected to events in time.
In this case, as was previously stated, the purpose was to elicit how parents were involved in their children’s education in Catholic schools over the twentieth century. Aspects included the effects on families in the school community, and particularly the school’s response to significant sociological change and events over the twentieth century.
The moderator of a focus group draws on a range of skills: an understanding of group processes, ability to control the discussion, yet allow it to unfold and establish rapport early in outlining the agenda (Sarantakos 1998; Stewart and Shamdasani 1990; NCADI 1994). The participants will be more at ease with each other and the moderator, if it is a homogeneous group (Greenbaum 1998). The moderator, Thomas (2000) contends, should assume a relaxed, non-threatening, non-authoritative style, and summarise, paraphrase and reflect the views that the group members, have expressed. The moderator could adopt the role an ‘unobtrusive observer’ (Kellehear 1993: 4); Dooley 1995: 270), who draws on his/her feelings, curiosity, hunches and intuition to explore and understand what is happening. Kreuger (1998: 41) considers the moderator ‘sets the scene’ by explaining to the participants ‘ why you are here’ and deals with any point of clarification which may arise.
58 The moderator deals with problems in the group discussion such as identifying trends as well as diversity in the group, members who dominate, situations where people hide their real opinions as the result of pressure within the group, those members who ‘wish to please the leader’, or those who stray away from the topic being discussed, or the group operating at an inappropriate personal level (Silverman and Zukergood 1999; Sarantakos 1998; Stewart and Shamdasani 1990).
In summary, the moderator as researcher, is responsible for the complete management of the research process which involves preparation, implementation and post group procedures, confidentiality as well as analysis (Greenbaum 1998). In this study the task of the moderator was multi-faceted as she was the researcher and responsible for the whole research process, for example, locating and contacting participants, attending to all the procedures as outlined previously, designing the questions to obtain the data, conducting all the tape-recorded interviews and the transcription of them and thanking them for their participation.
The questions were both closed and open–ended. As Morgan,(1988: 25) observes ‘they are useful when it comes to investigating ‘what’ participants think, but they excel at uncovering ‘why’ participants think as they do’.
Recruitment Careful selection of participants will ensure the achievement of the research objectives (Greenbaum 1998). The possibility of bias should be avoided by locating a number of people who fit the criteria and then randomly select from the large number, the participants for the study (Kreuger and King 1998: 52).
In this research the recruitment of the dramaturgy (Goffman 1959; Starratt 1990) or respondents, was carefully planned. All respondents spoke English, and the strategy for locating the respondents was a simple random sample of those, who met the criteria. Participants were referred by others and, consequently, were recruited by the snowballing, sampling method (Sarantakos 1998: 153). They were interested in the study and willing to
59 participate. This mode of selection ‘identifies cases of interest from people who know people’ who will be subjects, who are ‘information-rich’ that is they will be good examples for a study ‘as good interview subjects’ (Patton 1990: 182).
One teacher or parent referred another, who was then contacted by phone, an explanation of the nature of the study was offered, and an invitation to participate was given. Details were given of the setting, the time, date, length of interview and method of interview, e.g. tape- recording and confidentiality. (Appendix 4 lists pseudonyms given for teachers and parents in each cohort, which appear in italics in the text).
The Subject Information Statement and Informed Consent Form were sent to each participant, with an assurance that confidentiality would be maintained, and permission to tape-record the focus group interaction was obtained (Kreuger and King 1998: 52). At the actual time of the interview a brief overview of the research topic and purpose of the research was again given, permission to tape-record the interview was checked again and trust was, at all times, implicit.
The Setting When the focus group members were contacted, an agreement was made as to the place that was most convenient for them to meet with the moderator, thus balancing the needs of those involved. The setting can be formal or informal, but often, a familiar place is preferred by the participants. Teachers chose the school setting or place of retirement, while some elderly parents were interviewed in nursing homes and others, as individuals or couples, in their homes.
Morgan (1988: 43) suggests that if ‘a clear sense of each participant’s reaction to a topic’ is required, small or mini-groups are more likely to meet this goal. The biggest difference between full groups and mini-groups, is the number. The former consists of eight to ten people where the smaller group can be limited to four or six people (Greenbaum 1998: 3) Focus groups in this study were small groups of three, four, or five participants.
60 Information can be recorded by the moderator in a way most suited to the research topic (Sarantakos 1998: 216). As previously stated, tape-recording was the method used in this study as it allowed the researcher as moderator to be present, and ensured the recording of several perspectives on the same topic (Gibbs 1997). However, it is noted in this study, that while the members of the group were homogeneous and may have had similar characteristics, each one’s experience and reflection on it, were quite different.
In the study the length of the interview was approximately, one and a half hours.
Analysis of the Data As a participant/observer, Glesne and Peshkin (1992: 39) suggest that, if accepted as a ‘trusted friend’, the interviewer is able to observe patterns of behaviour and encourage the respondents to speak freely. Observation of their settings and their subjects can be considered hard evidence, enhancing consistency and validity (Adler and Adler 1998: 90).
This researcher made brief notes of key words and phrases, memos connected with group participants in order to make connections and link them with the recorded data, a tactic stressed by Miles and Huberman, (1984: 51). In analysing the data Sarantakos (1998: 324) proposes ‘interpretations are strengthened by noting patterns and themes shown in the data’. Thus a way, of drawing valid conclusions, was searching for and identifying patterns and trends in the information collected through the study. Kreuger and King (1998: 79) assert that ‘the analysis of each focus group commences when the researcher writes up a summary of the discussion’. They reinforce the point that the researcher must note the first hand observations of the focus group in the field notes, include some of his/her own impressions of the focus group immediately following the conclusion of the interview and the oral summaries taken from the taped interviews.
The researcher should reflect on what was happening, what is important and what meaning can be attached to the data that emanated from the discussion. Observations on body language, discussion climate, etc., and a sketch of the seating pattern. The key points could
61 be recurring comments or observations, differences in perception, disagreement or strong agreement, and contrasts.
The data assembled from the transcriptions of the tapes, notes and memos written by the researcher and various documents pertaining to the periods in question, were examined initially for themes and patterns (Miles and Huberman 1984). The Catholic Church documents outlining the parent role in Catholic education were also a means of delineating the data. The various concepts of relationship, authority, power, community, exclusion and inclusion, were utilised in appraising the material and sorting it (Miles and Huberman 1984).
As Flick (1998: 247) concludes ‘the text becomes the central element for judging the translation of experiences into constructions and interpretations’. Furthermore, Coffey and Atkinson (1996: 26) assert that ‘all researchers need to be able to organise, manage, and retrieve the most meaningful bits of our data’.
Validity On the point of generalisation, it has been noted that in some situations ‘ a small number of respondents is all that is needed to generalise to the larger population’ (Stewart and Shamdasani 1990: 17). There is a certain credibility attached to the opinion of a live respondent that is often not present in statistical summaries (Greenbaum 1998). A simple random sample Patton (1990) claims, permits generalization from sample to the population it represents. The goal of generalisation is not always important in research studies, as claimed by Seale(1999: 107), ‘particular cases may be worth investigating for their own sake’. Furthermore, a ‘study of the workings of an institution, may be of great importance to many people without seeking to learn general lessons about the working of equivalent institutions’ (Seale (1999: 107); an observation applicable to the current research project.
Like all research methods, the focus group has advantages and disadvantages. For this study that relied to a significant extent on remembrance of the past, the focus group prompted recall, expanded the scope of events, lived experience and associated values and
62 attitudes, and permitted the interplay, as one participant’s account was checked or countered by another. The outcome was a richly detailed account from a range of perspectives on the possibilities of parent-teacher collaboration in the education of Catholic school children.
In Chapter 4 an examination of the Church documents, that include the Code of Canon Law, Encyclicals and Commentaries, focuses on the principle of ‘parents as the primary educators’, and serious nature of the responsibility they hold for their children’s Catholic Education.
63 CHAPTER 4
THE CODE OF CANON LAW AND RELATED CATHOLIC CHURCH DOCUMENTS
Are parents the primary educators of their children in Catholic Education?
In this Chapter a review of the parental role in their Children’s Catholic Education, as presented in the Code of Canon Law and related official Catholic Church Documents, is outlined in Part 1. The role of the Catholic School is reviewed in Part 2.
Part 1: Church documents
Foreword The authority of the Catholic Church in the area of doctrine and morals is strong and incontestable for Catholics. Much of that authoritative teaching and direction has traditionally, been conveyed by Papal Documents. These directives were codified early in the twentieth century, and are binding on Catholics. This Chapter examines Catholic Church documents which have over centuries, nominated parents as the first teachers in the education of their children and the home as the child’s first school (Fogarty 1959: 386).
Traditionally Church and State have both recognised parents as primarily responsible for their children’s education (Davies 1976). As mentioned earlier, Catholic schools were established to assist parents in their role, and the basis for this study revolves around the degree of recognition that was afforded parents at the school level, in their nominated role as ‘primary educators’.
64 The chief sources upon which this Chapter draws are Vatican documents, especially Papal Encyclicals, the Second Vatican Council, and the Code of Canon Law. In its essential notion, law is common to all societies and ‘Canon’ is used to designate the body of law that is proper to the Roman Catholic Church. This body of Law is constituted by legitimate ecclesiastical authority for the proper organisation and government of the Church as a visible society. A single law of the Church is popularly referred to as an ecclesiastical law, and the laws of the Code of Canon Law are frequently referred to as the Canons of the Code (Knight, 2003).
In promulgating the revised Code in 1983, Pope John Paul II wrote:
Therefore, over and above the fundamental elements of the hierarchical and organic structure of the Church established by the Divine Founder, based on apostolic or other no less ancient tradition, and besides the principal norms which concern the exercise of the threefold office (teaching, sanctifying, governing) entrusted to the church, it is necessary for the Code to define also certain rules and norms of action. (1983: xiii)
The Code carries the personal authority of the Pope himself. By the very nature of this research the Code is the most practical and relevant source on which to draw for purposes of examination. The first complete Code was drawn up in 1917, then revised, updated and rendered more pastoral in 1983, following the Second Vatican Council. When today we speak of ‘the Code’, we normally refer to the Code of 1983.
Background to the Code of Canon Law The origin of Canon Law emanated from a process of gradual development over many centuries. The Church has always exercised a legislative power, but it was only after many hundreds of years, that the Canons were reduced to ‘a harmonious systematic body, serving as a basis for methodical study and giving rise to general theories’ (Knight, 2: 2003). This process is referred to as the Law’s “codification”. Canon Law “codifies” the teaching of the centuries.
The sources of Canon Law are the depositaries in which can be found the laws enacted in the course of centuries. Among these sources are Holy Scripture, the decrees of popes and
65 councils. The decrees of the Roman Pontiffs have always manifested great authority in the Church from the time of Clement I to the present time. Their subject matter was partly dogmatic, partly disciplinary, and it is the latter class that especially concerns Canon Law (Augustine 1920: 15). Their judicial value is to be found in papal documents styled in different ways, for example, Constitutions, named after ancient imperial constitutions, and Apostolic letters referring to important matters which concern the universal church or at least the entire Western Church. They may also be called Encyclical letters (Augustine 1920: 13). The supreme and chief contemporary author of Church legislation is the Supreme Pontiff; its primary author is Jesus Christ.
The Commentaries on the Code of Canon Law When the first Code of Canon Law was issued in 1917, commentaries on this Code were written by specialists at different times over the years. Other commentaries followed with the revised Code in 1983. The Code and its commentaries are available to all members of the Church, and are particularly useful to students of Canon Law, and priests engaged in active ministry. As the purpose of the commentaries is to provide knowledge and explanation of the ‘laws of Holy Mother Church’, the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Studies issued a decree which placed upon the teachers of Canon Law the responsibility of explaining the Code, ‘not only synthetically, but also analytically by closely following the order and text of the Code itself’ (Augustine 1920: 1). Sources in the commentaries are duly acknowledged in terms of the latest decisions and declarations of the Holy See, official Church documents, and other canon lawyers who have offered opinions related to controversial points, which may have arisen (Augustine 1920).
Canon Law Societies in English speaking countries, such as Great Britain and Ireland in association with Australia and New Zealand, Canada (1997) and America (1985 1995), commissioned commentaries on the revised Code of 1983 and much attention was given to the Canons on the family and education in Catholic schools. As an example Morrissey (1989) and others in their discussions refer to the documents of the Second Vatican Council when reviewing the Code and the Rights of Parents in the Education of their Children (Canons 796-896) for interpretation and expansion.
66 In this study references are made to the commentaries as ‘expert opinion’ and by way of explanation.
Encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII on education before 1917 Encyclicals delivered by Pope Leo XIII between 1878-1903 which focus on parents’ responsibilities in the education of their children, and the lasting influence of Christian example and home life, are most relevant to the final version of the Code of Canon Law of 1917.
This codification of Church law informed the pedagogy and practice of teachers in Catholic schools during that first fifty years of the twentieth century reviewed in Chapter 1. Hence a summary view of those sections relevant to the education of children is germane to this thesis.
Encyclicals follow that are relevant to this study. Various points are made in relation, not only, to the parents’ responsibilities but also to the clergy, who are to provide Catholic schools to assist the parents in their role.
Summary of modern Encyclicals that bear on this thesis In the Encyclical of 1880, Arcanum, which concentrates on ‘Christian Marriage’, it is observed that the rights of parents in terms of mutual affection and sharing of duties, need to be firmly established. At the same time, the dignity of women is upheld and it is stressed that children are to be obedient to their parents. Children are to have a ‘careful and virtuous upbringing in the discipline and correction of the Lord’. By way of encouragement, Leo XIII acknowledges that the duties of the parents are neither ‘few nor light’, but the strength required for these burdens, it is suggested, is gained through the virtue of the sacrament.
The importance of the ‘inculcation of the Catholic faith’ is emphasised in Spectata Fides (1885: 122). The significance of the Catholic schools is paid homage in that their function is aimed toward the preservation of the Catholic faith – ‘whole and entire’ – it being ‘our greatest and best inheritance’. While the clergy are commended for their ‘unconquered
67 efforts’ in providing schools for the children in their Christian formation, the generosity of Catholics is acknowledged as ‘they have supplied whatever was needed for the maintenance of the schools’.
The pontiff demonstrates his awareness that this financial support by the Catholic people has not been without sacrifice, as he reflects ‘some parents are of slender means and poor’. Furthermore, he goes on to say that in these schools the liberty of parents is respected and education, which combines literary instruction with sound teaching in faith and morals, ensures for the Church, good citizens being brought up ‘for the State’. Early training of children it is pointed out, will determine the future condition of the State.
Schools called neuter or mixed and lay, receive attention in Quod Multum - ‘the Liberty of the Church and the Catholic Education of Youth’ (1886). In these schools students grow up ignorant of all things holy and of all religious concerns. The education of youth in Christian formation from childhood is of the greatest possible concern, not only to the Church, but also to the State.
The heads of families are the focus in Officio Sanctissimo (1887), as Leo XIII reminds them of their ‘great and holy duties which God has imposed on them’, in the education of their children. They incur a great responsibility in this regard, but, significantly, a still greater one in bringing them to an ‘appreciation of a better and more perfect life, that of the soul’. If the parents are unable to teach their children the knowledge of their religion, Leo XIII instructs them to seek the aid of approved teachers.
Sapientiae Christianae’(1890), which defines ‘Christians in their role as Citizens’, proclaims the concept of the family as being ‘the cradle of civilised society’. It is postulated on the basis that it is ‘within the family circle that the destiny of States is fostered’. The parents, the pontiff goes on to say, having given birth and transmitted the gift of life to their children, have an obligation of nurturing and directing the education of them in a Christian manner. He reinforces the position by upholding their exclusive authority in this regard. Once again Leo XIII exhorts parents to keep their children away from schools where there
68 is the risk of their ‘drinking in the poison of impiety’. The future of society will be determined, it is claimed, if children are given training at home in an upright life and the discipline of Christian virtues.
Love and harmony in the home is the theme of Caritatis (1894) where Leo XIII urges parents to increase their efforts towards soundness and honour of domestic life. Parents, he considers must provide protection, advantages and a Christian education for their children. However, he considers that the best and most efficacious example for the children are the lives of the parents.
The ‘Relations of Faith and Culture’ are expanded in Militantis Ecclesiae (1897). Catholics who are fittingly instructed will be able to demonstrate in society that their faith is a harmonising influence in human culture, rather than a hostile element. The rights of the Catholic parents and the Church, as teacher, need to be preserved in a safe and intact way in the education of youth. This point emphasises that religion should be given special significance in all branches of knowledge, thus reinforcing the importance of Catholic schools.
The stress on ‘Children becoming good Christians and Citizens’ recurs in Affari Vos (1897). It is through the education of the young the best hopes of a religious and civil society will be borne out. The children who have received the benefit of education based on faith and religion, will follow and obey ‘the principles’ in their daily lives which are deeply engraved on their consciences’. The pontiff contends that ‘to leave children with out religion is like inviting people to virtue after taking away the foundations on which it rests’.
The Code of Canon Law 1917 While the Code of Canon Law was revised in 1983, historically the 1917 Code was in effect for most of the twentieth century, hence a brief overview is included. Only the principle directives of the Code and specific parts of the Canons that bear on marriage and related duties to children, especially their religious education and formation, are described. In some instances these Canons are linked.
69 From the English edition of the Sacred Canons 1917, (Abbo and Hannan 1957), the following features are drawn on for examination in this study:
i. parents’ responsibilities in the Catholic education of their children ii. the importance of Catholic schools in the role of secular education and in the transmission of the faith iii. the role of hierarchy and clergy in setting up and maintaining Catholic schools to assist parents in their role.
Vol. 2, Canons 870-2414 - Title VII: Matrimony
Canon 1013.1 Ends and properties of marriage notes that the primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children. Hence the education of children is the logical and necessary complement of their procreation; it gives them moral life as the latter gives them physical life. It consists in developing and training them to become perfect members of society, capable of attaining both temporal and eternal happiness. (1957: 164)
This Canon 1013 sets out very clearly the principal and primary purpose of marriage from the Church’s point of view. It spells out for parents that as a result of the birth of children, they have an extended role in not only physically maintaining their children, but also providing moral training. This, in turn, is aimed at enabling them to participate productively in society and giving them the means of attaining their eternal destiny.
This principle possibly emanated from the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Arcanum (1880), where it claims, it is essential for children ‘to have a careful and virtuous upbringing in the discipline and correction of the Lord’. The parents’ knowledge and understanding of this principle in this regard, would have been based on the teaching of the clergy and their own parents’ views. There is no doubt that they would have wanted their children to be endowed with the virtues and tenets of the Catholic faith as it had been instilled into their lives.
Canon 1113 The obligation to the children stipulates that parents are bound by the gravest of obligations to secure by all means in their power the religious, moral, physical and civil education of their children, as well as to provide for their temporal welfare. (1957: 371)
70 This Canon 1113 is linked with Canon 1013 and is quite specific in the expectations of the Church with regard to parents in the holistic development i.e. physical, intellectual, spiritual and moral formation of their children. It is worded very strongly in that parents are bound by ‘the gravest of obligations’, to ensure that no aspect of the child’s formation is neglected. The religious aspect it is assumed would include the child’s reception of the sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation, as well as attendance at a Catholic school and inculcation of the faith in the family.
However, it also infers ‘direction and control’ in these duties. As Woywod (1929: 703) explains in his commentary ‘in spiritual affairs parents are controlled by the authority of the Church, and in physical and temporal affairs by the authority of the civil government of their country’. Furthermore, in upholding the inherent right of the parents in terms of ‘custody, care and the education of their children’, he observes that at the time ‘there is a tendency on the part of civil powers to deprive the family of its inherent and inalienable rights over their children’.
It can be recognised that Pope Leo’s Encyclical, Sapientiae Christianae (1890) was influential in the formulation of this Canon where he reinforces that parents hold the primary authority in the religious education of their children.
Vol. II, Title XX, Part IV: The Ecclesiastical Magisterium. The Spreading of the Word of God
Canon 1335 The obligation of parents. Not only parents and others who stand in their place, and also masters and godparents, are bound by an obligation of seeing to it that all who are subject or entrusted to them, are trained by catechetical instruction. (1957: 570)
Canon 1335 emphasises, that not only the parents themselves but also, anyone who is given the care of children to be faith-filled people. This duty extends to all who have responsibility to the children, including grand-parents and God-parents. The teachers who are providing catechetical instruction in schools, it is stipulated, must be qualified to do so.
71 Canon 1336 The right and the duty of the local ordinary. It is the province of the local ordinary to regulate in his diocese everything pertaining to the training of the people in Christian doctrine; and even exempt religious, in teaching the non- exempt, are obliged to observe his regulations. (1957: 571)
This Canon declares that there should be regular inspections of the religious content of the Religious Education program from commencement of school to the final years. Examination of the children occurs specifically as they approach their First Holy Communion and Confirmation. The parish priest must see that the children are adequately prepared for a visit by the local bishop on his visitation to the parish in their knowledge of the faith. It is the responsibility of the clergy to monitor the giving of catechetical instruction as set out in Canon 1336. Parents, it may be assumed, entrust their children to the Catholic schools with the expectation, that their children are given the required religious knowledge and education.
This responsibility of the parish priest invites particular notice also, when it is stated in Pope Leo’s Encyclical Officio Sanctissimo (1887), that ‘if the parents are unable to teach their children the knowledge of their religion, they are to seek the aid of approved teachers’. Hence the parish priest is placed in the central position in deciding the degree of expertise and qualifications of the teachers in the schools.
Vol. II, Title XXII, Part IV: The Ecclesiastical Magisterium – Schools
Canon 1372.1 The place of religion in education. All the faithful are to be so reared from childhood that not only shall nothing be offered them opposed to the Catholic faith or moral propriety, but also that religious and moral training shall be given the most important place. 1372.2 Not only on parents in accordance with the norm of canon 1113, but also on all who stand in their place, is there incumbent the right and a most serious duty to ensure the Christian education of their children. This canon confirms an obligation deriving from the natural and the positive divine law. (1957: 606)
This Canon 1372 is a protective edict for children in that if parents are considering a secular education, they are urged to reflect on what that may mean for the children. There appears to be a fear that the children would be vulnerable to adverse effects from such an
72 education. However it becomes specific in stating that the religious and moral training shall be given the most important place in the curriculum and their lives; hence the role of the Catholic school.
Once again it is stipulated that all who are responsible for the education of the children are to take the required steps to see that a Christian education is maintained. Recall that Leo XIII’s Encyclical Quod Multum (1886), cautions about ‘neuter or mixed schools’ where ‘students grow up ignorant of all things holy and of all religious concerns’.
Fogarty (1959: 474) explains this situation as one of concern because in Europe at the time, especially in France and Italy, the notion of secular education had evolved from a ‘motive of infidelity and hatred of all revealed religion in general, and of Catholicism in particular’. Catholic parents, consequently, were inclined to view secular education and State education as synonymous.
Canon 1373.1 Diverse methods of instruction. In every elementary school religious instruction shall be given the children in a manner adapted to their age. 1373.2 Youths attend intermediate and higher schools shall be given a more complete course in religion, and local ordinaries shall see to it that the course is given by priests outstanding for zeal and learning. (1957: 606)
It is noted that in a commentary by Abbo and Hannan, (1957: 606) that the III Plenary Council of Baltimore required pastors to visit their parochial schools once a week. It was also stated, that provision for the continuation of courses in religion throughout the whole curriculum had to be made. The Council exhorted parents to send their children to Catholic high schools, in places where these existed.
This Canon 1373 acknowledges that there is a need for diverse methods and different levels of instruction, are required. It is assumed that the age and stage of development would need to be taken into account, for example, primary school children versus those in high school.
73 Canon 1374 Attendance at non-Catholic schools. Catholic children shall not attend non-Catholic schools, neutral schools or mixed schools, that is, schools that are also open to non-Catholics. Only the local ordinary is competent to determine, in accordance with the norm of the instructions of the Apostolic see, in what circumstances and with what safeguards, to overcome the danger of perversion, the conducting of such schools can be tolerated. (1957: 607)
In harmony with the norm of this Canon, the III Plenary Council of Baltimore (Abbo and Hannan 1957: 608) contend, that the reason for sending children to non-Catholic schools must be approved by the ordinary, (i.e. the bishop). Steps would need to be taken to safeguard against any proximate danger of perversion. If there is no Catholic primary or high school in the vicinity, it suggests that parents are expected to consider other alternatives even if it involves some financial means or effort, rather than resorting to the neuter or lay schools. Leo XIII’s Encyclical Sapientiae Christianae (1890), exhorts parents to steer their children away from such schools. At the same time, he acknowledges that ‘if children are given training at home in an upright life and the discipline of Christian virtues’ then, not only will they grow up to be good citizens, but the future of society will be assured. However, the Plenary Council also warned against ‘immoderate zeal’ on the part of priests and bishops if there is adequate reason for such an ‘exceptional practice’ and precautions are taken.
The position is quite clearly stated that if, for example, a parent is residing in a place such as a country town, where there is neither a Catholic primary or Catholic high school, the local ordinary would have to determine what action is to be taken (Abbo and Hannan 1957: 607). He would have to make a decision in accordance with the instructions set down by the Holy See, and consider the circumstances before he could give permission for a child to attend a ‘secular’ school. The ‘danger of perversion’ in a secular education setting in such a case, would be the main concern.
For parents this decision could have involved great financial hardship if they had to send their children to boarding schools (Fogarty 1959). Alternatively if they could not meet this requirement a priest could make a decision to exclude them from the sacraments (Bouscaren and Ellis 1961: 746).
74 This situation had occurred in New South Wales when Bishop Murray (1879) cited by Fogarty (1959: 216) in his Pastoral letter stated:
in towns and districts where a Catholic school is in operation Catholic parents who send their children to public or other anti-Catholic schools cannot be admitted to the Sacraments nor will children attending these schools under such circumstances be confirmed. (Murray 1879: 18)
The bishops felt while they could afford to be patient with the ‘ignorant and poor’, they considered it their duty to intervene in cases where Catholics persisted in sending their children to non-Catholic schools ‘for frivolous or unworthy motives’ (Fogarty (1959: 215). On this point, Fogarty (1959: 215) reports that priests in Australia denied the sacraments to parents who sent their children to State schools as they considered it to be a serious offence. Those that persisted in it were regarded as habitually and deliberately living in a state of sin.
In Sydney, a Pastoral letter issued by Archbishop Michael Kelly (1911) to the clergy and Laity of the Dioceses on Religious Education, quoted from the ‘Decree of our Provincial statutes – No. 322’
regarding this necessary Christian formation and education of their children, parents are in default whenever they permit attendance at schools in which there appears evident danger of spiritual ruin and a suitable and effective Catholic school is available to them. Such defaultors, when obstinate, manifestly, according to the teaching of moral theology, cannot be absolved in the Sacrament of Penance. (Kelly 1911: 15)
Following Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical, Divini Illius Magistri, ‘Christian Education of Youth’, (1929), which incorporated the principles of the Encyclical of Leo XIII (1890), Bouscaren and Ellis (1961) indicate that a shift had taken place. It appears that in exceptional cases, attendance at schools other than Catholic schools maybe permitted. Situations where this occurred, included either no Catholic school available, or ‘only one which is inadequate for the suitable education of the children according to their condition’
75 (Bouscaren and Ellis 1961: 705). They go on to say that the ‘rule forbidding attendance at public schools is not absolutely ironclad’ (Bouscaren and Ellis 1961: 745), and that ‘the supreme pontiff’ has expressly forbidden any Bishop or Priest to threaten to exclude parents from the reception of the sacraments. It is observed that this view of the rule must have been a great relief to parents who had no alternative, but to send their children to State schools.
Canon 1375 The Church’s independence in education. The Church possesses the right to establish schools for all subjects, not only elementary schools, but all intermediate and higher schools. The Church’s schools are public schools, since they are founded by a public authority, which is authorised to so do by its own need of possessing well instructed members who may the better be directed to their eternal destiny because of their enlightenment. (1957: 608)
In Canon 1375 the Church upholds its independence in education and has the right to set up schools which are on an equal basis with secular schools. Both have to meet State- compulsory education laws and are governed by State standards. So the Catholic school is a public school serving a public function (Abbo and Hannan 1957: 608). The major difference is that in a secular school there is no religious instruction, while in a Catholic school religious and moral training is given the principal place.
The importance of Catholic schools and the inculcation of the Catholic faith is discerned also in Leo XIII’s Encyclical, Spectata Fides (1885). It is set out that the main aim is –‘the preservation of the Catholic faith …it is our greatest and best inheritance’. In addressing the Catholics of Ireland in his Encyclical Etsi Cunctas (1888), his acknowledgement that ‘no tribulation has ever been able to destroy or diminish the faith that is the gift of their fathers’, becomes a reality. It is noted that many of the early Catholics in New South Wales who were of Irish nationality had come to Australia to find a new life where they had freedom from religious and other forms of oppression (O’Farrell 1992). Hence the Pope’s address to Catholics in Ireland resonated for Irish Catholics in Australia.
76 Canon 1379.1 The obligation of establishing Catholic schools. If the Catholic elementary and intermediate schools contemplated by canon 1373 were lacking, provision shall be made, especially by local authorities, that they be established. 1379.3 The faithful shall not be wanting, in accordance with their means, in supplying the resources needed to establish and support Catholic schools. (1957: 609)
The III Plenary Council of Baltimore required that a parochial school be established in every parish unless the bishop permits a delay (Abbo and Hannan 1957). In Canon 1379, the focused onus of responsibility shifts from the parents and their obligations to ordinary and parish priests. Furthermore, according to the III Plenary Council of Baltimore a school must be provided in each parish unless the bishop permits a delay. However, there may not be a school in the near vicinity or parish, with the result that the parent may be faced with no other option but to send their children to the secular or State school.
If there is a project of a new school for the parish, the parents and others in the parish are duty bound to support such an initiative. This could involve financial commitment, and fund-raising or assistance in other ways, for example, assisting with the building of a school. In Leo XIII’s Encyclical Spectata Fides (1885) he acknowledges the generosity of Catholics in supplying resources and maintaining the Catholic schools allowing for the fact that many had to make sacrifices to do so.
This point is taken further by Fogarty (1959: 445) in that at a local level parents supported their Catholic schools by paying ‘school money’ and other means. These included music lessons given by religious nuns and brothers after school, bazaars, lotteries, raffles, thus the principle of ‘fundraising’ became perennial and acceptable to the Catholic community (Campion 1987). As funds for Catholic schools in New South Wales had been withdrawn in 1880 by the government, these means were the only ways schools could survive.
Canon 1381 The Church’s authority over religious instruction. The religious training of youth in all schools whatever is subject to the authority and the supervision of the Church. (1957: 611)
77 Canon 1381 reiterates that the authority and supervision of the religious training of youth in all schools lies with ordinary and parish priests. As it is mandatory to have a parish primary school, it is also the obligation of the parish priest to monitor and endorse the religious education that is taught in the school. They also have the responsibility to oversee the text books in use in the school, and the qualifications of the teachers authorised to impart this knowledge.
This Canon, without directly stating it, would appear to be ensuring that any concerns the parents may have about the religious education being taught, could be allayed as the responsibility for the expertise of the teachers and the content of the religious education curriculum, lay with the those in Church authority. However, there does not appear to be any suggestion that the parents be included in decisions regarding the religious education of their children in Catholic schools.
Encyclical of Pope Pius XI ‘Divini Illius Magistri’ (1929) The Code of 1917 stood as promulgated authority without revision or extension for many years. But a number of Encyclicals expanded its teaching on the duties of parents. Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical titled Divini Illius Magistri promulgated in 1929, became the authoritative statement on Catholic education, not only in Australia but throughout the world (Fogarty 1959: 385). It was published in English under the title of Christian Education of Youth and reinforces the principles that were put forward in the 1917 Code.
The family holds the right, an inalienable right in the education of the offspring. The right is inviolable, and any other right such as of civil society or the state, is secondary (Pius XI 1929: 17). The pontiff strongly asserts that parents should withstand any invasion of their rights with regard to the religious education of their children. He cautions parents against sending their children to schools where they may be open to adverse influences. At the same time, he reminds parents of their obligations with regard to the one true religion. Additionally, he claims the Church is conscious of her mission in reminding parents of their duty to have all Catholic children born, baptised and brought up as Christians (Pius XI,1929: 21).
78 Pius XI contends that there is nothing of more value than the influence of home life. ‘The home being the child’s first school, and its mother is its first teacher’. He acknowledges that many parents though equipped for other offices, receive little or no preparation for discharging the fundamental duty and obligation of education of their children. As a result, Pius XI considers that while some parents are ill-equipped to give their children religious education, he observes that many are immersed in temporal cares, which left little time for such education (Pius XI 1929: 39). The world was recovering from World War 1 and in 1929, on the brink of an economic world-wide Depression, when unemployment left many families destitute. In Australia unemployment was widespread and significantly underestimated in official figures (Wheatley 1990: 207).
Pius XI shows his concern in that parents maybe following the modern tendency to relax parental discipline (1929: 40). He reiterates the view that as parents are the first teachers, education will only be as effective as their teaching and example. He upholds the position that it is forbidden in principle, for Catholic children to attend State schools, but under certain circumstances of place and time it can be tolerated on the approval of the ordinary. The motto ‘Catholic education in Catholic schools for all the Catholic youth’, has Pius XI’s approval (1929: 45). He insists that the rights of the family warrant the support of public funds, as a matter of justice. The Church has always defended the rights of the family, and the parents have shown their appreciation by demonstrating their confidence in Catholic schools. When this fundamental liberty is thwarted Catholics, it is envisaged, will always feel that whatever they have done to support and defend their schools is worth the sacrifices that have been made. Catholic education being concerned with man as a whole, individually and socially in the order of nature and of grace, emphasises the difference between secular education and the religiously based holistic approach.
Prelude to the Revised Code of Canon Law 1983 Note here that the development and adaptation of Church teaching inherent in the Revised Code could be expected to inform the practices and inclusiveness of religious teaching in Catholic schools in the last two decades of the twentieth century.
79 As the texts of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council were drawn on extensively in the revised Code of Canon Law of 1983, they have to be taken into account. The aims, purpose and direction of the Council are significant, as it ushered into the Church such a momentum of change.
The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church
The Purpose of the Council The Second Vatican Council opened in 1962 and concluded in 1965. It was convoked by Pope John XXIII as a direct response to an initiative of the Holy Spirit, and was a call to ‘strengthen spiritual energies’ thus enabling the Church to become greater in spiritual riches (Bushman 1999: xv). The aim was a universal call to holiness, as Pope John XXIII stated, through a process of renewal and the best preparation for the new millennium. A renewed commitment was called for in applying as faithfully as possible the teaching of Vatican II to the life of every individual and of the whole Church.
According to Flannery (1980: 1) the Sacred Council (1963) envisaged the need and sought to invigorate the Christian life of the faithful. In doing so, the institutions that are subject to change, will be required to adapt to the emerging needs of the times. The Council recognises that whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ, should be fostered. Finally, the Church must take steps towards strengthening whatever can help to call all mankind into the Church’s fold. Furthermore, the Council for ‘cogent’ reasons, was proactive in the reform and promotion of the liturgy (Johnstone 1997).
It is noted that Pope Paul VI articulates renewal in his first Encyclical, Ecclesiam Suam (1964), ‘Paths of the Church’ (Bushman 1999: xxx), as a three point process and reinforces the call to holiness as the key concept of the Council. He wrote the Encyclical during the Council so that his brother bishops would share in the purpose and unity of the Council. Furthermore, Pope John Paul II adopted the renewal outline as a fundamental principle of his understanding of the Council and the implementation of it. The renewal process for John Paul II commences with the awareness that ‘the Church deepening consciousness of
80 itself, acknowledges that a gap exists between God’s word and our reality’ (Bushman 1999: xvi).
Renewal therefore, involved the recognition of the distance between God’s vision for the Church and the present reality of the Church. Dialogue is acknowledged as the final step of renewal, and the relationship between renewal and dialogue, is the key to understanding the central aspect of Vatican II’s teaching – of the call to holiness (Bushman 1999).
It was the goal of the enrichment of faith that made Vatican II a pastoral Council, not a doctrinal Council as Councils held previously (Bushman 1999: xx). In his earlier Commentary, Augustine (1920: 16) points out that ‘Councils, as history testifies, were generally called at times when a crisis threatened the Church at large, or at least a considerable portion thereof’. However Vatican II would simply express the perennial faith of the Church in a manner suited to modern times.
Vatican II presented a Catholicism that was intended to adopt creative new approaches which contrasted sharply with the pre-Vatican II model. One description put forward was ‘a redefinition of the people of God as a sacramental community of pilgrims journeying with Jesus in a multicultural world’ (Turner 1992: 77, 91, 96). Dialogue with other cultures and other Christian denominations and world religious, was to be sought. The separateness of Catholicism from other denominations that had been the tenor of the times over years, was to be replaced by an ecumenical spirit.
In all there are sixteen documents of the Vatican II Council which include decrees on the laity, religious, bishops, priests and priestly formation.(See Bibliography -Official Catholic Church Documents). The Council fathers considered they were responding to ‘the signs of the times in the light of the Holy Spirit’ (Bushman 1999: xx..) The question which Vatican II addressed was ‘what does it mean to be a believer, to be a Christian, to be in the Church and also in the modern world?’
81 Documents of Vatican II related to Catholic Education Gravissimum Educationis GE (1965), Declaration on Christian Education, is the principal document relevant to this study. It is however, closely allied with a vision of the human person as set forth in Gaudium et Spes GS (1965), The Church in the Modern World, and Dignitatis Humanae, DH (1965), The Declaration on Religious Freedom. This vision proposes that the human person is religious by nature, ‘seeking God in seeking the truth’ (Bushman 1999: 363). This ‘seeking’ is formalised in systemic and institutionalised education. Christian education is a right that is part of the general right of religious freedom, not only for the individual, but also for communities. Education is the process whereby the human person participates so that he will attain his cultural and spiritual inheritance and grow to maturity (Bushman 1999).
Parents and the Church possess the responsibility and the right to the freedom to provide this education needed for the children. Bushman (1999: 364) asserts that Christian education and secular education are not separate, but complementary. In Lumen Gentium LG II (1965), (the People of God), Bushman (1999: 136) comments that members of the Church have responsibilities to both Church and State. These responsibilities coalesce according to GS, in a Christian education for the children (Bushman 1999: 617). Parents being the authors of life are bound by the most serious obligation to provide this education for their offspring. They must be recognised as the primary and principal educators. This point stems from Pius XI Encyclical Divini Illius Magistri (1929: 10). The family is the first school of the social virtues that are the necessary basis of society (Bushman 1999: 375). For this reason parents have a responsibility of inestimable importance in establishing a truly Christian family for the ‘life’ and progress of God’s own people.
At the same time clergy, laity and religious are to work in a spirit of collaboration. They are to be encouraging and affirming, when it comes to the recognition of the particular gifts of others in the exercise of ministries, celebration of the liturgy and in modelling leadership, and ‘in risking prophetic action and loyal dissent’ (Arbuckle 1993: 18-20). How much actual involvement of the laity was envisaged in the decision- making structures of the Church was raised by Coriden, Green and Heintschel (1985: 163).
82 The Revised Code of Canon Law 1983 The Canons stood as written without revision or expansion for many years. After the Second Vatican Council, the new Code of Canon Law was promulgated in 1983, an English translation prepared by Canon Law Society of Great Britain, Ireland in association with the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Canadian Canon Law Society, became available. Canons pertinent to this study are examined as follows. Marriage, Catholic Education, Parents, Schools, Pastors and the Church.
Title VII: Book IV, The Sanctifying Office of the Church – Marriage
Canon 1055. The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of their whole life, and which of its own very nature is ordered to the well-being of the spouses and to the procreation and upbringing of children, has between the baptised, been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament. (1983: 189)
In this Canon the first notion of partnership appears between a man and woman under the marriage covenant. It describes such a relationship as a ‘whole’, and of life long tenure and in emphasizing the well-being of the spouses implies genuine respect, consideration and care.
This Canon is linked with Canon 1013 (1917) which states that the primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children. The emphasis in both Canons centres on the union between ‘the baptised’ as the basis for it being raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament. The inherent Grace of the sacrament will be the sustaining element for the couple. The word ‘upbringing’ related to children covers widely the physical, intellectual, spiritual and social development of the children. However, the main difference between this Canon and that of the 1917 Code is that it is situated in a new personalist framework (Baillargeon 1986: 326). It also provides a juridical basis for the specification of parental rights and duties in education in the other Canons of the 1983 Code.
83 The love and mutual support for each other exhibited between the parents will be nourished in the growth and formation of the children.
Title II: Book II, The People of God - The Obligations and Rights of the Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful
Canon 226.1 Those who are married are bound by the special obligation, in accordance with their own vocation, to strive for the building up of the people of God through their marriage and family. 226.2. Because they gave life to their children, parents have the most serious obligation and the right to educate them. It is therefore primarily the responsibility of Christian parents to ensure the Christian education of their children in accordance with the teaching of the Church. (1983: 37)
This Canon specifically emphasises the obligation of married persons in terms of their vocation to help towards the building up of the people of God, which takes place through their marriage and family. This infers that if the parents are ‘faithful’, it is assumed, to their religious beliefs and way of life, it follows that the children will be so too. However, the second part of the Canons quite clearly sets out that parents, having given their children the gift of life, have the responsibility and right to ensure they are given a Christian education based on the teaching handed on by the Church. Here the word ‘right and obligation are coupled together for the first time’, (Coriden et al. 151: 1985). Parents in particular have the primary right and duty to see that their children are recipients of a Christian education. The conciliar document GE 3, shows a shift in emphasizing the rights and obligations of parents, reinforcing the parents’ role in their children’s education.
Title III: Book III, Catholic Education - The Teaching Office of the Church In this section of the revised Code there are three Canons (793, 794, 795), which firmly establish the basic principles of Catholic education, and there is reference to Catholic education in a further twenty nine Canons (cf. 12 Canons in 1917 Code). In the original Code the whole section was entitled ‘Schools’ Book III, Title XXII, Canons 1372-1383, whereas in the revised Code the entire section is nominated as Catholic Education. The three subdivisions or chapters are called ‘Schools’, referring to elementary and secondary schools (cc.796-806; 1983: 146); ‘Catholic Universities and other Institutes of Higher Studies’, which covers post-secondary education found in Catholic colleges and universities
84 (cc. 807-814), (1983: 147), and finally ‘Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties’ which are those erected or approved by the Holy See for the ‘Sacred Disciplines’ (cc.815-821, 1983: 148).The post-secondary education section is not included in this research, as the focus is on the relationship between parents and school.
Coriden et al., (1985: 564) note that symbolic of its new direction with a strong attention to education, is the fact that the very first word of the first Canon is ‘parents’. It clearly indicates a ‘shift’ in the recognition of the rights of parents in the educational process.
Title III: Book III, Catholic Education: Parents – The Teaching Office of the Church
Canon 793.1. Parents, and those who take their place, have both the obligation and the right to educate their children. Catholic parents have also the duty and the right to choose those means and institutes which, in their local circumstances, can best promote the catholic education of their children. 793.2. Parents have moreover the right to avail themselves of that assistance from civil society which they need to provide a catholic education for their children. (1983: 145)
This Canon reasserts the parents’ rights with regard to their children’s education. A further parental right is upheld in choosing the ‘institutions and means’ through which they will be able to meet their obligation of a Catholic education. The significance of the parent role placed first in the Canon underlines the primary role in this important task (Morrissey 1989: 434).
The three rights are, to educate their children, secondly, as Catholic parents to have the duty and right to choose those means and institutes, most suitable in promoting the Catholic education of their children, and the thirdly, to assert these rights in relation to the State. The second part of the Canon states that, parents have the right to avail themselves of assistance from Government sources. Due to the freedom of choice, the cost of education should not impose an unjust burden on parents. As a justice issue, Governments need to acknowledge the right of parents in making a genuinely free choice in the type of school that they wish their children to attend. This point is taken from the conciliar document, DH5 Dignitatis
85 Humanae (1965). It originated directly from the Encyclical Divini Illius Magistri by Pius XI (Morrissey 1989).
The notion of ‘choice’ for parents would seem to refer to choice as related to Catholic schools, including those institutes of Religious Orders, not other denominational or state schools. At the same time, it is stressed that parents should not be obliged by civil law to send their children to public schools (Morrissey 1989: 438).
Parents have, moreover, the right to avail themselves of that assistance from civil society that they need to provide a Catholic education for their children. Corresponding with this right is an obligation imposed, upon the State to provide such options. It is not suggested that the State pay entirely for such schools, but that sufficient funds be made available to provide for a reasonable alternative. This civil assistance was referred to earlier by Pius XI (1929: 42) as a justice principle.
Canon 795 Education must pay regard to the formation of the whole person, so that all may attain their eternal destiny and at the same time promote the common good of society. Children and young people are therefore to be cared for in such a way that their physical, moral and intellectual talents may develop in a harmonious manner, so that they may attain a greater sense of responsibility and a right use of freedom, and be formed to take an active part in social life. (1983: 145)
This Canon 795 which sets out the role of education, while maintaining the elements of earlier principles, emphasises the formation of the whole person, the attainment of eternal destiny and be linked with the promotion of the common good of society. It was envisaged that the harmonious development of the children’s physical, moral and intellectual talents would enable them to acquire a greater sense of responsibility, and to use their freedom by actively participating in social life.
In 1985, Coriden et al., (1985): 151) consider, in the light of Canon 217 on Christian education, that Christians and all people have a right to education which is based on the dignity of the human person. For Christians this includes an education that aims to develop the maturity of human persons, and, which at the same time seeks a knowledge and living
86 of the mystery of salvation. The conciliar documents stressed the religious dimension of Christian education thus indicating a priority over the development of human maturity. The Canon incorporates both purposes on an equal basis; highlighting the fact that both must take place together (Coriden et al. 1985: 151) These authors found that this Canon draws on several statements in Vatican II, although they are of the opinion, that it is not ‘traceable to any particular conciliar text (1983: 151). GS Gaudium et Spes (1965) Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, focuses on human rights, which include the right to education, while GE Gravissimum Educationis not only addresses the human right to education but also more specifically, the rights of Christians. The right to education raises the point of the various duties in the Church to establish schools to help parents fulfil their role in their children’s education, that is the formation of conscience and moral responsibility.
Where civil authorities wish to take over schools in order to monopolise the educational enterprise, the Church has insisted that ‘parents are the primary educators of their children, and therefore have the primary right and duty to determine how that education will be carried out’ (Coriden et al. 1985: 162). The phrase designating parents as the first and principal educators of their children taken from GE Gravissimum Educationis 3 in the Lex Ecclesiae Fundamentalis text, has been dropped from the final version of the revised Code, according to Coriden et al. (1985). They did not speculate on the reason. When the laity was to be given more participation in the Church, the role of parents in their children’s Catholic education had received special emphasis over the years, a question arises as to the reason for the omission. Nevertheless, that ‘parents are the first and principal educators of their children’ is clearly stated in GE Gravissimum Educationis 3 (Bushman,1999: 374).
Title III: Book III, Chapter I - Schools The Teaching Office of the Church Canon 796.1. Among the means of advancing education, Christ’s faithful are to consider schools as of great importance, since they are the principal means of helping parents to fulfil their role in education. 796.2. There must be the closest cooperation between parents and the teachers to whom they entrust their children to be educated. In fulfilling their task, teachers are to collaborate closely with the parents and willingly listen to them; associations and meetings of parents are to be set up and held in high esteem. (1983: 146)
87 In Canon 796 the prime importance of schools is stressed as the means of advancing education, therefore it follows that Christ’s faithful are to consider schools of great importance, since they are the principal means of helping parents fulfil their role in the education of their children. This imperative is taken further in Canon 796.2, in advocating that ‘there must be the closest cooperation between parents and the teachers to whom they entrust their children to be educated’. In fulfilling their task, ‘teachers are to collaborate closely with the parents and willingly listen to them’, and that ‘associations and meetings of parents are to be set up and held in high esteem’ (Sheehy, Brown, Kelly and McGrath 1995: 420) Does this statement suggest that in the past these activities were tolerated rather than respected? This proposition underscores the need for mutual collaboration between teachers and parents in the education of the children in their care, and suggests that their mutual interests are inextricably associated. Furthermore, both parents and teachers are to work as partners in the educational process, implying a listening role and respect for each other in the educational process of the child (Coriden et al. 1985: 566).
Questions that arise include – how is this premise played out at the local school level? Are parents really welcome to participate in school management or are they limited to an ancillary, fund-raising, supportive role?
In his commentary Morrissey (1989) describes Canon 796 on Parents and the Schools, as a call for cooperation among parents and teachers, and goes on to say that ‘parents should not be looked upon as nuisances, even though there may be times when parents go beyond the acceptable limits…as it needs to be recognised that schools cannot cater to every whim and fancy’. To pursue this further, the question is raised as to what are ‘acceptable limits’? Do parents set them or do teachers? From this attention given to parents within the Church’s own activities at various stages in the revision process, it is apparent that Canons have been added and Morrissey (1989) notes that parental rights and obligations are scattered throughout the revised Code. This recognition indicates a significant shift in parents’ participation in their children’s education in Catholic schools.
88 Canon 797 Parents must have a real freedom in their choice of schools. For this reason Christ’s faithful must be watchful that the civil society acknowledges this freedom for parents and, in accordance with the requirements of distributive justice, even provides them with assistance. (1983: 146)
The Canon is quite clear. Parents must be free to meet their responsibility and ensure the full education of their children as they see it. Canon 798 Parents are to send their children to those schools which will provide for their Catholic education. If they cannot do this, they are bound to ensure the proper catholic education of their children outside the school. (1983: 146)
A more moderate stance in Canon 798 is demonstrated. In situations where parents cannot send their children to schools which do provide a Catholic education, it is proposed that a proper Catholic education of their children is to take place outside the school. No penalty or obstruction to the parents reception of the sacraments is now included.
Canon 799 Christ’s faithful are to strive to secure that in the civil society the laws which regulate the formation of the young, also provide a religious and moral education in the schools that is in accord with the conscience of the parents. (1983: 146)
This Canon is linked with Canon 793 which appears under ‘Parents’. It is noted that Christian education has been replaced in this section of the revised Code by Catholic Education.
Revised Emphasis and Expansion of the Role of Parents explicit in the Revised Code of 1983 In GE Gravissimum Educationis, Bushman (1999: 380) perceives that the emphasis is to ‘let teachers work as partners with parents and together with them, in every phase of education’. This inclusion of parents indicates a remarkable change in the view of the parents’ role. The question of how this is translated into actual practice remains to be examined as will be described in Chapters 5, 7 and 8.
These Canons (795, 796, 797, 798, 799) directly reinforce parents in their obligations and rights in the education of their children and open up the question of choice, and assistance
89 from civil society. The issue of choice and the limitations on the preferred choice of a Catholic school are recognised.
Canon 794.1 The Church has in a special way the duty and the right of educating, for it has a divine mission of helping all to arrive at the fullness of Christian life. 794.2 Pastors of souls have the duty of making all possible arrangements so that all the faithful may avail themselves of a catholic education. (1983: 145)
Canon 794 explained that the Church has in a special way the duty and the right of educating, for it has a divine mission of helping all to arrive at the fullness of Christian life. It continues to state in part two of the Canon, that Pastors of souls have the duty to make all possible arrangements so that the faithful may avail themselves of a Catholic education (Canon Law Societies of Great Britain et al. 1983: 145).
The corresponding rights of the Church as outlined in Canon 794 stem from GE3. The Church has a particular role in education in that it announces the way of salvation to all, irrespective of religious affiliation. The educative role is aimed at assisting people in growing towards the fullness of life in Christ. The Church has the right to evangelise and is concerned not only with secular education but also with the supernatural (Coriden et al. 1985).
The second part of the Canon refers to the responsibility of the pastors of souls i.e. bishops and priests, in providing schools and various types of catechetical programs for parents and their children. As a Christian community comprising priests, parents, lay people and children, the priests are recognised as the stimulators, but the responsibility is a shared one between all concerned. The Canon recalls III Plenary Council of Baltimore where an imperative was issued to the bishops and priests, that a school was to be established in every parish as mentioned in connection with Canon 1373.
Book III, Chapter 1 – Schools. The Teaching Office of the Church Canon 800.1. The Church has the right to establish and to direct schools for any field of study or of any kind and grade. 800.2. Christ’s faithful are to promote catholic schools, by doing everything possible to help in establishing and maintaining them. (1983: 146)
90 The Church in having a teaching office (Canon 800), has the right to establish and to direct schools for any field of study or of any kind and grade. To assist in this endeavour, Christ’s faithful are to promote Catholic schools, doing everything possible to help in establishing and maintaining them. However, if there are no schools in which an education is provided that is imbued with a Christian spirit, the diocesan Bishop has the responsibility of ensuring that such schools are established.
Canon 801 Religious institutes which have education as their mission are to keep faithfully to this mission and earnestly strive to devote themselves to catholic education, providing this is also through their own schools which, with the consent of the diocesan Bishop, they have established. (1983: 146)
This Canon refers to religious congregations of nuns, brothers and priests who have made Catholic education their life mission, and have established schools to meet the needs of children in both poor and more affluent situations.
Canon 802.1 If there are no schools in which an education is provided that is imbued with a Christian spirit, the diocesan Bishop has the responsibility of ensuring that such schools are established. 802.2 Where it is suitable, the diocesan Bishop is to provide for the establishment of professional and technical schools, and of other schools catering for special needs. (1983: 146)
The duties of the diocesan bishop are extended in Canon 802 (1983: 146) where it is stated that where suitable, the diocesan Bishop is to provide for the establishment of professional and technical schools, and other schools catering for special needs.
Canon 803.1 A catholic school is understood to be one which is under the control of the competent ecclesiastical authority or of a public ecclesiastical juridical person, or one which in a written document is acknowledged as catholic by the ecclesiastical authority. 803.2 Formation and education in a catholic school must be based on the principles of catholic doctrine; and the teachers must be outstanding in true doctrine and uprightness of life. 803.3 No school, even if it is in fact catholic, may bear the title ‘catholic school’ except by the consent of the competent ecclesiastical authority. (1983: 147)
91 A Catholic school is defined in Canon 803 (1983: 147) as being ‘one which is under the control of the competent ecclesiastical authority or of a public ecclesiastical juridical person’, or ‘one which in a written document is acknowledged as Catholic by the ecclesiastical authority’. Furthermore, ‘it is the responsibility of the Bishop and Priest to see that (803-2) formation and education in a Catholic school is based on the principles of Catholic doctrine, and the teachers must be outstanding in true doctrine and uprightness of life’. Canon 803-3 upholds ‘no school may bear the title ‘Catholic’ except by the consent of the competent ecclesiastical authority’, thus excluding and not to be confused with all others that carry the title ‘Christian school’.
Canon 804.1 The formation and education in the catholic religion provided in any school, and through various means of social communications is subject to the authority of the Church. It is for the Episcopal Conference to issue general norms concerning this field of activity and for the diocesan Bishop to regulate and watch over it. 804.2 The local Ordinary is to be careful that those who are appointed as teachers of religion in schools, even in non-catholic ones, are outstanding in true doctrine, in the witness of their Christian life, and in their teaching ability. (1983: 147)
The formation and education in the Catholic religion provided in any school and through various means of social communication, is subject to the authority of the Church. It is for the Episcopal Conference to issue general norms concerning this field of activity, and for the diocesan Bishop to regulate and watch over it.
The local Ordinary is to be careful that those who are appointed as teachers of religion in schools, even non-Catholic ones, are outstanding in true doctrine, in the witness of their Christian life, and in their teaching ability.
Canon 805 In his own diocese, the local Ordinary has the right to appoint or to approve teachers of religion and, if religious or moral considerations require it, the right to remove or to demand that they be removed. (1983: 147)
In his own diocese, the local Ordinary is endowed, not only with the right, but with absolute authority to appoint or to approve teachers of religion. Alternatively, if he considers morals, religious teaching or practices are threatened in any way, he has the right
92 to remove the teachers or to demand that they be removed. This Church-given right is clearly limited by the state’s authority to legislate on industrial matters and so restrict the Bishops’ right to hire and fire.
Canon 806.1 The diocesan Bishop has the right to watch over and inspect the catholic schools situated in his territory, even those established or directed by members of religious institutes. He has also the right to issue directives concerning the general regulation of catholic schools; these directives apply to schools conducted by members of a religious institute, although they retain their autonomy in the internal management of their schools. 806.2 Those who are in charge of catholic schools ensure, under the supervision of the local Ordinary, that the formation given in them is, in its academic standards, at least as outstanding as that in other schools in the area. (1983: 147)
The authority of the diocesan Bishop is upheld in Canon 806. He has the right to inspect and watch over Catholic schools in his domain. Also to issue directives concerning the general regulation of Catholic schools that also apply to schools conducted by members of a religious institute, even though they retain their autonomy in the internal management of their schools.
Those who are in charge of Catholic schools are to ensure, under the supervision of the local Ordinary, that the formation given to them is, in its academic standards, at least as outstanding as that in other schools in the area.
Summary Summarising, these Canons 794, 800, 802, 803, 805, 806 that deal with the duties of pastors and the authorised Commentaries on these Canons, uphold previous positions related to the hierarchy and clergy. The Church’s mission is clearly stated and the justification for it is set out as ‘helping all to arrive at the fullness of Christian life’.
The pastors’ ‘duty’ to make all possible arrangements for a Catholic education is quite explicit, and may be interpreted as literally building schools. In fact if there are no schools ‘imbued with the Christian spirit’ the Bishop must see that this is rectified. The ‘faithful’ or parents are to promote Catholic schools by providing help in establishing and maintaining them, by contributing financially and in other ways, such as fund-raising.
93 Schools for special needs and technical education received attention in the new Code of Canon Law. The definition of a Catholic School is one that is under the control of the competent ecclesiastical authority.
Canon 795 would appear to be the foundation for the other Canons related to education. Based on GE Gravissimum Educationis 3, it clearly applies within the Church’s own legal system the principle that parents have the primary right and duty to see to the education of their own children. While this obligation and right are not absolute but must respect the requirements of the common good in the temporal order and in the Church, they are so fundamental as to lead to further specifications on behalf of parents (Christian Education treatment in the revised Code, Coriden, et al. 1985: 564).
The Second Vatican Council in building upon principles outlined by Pope Pius XI in his Encyclical, Divini Illius Magistri (1929), has set the base for a new understanding of the rights and responsibilities of parents regarding the Catholic education of their children. These insights are codified in Book III of the Code of Canon Law and are now part of a significant inheritance the Church wishes to bequeath to forthcoming generations (Morrissey 1989: 430). However, Morrissey goes on the say that there is a ‘difficulty which has to be overcome if this ideal is to be transmitted integrally and faithfully to Catholics in years to come’. This presents a challenge in the light of marked changes in societal regard for authority and religion, and the influence of television. Morrissey acknowledges that for a certain number of years after the Council, there seemed to be a void in certain areas of religious education, particularly at the secondary level, a major concern. He explains (1989: 437) that Canons 796-798 spell out three specific rights and obligations of parents in relation to the schools: cooperation between teachers and parents, freedom of choice, and seeing to the Catholic education of the children.
Whether Canonical attention given to the rights of parents in forming associations to do with schools and teachers (c.796: 2) will make any difference for parents in the life of the Church remains to be seen. It is suggested that it will depend on how these provisions are
94 respected in the light of the revised Code, and what efforts of a practical nature are implemented at the local level. It is noted that the responsibility for any action lies with the parents themselves How welcome parent initiatives are with the personnel of the Church at the school level is debatable.
Both the original Code of Canon Law as promulgated in 1917 and the revised 1983 Code, in the Canons related to Marriage, Parents, Catholic Education and Schools, reveal a continuity and development of the rights and obligations of parents as the primary or first and foremost educators of their children.
Education is described as a holistic process, thus aiming for the complete formation of the person as a ‘whole’. Parents consequently are to ensure their children’s physical, civil, social, cultural, religious and moral upbringing. This is in accord with both the old and the revised Code. As the obligation to send their children to a Catholic school was stressed in the earlier Code, it could be inferred that having complied, the parents had fulfilled their obligations and nothing more was required of them. The precepts of the 1983 Code related to parents reflect the development that flowed out of the Second Vatican Council. It places parents at the centre of every facet of the educational process.
At the end of this simple overview of Canons relating to the rights and obligations of parents in the area of education, one thing is clear: the Church has taken a very strong and categorical stand in upholding the primary responsibilities of parents, even before those of the State or of the Church community itself. This approach is consistent with the thrusts of the Vatican II teaching on education and of the 1980 Synod on the Family (Morrissey 1989: 443).
Perhaps at times, parents have been only too willing to transfer their responsibilities to others, be they in the school or in the Church. Morrissey (1989: 444) asserts that this is sad because the parents, as Pope John Paul II notes, are missing a wonderful opportunity to ‘beget that life that flows from the Cross and Resurrection of Christ’. While it is clear that parents are not free simply to transfer all their obligations to others; this would be an
95 abdication of their corresponding duties. If this abdication appears to be the case, the reasons for this stance attributed to the parents need to be explored.
The revised Code and associated Commentaries dwelt in some detail on duties of parents. But also addressed were the obligations of the Catholic School.
Part 2: The Catholic School
All I need is a tall ship and a star to steer her by… . (‘Sea Fever’, John Masefield 1902)
According to Canon Law:
(Canon 803) A Catholic school is understood to be one which is under the control of the competent ecclesiastical authority or of a public ecclesiastical juridical person, or one, which in a written document, is acknowledged as Catholic by the ecclesiastical authority. (1983: 146)
The aim of the Catholic school is ‘ to promote integrated human growth in the development of the whole man, since in Christ the Perfect Man, all human values find their fulfillment and unity’ in the students’ (The Catholic School 1977, p.32., par 35). It also presents to them ‘the Catholic vision of life by word and example’. (DeWaal (1977: 2). However, the principal goal of the Catholic school asserts John Paul II, (1992: 5) is ‘to hand on the faith’, and is dependent on the teachers for realization of such ideals and programs. The teachers are urged to work with parents as partners in every phase of education.
The Role of the Catholic School is to meld a synthesis of culture and faith, allied with a synthesis of faith and life (McLaughlin, 2000: 35). This can be achieved firstly by integrating all the different aspects of human knowledge through the subjects taught, in the light of the gospel, and secondly in the growth of the virtues characteristic of the Christian.
The Catholic School facilitates the acquisition of knowledge related to the critical communication of human culture and the total formation of the individual. This objective is
96 guided by a Christian vision of reality ‘through which our cultural heritage assumes its special place in the total vocational life of man. (GS Gaudium et Spes 1965, n.57, cited in The Catholic School, 1979: 32, par 36).
The function of the Catholic school is to create in the school community an atmosphere which is enlivened by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity, so that the knowledge of the world that the students gradually integrate, is of life and man illumined by faith (Pius XI, Encyclical Divini Illius Magistri 1929, I, 77ff.).
Education is described as ‘the process in which the human person participates in order to attain his cultural and spiritual inheritance’ (cf. GE Introduction 1999: 363). It is observed, (GE 1999: 365), that education in general and Christian education particularly, is the means of promoting true human freedom which is allied very closely with human dignity. Moreover, the aim of Christian education is towards developing a fully mature Christian, with an emphasis on moral education and formation of conscience (cf. GE 1, 6 1999: 3). It is noted that Christian education does not replace secular education or recognise it as separate, but rather brings the two together in a unified reality. In this way a person is able to participate responsibly in the social, economic and political life, upholding ‘the common good of both the earthly city and the Church’ (GE. 1999: 364). However, it is pointed out that the purpose of education is not for the acquisition of power but as a basis for a fuller understanding of and communion with man, events and things. Similarly it is proposed that knowledge is not merely a means of gaining material prosperity and success, but rather at an altruistic level, as a call to serve and to be responsible for others (The Catholic School 1977: 43, par 56).
The right to a Christian education is acknowledged as the general right of religious freedom for the individual and communities. It is allied, also, with the right of the Church to freely establish and to conduct schools that offer a Christian education for families. It is put forward that a right of this kind is conducive to the protection of ‘freedom of conscience, the rights of parents’, as well as to the enhancement of culture itself (GE 8 1999: 379).
97 The Family In the Code of Canon Law (Canon 793) it is clearly stated that:
Parents, and those who take their place, have both the obligation and the right to educate their children. Catholic parents have also the duty and the right to choose those means and institutes which, in their local circumstances, can best promote the catholic education of their children. (1983: 145)
Parents therefore, are responsible for education within their families. They are considered to be the ‘first preachers of the faith to their children’ and because of this prerogative, they are entrusted with the growth and development of their children, being deemed the ‘primary and principal educators’ of them (GE 3 1999: 364).
The Conciliar Documents view this educational responsibility being fulfilled primarily in two ways, which are through the family (cf. GE 3 1999: 364) and through the free choice of schools (cf. GE 6). In Familiaris Consortio, John Paul II (1982: 68, par 36) strengthens this premise as he considers that ‘their role as educators is so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it’. Parents are obliged to create a family atmosphere which is so animated with love and reverence for God and others, that a sound personal and social development will ensue for the children. The family is claimed to be the ‘first school of those social virtues which every society needs’ and the first and vital cell of society (John Paul II 1982: 68, par 36).
Malone (1999) claims that it is the teachers in Catholic schools who impart the knowledge and support families in the Catholic ‘education’ of their children. It is argued how is this support implemented or apparent? Nevertheless, parents are continually reminded of their obligation to send their children to Catholic schools wherever it is feasible, and encouraged to give their utmost support to them in the education of their children. It is recognised that while the primary educating role belongs to the family, there are other ‘agents’ (Dewey 1968), both civil (state) and ecclesial (church), who are involved in the task of education and collaboration is paramount. The Church and state must provide all possible aid to
98 enable families to perform their educational role, but at the same time, only in circumstances that warrant it, should the outside ‘agents’ intervene (Durkheim 1961).
The Church holds those civil authorities and societies in high regard that are cognizant of the pluralism of contemporary society and respects religious freedom (James Carroll 1962). At the same time, they assist families so that the education of their children can be carried out in all schools in harmony with the individual moral and religious principles of the families (Bushman 1999: 378. par 7).
Their right of choice in the conformity of their religious faith must be observed (Familiaris Consortio 1982: 76, par 40). Teachers need to be equipped with the required qualifications related to secular and religious knowledge to enable them to educate their students and situate their instruction in the contemporary world (Bushman 1999: 380). It is put forward in the Vatican documents that a genuine dialogue with the modern world would benefit those involved in the church’s apostolate (Paul VI, GS Gaudium et Spes, 1965). This dialogue between faith and reason is a defining characteristic of the Catholic school, and teachers must give attention to their own Christian formation so that they can adequately impart this knowledge to their students (GE 7 1999: 380, par 8).
Since the Second Vatican Council in 1966, the number of religious teachers has decreased, thus placing greater responsibility on parents for their children’s Christian education (Bushman 1999: 365). As the Catholic school is engaged in the transmission of values for living, all the members need to be involved in the formation of a Christian community as a whole. They must be united in the pursuit of knowledge for a fully human and Christian maturity (Bushman 1999: 366). As the more mature members of the community, a special responsibility is incurred by teachers. Durkheim, (1961) proposes that modelling in the exchange between teacher and student is a key factor, as it has been noted that ‘long after pupils forget what their teachers have taught them, they will remember what their teachers were like – and what they stood for’ (DeWaal 1977: 8).
99 The Code of Canon Law enunciates to teachers their responsibility to parents:
Canon 796 There must be the closest cooperation between the parents and the teachers to whom they entrust their children to be educated. In fulfilling their task teachers are to collaborate with the parents and willingly listen to them. (1983: 146)
McLaughlin (2000: 54) maintains that ‘community is at the heart of Christian education, not simply as a concept to be taught but as a reality to be lived. Culture, Kelty believes (2000: 22) incorporates the following characteristics: ‘culture as human achievement, social dimension, its inevitable position in the world of values, and the pluralism characteristic of all culture’.
The Church can be understood as moving from sectarian opposition to the world to engagement within it. The relationship between the Church and culture became one of transformation as in the early twentieth century ‘Catholicism was organised tribally’ (Kelty, 2000: 28). Since Vatican II, it is suggested that a new style of Catholicism has become apparent and is an integral part of modern society. It is proposed that a fully Christian education is required in the context of today’s world to enable the Christian community to participate in social reform and thus seek solutions to a host of complex problems, such as war, poverty, racism and environmental pollution which tend to undermine community within and among nations (McLaughlin 2000: 54).
The Future In the third millennium education faces new challenges which it is maintained have ‘resulted from a new socio-political and cultural context’ (The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium 1998: 5). These include: a crisis of values stemming from those portrayed convincingly through the media of subjectivism, moral relativism and nihilism. It is suggested that the vast degree of pluralism that lies within contemporary society, tends towards styles of behaviour which are opposed to one another, and defeat any notion of community identity. Rapid structural changes advanced technical innovations and the globalisation of the economy are ‘affecting’ human life extensively throughout the world (The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium 1998: 5).
100 While the combination of multi-culturalism, a multi-ethnic and multi religious society can be an enhancement it is stated that it can also be a ‘source of further problems’. The previously mentioned document (1998: 25), reinforces the educational role of the Catholic school in that the work of the school is irreplaceable and goes on to say ‘the investment of human and material resources in it becomes a prophetic choice’.
From the Second Vatican Council, a strong mandate was given to the Catholic school that it is to be of service in ‘developing the mission of the People of God and in promoting dialogue between the church and the community’. The vital importance of this mandate in the third millennium is recognised as it is deemed to be advantageous for all concerned.
The formation of the younger generation and the contribution they can make to the Church and society is acknowledged by John Paul II (1998: 11). He challenges all involved in education by stating, ‘the future of the world and of the Church belongs to the younger generation … born in this century, who will reach maturity in the next, the first century of the new millennium’.
It is claimed that the goal of the Catholic school is unchanging, as the dignity of the human person is central to the educational project, and in the development of strong personalities (The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium 1998: 12). However, the concern appears to be that there is a growing marginalisation of the Christian faith as a reference point. It is from the Catholic identity of the school that the original characteristics and structure as a genuine instrument of the Church, lends itself, as a place of real and specific pastoral ministry. Because of its educational focus, faith, culture and life are harmoniously integrated.
Catholic schools fulfil a public role similarly to that of State schools, in that they ensure cultural and educational pluralism. In this way, the rights of families to choose the kind of education that they want for their children are validated. Furthermore, public subsidies need to be allocated to make this choice possible. Consequently a cordial and constructive
101 dialogue of collaboration which is based on relations of mutual respect, is necessary between the ‘State’ and the Catholic school. Just as the reciprocal recognition of each other’s role in this ‘common service to mankind’ is central to its function, the community dimension of the school itself, needs to be fostered (The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium 1998: 20, par 17). This premise is extended in that the respect for individual roles between those who constitute the community, is one of the essential features which aid the enriching development of the contemporary school.
Hence, it cannot be emphasised enough that the climate and role of the educating community with the various entities such as students, parents, teachers, directors and non- teaching staff, is vital to its successful formation.
Rights of the Family and the Australian Catholic School It is further advocated in ‘The Catholic School on Threshold of the Third Millennium’ (1998: 23, par 20) that parents, having the natural responsibility for their children’s education, have a significant role in the educating community. As it has been noted, that families need support in their role, initiatives should be established which would enable them to participate more fully in the school community, thus instilling a deepening commitment. It is claimed that ‘there is a widespread tendency to delegate this unique role’. It could be argued how has it developed in this way? The aim of the Catholic school therefore should be centred around contact, communication and interaction with parents, collaboration emanating from a personalised approach should be encouraged for such an educational project to he effective, according to the previous document.
Parents were barely mentioned in The Catholic School (1977) it was noted by McLaughlin (2000: 62), except to remind all concerned that cooperation, between all members of the community, i.e. teachers, parents, pupils and administrative personnel, is required to achieve the aim of the community.
102 In the Rights of the Family, it is clearly stated,
the primary right of parents to educate their children must be upheld in all forms of collaboration between parents, teachers an school authorities, and particularly in forms of participation designed to give citizens a voice in the function of schools and in the formulation and implementation of school policy. (1983: 11, Article 5, par. e)
McLaughlin (2000: 38) asserts that development of competencies of lay people, is essential. It was stipulated that ‘the first and primary educators of children, are their parents’. However it also cautioned that when parents were ignorant of their role –it is the schools’ responsibility to give them this awareness. It is argued how can it be imparted? Catholic schools are urged (McLaughlin 2000: 83) to provide the right sort of concrete support which the family needs to be involved in the Catholic schools education project. Dwyer (1993: 63) observes that in the light of the Vatican documents statements on the parents’ role – ‘there is little hard data to tell us what parents want from our Catholic schools’.
However, Flynn, (1993) in an extensive Australian longitudinal study examined the culture of a number of Catholic schools. His exploration adopted a mapping strategy and used a cultural paradigm. It explained a small number of components of their culture that are related to their mission, namely, the integration of faith within the culture and life of the schools. It draws on a stratified sample of 50 Year 12 Catholic High Schools from all the Dioceses of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, involving 6,000 Year 12 students. Data were also collected from the parents of these students and from secondary teachers in the schools. He found that Catholic schools not only have an educational effect, but also a religious influence on them, which is independent of that of their homes. His evidence indicated that there was an integration of faith and culture according to that espoused in the Church documents (1993: xii). Flynn found that: while the level of parental expectations in the areas of personal academic vocational and social development have become more demanding over the period 1982-1990, parental expectations in the area of religious development have declined sharply. (Flynn 1993: 172) He concluded that while parents include one religious goal amongst the highest expectations of Catholic schools, the religious goal was ranked amongst their lowest expectations. McLaughlin (2000: 84)
103 proposes that parents choose Catholic school because of the caring atmosphere which is provided, the promotion of Christian values that are reinforced by fair but firm discipline. The administration teams expressed the belief that only a minority of parents place a high priority on religious education (McLaughlin 2000: 84).
Johnston and Chesterton (1994: 13) carried out a study which incorporated a survey of 572 Catholic schools in ten of the eleven NSW Catholic Dioceses and case studies of 24 of the survey schools. 10 percent of student families in these schools were also surveyed. The aim of the project was to identify ‘current perceptions, strategies, practices, capacities and issues related to the poor in these schools. It was acknowledged that parents have ‘supported, sought refuge in and fought for the economic survival of Catholic schools’. However it has been noted that financial hardship has affected both the ‘provision and access to Catholic education’ which has been felt by parents and schools.
The research found that parents considered that Catholic schools ought to play an active role in relation to the poor. Indications were that parents ‘have much to contribute in terms of clarifying the direction and practices of Catholic schools’. The challenge emanating from the research is ‘one of building relationships with parents so as to capitalise on their potential input which would be beneficial to all concerned’ (Johnston and Chesterton 1994: 19).
McLaughlin (2000: 75) claimed that it is queried how Catholic a school actually is, in terms of the students sharing the Christian vision. Sippel (1989) argues that students in Catholic schools may have a Christian vision but not necessarily the traditional Catholic one. Flynn (1993: 351) takes this point further in proposing that those who ‘teach secondary students’ would consider that many have developed an incipient non-institutional spirituality. Several hypotheses have been offered by Flynn (1993: 423) that could explain the increasing decline in the religious practices of students. Amongst those nominated are: the sexual revolution, lack of understanding of the faith and fear of hypocrisy. Greeley (1973: 15) acknowledges social and technological change which has powerful and pervasive
104 implications for one’s religious beliefs but, at the same time, he considers the basic functions religion plays in human life are essentially the same.
The reasons are furthered by Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson (1996: 2), when he suggests that ‘adolescents are ‘reluctant to accept traditional Catholicism’. He takes the view that in their minds there is ‘too much weak, frail and suffering humanity in the Church for them to accept any package without critically examining its content’ (cited by McLaughlin 2000: 75).
An empirical study of Coleman and Hoffer (1987: 214) concludes that in the three sectors of schooling (government, independent and Catholic), Catholic schools were superior because of the ‘functional community’ that exacts around a religious body to which the family adheres, and of which the school is an outgrowth. Moreover this community is described as a form of social capital that enhances the quality of individuals and the nation (Greeley 1989).
John Paul II, (1985: 355-9) asserted that the most essential characteristic of the nature of the Church, is its communitarian aspect (cited by McLaughlin 2000: 114). It cannot simply be presented as an institution. The climate generated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and love, distinguishes the Catholic school community from that of other schools (GE Gravissimum Educationis 1965, par. 8).
The following propositions are issued in The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, (1998, para. 8, 14, 10 ):
Provision of an authentic educational environment, where the value of the person is affirmed where knowledge is integrated for the sake of ultimate truths, where the relationship of the human person with God is modelled as well as taught. (cf. Paul VI 1975, par 41)
De Waal (1977: 11) speaks of the importance of an education which nurtures the Catholic faith being preserved and handed on to the children, in order to enable them to meet the
105 challenges of a godless world. In meeting criticism of a separate Catholic school system De Waal (1977: 12) stipulated that we live in a divided world, a pluralist society and that ‘Church schools do not create division – they are the product of it’. Catholics who have lapsed or who do not practise their faith, DeWaal (1977) maintains, but send their children to Catholic schools, will need the support of the Catholic school in what it has to offer.
Summary This Chapter has examined in some detail the official teaching of the Catholic Church on the education of Catholic children. ‘Chapter and verse’ of the Church’s promulgations through the twentieth century, along with expert and approved commentaries, have emphasised the rights and duties of parents as ‘the primary educators of their children’. And the same source documents speak to the necessity of Catholic schools as supportive of that parental responsibility in the common purpose of the complete education of children.
The constant and overall practice of the Catholic school, should be contact and dialogue with the students’ families. This communication and involvement should also be encouraged through the promotion of parents’ associations and similar officially recognised groups. In this way it will be understood and conveyed that through the parents’ ‘indispensable collaboration’ in their irreplaceable role, an education project is more likely to be efficacious (The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium 1998: 24).
It has been important to present this structure of authoritative and explicit direction as the base premise, the ‘ideal’, before examining the practice, ‘the reality’ as told by parents and teachers participating in this study.
In the next Chapter the parents’ and religious teachers’ perceptions, from childhood memories, of the way that their parents were involved in their Catholic education; their own subsequent involvement as parents, including how teachers involved parents, were derived from interviews and focus groups with the first cohort reflecting on the period 1900-1950.
106 The understanding by parents of their central role, the degree of confidence and ability that they had in that role, and the extent to which assumption of that role was facilitated or hampered or obstructed, is revealed in the next Chapter.
107 CHAPTER 5
PARENTS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY - THE FIRST COHORT
Does distance lend enchantment to the view?
A selective review of the Catholic Church’s involvement in education, particularly religious education is continued in this Chapter. The focus is on Catholic parents and the recognition, or not, of their role in their children’s education as known at the end of the nineteenth century until 1950. The first cohort of parents and religious teachers recalled their experience of schooling during those years.
In this first section the following questions are addressed:
x What recognition was given to parents of their role in the education of their children? x Why did sectarian animosity remain a significant influence in negotiations between the Catholic Church and the State concerning education?
Historical overview Schools had been established in the colony of New South Wales in the early 1800s by the governing authorities, because there was a concern that the children of ‘convicts’ who had been transported from England, would probably grow up uncivilised and become more trouble than their parents (Luttrell 1996). The schools were recognised as the crucible, firstly, in defining the way the children and families were being educated, and, secondly, in
108 public schools the children could look to England for inspiration and believe in their tradition and culture.
Catholic convicts were explicitly separated, from their English and Scottish counterparts, by those who held power and authority. In response to this exclusion the Irish bonded together to express their own nationalism and culture, and this reaction contributed towards making them rebellious. Parkin (1990: 102) describes the reaction: ‘communities singled out for exclusion, are typically those whose political and social rights have been deliberately curtailed by the forces of law and order’. The two ‘essential conditions’ of adoption of the Protestant religion and civilisation, as defined by the British, were fiercely resisted by the Irish people (O’Farrell 1992). These feelings engendered a separateness that became rooted in the history of Catholicism in Australia and especially in relationship to the wider community (O’Farrell 1992).
In 1840, Dr. Polding, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, believed the great goal of education in the new colony must be the improvement of the moral state of the community. To achieve this end, he directed strict attention to the rising generation. His concern was that through the ‘apathy of the parents, the street was the school frequented by many children’ (Fogarty 1959: 52). In the Catholic schools at the time, Polding viewed religion and culture as being integrated in education. He was appalled by the standard of education. The schools were minimally equipped, the teachers poorly qualified, and he noted, their working conditions left a lot to be desired (Fogarty 1959). Parents were required to pay two pence per week, and having had little education, they did not see the value of it and many were struggling financially (O’Farrell 1992).
The indifference of parents did not generally proceed from any wish to deprive their children of the benefits of education, but stemmed from a well-founded doubt about the benefits of education (Fogarty 1959). To provide full religious education for the Catholic child was the serious obligation of those responsible for the child’s upbringing, parent and pastor. The bishop had the responsibility of overseeing that this obligation was faithfully discharged (Fogarty 1959). Durkheim elaborates that, as the bishop represented the church,
109 his authority was respected by the ‘faithful’, as ‘they considered him to be endowed with powers superior to those they could find in themselves’ (Durkheim (1961: 88). Polding, however, felt frustrated when it came to informing the laity on the subject of education. He considered the parents culpable. They did not send their children to school regularly, and they removed them from school at too early an age. In many ways it was not surprising that many parents, regardless of what the clergy said, did not bother about schooling their children or were largely unconcerned about which school the children attended. At the same time, poor parents were unwilling to accept the offer of free schooling for their children, because they would have had to put aside their pride and so be exposed to their neighbours as being in impoverished circumstances (O’Farrell 1992).
Parents’ role in education Parents have been traditionally recognised by state and church as having the responsibility for the education of their children (Davies 1976). Catholic Church documents, such as the Code of Canon Law, nominate parents as the first and foremost educators of their children. To assist them in this role, the Church established Catholic schools in Australia, and required Catholic parents to send their children to these schools. Both state and church authorities were committed to cultural and social reproduction to create a prosperous and contented people. While, they acknowledged that parents were very significant in the educational process, there was little expectation of their involvement beyond their acquiescence in their children’s schooling.
Social capital has been defined by Bourdieu (1986: 249) ‘as incorporating resources linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalised relationships of mutual acquaintance or recognition’. It also provides the members of a group with the backing of the collectively owned capital. The ‘capital’ in this instance, were the children, and ‘social capital’ is conceptualised as a resource for action (Bourdieu 1986). Cultural capital, in this context, lies in the Irish heritage as understood by this community, as well as in the institutionalised form of educational qualifications. While the Irish adhered to their Catholic faith and culture, the British were loyal to the Monarch and England (O’Farrell
110 1992). The overall aim of education was towards social and cultural reproduction, but as, previously stated, in two clearly defined and culturally different ways.
When the future of the Catholic schools was threatened, the parents had little alternative but to patronise the public schools. The principle involved was incompatible with their obligations to their families in two ways. Firstly, it contravened the parents’ right to educate their children as they thought fit, and secondly, it was an infringement of the right of the Church, based on a divine command (Fogarty 1959: 179). The bishops adopted the stance that when ‘the sacred and inalienable rights of parents and pastors to impart religious instruction to their children were imperilled’, the Church was justified in intervening. The bishops believed that the Catholic school was the most effective way to assist parents in their obligations in the transmission of the faith to their children (Turner 1992: 162). In fact, they relied upon coercion where indicated, to achieve their goal. Parents were to be denied the Sacraments, if they continued to send their children to public schools (Turner 1992; O’Farrell 1992).
The Sectarian Issue Sectarianism has been put forward by Wallis (1975: 9) as a concept that means, when applied to a ‘sect’ or group that shares a common ideology, different ways may be engendered of creating barriers between members of the group and the rest of society. This denotes a certain ‘separateness’ of a community who share a certain belief system and adhere to it, because it offers ‘some unique and privileged means of access to truth and salvation’. Furthermore, Wallis (1975: 9) states the members are ‘not only interested in producing and maintaining the ‘ideology’ but also in reproducing their belief-system and practices, which they are convinced are of superior status and the only one’.
The notion of sectarianism gathers increased intensity in the view of some sociologists. Davies (1976: 1) explains ‘sectarianism has been taken to mean that fanaticism or narrowness of religious belief…because of real or imagined attacks upon religious conscience, promotes conflict between the sects’. From this description conflict could have
111 occurred due to the different religious and cultural beliefs and practices. But was it merely a simple difference or a deeply rooted ethnic prejudice?
Ethnic prejudice and ethnicity Ethnic prejudice further complicated the antagonism that had existed from the outset in Sydney towards the Roman Catholic community, and intensified that community’s sense of being excluded from the majority society. At that time being Catholic and Irish were synonymous (O’Farrell 1992), and cohesion through ethnicity was considered to be an important resource (Parkin 1974). As a result, any British homogeneity was disrupted. Parkes, in a pre-election speech stated that he wanted to see the community thoroughly British with an Anglo-Saxon dominance (Martin,1980).
Campion (1987) argues that the Irish people were the first ethnic group in Australia. They had all the hall marks associated with a colloquial description of an ethnic group according to Becker ( 1998: 2) ‘the difference in language, cultural religious background and social circumstances’. However, Becker (1998) defines an ethnic group as one that is ‘different’ from the majority society. While the Irish were a minority group they took refuge in the unity they experienced in the Church, in their Irish culture of language, music and dance and in their separate school system. When this was threatened they were polarised into sectarian stances (Campion 1987). The government was nervous of the potential for dissent or even rebellion and regarded these Irish Catholics as a divisive force in the emerging national identity.
Withdrawal of government funds In the latter half of the nineteenth century changes in the provision of public education prompted vigorous arguments about the involvement of Catholics in promoting separate provisions for education and ignited fierce sectarianism. Sectarianism, never completely dormant, had flared intermittently since the establishment of the colony in New South Wales. The two groups involved were the Anglican-Protestant and Roman Catholic sections of society. A major focus of dissension was over the provision of religious instruction and how it was to be administered to children of different faiths (Davies 1976).
112 The outcome was the development of two major systems of education, a public school system which was to meet the educational needs of most Protestants and some Catholics, and a Roman Catholic school system, known as one of the denominational schools, which also received government funding.
The main protagonists in the dispute over the withdrawal of funding, were Henry Parkes, the Premier of New South Wales and Roger Vaughan, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney who succeeded Archbishop Polding and represented the State and Church respectively. They were both authoritarian figures and shared some similar qualities.
Historically, both men have been recognised as men of principle, of high moral stature and each believed in his particular policy. Maze (1961: 150) maintains that these attributes are allied with the ‘authoritarian personality’, for whom, power relations between individuals and groups, is of primary concern. Furthermore, Maze (1961) describes the concept of authoritarianism as one of power and dominance. Both men recognised the importance of education. In Parkes’ case, it was intensified by his own lack of education in early life and, additionally, he had come to appreciate education as powerful resource (Martin 1980; Barcan 1988).
Parkes provoked the opposition of Vaughan, when he had heard about Parkes’ intention of withdrawing funds from Catholic schools, in order to establish a national school system. Parkes felt justified because the standards in Catholic schools, which had also been a concern of Polding, were considered to be inferior. There was, also, a wide belief that Catholic parents were apathetic about education (Barcan 1988), surmised as ignorance (Haines 1976) and stemming from their poverty (O’Farrell 1992). The ‘cost’ factor would also have influenced Parkes’ decision to terminate the funding of Catholic schools. State treasuries in the Australian colonies were not flush with funds and Parkes was intent on providing the best possible for the government’s ‘own’ schools. He could assume that the parents’ purported apathy would lead them to surrender religious allegiance and educate their children in public schools. Their apparent apathy was not due to lack of interest in the
113 benefits of education (Fogarty 1959), but reservations regarding the effectiveness of the education being instituted.
In opposing Parkes’ initiatives, Vaughan and other bishops sparked a furore when they issued a joint pastoral letter on Catholic education, in which they endeavoured to arouse parents to their duty to send their children to the Catholic schools provided (Barcan 1988). Furthermore, this pastoral letter focused on the alternative public school system. The bishops denounced it as ‘founded on the principle of secularist education’ and accused the government of ‘striking at our helpless, harmless little children’ Vaughan (1881: 54). He claimed that the state had tried to place the ‘Catholic poor under disabilities’ by tempting them to risk the religion of their children by sending them to public schools, which ‘are destructive of Catholic faith’. The religious ‘model of man’ was widely held at that time, and with regard to education, Vaughan (1881) has this to say:
in every age of the world there has been instruction, but what Christians look for is education, that is a system, which will draw out and develop all that is good in man and mould his nature into such a form that the whole entire man, the complete personality shall be as much at home with the principles of his future lasting experience as with that span which is allotted to him on earth. (1881: 12)
Similarly, Durkheim (1956: 70) writing at the end of the nineteenth century reflects this concept; there is ‘a certain ideal of man, of what he should be, as much from the intellectual point of view as the physical and moral’. This notion of man and his striving ‘towards higher things and the spiritual and moral values of mankind’ is reiterated by Weber (1894) in a speech before the Evangelisch-Soziale Kongress, cited by Bendix (1966: 44).
While Catholic schools were established to assist parents in their role, the parents tended to be ignored in these concerns. While there was a lip service to the responses of the family and the importance of parental guidance, the major emphasis was on the authority of the role of the Church in inculcating faith and morals (Fogarty 1959). The parents were expected to accept whatever the Church demanded of them in relation to the religious education of their children. The process of inculcation had to be continued in their homes as the internalisation of the principles of a cultural arbiter, a habitus, which is capable of
114 perpetuating itself after the schooling process has ceased. It is effectively perpetuated in practices, such as morning and evening prayers and attendance at Mass (Bourdieu and Passeron 1977).
In the plight of the schools and especially the refusal of the government to grant money for them, Vaughan achieved his objective of rallying the parents. They closed ranks with the bishops and priests to face the crisis as a continuing challenge. The parents organised different kinds of events to raise funds to ensure the survival of the Catholic school community. On the next page (116) an example is outlined of how one place in Sydney set about this task.
Parkes, according to Fitzpatrick (1961: 109), when flourishing the Bill for his Public Instruction Act of 1880 in Parliament, declared: ‘I hold in my hand what will be death to the calling of the priesthood of Rome’. This attitude Martin (1980) suggests emanated from his earlier years growing up in Birmingham. The English people feared the spread of ‘popery’ and regarded the Irish Catholics with suspicion. They had been taught to regard them, as not only inferior but also, because of their peasant origin, susceptible to the erroneous doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, and a disloyal anti-authority element in society (Davies 1976). This is arguably where the seeds of sectarianism were sown.
The Catholic school and the Irish factor In the early twentieth century the Catholic school system in New South Wales was firmly established as separate from state education. The schools were staffed almost exclusively by Irish religious brothers and nuns. The Irish bishops quickly discerned that strengthening an Australian Catholic culture would ensure a cohesive community for the families. Bishops required from the people ‘duty, obedience, loyalty, hard rules, the black of sin and the white of purity with no areas of grey’ (O’Farrell 1992: 211).
115 Fig. 1 A List of Tea Parties and events to raise funds for the school community of the Poor Clares, Waverley, 1800s. (Lawless, Moens, Cunningham, 1883-1945: 12-18)
116 In Encyclical, Pope Leo XIII outlining the reasons for Catholic schools: It is in and by the schools that the Catholic faith, our greatest and best inheritance, is preserved whole and entire. In these schools the liberty of parents is respected. In these schools good citizens are brought up –for the State, for there is no better citizen than the man who has believed and practices Christian faith from his childhood. (1885:122)
The overall aim of education at the time was directed to social and cultural reproduction, and for the bishops, the transmission of intergenerational values within the Catholic community. Hence, the Catholic school became the facilitating agent in the process, and neither priests, teachers nor parents recognised the parent role as the ‘primary educator’. The hierarchy was more inclined to rely upon the Catholic school as an exclusive, and not a complementary source of religious formation. Haines (1976: 9) suggests that the hierarchy in looking to the Catholic school, did not view it as supporting parents as making up for parental insufficiencies.
Notwithstanding, at a Catholic Teachers Conference in Sydney, a religious brother observed: The obligation of instructing the child falls primarily upon the parents, and even when the child attends a good Catholic school conducted by religious, the responsibilities of the home do not cease. Unfortunately, too much is transferred to the school and the home fails in instructing and in training the child. Perhaps teachers are to blame, for they act as though parents need not, or do not, contribute anything to the education of their children. This emphasises the necessity of a good understanding and co-ordination of work between home and school. (cited in Hanrahan 1922: 117)
This statement reveals a glimmer of recognition of the parents ‘as primary educators’ and proposes that the school is assuming the role of significance. He acknowledges that perhaps the teachers ‘are to blame’ in that they are usurping the role of the parents. He raises the point of reciprocity in terms of co-ordination of work between home and school, but there is no published account of how that might have been practised. However, Hanrahan possibly saw the parents’ role beyond their major current contribution to the school of financial support which they offered in two ways, paying fees and fund-raising.
117 The Catholic hierarchy has long recognised that religion and culture are integrated in education (Fogarty 1959). The culture of the group, according to Durkheim (1995), strongly influences the religion one follows as an individual within a church, resulting in a sense of social inclusion. This was very important to Irish families who experienced implicit exclusion from social and political life (O’Farrell 1992). Sectarian hostility later became explosive between Protestant and Catholic members of society. This antagonism united Irish parents and their families, to form a cohesive, collective identity (Rowlands 1994), expressing nationalism and culture and a sense of being separate from the mainstream.
By the end of the nineteenth century increasing numbers of Irish clergy came to work in parishes and schools (Anne P. O’Brien 1988). They forged strong links between the education system and an Irish identified community, generating a ‘strong sense of belonging to a group, which provided this particular sense of shared identity’ (Black and Hughes 2001: 3).
Education was important to the church and the government of the day because of the social reproduction, and social and cultural capital investment of the children in the schools (Bourdieu 1986). Parents were relevant to this social reproduction in their primary responsibility for the upbringing of their children. But there was little expectation of their involvement beyond their acquiescence in the demand that children receive a minimal schooling.
The Catholic school was recognised by the bishops as a vital agent for social and cultural reproduction in perpetuating the intergenerational transmission of faith. The staffing of Catholic schools was critical in relation to the overall objective of the religious education in the faith of the children and assistance for the parents. Hence, the religious teachers came to Australia to staff the parochial schools, taking up the challenge (Campion 1982). The clergy wanted full control of Catholic schools and were quick to view any difference of opinion as opposition (Fogarty 1959). Some of the better educated parents, resented the fact that they were not given any responsibility within the school organisation (Turner 1992). It
118 is argued what options were open to the parents? The Church expected the parents to conform and be obedient (Haines 1976). People conform, if they have no alternative (Durkheim 1961: 115).
The Catholic school also had another function. As Bourdieu (1977: 60) proposes, an institution must reproduce itself. For this reason, the Catholic bishops, began a strong program to establish more and more Catholic schools (Mol 1971). As they became an integrated community the teachers, priests and parents, shared a strong sense of community, a collective and shared identity (Black and Hughes 2001: 3). The parents tended to leave their responsibilities to the religious in the school, as they did not feel confident in this regard. They had been considered apathetic about their children’s education, however, when the bishops challenged them to support a separate Catholic school system, they responded gratefully to the efforts of the religious teachers and accepted their authority regarding the education of their children. Henry Parkes believed that the Catholic parents in their apathy would ‘give up’, however the opposite was the case.
In 1900, it is interesting to note that parents who were living in remote parts of rural New South Wales, had to sign an Annex to the Application for establishment of a Provisional Government School (See Appendix 5). Examples of such applications for Ashbridge (1908) and the Parish of Devlin (1910), are cited by Gilmore (1992: 95). These parents signed their names indicating that they would undertake to have the children attend school regularly and punctually. For those parents who were unable to write, ‘his mark must be witnessed by one of the local Promoters’ (Gilmore 1992: 97). (Appendices 6 and 7). As there were a significant number of Catholic parents amongst those listed, it could be argued that they were not only interested, but deemed education as vital for their children, even if that meant attendance at a small government school.
In this early period, it would seem that the parents were on the periphery in Catholic education. Even though they were deemed the first and foremost educators of their children, they were not really consulted or involved in any decisions as participants. They
119 had their responsibilities clearly enunciated for them, and they accepted a compliant role with obedience, which implied ‘listening to those in authority with docility’ (Haines 1976: xi). They conformed out of loyalty to their faith. The parents found unity in diversity (Loch, 2001), and eventually a certain pride in their Catholic school system.
Research studies related to Catholic education Early Australian studies about Catholic education and other related literature have been outlined in Chapter 1, p.3. O’Farrell (1992) in his comprehensive history of the Catholic Church in Australia, while not focusing on the role of parents as ‘primary educators’, provides a historical background to Catholic education in Australia, and examines various critical points in its development. Anne P. O’Brien (1988) from her study Poverty’s Prison, recreates the way of life of poor people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and, wherever possible, uses sources which enable them to speak for themselves. While her study makes some indirect references to parents and Catholic schools, the ‘power of the parish priest in the Catholic community’ is emphasised in different ways. The focus is primarily on families in poverty at that time and difficulties associated with their entrapment in a recurrent cycle of poverty.
However, specific research focusing on the historical origins of parent involvement, in recognition of their role in the Catholic education of their children, in the first fifty years of the twentieth century in New South Wales, does not seem to be available. This is the first study of parents’ perceptions of their role in their children’s Catholic education and confirms that they were emasculated in this respect. Hence this study attempts to address that lack and examines the religious education of children, in this Chapter, through the eyes of parents. As the ‘primary educators’ of their children in their Catholic schooling, what has been the actual practice? How was this proclamation interpreted by parents, clergy and religious teachers?
This Chapter continues with parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of their relationship with the Catholic school community during the first fifty years of the twentieth century in New South Wales.
120 1. Childhood memories of first cohort, parents and religious teachers
Relationship between the home and the school The parents’ role in children’s Catholic education in this section is examined in three ways: first, from the childhood memories of the subjects of their school days and the ways in which their parents were involved at the school level, secondly, how the teachers involved parents in their schools, and alternately, in the third section, as parents, how they participated in their children’s Catholic education in the 1940s and 1950s.
As outlined in Chapter 3 these interviews were conducted on an individual basis with parents and religious teachers, aged between eighty five and one hundred years. The parents comprised eight females and one male, and the teachers consisted of fifteen female and four male participants. Despite the claim for parents’ ‘exclusive authority’ in the education of their children, this ‘exclusive authority’ was not upheld in practice. In interviews Driscoll recalled ‘for your mother to go to the school or be sent for – you had to be a bad child’. This view was supported by Kelly, ‘your parents only went to the school if there were problems’. These observations suggest that parents were only welcome if invited for certain occasions such as fund-raising events or speech days, hinting at a gap between the home and the school.
I grew up in a small country town where I was born ninety years ago. We were of Irish stock and were very much a part of the Catholic community. My father had the General Store and we knew everybody. The Catholic school was staffed by Irish nuns and with the parish priest, they ran everything. Parents of non-Catholic children who attended the school, were just as accepting of the authority of the parish priest and the nuns in everything to do with education. Later on I went to board at a secondary school in a large country town which was conducted by the same order of nuns. I always felt good because they always referred to me as ‘one of our girls’. This was how it was until I made a mistake and became the centre of attention, and the nuns would say ‘to think it was one of our girls!’ I felt this was a real pressure and I felt very guilty but if I complained to my parents, my mother would say ‘you won’t make the mistake again, will you?’ As I recall you didn’t query anything and your parents didn’t either, you just did whatever the teachers said. (Breen)
From the data it seems that if teachers were unable to discipline a child, the parent, invariably the mother, would be summonsed to the school and then informed of the child’s
121 misdemeanour. Parents did not challenge the ‘system’. Transgression by any of their students was a matter of regret for the nuns – Breen remembered a nun’s comment on her mistake: ‘to think it was one of our girls’. The nuns owned and took responsibility for the students and could grieve, while temporarily excluding the transgressor from ‘the fold’. The authority and respect vested in priests and religious emanated from the notion that they were God’s representatives (Durkheim 1961: 155). Every word and gesture implied respect and were imprinted on the minds of the children. The question arises ‘where did the parents actually fit in to the whole picture’?
Polding, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney in the nineteenth century, regarded the home as the initial and the most important of the formation agencies in education (Haines (1976). However, in his Pastoral Letter to the Faithful, Clergy and Laity of the Archdiocese in 1873, he inferred the significant role of the school. ‘Catholic education of children is filled with a higher responsibility, calling ever…not on our comforts and purses, but on our convictions of conscience’ (Polding 1873: 14). He stressed the complementary nature of home and school, reinforcing the principle that parents were the first and primary educators of their children. But parents, were required to patronise Catholic schools. and sanctions by the hierarchy ensured fulfilment of this requirement. As previously stated, parents were denied the sacraments if they did not send their children to Catholic schools (Fogarty 1959;Campion 1987) and parents understood this rule. An example of the difficulties for the parents in endeavouring to meet the Church’s imperative is illustrated in O’Leary’s story:
I went to a small state school in the country as it was nearer than the Catholic school, which was in town. I remember the frowning bishop coming to see my mother to tell her to send me to the Catholic school in the town. To do so I had to board and I would have preferred looking back, to have stayed with my family at home. The rules were strict and I suppose it was the Irish way really. But my mother thought it was important for me to have a Catholic education because you ‘get moulded that way’.
122 Such was the power of the Church, that O’Leary, eighty years later, clearly remembers the intimidation of ‘the frowning bishop’ and her mother’s response to his ultimatum, while the child’s feelings were completely disregarded.
Durkheim (1956: 91) describes education as being the influence exerted on children by parents and teachers. He makes the connection with the childhood memory of O’Leary in noting that ‘there is not even a moment in the day when the generations are not in contact with their elders - when they are not receiving from them some educational influence’. The influence is not consciously explicit but nevertheless, even when parents and teachers share in brief encounters, there is an non conscious education that never ceases. By their words and interactions the authority figures are constantly moulding the children.
Parental acquiescence, demonstrated in the previous story, calls into question the actual role of parents in their children’s Catholic education. The parents conformed to the unwritten rules of the cultural and Catholic traditions and the priest was accepted as the religious leader by all and they respected his authority.
O’Reilly when interviewed, recalled that authority:
When the Irish priest came in for our school concert, he saw the Australian flag was in the middle and the Irish flag to one side. He pulled them down and said ‘the Irish flag in the middle, please’ and Sister changed it straight away!
This authority encompassed powers of discipline, as Driscoll recalled: ‘I had received the cane and I complained to my mother. I was told: “God bless the hand that gave it to you. You must have done something wrong to deserve it”’. When Driscoll became a parent, she continued her mother’s respect for the nuns. This loyalty was extended by Kelly, when she said ‘there were always mothers who, if Sister needed them, they would be there at the school’.
Although parental role was diminished by priests and teachers, parents, who participated in this study, now had reservations about the expectation of their being ‘at the beck and call’
123 of the religious, but would not have voiced them in earlier times. They credited their reluctance to a sense of security in the close-knit Catholic culture. Deference to authority with the socially constituted structures at the time, even in the community at large, was specifically designed to limit any challenge to authority of any kind.
As a child I remember parents had very little involvement in education. They brought the child to school and they handed the child over to the teacher, the principal and trusted them for the rest of her/his education. They didn’t feel sufficiently educated themselves to be able to understand the educational processes, and so there was very little contact between parents and school. There might be a school break-up function that parents would attend as a social experience, but as for any influence at all upon the educational program, I think it was absolutely nil. (Smythe)
Education was the business of school-teachers and parents felt they weren’t qualified to do anything. (Crennan)
McDermott remembered that as a child in the country her parents would go to meet the nuns when they were returning from holidays. Often there were boys at the station who used to call them ‘black crows’ because there was a sort of anti-Catholicism there. You had to contend with it even though it didn’t affect you at one level, because you knew who you were. You were identified by the school you went to’. McDermott dealt with the antagonism of the situation, by bolstering the notion of her identity as a student in a Catholic school. Mol (1977: 65) views ‘identity’ as the ‘stable niche, man occupies in a potentially chaotic environment’. He deems sacralisation as a means of strengthening the fragile frame of identity. In expanding the concept, Mol describes it as ‘a stable aggregate of basic and commonly held beliefs, patterns and values, which provide insulation’ from the potential threat of the ‘surrounding milieu and its members’.
Childhood memories of the effects of influential social events such as the Depression years of the 1930s were recalled. Unemployment was widespread at that time. The religious who staffed the Catholic schools, were deprived of school fees. Catholic schools struggled to survive (McDonald 2000) and religious nuns and brothers often lived in dire poverty (Luscombe 1967). Many of the interviewees remembered deprivation brought by the
124 Depression. Hannan recalled, ‘some of the boys would come without socks and many were barefooted – they just had no money’. Moriarity remembered parents bringing farm produce to the nuns and brothers to help them exist. As a child, one teacher observed the nuns always looked after children who were poor or hungry. These impressions were lasting and evoked great respect for the nuns. The realization of the sacrifices and the long hours of work by the religious teachers forged a closer relationship between teachers, parents and children in mutual support.
The memories revealed little recognition of the parent role as ‘primary educator’. A prominent theme was of ‘parents as helpers to the teachers’, sewing and making costumes for concerts. Finn remembered when she was a child how – ‘my mother stayed up night after night making beautiful crinoline dresses of crepe paper’.
Discipline was a big issue for parents. Egan commented – ‘if you complained you were told – you must have deserved it. Sister and brother know best’. The parents upheld the authority and expertise of the religious teachers as of a higher order.
Heeney believed she was sent to a Catholic school for the discipline.
In those days the discipline was very austere, But I loved study and, as I was an only child, it was a very happy life, especially when I became a boarder. But the sisters and brothers were always right. If you did have a complaint – your side was never taken. Parents did not listen to complaints about teachers – you were told you must have deserved it. (Heeney)
Maloney recalled ‘I know my parents would never have gone to complain, no matter what they thought. In our family the brothers were infallible and you couldn’t criticise any Catholic priest, nun or brother’. Catholics did revere their priests (Turner 1992). These reflections recall Durkheim’ view (1961) that the sacred authority of the priest as one set apart, is to lead the people and mediate with the deity.
Trust was a big issue; and Douglas (1986) alleges that mutual trust is the basis of community. In being such an issue, teachers generally were very conscious of it.
125 Recollections of their childhood view underlines the lack on parents’ part of any expectations of playing any other role, but one of total support for the teachers. This socialization can be described as ‘reconciling people to their plight and at the same time keeping them in their place’ by Durkheim (1956: 29).
O’Shea observed that for Irish people, her parents included, ‘an Irish priest was the equivalent of the Pope, but he dressed differently. My parents were simple Irish peasants – that is what people would have called us’. According to Durkheim (1961) the priest’s conception of his mission is that he speaks in God’s name. Culture and religion were inextricably integrated as religious adherence stemmed from a cultural inheritance within a context established by one’s predecessors (Greeley 1973: 73). Walsh remembered that as a child ‘you didn’t know any non-Catholics - you kept away from them, and it wasn’t good, because they would be pretty private themselves, they didn’t want to mix with too many Catholics’.
2. Religious teachers’ perceptions of parent involvement in their schools
Relationship between the home and school From the way the teachers saw it, the parents were not unhappy with their situation and were blissfully acquiescent. Nevertheless, the teachers kept contact with the families and their struggles. From the infrequent meetings at the school to informal chatting during visits to the home, the lives of the children and their welfare, formed the common agenda. There seemed to be plenty of time and opportunity to explore these issues and a deep trust in the religious teachers that the parents’ Catholicity gave them.
Parents cooked meals and brought them to the nuns when they did not have a convent nearby and had to travel to the school. The teachers repeatedly acknowledged the generosity of the parents and declared that they could not have survived without their help. Smythe related how parents held a monthly ‘Social’ to raise funds for the school and once a year for the Church, exemplified in the following invitation.
126 Fig. 2 An Invitation to the Social for the parents and parishioners, 1914
‘They were so supportive – they were the happiest years of my teaching life, despite the fact that we had nothing but a blackboard, a piece of chalk and a duster’. Teachers also accepted deprivation such as lack of resources, frugal fare and large numbers of children, but it all tended to strengthen the bonds between parents and teachers.
Fees were a recurring theme and there was general agreement from teachers that there was no pressure on parents who could not pay. Some parents would bring vegetables and fruit as gifts, when they were without money for fees. So as Mulligan explained ‘you lived on the meagre school fees that did come in, and if they could not pay fees, no one said anything about it’. Parents and teachers colluded in the best interests of religious education of the children.
The parents voiced no criticisms, as Doherty reflected ‘I think in general they felt fairly inadequate to be critical and considered, we’ll leave it to the brothers and the nuns’.
127 Perhaps these feelings of inadequacy could have been changed if teachers had encouraged parents to express opinions. But it may have been more comfortable for everyone, teachers and parents, to leave things as they were. Mol (1977) considers this as possibly one of the rewards of conformity, where everyone knows their place.
Teachers noted a marked deference to authority and lack of confidence in the parents. The educational process engendered an almost inordinate respect for the authority of the teachers in knowing ‘what was best’. Teachers chose subjects taught. McInerney recalled her father saying, ‘I would have liked you to do Latin’, but it did not go any further than home. Parents wanted the best for their children, but had little education themselves. Parents’ inability to deal with the educational process was highlighted by McGinty. ‘There were times when I thought parents were really in the dark, because they didn’t have a clue what was going on’. Recognition of the plight of the parents implies that the teachers felt, perhaps not consciously, they ‘did know best’, rather than presenting an opportunity to involve and inform the parents.
Hierarchy, parish priests and other parents fostered this pride and further reinforced the separation of Irish culture, from the essentially British and Protestant main stream society. Moran, the Archbishop of Sydney, deliberately identified Catholicism and ‘Irishism’ (Campion 1987). The authority of the Catholic Church was undisputed in the Irish Catholic community of parish and school (O’Farrell 1992).
The Bishop, through the Catholic schools, was to ensure continuous religious and civil education and parents were to patronise them. Through his priests, the Bishop was also able to coerce non-conforming parents. As a teacher remarked:
I can remember and I’m sorry to say it, that the priests were told at least twice a year to announce from the pulpit those parents who choose schools other than Catholic schools for the education of their children and they shall be refused communion. (Hurley)
128 The brother thought this very hard as many parents could not pay any fees and even though the school would excuse fees, the parents felt it a matter of pride to pay their way. ‘Authority does not necessarily invoke power but rather a sense of obligation to serve’ (Rhodes 1969: 12). Furthermore, ‘the person holding the authority should always be a leader as well as servant… if only because he is better informed and more experienced’ (Rhodes 1969: 12). Stress was placed on authority, and obligation. It was a religion of law, in which obedience, deference and the recognition of authority were paramount (Campion 1982).
The Irish Catholic culture of the school gave parents of Irish descent a sense of belonging and inclusion, that was denied them in other spheres. They wanted their children to be educated in ‘the faith of our fathers’ and entrusted their children to Catholic teachers who could complement the faith that they cherished.
So the habitus of compliant Catholicity (Bourdieu and Passeron 1977) was established through a strong relationship between parents, teachers and priests. Brennan noted that some of the latter were difficult.
When I was teaching in a wonderful school, the parents wanted to form an association like the Parents and Friends but the priest, even though he was a good man and a holy man he had his own views, and didn’t like organisation outside his own control. He thought it best not to have meetings of parents to talk about school things, so we didn’t organise anything’. (Brennan)
The priest, fearful he might lose control if unwanted decisions or suggestions were made, felt threatened. Brennan went on to say ‘as teachers we always said the parents were the educators of their children and the brothers saw themselves in loco parentis. We were there to help the parents’. This awareness of the parent role as ‘primary educator’ was recognised, in this instance, in response to the parish priest’s apparent negation of it.
As previously stated, Hanrahan (1922: 117) considered, ‘perhaps teachers were to blame as they act as though parents need not contribute anything to their children’s education’. Most parents had no expectations of playing any other role but fund-raising, with which they felt
129 comfortable. The strong cultural theme, while offering security and inclusion in the Catholic community, also hindered the recognition by parents of their role as primary educators. However, the total submission to ‘authority’ both in the school and parish, ensured harmony and contentment (Newby 1977). The teachers knew the extended family, one big family to involve in the Catholic social life, separated from the rest of society.
The interviews revealed that teachers’ professional experience had made a difference both in what they remembered, and how they interpreted what they remembered. From their childhood memories and their later professional view point, they described how the sisters and brothers ‘kept the schools going, but they would not have been able to, without the help of the parents’. The emphasis, essentially, was on fund raising, as there was no government support. In fact, fund-raising activities were the only appropriate means of potential involvement, because the fees did not cover the living expenses of the nearby religious community. The parish structures as well as the idiosyncrasies of a particular priest also had a bearing on the parent role in the parish school. The esteem and respect the parents felt for the religious teachers was inestimable (Campion 1987, Durkheim 1961, Greeley 1973).
Teachers’ memories of their dealings with parents changed after Australia encouraged the waves of migrants from Europe in the late 40s (Lewins 1978). Now the issues facing teachers included huge classes of children, grappling with English as a second language. Parents were more isolated from school activities, due to their lack of English and little opportunity to learn it. Embarrassment often limited their contact with the school. Hurley remembered having 130 in Kindergarten, First and Second Classes, many from amongst the 500 migrant children who were in survival holding camps.
We could not get government assistance to build a school so the parish priest made available the church where one class was in the front of the church and the other in the back and one class in a shed. There were no desks. However, the parents eventually provided everything. One could play an accordion and we had talent quests to raise money and all the families came. (Brophy)
Under the supervision of the parish priest, parents later built the school in their leisure time. When the immigrants started to produce vegetables and fruit, they provided them for the
130 sisters, and a stall at the fete. The teachers recalled their generosity. While the fathers were busy trying to make a living, the mothers were always very concerned about the children’s education. Nonetheless, if there was to be an assembly or Mass for a special feast day, the fathers would take time off work to come to see their children participating Moylan recalled.
3. Parents’ perceptions of parent involvement in Catholic schools
Relationship between the home and school This section of the thesis, focused on the first half of the twentieth century, argues that while the Catholic Church documents state the primary educator parent role, the actual recognition of it at the school level is debatable. As told by the first cohort of participants, it is clear parents then had no power and little influence over their children’s Catholic education. The collective memory of parents recalling their early life experiences, contradicts the official ideal of parental authority in religious education. The unquestioning attitudes of parents contrasts with the assumptions of those holding religious authority and power. The parent role was relegated to fund-raising in support of the parish priests, religious teachers and the school communities.
‘We ran many card parties, fetes and concerts to raise money for the school’, Byrne observed, a view upheld in most of the interviews. The finances, for the most part, were controlled by the parish priests and curricula were decided by the religious teachers. It seems that even though the parents contributed to the viability of the schools, they were marginalised in terms of how the money was spent. However, the data do not suggest that they felt sidelined or pushed aside. This becomes evident in the following:
Parents did not have much direct contact with the schools as they trusted the teachers. They had the expectation that they would care for the children and in other words ‘do the job’ of educating them for whatever they wanted to do in life. (Driscoll)
Parents did not consider it necessary as they had implicit trust in the nuns and expected the girls to be educated as young ladies who were able to participate in society. (Murphy)
131 The parents either felt they could not or were not willing to challenge the Church; the relationships were based on unquestioning trust and respect for the authority figures of Church and school. Having been deprived of education in many instances, they saw their children as ‘social capital’ (Bourdieu1986) and wanted them to achieve in society.
It is necessary to understand the importance and significance of religion, culture, community and education in order to appreciate why parents were so acquiescent and accepting of the authority of the Catholic Church leaders and religious teachers in Catholic schools. Religion is inseparable from the idea of church. A church is not simply a priestly brotherhood, but is a cultural expression of a collective, spiritual, searching. It is a moral community, made up of all the faithful, both laity and priests, and ‘conveys the notion that religion must be an eminently collective thing’ (Durkheim 1995: 42).
My husband and I felt the same way about our children. We used to raise funds for the school with dinner dances on our back veranda. Many of the parents would come, and we got to know each other and we had a great time. (O’Leary)
Anne P. O’Brien (1988: 198) describes the ‘moulding’ process as ‘people were seen as clay – able to be moulded’ in the Catholic faith, thus assuring, not only the continuation of the faith in the next generation but also, the transmission to these children the necessity when they became parents, of supporting the parish and Catholic school. This point is reflected in the comment ‘my husband and I felt the same way about our children in attending Catholic schools’ (O’Leary).
In the Church’s view, this edict, a central tenet of ecclesiastical authority ensured the commitment of each generation to the transmission of the faith through the process of inculcation of the habitus (Bourdieu and Passeron 1977). As more than half the subjects who were interviewed had attended boarding schools for their secondary education, it is argued the school would have adopted the principal role in the process of inculcation.
132 Perhaps parents had come to accept that teachers knew more about such matters than they did. The bishops considered that, while the parents were well intentioned in their efforts, they lacked the means of religious training and this was supplied by the religious teachers in the schools (Campion 1987). This premise is corroborated by Kennedy and implies a submissive position when she says ‘there were problems about aspects of my children’s education and this is where I was weak. I wouldn’t have wanted to upset anyone’. She reinforced this point, ‘really in all honesty I think, you didn’t say anything. If some people did speak up about things you would think to yourself – who do they think they are?’
This attitude was reflected in almost all interviews conducted with this cohort; and they registered a subordinate conformity. This ‘explicit norm of popular taste’ amongst that suborned group also ‘contains a warning against the ambition to distinguish oneself’ (Bourdieu 1998: 380). Non consciously a subtle pressure was exerted amongst the parents themselves to reinforce the status accorded priests and religious teachers. The parents felt a veiled contempt towards any parent who did challenge the Church authority figures. As Kennedy goes on to describe it. ‘We really learnt our place – we thought that was the way it had to be. You know, we really revered the priests and religious’. This acknowledgement also signals that she may have liked more involvement in the educational process, but a steadfast loyalty subtly engendered conversely served to maintain the parents’ exclusion from any actual decision-making.
To understand this perception Anne P. O’Brien (1988) describes the deprived position of most Catholics in the community as working class and Irish descent. The authority of the priests or the religious teachers was absolute and parents accepted their designated role believing that ‘sister or brother knew best – they were the teachers’. As Doyle found, ‘I was not a Catholic, my husband was, but the nuns did a great job with our children, and were always nice to me. Later on I was pleased to become a Catholic- it is a different life’.
The Catholic school system was an important means of celebrating a separate identity and culture (Massam 1996). Most of those interviewed had worked in tuckshops, made costumes for concerts, accompanied artists at school concerts, participated in fetes and
133 raffles and entered a daughter in a school ‘queen’ competition. The media referred to these schools as ‘the chocolate-wheel schools’ a reference to the fundraising from raffles on a spinning wheel (McDonald, 2000: 209). The parents conducted house parties and card parties, all of which were to raise funds for the brothers and nuns, who lived frugally. These families shared through school-related activities, a strong cultural tradition and social life.
They were encouraged to keep alive a nostalgia ‘for the old country’ of Ireland which had been the birthplace of either their parents or themselves. They celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, which has always been both a Catholic and Irish occasion (Mayer 1961) with Irish dancing, concerts, picnics at boarding schools and often, in some cities and towns, a parade (Figures 3 and 4, p.135).
Thus, the Irish culture kept alive the Irish identity and national pride. This was reinforced by the religious teachers and largely Irish Catholic hierarchy, with the Catholic schools, providing a ‘sense of belonging’ and security. Byrne describes it as an important feast day and a school holiday for Catholic children, while the children at the state schools holidayed on Empire day.
Support for Church and school inhered in the habitus of Catholic life. In Encyclical Pope Leo XIII stated:
Worthy of commendation is the generosity of Catholics in supporting the efforts of the clergy in providing schools for their children. We know how readily they supply what is needed for the maintenance of schools; not only those who are wealthy, but those of slender means, and poor. It is beautiful to see how, often from the earning of their poverty, they willingly contribute to the education of children. (1885: 121)
The parents realised the sacrifices the religious teachers were making and the long hours that they worked in the schools. They were also aware of the sacrifices of the nuns and brothers who had dedicated their lives to ‘God’s work’ and had left their distant home-land to teach their children. Parents were protective of their religious teachers:
134 Fig. 3 Boarders’ Picnic at The Rock, Mt Erin Convent, Wagga, 1899 (Rosarie Connell 1990: 83)
St. Patrick’s Day Procession Fig. 4 (left picture): Holy Cross College, Woollahra (McDonough, 2001: 96) Fig 4 (right picture) Christian Brothers High School, Lewisham, (Stephens 1991: 63)
135 Parents were running card parties to help the nuns, and the priest came along and said ‘I have come to take the money’ and I remember these parents saying to him ‘it is for the nuns’. He replied ‘I am looking after the nuns’. One of the parents answered: ‘No, you’re not- they’re literally starving’. They gave the money to the nuns. Children came to the school whether they paid fees or not and on another occasion these parents did the same for the brothers. I heard heaps of occasions when the religious did not have enough to eat. Some priests were generous and others were ‘Scrooge type’. I think the religious were heroic people. We were Catholic to the finger-tips. My grandparents were Irish and my children were all taught by Irish nuns. (O’Reilly)
This story highlights the care and respect the parents felt for the religious, even to the extent that they felt strongly enough to challenge the priest. They may not have felt entitled to offer any opinion regarding their children’s education, but the Irish spirit was very evident, as they staunchly demanded fair play, where they suspected injustice and deprivation. Doyle gave a similar example when she recalled:
I met a nun at a funeral from the school where I had been a pupil and she came over and asked me ‘why is your daughter going to that school?’ I said ‘because I am a widow and cannot afford to pay the fees at my old school’. She then put it to me ‘would you like your daughter to come to your old school?’ I replied ‘I would indeed’. She said ‘No problem’ and so my daughter went to board at the school and it cost me nothing. They were wonderful .You know you often think God is away with the storemen and packers but He’s always on the job. God is good.
This story implies the degree of caring concern that was forthcoming from many of the religious teachers in their efforts to accommodate students in schools to ensure an effective education. The depth of faith of the mother was apparent and one felt it had been a sustaining influence throughout her life. Additionally, Murphy observed ‘if there were problems that had to be dealt with, I would be the one to go to see the nuns. Mums usually do that. It wasn’t much different when I was at school’.
A Gender Issue When the study participants were children, it is apparent from the data, that their mothers were the decision-makers with regard to their education. Breen claimed ‘my mother decided on which school I would attend, and when I went to boarding school it was the one she had been to’. Kennedy commented ‘ my mother made all the arrangements for me to go
136 to school – my father was always busy working and my mother wanted to make sure I had a good education’. O’Reilly speaks about how ‘my mother went to the nuns to see that I would learn music and, in secondary school I would learn a language’.
Fig. 5 Orchestra Mt Erin Convent, Wagga Wagga, 1909 (Rosarie Connell 1990: 66).
The mothers considered a ‘good education’ to be extremely important. Many women had left school very early and wanted more for their children. Furthermore they appreciated the nuns’ attention to cultural and artistic pursuits, as well as academic subjects (Connell 1990). Strong social prejudices existed against women pursuing education into and beyond secondary schooling - it being seen as an unnecessary investment for women. But many nuns believed women should be well-educated and take positions in the professional and political spheres. In the religious sphere however, they did not contemplate women moving into authoritative Church positions. At the same time, many of the nuns encouraged girls to stay and complete their education at school. Where fees were a problem, in some schools, principals would waive fees to give a girl the opportunity. A letter from a principal to a parent offering to keep a girl at school without the cost of fees was cited by the writer.
The significance of the mothers as being the main influence in the education of Catholic children was reiterated through all interviews with these elderly parents, thus tapping into
137 these collective memories within an individual’s story (Halbwachs 1980: 19). The Church portrayed the mother of the time as submissive and ‘untarnished’ by the secular world (O’Farrell 1992). The poet John O’Brien writing early in the twentieth century, offered a stronger picture in ‘Around the Boree Log’ (1979), where he portrays the ‘little Irish mother’ as the pivot for the family that she rules and manages with unquestioning authority.
Her relentless quest for education for her children is depicted in the following lines from ‘The Old Bush School’ (John O’Brien 1979: 26):
For the little mother roused us ere the sun had topped the hill “Up, you children, late ‘tis gettin’”, shook the house beneath her knock, And she wasn’t always truthful, and she tampered with the clock. Keen she was about “the learnin’”, and she told us o’er and o’er Of our luck to have “the schoolin’” right against our very door.
Another facet becomes evident as Doyle relates her memories of World War 2:
Mothers were left to steer the families through these years unsupported. I felt that the Catholic schools were well aware of the difficulties and tried to help families in coping. Mothers provided the rock-like stability to keep the family functioning and the school was another predictable stable factor.
World War II penetrated the life of nearly every citizen (Barnard 1972) as family life was again disrupted with the departure of family members. Teachers observed the vulnerability of some families, with the mothers trying to cope and the fathers absent at the war, and, they extended support. Teachers in rural boarding schools accepting students from the cities, became in loco parentis. (Moore 1973)
The roles of the sexes were clearly delineated. The husband’s sphere was the world and the wife’s was the home. She had the financial management of the household budget and ‘while her canny handling was a key contribution to the family’s financial stability, she was the dependent partner’(Anne P. O’Brien 1988: 103).
138 It could be argued, as Turner (1992: 359) affirms, ‘women have always been recognised as the backbone of the Catholic church’ even if it has been in an understated way. Recognition may be partial, but women certainly exerted a strong influence on their children’s education, a defining feature of their role as ‘mother’. Anne P. O’Brien (2005) furthers the premise of the influential role played by women, both religious and mothers. She notes that the demand for education was so great that in rural areas, ‘religious sisters followed the spread of population and flourishing country convents spawned daughter foundations’. It was ‘women at the grassroots who carried education’ (Anne P. O’Brien, 2005: 167).
Fig. 6 Presentation Convent showing the first nuns, Ganmain, 1906 (Gilmore 1992: 131).
139 The Old Convent Bus. Fig. 7: The means of transport for nuns and students, early 1900s (Rosarie Connell, 1990: 78). I can see it my dreaming o’er a gap of thirty years, And the rattle of it’s boxes still is music to my ears (John O’Brien 1978: 50).
Conclusions The unquestioned authority of the Church and the implicit trust and respect given by the parents to priests, religious orders of nuns and brothers, ensured the perpetuation of a cultural tradition of submission and compliance. Intergenerational transmission of the modelling of the parents in their relationships with the Church representatives was immutable in the Catholic school and parish communities.
The collective memory of the subjects in the study showed how traditions are transmitted from one generation to the next, in particular that the ‘mothers’ were the main decision- makers in the education of the children. Interviews are revealing, as Vansina (1973: 52) points out: ‘if the informant is an individual, the testimony will reflect the tradition as it is interpreted by the informant’. These parents had not seen their parents closely involved at the school, except in narrowly defined financial support, nor had they recognised any need for involvement, leaving it to the teachers to maintain strict discipline. Byrne claimed: ‘it
140 was a shared responsibility’. The nineteenth century Archbishop Polding had envisaged cooperation, ‘with mutual respect and regard for each other’s roles’.
The parents accepted their roles at the school level in the way these were determined by those in authority. They did not view themselves as the ‘primary educators’. The religious teachers were acting in loco parentis (Moore 1973), and the subtly conveyed message - ‘we know best’.
Fathers were in the background and mothers always up front at the school. Yet alternatively, while some teachers felt that mothers were not encouraged to go to the school, others did not see the need, because the nuns did home visits. However, Moylan recalled, as a teacher, ‘if I wanted to see a parent about a child, I would write a letter, asking them to come and see me. It was usually the mother who came’.
What were the challenges for Catholic Educational Leaders, when reviewing these accounts? During this period of the early twentieth century to 1950, the challenges included financial difficulties in their endeavours to maintain the schools, teachers having to contend with large classes in the 40s as migrant families arrived in Australia; limited teaching resources and, in some instances, travelling each day to and from the schools. They had to vie with an anti-Catholic stance in society at the time and, on the other hand, were challenged in their encounters with difficult parish priests, who ruled with inflexible authority. A sense of injustice was experienced by some Catholic educational leaders, when parents were to be refused the sacraments, because they had their children at State schools, as they could not pay fees.
Their role involved supporting families in the Catholic school community who were under stress during periods of social upheaval, such as the Depression and World War 11.
What were the limits to recognition of parents as ‘primary educators’? Knowledge borne out of experience is transmitted from one generation to the next and is internalised as subjective reality, thus shaping the individual and his thinking (Berger and
141 Luckmann 1991). It is evident from the teachers’ perceptions, that they had adopted the conception of the role of parents, as they had observed it from childhood school experience. They assumed the privilege of their position without question when they became teachers in schools, and expected a continuation of the parents’ submissive role. In the metaphorical ‘Looking Glass’ (Lewis Carroll 1997), the dominant images appear to have been teachers and priests, with their status and authority.
The possibility of a participatory democracy Bernstein’s theory (1996) is centred on an effective democracy. He specifies certain conditions that must be met. In the first condition he believes individuals should have a stake in the institution. The parents fulfilled this first condition, as stakeholders, in Catholic school as they paid fees and raised funds and were committed to the Catholic religion and Irish culture. In Bernstein’s proposition the people are concerned, not only to receive something from the institution, but also to give something. The parents were very generous with their ‘gifts’ and unfailing support, for the religious teachers.
Bernstein (1996) considers that, for the conditions of a democratic community being realised, there are certain inter-related rights for the individuals, which have to be institutionalised. The first he proposes is enhancement, which enables individuals to be extended socially, intellectually or personally. As they step out of their designated roles of the past, this can create tension between past and possible futures and new possibilities. But this right invokes confidence and Bernstein maintains that, without it, individuals find it difficult to act. The parents’ lack of confidence was mentioned many times and points to their inability to voice opinions they may have had.
The right of inclusion Bernstein stipulates is necessary. In this way individuals become autonomous within a given community. From the data, it would appear that the parents were ‘absorbed’ in the school community, rather than exercising their autonomy.
Participation, as the third right, conveys the notion of ‘partnership’, thus inferring collaboration and direct input into the vision statements, policies and maintenance within
142 the school community. From the accounts given by this first cohort this ‘right’ was not recognised in the Catholic schools of the period 1900-1950.
Summary The communities in which we live are formed by their own histories, structures of authority, comfortable or comforting beliefs, ideas and values that ‘everyone accepts’. These generate a habitus (deeper and stronger than habit) that enters into the everyday ways of thinking and feeling, acted out in individual lives.
Within this social milieu the school was symbol and realization of a community’s aspiration. First, the Church, then the school had to be built to establish the parish. The school mirrored the prevailing habitus of the Catholic Church in the country at that time and habitus varies from country to country despite the universalism of a world religion. Catholics lived within such a community with its hierarchical authority, firm dogma and obligatory practice. As required they handed their children to the school because ‘the nuns and brothers know best’ and the parents wanted ‘the best’ for their children.
These parents knew their place, they felt inadequate with the educational role and left that to the school. Busy with getting and sustaining a living, comforted and comfortable in a version of Catholicity made in Ireland, they trusted the school and entrusted their children. Nothing more remained to be done except to ensure the school continued – continual fund- raising and financial support as far as they felt able. This was the game and they knew the rules. In the rare event of ignoring or transgressing the rule, community disapproval pushed the need for conformity. This firm belief in the importance of engagement in the structured conforming way of life, the habitus of being Catholic, Bourdieu (1990) styles illusio. The implicit shades of unreality in the concept illusio are meant. Illusio is not to be questioned. Illusio rules. The objective of ‘the game’ was the religious and secular education of children, a sustained investment of social and cultural capital that would equip them for life and the improvement of life, for upward social mobility.
143 The subtle conditioning of the parents in knowing their place in the school community ensured its continuation. While they were excluded from the wider community, they felt included in the Catholic school community even though, their specific role was not overtly given to them. This would change as the larger society changed and the Catholics’ participation and status, in that society changed. The nub of that change lay in the nature of the relationship between parents and the teachers in Catholic schools of the future, a story told by the next cohort of parents living in the light of Vatican II.
The educator and the system tend to reproduce, so far as its relative autonomy allows, the conditions in which the reproducers were produced, i.e. the conditions for its own reproduction. Bourdieu (1977: 12) demonstrated that the transmission of pedagogic action, when entrusted with the earliest phase of upbringing, tends to realise more fully the role of an inherited tradition.
The parents in accepting their subordinate role did not resent it in any way, due to their deference to the ‘power’ of the hierarchical structure of the Church. They were absorbed into the vertical structure of dependency and submission. Similarly their children tacitly assumed their parents’ attitudes and beliefs, with regard to the ‘powers that be’, thus the transmission of acceptance that ‘teachers’ were right and knew best’ occurred and stayed in place for many years.
Durkheim portends (1966: xv) that ‘a social fact is to be recognised by the coercive power, which it exercises or is capable of exercising over individuals’. Moreover, the ‘presence of this power is in turn to be recognised by the existence of some determinate sanction or by the resistance, which this fact opposes to every endeavour, to do violence to it’.
The collective consciousness aspect of Durkheim’s method resonates with the data, in that the hierarchy, priests and teachers displayed a manner that inculcated deference, obedience and compliance with whatever was required. The coercive power demanded parents send their children to Catholic schools or be punished by exclusion from the sacraments. They established an acquiescent kind of Catholic community via a cultural and religious
144 component, that was meaningful to the families. The separate education system that was set up, offered parents (even though they were bound to support it), opportunities for their children in terms of upward mobility in the wider society. The parents were an integral part of the Catholic community and the reciprocity that enhanced their relationship with the religious in the schools cemented the trusting respectful nature of them.
In this insidious manner that collective consciousness or world view, Durkheim’s (1966) espoused ‘social fact’, became instituted. It is proposed that the key to change lies in the nature of the relationship between parents and the teachers in Catholic schools of the future. Duignan (1990: 93)) speaks about a process of reflective awareness of past practice which will allow present practice to be improved. The subtle exclusion of parents from any decisions affecting the Catholic school were set in place last century.
The challenge emanating from these findings for Catholic Educational Leaders is how to introduce a process of inclusion for parents to become, in terms of Bernstein’s theoretical framework, ‘partners’ in the educational milieu of the Catholic school community. This possibility is explored in later Chapters.
Key questions to be addressed are:
Do parents in their role as stated in the Catholic Church documents, share in the subsequent ‘vision’ as established by Catholic Educational Leaders?
As integral members of the Catholic school community are they involved as active participants in the struggle of bringing that ‘vision’ to reality? (Starratt 1990)
In the following Chapter 6, the social and educational context of the second fifty years of the twentieth century is reviewed, and the changing perceptions of teachers and parents of the parental role, as decreed by the Church, in the Catholic education of their children, is examined.
145 CHAPTER 6
LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
As the present now, will later be past, the order is rapidly fadin’ The first one now will later be last. For the times they are a-changin’ (Dylan 1964)
In this Chapter a historical sequence through Catholic and secular literature, describing the potential for parent involvement and/or participation in the education of their children in Catholic schools, is outlined. It is set in relation to social events and changes in the Catholic Church, and the educational scene, during the second fifty years in Australia.
It has been shown that in the first half of the twentieth century Catholic parents were committed to Catholic schools for their children’s education. Without government assistance, the Catholic school and parish community, raised funds in a variety of ways to ensure they survived. Pascoe (2000: 85) cites Dr. Geoghan, the Catholic Vicar-General, who considered ‘Catholics had to have their own schools so that religious instruction could be an integral part of students’ lives’. The parents viewed their children’s education as ‘social capital’ and the religious orders of teachers upheld this stance as they staffed the schools, in order to educate the children both in the Catholic faith and the State requirements of education. They represented a tight-knit, cohesive, separate community. Many of the children in the early part of the twentieth century did not proceed beyond primary or elementary education, the English term.
146 In this Chapter the premise adopted in this study is that education is the means of development of ‘social capital’ (Coleman 1988), which a child can draw on that can deliver dividends through her/his life. Therefore, the educational process or habitus (Bourdieu 1990) which begins in the family, is furthered in the school and community, allowing a child to act appropriately and to form the accepted values that fit productively into her/his culture.
Parental involvement in the child’s education advances this process and forges continuity between home and school. It serves to develop the child effectively and harmoniously. The potential for parental involvement, its possibility and its rejection, is also examined against a background of social change. The specific background is sketched from other scholars’ examination of the philosophy and culture of the Catholic school, in the latter half of the twentieth century. A literature review of Secular Documents, events affecting Catholic schools, Catholic Conferences, Reports, and Parent Organisations, that address the issue of parental involvement in the Catholic education of their children, is included.
Overview of social trends of second fifty years An overview of social events, related to the second and third cohorts of parents and teachers, revealed rapid, and not previously encountered, social change in the second half of the twentieth century. There was scarcely any aspect of society that was not affected. Establishments, such as churches and authority figures at all levels, were being threatened by a disruption of traditional customs and prohibitions in the Australian life-style that had been in place since the beginning of the century. People had been socially taught to accept their place to conform, thus enabling social control to be maintained (Edgar 1980: 9).
In the second half of the twentieth century, C.M.H. Clark (1987: 499) observed that ‘Australians live in a country where neither historians, prophets, poets nor priests had drawn the maps’. The isolation of Australia in relation to the rest of the world finally ended due to revolutions in transport and communications (C.M.H. Clark 1987: 499), and the arrival of television and the technological age (Dunne 1989). At a time when a man had been put into ‘space’ and most of the world could view a man walking on the moon,
147 C.M.H. Clark (1987) suggests nevertheless, that certain elements of doubt prevailed. Having witnessed the atrocities and loss of human life through two world wars, the atomic bomb, and the Jewish holocaust, C.M.H. Clark (1987: 500) contended that ‘humanity’s belief in a benevolent loving God was shaken’. In support, Horne (1987: 16) considered a whole generation had become exhausted by such events. The disturbances in the conformity that followed had been present in the community generally, and were beginning to manifest diverse attitudes to social mores. C.M.H. Clark (1987: 500) continues ‘restraints on human behaviour were thrown aside…nothing was sacred, nothing escaped examination. Men and women no longer conceded to politicians, priests, parsons, professors etc.’ All were challenged; even the past lost its authority. Some of the members of the earlier generations were bewildered and somewhat perturbed.
Australians no longer apologised for the way they talked, the way they walked or the way they behaved (C.M.H. Clark 1987). The Australia of the 1960s was the most egalitarian of countries, not fazed by ‘obvious class distinctions, caste or communal domination, the tension of racism or the horrors of autocracy’ (Horne 1987: 14). Most people were not interested in the ways of the ‘rich or the highly educated’. Many Australians, according to Horne (1987: 39) appeared to have little sense of continuity with the past, and the attitude tended to reflect a notion that ‘the past was all over and done with. Let’s get on with it’.
Migrants Society prior to World War 11, having been for the most part of monocultural British origin, had a high degree of homogeneity (Mackay 1993: 283) With the arrival of a large influx of migrants from European countries, there was a greater emphasis being placed on cultural diversity. Words such as assimilation and inclusion were being incorporated. However, Bullivant (1985: 12) observes ‘all immigrants were expected to fit into society’ and become ‘assimilated’. At the same time indigenous people were also receiving recognition as part of this diverse community.
Australia was becoming a multicultural society. The migrants were instrumental in the building of major engineering feats such as the Snowy Mountain scheme and contributing
148 manual labour to the construction of a modern country (McGregor 1981: 293; Horne 1987: 139). Moreover, the most significant effect of migration, was the profound social change in terms of the expansion of an insular community McGregor (1981: 294). The traditional way of life, which had largely followed British customs and traditions was altered in terms of food, dress and continental influences, enriching the cultural way of Australian life (Mackay 1993: 22). As O’Farrell (1993: 307) observed by the 1950s, the heritage and sentiment of old Irish Australia, which had represented a large, strong minority group since the early days of the colony, had been almost totally absorbed into Australian concerns. For the first time a large proportion of the Australian population was of non-British or non-Irish origin.
Currently, Poole (1985: xiii) and Partington (2002: 186) suggest, that the diversity of the multicultural, Australian society has been expanded further, with migrants having come from different parts of Asia. Whereas previously, migrants were unskilled, and in many instances without spoken English, the more recent ‘arrivals’, are competent in English, relatively well-educated and their children are diligent students.
The ‘Baby Boom’ Era Along with the increase in the population due to the migrant influx, there was an extraordinary increase in births, which became known as the ‘baby boom’. One of the effects of the ‘baby boom’ generation was the emergence of a ‘youth culture’ which replaced the teenage revolution (Horne 1987: 9). This confident generation had arrived in a period of marked prosperity and had grown up with the expectation of provision for more education with more variety, in more jobs. They had no memories of depression or war and, as students, joined in protests, while many became part of the ‘alternative life style’ (Horne 1987: 79). It was so-called because it provided counter-cultural alternatives to the social mainstream (McGregor 1981: 296). The glorification of rock music was part of this life- style, associated with a pervasive drug culture and sexual permissiveness. The life style emanated from the hippie culture of California with the underlying themes of ‘peace’ and ‘love’. This counter-culture confronted conservative views of the national government, in defiance of the Vietnam war where, at that time 13,000 Americans had died in Vietnam
149 (Leen 1999: 2). Additionally, in Australia, there was already a scepticism about the ‘rat race’ generally, amongst the youth (Horne 1987: 79). While many protests had been held against the War in the 60s, the Vietnam Moratorium prompted demonstrations, which were held in all States of Australia in 1970 (Horne 1987; McGregor 1981).
The Women’s Movement During World War 11 women moved out of their homes to work and carry out the functions of society. During the 1950s and 60s, many wanted to continue working, demanding the right to work, while still running their homes. This stance brought into question the traditional mothering role (Stacey 1991: 5; Inglis 1985: 284). The women’s movement contributed towards the dilution of the stereotyped, accepted role of women in society, as the ‘homemaker’ and pivot for her husband and family (Horne 1987: 69). This notion eventually became more apparent with regard to women’s roles in the churches. A redefinition of traditional gender roles was part of the agenda of the women’s movement. Consequently women were grappling with a radically new concept of their role and status in society (Mackay 1993: 22).
It is noted by Inglis (1985: 284) that migrant women, who came from traditional backgrounds in their countries of origin, more restrictive in their view of women’s economic roles than those in Australia, found that economic participation had to become part of their lives, in order to survive. The negative effects of this situation emerged in the relationships with their husbands, who found that their own status was somewhat diminished by their wives’ employment. Further tensions surfaced as the extra burden of work which women incurred as a result of their new economic role, rarely altered their husband’s domestic roles.
Mackay (1993: 39) claims that there are signs of a male backlash emerging. Possibly, he contends, it could be recognition that ‘the revolution is actually well advanced and the male resistance is merely a rear-guard action’. The tensions, Mackay (1993: 39) found in his research, are created by people in relationships with conflicting views of gender roles making them quite often intolerable. Therefore, he concedes, it is not surprising that the
150 divorce rate continues to rise, nor that the majority of divorces in Australia are now initiated by women. It would appear that the redefinition of gender roles is being instigated by women, while men are endeavouring to adapt (Mackay 1993: 43).
Historically, Porter (1995: 209) notes that the women’s movement originally stemmed from Christian women, who drew no distinction between woman’s place in both church and world. She goes on to say that ‘contemporary secular feminism had little or no interest in the reform of religious institutions’. Nevertheless, Christian feminism, she proposes warrants respect as a movement which has ‘figured strongly in the struggle to free women from entrapment’ (Porter 1995: 223). At the same time, Sargent (1994: 35) emphasises that, for feminists, stratification should be concerned with all types of inequality and oppression, especially gender in any situation.
The contraceptive pill came on the market in 1961 (Horne 1987: 71) and gave women a freedom in terms of sexual behaviour. This event paved the way for equality in gender issues such as family planning, employment opportunities and anti-discrimination. As Holmes (1985: 102) notes, the freedom ‘movements’ were essentially about freedom from oppression, not necessarily freedom for action. However, C.M.H. Clark (1987: 499) asserts that ‘women wanted both equality and the right to control their own lives, especially the life of their bodies’. The First National Women’s Health Conference was held in Brisbane in 1975 where many of these issues were discussed, and vigorously debated. As the drug culture became part of the ‘swinging sixties’, social development such as Personal Development education was introduced into schools. Sexuality and sexual awareness were incorporated into these programs. In Catholic schools such programs, which were based on Christian values, were included in the religious education curriculum.
Relationships became a focus of concern to Church and political ‘authorities’, and in 1974 a Royal Commission on Human Relations, chaired by Justice Elizabeth Evatt, was set up. Hearings were conducted and submissions received from both men and women throughout Australia. The purpose was to report upon the family, social, educational, legal and sexual aspects of male and female relationships. The comprehensive report was finally presented
151 in five volumes to the Governor-General in 1977, and prompted various government policies and directives.
The Catholic Community As society generally was undergoing massive change, Catholic people were also affected by the trends. While education had always been recognised by parents as a means of upward social mobility through the ‘social capital ‘ of their children, following World War 11 there was a significant increase in children staying on at school to complete secondary education. Connell et al. (1983: 19) attribute this change to the parents’ memories of the Depression; they considered education as a protection against unemployment. More education represented for them the hope that they had for a ‘better and more equal post-war world’ (Connell et al. 1983: 19). It became apparent that education was a shared ‘enterprise’ between teachers, parents and students. Recognition of the parent role was given added emphasis through the Karmel Interim Committee Report in 1973 (Pascoe, 2000: 93).
Traditionally, the parent role was decreed as ‘primary educator’, however actual recognition beyond a fund-raising role at the school level, was minimal (Coman 1986: 5). The changes that occurred as a result of Vatican II brought significant changes in religious life for men and women. University education became a necessity for them if they were to uphold quality education being delivered in Catholic schools (Luttrell 1996: 36). There were searching and resultant tensions within the religious orders as they tried to come to terms with their ministry and set future goals (Dunne 1989: 137). With the decrease in the number of vocations (Turner 1992: 94), the increase in births resulting from the ‘baby boom’ and the arrival of migrant families, Catholic schools were on the ‘verge of collapse’ as recalled by Karmel (2000: 2). These two factors placed extraordinary pressure on the schools which did not possess the resources to cope (Dunne 1989: 134). The employment of lay principals and other teachers, ushered in a new paradigm. Salaries had to be met according to awards and conditions set out in Industrial Relations terms (Luttrell 1996: 43). Government funding was required to support the maintenance and salary costs, to ensure
152 that the schools could still function. There was such enormous stress placed on Catholic schools, that there was reason to speculate if they could survive.
The State Aid issue and the role of the parents as lobbyists highlighted the degree of their involvement in the Catholic education of their children. They were needed. It was in this climate that a quite different kind of parent involvement surfaced. ‘Gradually but persistently parents sought to have their voices heard at all levels, government, Church and school’ (Dunne 1989: 135). As parents became better-educated they were more inclined to question teachers, who as religious, had been paid the utmost deference and respect (Arbuckle 1993: 6).
The crisis of the 1960s was averted with the reintroduction of State aid. Catholic schools had not only survived, but emerged with a confident image. They appeared to have a ‘new sense of vitality and vision, and enjoyed a growing public awareness and perception of quality in Catholic schools’, from which emanated a climate of confidence and professionalism (Sippel 1988: 276).
The Second Vatican Council Following the Second Vatican Council, as Horne (1987) reports, Catholics moved into the main stream of society, and out of their enclaves. Diversity was being seen as a strength of a community rather than a divisive element (Mackay 1993: 283). Arbuckle (1993) and Greeley (1990) consider that the II Vatican Council was in response to the social changes sweeping the world which the Church could no longer ignore. Greeley (1995: 1) deems it both an occurrence and an event which precipitated an enormous change in the Church. During the upheaval in the Church that followed, there was marked confusion amongst the Catholic community (Turner 1992: 93). The unchangeable Church, as they had been taught, was now moving towards radical changes (Turner 1992: 93).
While some members of the clergy welcomed the reform advocated by the Council, others refused to adopt any, except minimal changes, and with reluctance. Arbuckle (1993: 36) describes the impact on the Catholic culture, as ‘chaos’ in the 1960s and early 70s. All the
153 securities and cultural protocols that had underpinned the Catholic identity, were no longer certainties. The Church was to become involved in the concerns and issues of the world (Sippel 1988: 278). While this situation was unsettling for many Catholics, there were others who were only too willing to take up the challenge to participate in a more significant way in the total life of the Church (Dunne 1989: 137). This especially appealed to parents who were becoming more educationally conscious of their role as ‘the primary educator’. Greeley sums it up:
A new emphasis on the Mystical body of Christ, the teaching that the laity as well as the pope and the bishops was in some fashion the church, suggested to small groups of laity that perhaps the church ought to listen to them. An increasingly well-educated Catholic laity was uneasy with the rigidity of the Church. (1995: 3)
The Papal Encyclical Humanae Vitae, ‘On Human Life’ (Paul V1) was decreed in 1968 and Turner (1992: 93) claims that ‘the question of authority became critical for the laity’. Some dissenting priests maintained that the Encyclical merely offered guidelines, not laws for the laity. As result, some Catholics after consultation acted upon their own conscience. Greeley (1995: 5) proposes that currently a large majority of both priests and lay people reject the Church’s official teaching on birth control, ordination of women etc. He suggests that ‘there was no way to prevent Vatican II from becoming a revolutionary event (Greeley 1995: 6). However, Dunne (1989: 137) proposes that tremendous benefits have flowed, and are still gradually flowing from the deliberations and decisions of Vatican II.
Secular documents Numerous government reports towards reform in education were being put forward at this time, both overseas and in Australia. There were two particular Australian reports that had a direct bearing on school education generally, but had a dramatic effect on Catholic schools.
The Wyndham Report In the 50’s a Committee, chaired by Dr. H. Wyndham, was set up by the New South Wales government to assess and report upon the ‘provisions of full-time day education for adolescents in NSW’. Wyndham (1957) tapped into ideas then current, and formulated them as integral to education generally, thus shaping the future understanding of education.
154 The Wyndham Report (1957: 1) as it became known, led to the reorganisation and restructuring of secondary education in New South Wales (Flynn 1975: 71). Previously, secondary education, consisting of five years, was only available to a relatively small proportion of the student population. Wyndham recommended it be extended to six years. The Committee (1957: 13) recognised that an updating of the system of education was timely and accepted the notion of the social responsibility of the schools (Wyndham 1957: 13). A good general education was considered to be imperative and, in order to make this possible, a variety of curricula would have to be provided.
While the Wyndham Report (1957) acknowledged the importance of the home in the education of the child, it emphasised the crucial role of the school in transmitting knowledge. It stipulated that facts alone would not offer the opportunity for the cultivation of taste and critical perception. Bourdieu (1998: 1) views the ‘cultivation of taste’ as developing preference in literature, painting or music, and claims that length of schooling and qualifications are also contributing factors. The Wyndham Committee (1957: 58) echoed this view: that ‘part of a child’s heritage is the exposure to a world of knowledge which is available to them in Literature, History, Geography and Science’. Flynn (1975: 71) noted that the number of students remaining at school doubled the expected number anticipated, thus reinforcing Bourdieu’s premise. The increase, Flynn (1975) maintains, reflected the social pressure of the period; thus in an affluent and consumer society, parents were wanting their children to complete their secondary education, seen as ‘social capital’ laid down for future employment. The Report (1957: 132) stressed the need for ‘physical skills, intellectual development, moral and social development’ with spiritual growth and aspiration. An understanding of the various characteristics of their children’s development, and the beneficial educational implications proffered from some form of education, was to be facilitated for parents. However, there is no indication as to how this might have been facilitated.
In Fogarty’s study (1959: 441) of Catholic Education in Australia 1806-1950, he includes the following prototype of diocesan structure in Australia. It had evolved from the Second National Catholic Education Conference of Directors and Inspectors of Schools, (1939: 6).
155 It is noted that, while the pupils were given a place in the organization, parents were omitted or overlooked at the time.
Fig. 8: Organisation of authority in the Catholic school system between 1939-1950 (Fogarty 1959: 441)
Diversity was considered to be inevitable in a school community as differences in cultural background, general mental ability and interests are apparent in any large group (Wyndham 1957: 56). This diversity and respect for another’s point of view lends itself towards social cohesion.
156 Karmel Report After virtual exclusion, in the early 1970’s there was stimulus towards gradual recognition of the role of parents in schools (Pettit 1980: 12). The Karmel Interim Committee, which was set up in 1972 by the Whitlam government, was to report on the position of government and non-government primary and secondary schools in all States of Australia. The committee according to Pascoe (2000: 88) did undertake ‘a detailed analysis of the number of schools, enrolments, class size, teacher qualifications and expenditure’, estimated needs, priorities and assessed appropriate steps to be taken, to meet the needs. Ultimately the Australian Schools Commission was established on the basis of the Karmel Report (Pettit 1980: 12).
The Karmel Interim Committee recognised the right of parents to educate their children in other than government schools, thus highlighting choice. It recommended increased participation by parents, members of the community and teachers in shared decision- making and school based activities. ‘Opportunities will need to be offered to parents and to the community at large to increase their awareness and competence, to enable them to participate in the shared control of schools’ (Karmel Report 1973: 11). However, the planning and control, it was envisaged, would be guided by professionals. From this notion, eventually documents emerged, such as Community Involvement and Decision-making in Schools (Pettit 1978), The Parent Action Manual (Andrews 1975), and Report on School Based Decision Sharing Project (Andrews 1979). Responsibility for the schools, the Committee noted, should be devolved as far as possible upon the people who were involved in the actual tasks of schooling. The parents’ role has been passive vis-a -vis the schools’ Pettit (1980: 16) claimed.
The Karmel Report (1973: 48) acknowledged that closer school-community relationships and active parental interest, a prerequisite for increasing school effectiveness, can be facilitated by the financial backing of new approaches to ways and means. In fostering change, innovation related to projects for school improvement were encouraged. The family was reinforced in the Karmel Report (1973) as the main participant in drawing out and structuring children’s abilities, moulding their personalities, and behaviour, while
157 shaping their attitudes and directing their interests (Pettit 1980: 13). In this way, it supported the Catholic ideal that ‘parents are the first and continuing educators of their children’.
The recommended steps to be taken included grants from the Commonwealth to all the States and intended for government and non-government schools. Certain standards were established and all schools were to be brought up to them, thus improving the standard of education in schools beyond the existing level. As a result, both the expansion of existing schools and the building of new ones were deemed necessary, due to an increase in school enrolments. Certain identifiable factors were operating i.e. the result of the post-war ‘baby boom’, post-war immigration (Pascoe, 2000: 92) and the restructuring of secondary schooling that emanated from the Wyndham Report (1957).
The Karmel Interim Committee’s report Schools in Australia May 1973, Pascoe (2000: 88) contends, was greeted ‘with widespread acclaim’. Pettit (1980: 12) describes it as ‘a landmark in Australian education’. The two significant fundamental principles the Karmel Committee adopted, were quality and equality. To sustain these elements the Karmel Committee took the view that equality of opportunity for students, choice and diversity in and between schools had to be integrated.
It was recognised that in non-government schools salaries constituted most of the recurrent expenditure in schools. It has previously been noted, that as the numbers of religious teachers decrease, there would be a substantial increase in the cost of salaries. The most important outcomes of the Karmel Report for Catholic schools were, after all, not the amount of money which was received, but the way in which it was allocated (Anne O’Brien 1999; Pascoe 2000). The block methods of recurrent funding, made available first to parish primary schools, and later to a large group of secondary schools, had a major impact on the Catholic system of education. (Anne O’Brien 1999: 195). ‘The parlous state of Catholic schools at the time was described as a national disgrace by the Karmel committee’ (Pascoe 2000: 87).
158 ‘The establishment of General Recurrent Grants scheme for government and non- government schools provided a desperately needed injection of funds to all schools, but to Catholic schools in particular, and promised funding stability’ (Pascoe 2000: 88). The requirements that funds be delivered as block grants forced a rapid bureaucratisation of Catholic education and gave the sector authorities the capacity to further distribute funding according to more specifically identified need (Pascoe 2000: 89).
At the local level, the Disadvantaged Schools Program enabled low socio-economic school communities to design and implement programs, to enrich the educational provision of students in their care. The Innovations’ and the In-service Programs provided opportunities for all teachers to create ‘new approaches to their practice, and to renew their skills’. Pascoe (2000: 89) claims ‘the Karmel agenda was comprehensive, progressive and egalitarian’. The scheme of innovation grants provided opportunities for self-selected, resourceful schools and teachers, ‘to try new ways of doing things. A culture of progressivism and change was encouraged’.
In summary, Pascoe (2000: 96) makes these observations; the Karmel Report has an enduring outcome in that it had a deep and lasting impact on education in Australia. The benefits that ensued included, ‘the Commonwealth as a major player in school education’, values that were in accord with the educational and broader community were incorporated, and areas where marked improvement was to be achieved, were identified. Recurrent, stable funding for non-government schools ‘enabled Catholic schools to move beyond considerations of survival to issues of quality provision’ (Pascoe 2000: 96). The Karmel Committee appealed to Australian qualities of fairness and egalitarianism, by incorporating the concept of need at the centre of its funding approaches. These particular qualities had been espoused by Archbishop James Carroll in his proposal, Independent Schools in a Free Society (1962).
The influence of Karmel (1973) shaped thinking and policy regarding education in the 1970s and the understanding of schooling (including Catholic schooling), which informed prevailing attitudes of the 70s and subsequent decades.
159 State Aid In the 1960s Catholic schools were in a state of financial stress and Hogan (1978) in reviewing the situation, reports that the Catholic community set out to convince governments of the right and need to restore State Aid to their schools. Catholic parents played a significant role in this dramatic turn of events.
Hogan (1978) in his study, The Catholic Campaign for State Aid, outlines the background to the debate in a historical format. He points out that in 1880 the withdrawal of government funds for denominational schools, left the Catholic schools stranded. It was aimed at the demise of denominational schools, but due to the financial sacrifices and ongoing support of the Catholic parents, religious orders of teachers and clergy, the number of Catholic schools not only grew, but expanded.
Almost 80 years later Catholic schools were in crisis due to a number of factors. By the mid twentieth century there were certain features that figured in a great social change. Post-war baby boom, the great influx of government sponsored migrants of Catholic origin, from Southern European countries such as Italy and Malta which followed the end of World War 11, resulted in the Catholic population being doubled (Hogan 1978: 4). Following the post- war reconstruction period, primary schools were filled beyond capacity and, in the 1960s, due to the restructuring of secondary education, high schools were in a similar position.
The parents of the 50s, with the similar, former zeal of their parents, expected their children to complete their secondary education (Hogan 1978). Consequently, ‘large numbers of youth were being educated beyond the level of the education of their parents’ (Flynn 1975: 71).
Education became the focus of pressure groups in a campaign for public funding for independent schools from both levels of government. Anne O’Brien (1999) claims that in the early 1960s parent organizations became forceful, and conflicts arose between the various parent groups. She attributes this situation to the size and the number of dioceses in
160 New South Wales, plus the various factions that emerged. The Federation of Catholic Parents and Friends, which was really a Sydney based group, the Australian Parent Council and the Association for Educational Freedom, comprised groups, which had been organised by the parents themselves (Anne O’Brien,1999). In the following year they started to lobby politicians.
Archbishop James Carroll became the nominated person from the Episcopal Conference to approach politicians. With Cardinal Norman Gilroy, he visited the State Premier, R.J. Heffron at the time, and outlined certain requirements in terms of aid. Hogan (1978: 76) contends that the aid, as set out by them, was based on needs of schools and of school systems, rather than on the rights of parents. However, Carroll’s (1962) argument on the concept of ‘the Free’ society, constituted certain fundamental freedoms for each and every individual citizen. Integral components such as respect for the human person and the protection of the Rights of Man, were the basis of his argument. Other fundamental human rights he proposed, included freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of association and the freedom of parents to choose schools where they entrust their children for moral and religious education (Carroll 1962: 4.) This parental right and responsibility Carroll asserted (1962: 4) is proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26, N. 3: ‘Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children’.
Carroll (1962) considered that parents wanted the school to be an ‘extension of the home, and reflect the same principles and beliefs’. While the parish priests and the religious were responsible for the religious teaching in the schools, ‘most parents were content to leave education in their hands as it always had been’ (Anne O’Brien 1999: 171).
Education must be considered a responsibility of the government Carroll (1962: 4) claimed, as it is a major contributor towards the common good of society and the social capital of a country. He maintained that the government may not substitute itself for a parent, except in extenuating circumstances, such as proven parent neglect or outright inability to care for the children (Carroll 1962: 5).
161 His case for State Aid was centred around the ‘equality of all citizens’ and because of current financial hardships, the Independent Schools were in danger of having to offer less than the highest standards of education. Carroll (1962) claimed that due to population expansion in post-war development, the financial burden of the requirements of modern education would become intolerable. He pointed out that the Independent school system educated nearly a quarter of the nation’s children, at no cost to the public purse. In anticipating a suggestion that Catholic parents could avail themselves of Departmental schools, Carroll had this to say:
While parents appreciate the Departmental schools and their dedicated teachers, they seek a school which, in its religious ideals and atmosphere, will duplicate the ideals and atmosphere of their home. (1962: 9)
Different groups in various States were making approaches to Governments seeking funds. These consisted of parent organizations which, while all seeking the same outcome, the support of government funds, disagreed about the way the funds should be given. Political differences also contributed to the inconsistency amongst the parent groups thus a divisive element developed which impeded the progress of the campaign. Politicians noted these divisions, and exploited the situation by claiming that Catholics were ‘in disagreement about the kind of aid they wanted, and even if they wanted it at all’ (Hogan 1978: 62).
The ‘Goulburn’ Incident It became apparent that there needed to be uniformity in approaching governments for the State Aid funding. However, as the financial pressures mounted, a situation in Goulburn developed which possibly gave impetus to the case for State Aid. Catholic schools had to abide by the standards set by the State (Hogan 1978: 65), and the lavatory facilities in a Catholic school in the Goulburn diocese after a local government inspection, did not meet the requirements. Under the threat of closure of the Catholic school, Bishop Cullinane, who considered that the State should contribute towards maintenance, if it insisted on the right to determine health standards, decided to take action (Hogan 1978: 66). As the financial assistance was not forthcoming, a meeting was held with Archbishop Eris O’Brien and the
162 laity, who decided to close the schools and for the children to present at the local State schools. As Hogan (1978: 70) states, ‘if the Goulburn parents had been aiming towards capturing the public attention regarding Catholic education and their plight, it was very successful’. Hogan deems the episode in Goulburn in 1962 stands as a watershed in State Aid politics, and the injustices suffered by Catholic parents. At this time, the Second Vatican Council was starting in Rome, prompting greater interest and involvement of lay people in the Catholic Church. Hence, Hogan (1978: 72) considers a significant point of change occurred due to the Goulburn closure, in the relationship between the clergy and laity.
State Aid became a political issue, and the Australian Parent Council then recently formed, met with the President of the Liberal Party’s extra Parliamentary organization in Melbourne in January 1963 (Hogan 1978: 84). Towards the end of that year, the Menzies government offered aid for science facilities, but provided less in scholarship type assistance than the Labor Leader, Caldwell. Thus the precedent for direct aid to Catholic schools which was offered without equivocation, was established. Hogan (1978: 87) asserts that it ‘was a significant breakthrough, symbolically and politically’. Menzies won the next election.
Amongst the reasons for the change according to Hogan (1978: 88), was a difference in sectarian attitudes towards Catholics, as the anti-Catholic sentiment which was so evident in the earlier history of Catholic education had greatly diminished, the acceptance in the community of the notion of State Aid, and the changing social status of Catholics in the Australian community. In accord with these assumptions, Carroll (1962: 15) claimed Australia, in this twentieth century, presented a typical example of the Pluralist Society.
Pluralism unites in the peace and prosperity of a single community many diverse groupings of race, religion, political affiliation, social status. Pluralism rests upon the recognition of basic human rights and prospers in an atmosphere of tolerance and humanity. (Carroll 1962: 15)
He acknowledged that in the early days, English, Scottish and Irish nationalities constituted Australian society, but, as over a million migrants from European countries had been
163 accepted willingly into Australia, a Free Pluralist Society had emerged. In a manner reminiscent of Durkheim (1956), Carroll asserts, diversity had given rise to a deeper bond of unity and social cohesion (Wyndham 1957; Karmel 1973).
By the end of the 1960’s, the Liberal party had changed over to a ‘per capita policy’ while the ALP was propounding its ‘needs’ principle (Hogan 1978: 245). The principle was clear in that ‘the right of parents and children to equality in education had been established’. The remaining fundamental argument was over the methods of funding.
From the principles of Vatican II, the Church’s hierarchy was being challenged to share authority, to set up structures at parish, diocesan and national levels, the goals of which were collaborative decision-making, and acknowledgement of appropriate expertise. (Anne O’Brien 1999: 51). Lay people were not content to remain subservient to the hierarchical authorities in the light of the dire needs and conditions of their schools. However, Anne O’Brien, (1999: 171) observed, that in Victoria the establishment of parish education boards only met with variable success. As the laity had not participated in the decision- making processes within the Church prior to Vatican II, it was alleged that only a few possessed the skills to become effective board members.
In 1967 the New South Wales Catholic Schools Committee (NSWCSC) was formed with a priest and a lay representative from each diocese, and Archbishop James Carroll as Chairman (Anne O’Brien 1999). This move was designed to bring together the opposing parent views. Cardinal Gilroy informed the Premier of NSW that the committee would act ‘as the sole channel of communication between the bishops and the Government, including the Catholic education system in NSW’. Thus a unified front on the funding of State Aid issue was envisaged.
The way money was allocated and the block funding decision, were the significant issues of the Karmel Report for Catholic schools. Emanating from the establishment of the Karmel Committee, was the urgent need for a State authority for Catholic education. In the 1960s administrative centralization in the Catholic system was instigated and this was due to
164 pressure from State and Commonwealth governments (Hogan 1978: 150). In this way the Australian Catholic Church was forced to reorganise on State and national levels.
Development of education policy in Australia has followed an incremental pattern. Changes have come slowly. Hogan maintains (1978: 251), that even the implementation of the Wyndham Scheme plans (1957) in NSW for restructuring secondary education, have been modified by ‘political, social and economic pressures’. Thus the effect is not greatly different from changes in other States, which developed more slowly and without such planning.
Hogan (1978: 254) describes James Carroll as being ‘much closer to the mainstream of lay Catholic social concern than the majority of his Episcopal colleagues’. His arguments contained a strong ideological content based on concepts of justice, rights, freedom and the role of religion in society. Hogan concedes ‘without such an ideology it is almost inconceivable that the Catholic education system could have survived, let alone have flourished, for so long’. The campaign had, in a general sense, a quite well defined aim – the restoration of State Aid to independent (especially Catholic) schools (Hogan 1978: 260). The Sydney mass meetings were a well-organised means for contesting the political inter-party rivalry in obtaining greater offers of aid (Hogan 1978: 265). The principal speakers on these occasions were parents, who presented the case for Aid for Catholic parents and schools. These meetings were held in different parts of Sydney and the audience consisted of parents, politicians and clergy.
The sectarianism of the previous century had lost its momentum, and Catholics, also were in the process of change. They had lost a great deal of the solidarity and ghetto mentality; which had characterised earlier ventures in education politics. Hogan (1978: 259) concurs that Mol’s hypothesis, ‘it is religiosity rather than denomination which is the more important variable in social and political issues’, was confirmed.
This was evident in that there were many different groups, not one single lobby. The story is one of fundamental disagreements among the bishops themselves, between bishops and
165 laity, between different lay groups, between different ideologies, political allegiances and political strategies. Hogan (1978: 259) noted that Henry Mayer’s conclusion to his symposium on Catholics and the Free Society, was that ‘Catholics have been divided on the issue of State Aid, but their activities were within the accepted rules of a pluralist society’, thus supporting Carroll’s premise.
According to Hogan (1978) between them, Carroll and the Australian Parent Council leaders were able to convince parties and governments after the Goulburn closure, incident or ‘strike’, of the ‘symbolic expression of the economic argument’. It is indisputable that they were ‘firmly tied into the bureaucratic and political decision-making processes in both formal and informal ways by the late 1960s (Hogan 1978: 266).
Carroll had a natural flair for politics, Henderson (1982) observed, cited by Anne O’Brien (1999: 114). He was able to draw on experienced political operators, not necessarily Catholics and within both political parties, while also possessing an instinct for the associated complexities, sensibilities and foibles (Anne O’Brien 1999). Some observers critical of Carroll, described him as one who ‘implemented his political judgments in an authoritarian manner without reference to the laity’ (Anne O’Brien 1999: 114). Nevertheless, O’Brien contends that people working with him during the 1960s and 70s, maintained that he actually did engage in wide consultation and discussion. It seems he found committees tedious, especially when ‘confronted with people who had an inflexible agenda, lacked data and were unaware of the complex church and secular political arena’, involved in the negotiations (Anne O’Brien 1999: 114). However, Croke (1997: 6) in summing up, contends that Carroll’s vision became reality due to ‘his persistence and patience, his skilful use of the best available data … and his outstanding personal skills in dealing with bishops and bureaucrats, politicians and religious provincials’. In reinforcing this view, Pascoe believes (2000: 85), the quiet lobbying by James Carroll and others in Sydney was possibly more influential than the Goulburn closure.
One perhaps unintended outcome, was that parents developed negotiating and lobbying skills in the processes, which led up to the funding (Hogan 1978). Parents played a major
166 role in preparing the ground and raising awareness of the situation, amongst other parents (Anne O’Brien 1999). They also recognised the crisis which threatened the survival of their Catholic schools, and the need for structural changes regarding regional secondary schools.
Vatican II emphasised that Church structures and processes incorporate collegiality, cooperation, co-responsibility and subsidiarity (Docs. Vat. II, Abbott, ed. 1966 p.3000). It ushered in extensive changes in relation to how the Church considered itself and challenged its members in terms of their responsibilities and rights. The tenets of a holistic understanding of education and a life-centred catechesis became the focus. Bishops, priests, religious, laity, students and government were to collaborate as partners in pursuing their educational responsibilities.
Anne O’Brien (1999: 196) considers several factors will determine the effectiveness and desirability of Catholic schools. Catholic education must testify to the partnership of all members of the Church; parents, teachers, students, the local community and diocesan authorities and authenticate its claim for society’s support of government funding. Teachers will have to be adequately prepared in both secular and religious domains to meet the emerging needs of students in relation to the prevailing culture and values of contemporary society. Hence the need for teachers to be able to integrate faith and culture within themselves, and to facilitate it for their students, is the goal. Anne O’Brien (1999) perceives that in the 1960s Catholic education authorities, even though they knew the solutions to their problems, were powerless to address them. As their only source of funding consisted of school fees and other local contributions, the basis was tenuous. Moreover, there was no structure which could have brought together the authorities, in order to plan for the future.
Catholic schools offer to parents a holistic education for their children, in which a spiritual dimension is inherent, and provide an enriching view of the meaning of life to society at large at large (Anne O’Brien 1999).
In summing up, the significance of State Aid in producing quality education in Catholic schools is undeniable. However, whether it would have been so successful without the
167 dedicated parents who lobbied governments for their right to State Aid, is debatable. The hierarchy’s quest for the continuation of Catholic education in perpetuating the faith, is marked by their obvious reliance on the parents.
Parent involvement and participation There have been various interpretations of the words involvement and participation. Some are used interchangeably, but in the literature some researchers make clear distinctions.
Parent Involvement is defined by Henry as:
Parent involvement is used in the literature to refer to those instances in schools where parents are active about the school but do not have an influence on school policy or programs. (1978: 1)
Whereas the participation as described by Henry (1978: 1) assumes that parents have a right to an active role, that they are necessary for education to proceed effectively. This stance infers that they can have an impact on decision-making. Participation involves action in any discussion.
Beare (1993) makes the distinction between involvement and participation. He contends that ‘involvement’ means ‘enveloping’ or inclusion. Hence a person is co-opted into the educational community with the mutual interests of the child as the principal concern. Participation recognises the rights of parents to share in the decisions regarding the education of their children with teachers. Beattie (1985) considers participation develops and fosters the qualities necessary for it; the more individuals participate, the better able they become to do so. Millar (1988: 50) maintains that this became evident with the parents in her study. However Beattie (1985) considers that ‘pseudo participation’ occurs more often than not. This is where parent participation is ‘said to be happening’ but only tokenism is taking place, as parents are not actually involved in decisions. They are merely asked for agreement and if they do not readily do so, they may be classified as ‘hostile’ by members of staff.
168 Ochiltree (1984) considers parent involvement may fluctuate as school staff members come and go, and is reliant on the attitude of the teachers in their recognition of the parent role. Due to legal requirements related to parent representation on school boards or councils, Ochiltree (1984) believes that participation has more permanence. Beacham and Hoadley (1982) claim that if parents do endeavour to participate more closely in the decision- making processes in the school, they often find that they are only really permitted to be involved. On the other hand, if the school climate is one of collaboration, Pettit (1978) subscribes to the notion that opportunities for all concerned will be provided to discuss and decide on educational objectives, values and policies.
In the light of the above definitions, it is argued that involvement seems to infer inclusion in the school community in different ways. A whole range of activities would be available to parents, such as assisting with reading programs, tuckshops, excursions, fundraising, information evenings, attending parent education programs. Participation conveys the notion of partnership and the recognition of complementary roles in the education of the child. This recognition could be nominated as parent involvement at parent/teacher meetings, religious preparation of Catholic children for the reception of the Sacraments, their religious education. However, from the data some degree of participation occurred when parents were engaged in curriculum development, the parent role on interview panels, school boards/councils, in Personal Development and Christian Values education in the school and representation on various official Catholic and Government committees, indicating some change.
Summary of four studies of the Catholic parent role Four studies dwell in detail on the role of parents in the Catholic education of children. Three Australian studies were conducted by Coman (1986), Millar (1988) and Cronin (1996) and an American study carried out by Benevento (1997). The insights developed in these studies inform the analysis of parent-teacher relation in the latter half of the twentieth century, as described by the participants in this study.
169 The role of parents where it has been restricted to a fund-raising supportive role for the teachers, is classified by Bauch (1990) cited by Benevento (1997: 122) as the ‘delegation’ model. Participants of first and second cohorts implicitly and explicitly describe this model as it has existed for most of the twentieth century in Catholic schools in New South Wales. It is where the ‘quality and amount of parent participation is determined by the professionals’. Benevento (1997: 123) considers this to be a paternalistic rather than a functionally egalitarian approach which is advocated by Epstein (1991). The relationship resulting from such an approach would infer parents and teachers working together with mutual respect and contributing their unique sets of expertise to aid the children in their education.
An example of this kind of blending of roles is demonstrated in Millar’s study as described in the Personal Development and Christian Values Program in the primary school. Millar (1988) nominates this reciprocity between teachers and parents, as recognition of complementary roles in children’s Catholic schooling.
Cronin (1996) describes how the evolving understanding of this parent role has been developed from involvement, through to parent participation, to parent/school partnership, a social justice issue.
Coman (1986) believes school councils are one important way of involving parents significantly in decision-making. Parents need to develop skills for effective participation to ensue, while those in power’ need to surrender some of their share of that power’. The principal comes through in all the studies as the pivotal person. The attitudes of the principal have a direct influence on the school board or council and the members. It seems that the more parents become involved during the 90s, the less satisfied they are with the degree of involvement.
The argument inherent in this study of the degree of recognition by Catholic personnel in bureaucracies and schools, of the Catholic Church decree of parents as the primary educators in their children’s Catholic education, reveals a marked limitation. From the
170 studies, the desire of the parents to be participants in the decisions affecting their children’s education is apparent, but there appear to be certain hidden agendas, which subtly limit their involvement/participation beyond traditional roles.
The successful implementation of the Personal Development and Christian Values program in the Primary School with parent participation operating at all levels, was only possible by the openness of the Principal to the innovation (Millar). The degree of parent interest and the teacher collaboration, after certain preparation, were indisputable in the effective outcome.
Coman’s study demonstrated the need for parents and teachers to develop skills in working together, but both groups need to be convinced of their complementary roles in the education of the children in their care.
School Boards and Councils Following the Karmel Report (1973), which emphasised the devolution of responsibility to local schools (Stephens 1997: 84), and, in Catholic education the principle of subsidiarity, which had emanated from the Second Vatican Council, school boards and advisory councils gradually emerged in some Australian schools.
The shift was due to several factors. They included: parents demanding participation; the expanding view of professionalism in relation to teachers; broader consultation in decision- making; the goal of administrators for an increase in effectiveness and sensitivity in providing services (Andrews 1980: 2).
Documents from the Australian Schools Commission, such as School-based Decision- making, (Connors 1978), Techniques for Participation in decision-making – for previously uninvolved groups, (Beacham & Hoadley 1982), and N.S.W. Structures for School- Community Based Decision Sharing (Andrews 1980), were amongst those that provided the stimulus within school communities.
171 An emphasis on the role of parents in the functioning of school boards, was developed through a report on School Boards in Wellington, New Zealand (Millar 1984). It was the result of a grant through the Schools Exchange and Travel Scheme, from the NSW State Development Committee. School Boards had been in existence in New Zealand for many years with parents as participating members, in the decisions affecting their children’s schools. School Committees were essentially related to Primary Schools only, with the principal as Ex-officio member without voting rights. Other members were nominees from the Parents and Teachers’ Association (PTA), the Education Board, elected parent representatives, possibly a community representative and a teacher member. In the case of a religious school, the Bishop’s representative, could be the Parish Priest (Millar 1984: 1).
Secondary schools have a Board of Governors with membership being comprised in a similar way. The only exception was that in some schools, a member of the alumni is also offered membership of the Board. The functions of the Board directly related to building supervision, control and management of the expenditure of government funds, raising money for the school, organising and conducting School Committee election biennially, selection, employment and direction of school caretakers and cleaners as agents of the Board, general control, maintenance and supervision of buildings and grounds, care and maintenance of school equipment and furniture, granting holidays under the provisions of the Education Act 1964.
Millar (1984) outlined the sub-committees specific roles which deal with discipline, curriculum, staff appointments, finances, public relations, maintenance, or complaints made by parents or others about teachers. The Board can only recommend what should be introduced into the curriculum.
The New Zealand Boards afforded participatory roles but parents were reluctant. Reasons proffered for this were lack of educational or professional qualifications, a sense of inadequacy, language problems and a sense of exclusion from other parents. Parents who did exhibit interest in becoming members usually have special skills or qualifications, a sense of civic pride or duty to the school community, and high expectations for children at
172 school. It was stated that they also wanted the school to be a different kind of place. They felt it could be ‘more welcoming and secure; they wanted to know more about what is happening at school and finally, in the interests of their own child’ (Millar 1984: 3).
The strengths of a School Board were recognised as:
It has real power. Teachers become aware of the genuine hard work and degree of commitment of members in translating the wishes of the community into the school. Principal is responsible for professional matters but has the support and shared decision making in other areas of significant responsibility related to their school. All are involved in Policy formation reflecting the orientation of the particular school community. (Millar 1984: 3)
Weaknesses noted included autocratic attitudes of principals over-ruling Board members; tendency to overload with tasks, which can cause delays and dissatisfaction; token involvement by some teachers for Curriculum Vitae purposes (Millar 1984: 3). Parents felt that they had acquired more knowledge, enjoyed the sharing between the teacher/parent members and the supportive atmosphere. The Report influenced the development of School Boards in New South Wales that followed.
Catholic School Boards/Councils Following on, Whelan (1987: 32) acknowledged how the School Board or Council concept has in recent years been developed in Australia, but considers that expressions such as ‘devolution, collaborative decision-making, participation’ have become mundane. The Catholic school in terms of school governance, Whelan (1987) asserts, needs to be structured within a rationale of the concept of Church and Mission. He maintained that a different type of collaboration, between laity and clergy in the Church, since Vatican II, has taken place (Whelan 1987: 33). He goes on to say that a deeper appreciation of the complementary vocation of religious and lay teachers, and parents needs to be recognised.
This is linked with a notion of community among schools and has to be consciously promoted, not only in rhetoric but also in reality (Whelan 1987: 34). According to Harper (1980: 24), ‘there is no mirror image of the Catholic school board in the public forum; it
173 has a unique structure’. She proposes that the tasks of such a Catholic policy-making group should include:
articulating the educational mission of the local school, establishment of the goals and objectives of the educational program, determination of specific policies to guide administrative staff, review of decisions made by administration in carrying out board policies, evaluation of the effects of board policy decision in achieving board’s goals approval of the financial expression of the education plan – the budget, where appropriate, participation in the selection of school principal. (Harper,1980: 24)
Whelan (1987: 36) concluded that development of school boards was not an option, but an imperative. The most common structure, for shared decision making in school communities, is school boards or councils (Stephens 1997: 83), but there are differing models. The board can be a means of ‘nurturing and developing the Catholic ethos of the school’ (Stephens 1997: 89). A pastoral element is considered to be essential for a board as ‘relationship enriches or inhibits’ (Stephens 1997: 92). He speaks of three principles which need to be incorporated for the board to function effectively. Independence, - sufficiently to exercise responsibility; dependence, which signifies that ‘each is part of something bigger, each belongs, and interdependence that denotes the need to work collaboratively. Stephens (1997: 93) notes that the acceptance and support by the principal has been very influential, in determining the development of the board. Amongst the members, themselves, a sense of identity and self esteem has been fostered as a result of their dedication, participation, talents, expertise, honesty, strengths of purpose and loyalty. Duncan and Duncan (1997: 173) note that parents are hesitant to volunteer for membership of a school board, as they do not view themselves as professional educators. However, they go on to say that the parents are the first educators their children encounter, and the ‘learning curve of the child’ increases with such rapidity during the first two years of life, thus reinforcing parents in their role.
In a document issued by the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC), (2002) on School Governance, which followed research carried out by Leavey (2000) it was noted that one of the best ways to ensure the Catholicity of Catholic schools was through school
174 boards. While the document outlines the Guidelines for the constitution of Catholic School Boards, it also nominates a number of elements that are recommended for inclusion in any document that purports to constitute the board of a Catholic school. They include:
Catholic education is based upon the love of Christ, The role of Parents as the primary educators of their children, in whose place and with whose collaboration, Catholic schools fulfill their mission. Faithfulness to the mission of the church, Church solidarity…to work for the good of the whole Church community. Support for the common good and embracing the poor… that the most disadvantaged and marginalised are empowered by the actions and policies of the Church community. Educational Quality to all those attending Catholic schools. Participation which is the principle that the powers and functions…are exercised by the persons closest to and most accountable to those affected. Inclusiveness which is the principle that Catholic education should be open to all who wish to receive a Catholic education. (NCEC, 2002: 10)
Leavey (2000) found that while there has been a marked increase in the number of School Boards and a great richness in the overall input of Catholic schools in Australia, there is a wide variety of differences of governances between them. Duncan and Gilligan (2004: 7) note that a dichotomy often exists between shared and collaborative leadership within ‘the sharing wisdom school’ and the authoritarian, centralised and non-collaborative structures of some Catholic Education Offices.
National and some State Catholic Education Conferences between 1966-2004 During the period 1966-2004 a series of National Catholic Education Conferences were held, which included: National Catholic Education Conferences in 1966 and 1980; Fourth National Catholic Family Life Education Conference 1985; National Conference of Administrators, Clergy, Educators, Parents and Students 1988; Catholic Education Conference in New South Wales 1994; Conference of the New South Wales Council of Catholic School Parents, and the International Catholic Education Leadership Conference, 2004.
At each Conference some speakers reviewed the role of parents and the possibilities of fuller parental participation. The key issues raised, devolved on collaboration by parents
175 within the school, willingness of parents to participate in education; teachers and parents as ‘significant others’ and their influential roles; the need for the principles of subsidiarity and co-responsibility in decision making at all levels, to be observed; recognition of the multicultural nature of the Catholic school community; Personal Development and Christian Values education as a means of inclusion of parents in the school curriculum; the notion of parental partnership with teachers and priests in the school community in a style of relationship that reflects openness and equality.
In an overview of the Conferences there were a number of papers which featured the parent role in Catholic education. While there were different ways this developing recognition was presented, historically it was traced from 1966-2004.
Archives of the Catholic Education Office, Sydney Prior to commencing the interviews and focus groups for this phase of the study, I gained access to the Archives of the Sydney Archdiocesan Education Office. From these I selected documents, newsletters, minutes and reports that considered the issue of parent involvement or participation in Catholic Schools.
Parent Participation in Schools Unit Following a School Commission Innovations Grant, the Parent Participation in Schools Unit was established in the Catholic Education Office early in 1981. It was a parent initiated body and incorporated the Parents’ Resource Group for Teachers, a voluntary parents’ group that functioned from 1972-1980. This group responded to a perceived need for better communication between parents, teachers and children regarding the social pressures of the times, related to sexuality, drugs, understanding personal needs, relationships and the notion of marriage in the light of Christian Values. The Parents’ Resource Group gained recognition from the New South Wales State Development Committee and funding to study Parent Involvement in Personal Development Education in the United Kingdom.
The focus of the Unit was on greater participation of parents in education. The specific aim of the Unit however, towards achieving this objective, was through raising the level of
176 awareness of the school community of the need for Human Development and Christian Values education from Kindergarten to Year 12. At the same time, it was considered essential for parent participation at different levels, and for teachers, parents and priests to appreciate the complementary nature of their roles in the holistic development of each child. The significance of the ‘modelling’ in the relationships by all concerned, as perceived by the children in their care, was fully appreciated.
When the Parents’ Resource Group received further recognition from the Commonwealth Government with an Australian Schools Commission Innovations Grant, the Parent Participation in Schools Unit was formally established. It came under the authority of the Deputy Director of Catholic Education, in the Sydney Archdiocese and comprised a Head of Unit, Deputy and an Assistant, with a Secretary and a Resource Officer who were all centrally based. There were also Parent Liaison Officers in each Region of the Archdiocese, who were assisted by volunteer personnel.
Many Inservice courses were initiated by the Unit and these were principally aimed at support for parents and teachers, not only in Human Development and Christian Values education but in the acquisition of communication skills, faith development, group dynamics and self-awareness. A joint venture with the Multicultural Department stemmed from the initiative of the Unit, for a Pilot study project. The aim was to identify areas where assistance could be offered to parents and students from a non-English speaking background. This project was carried out in a secondary boys’ school by Ward (1981), who constructed the procedures by which the parents’ needs were assessed. As the Lebanese nationality was the largest in the school, it became the focus for the project. Ward visited, with parent interpreters chosen by the principal, over eighty homes and was overwhelmed by the response offered by the parents and the enthusiasm of the students, at the prospect of her visits. Many of the parents did not leave home unless accompanied, due to their lack of English, and would not have considered coming near the school. However the culmination of the project was an evening at the school when over eighty parents were present, who indicated that they wanted ‘bridges’ between themselves and the school (Millar 1982: 44).
177 Various services for teachers and parents were available from the Unit. (See Appendix 8) Regional response by parents has indicated that there is great interest in Catholic education and a desire to be more closely involved. The aim of the Unit was to establish a Parent Co- ordinator in each school who could link into the Department through the Regional Parent Liaison person.
A plethora of examples of how parents have been involved, were researched in the Sydney Catholic Education Office Archives. The majority of them refer to the courses, interventions, representations of the ways that emanated from the PPSU. They are too numerous to list but, it would appear that at that time, parent participation was energetic and valued.
In the course of restructuring and rationalization, the Unit was slowly disbanded. Human and Development and Christian Values Education was included with Health and Physical Education. Currently there are Parent/Community Educators located in the Eastern and Inner Western Regions, and in the Southern Region, a Parent Liaison Officer has been delegated, to assist in this area. Centrally in the Sydney Office there are two Parent Liaison Officers. In the Guide to Educational Services it is stated that ‘the CEO, Sydney, is committed to increasing the effective involvement of parents in their children’s education’ (2004: 22) The Guide states that collaboration between parents, teachers and school authorities, particularly in different forms of parent participation, designed to give parents a voice in the formation and implementation of school policies needs to take place.
It is noted that in the External Review Panel Report to the Archdiocese of Sydney on the Catholic Education Office, Sydney and the Sydney Archdiocese Catholic Schools Board, that ‘Main Points for Action’, No. 13:
Further steps should be taken to involve a wider range of stakeholders, including parents, clergy, local communities and students, in the development of policies and the activities of the CEO, Sydney, and across the Sydney Catholic school system. Established policies should be subject to regular review. (2004: 51)
178 It is interesting to note that there has been a change in terminology related to parents. Whereas terms such as ‘partnership’, ‘mutual and complementary roles’ were invoked for some years, parents have now been designated ‘stakeholders’. It could be argued, how will this new status be applied at the bureaucratic and school levels?
Parent Organisations function at the diocesan level as the Federation of Parents and Friends Associations of Catholic schools, and at the State level, the Council of Catholic School Parents of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, as previously mentioned. There is a paid, full-time, salaried Executive Officer employed for the Council of Catholic School Parents at the CECNSW, who liaises with government and media levels.
This Council was reviewed and from a report presented in 1999, many themes and recommendations were gathered. One of the strongest endorsements appears to be:
There is evidence of willingness of other stakeholders in Catholic education to assist the present bodies to more adequately ‘fulfill’ the role of parents of Catholic school children, including the right and need for parent voices to be heard and heeded at every level of the Catholic Church’s school-education endeavours. (Keane 1999: 53)
Summary This section, in many ways, presents events, trends, policies and insights that shaped the field (formally) in the second half of the twentieth century. This research takes up the issues that were tentatively emerging.
Yet despite this dependence on the parents for the effective outcome of the State Aid issue, the Church’s forgetfulness or neglect of recognition of the ongoing parental role in the Catholic education of their children, is still in question.
From successful attempts to involve parents as well as those where parent attempts failed to influence decisions, certain frustrations are discerned regarding the Church’s subtle disregard of ongoing active, encouragement and reinforcement of the parental role in the Catholic education of their children.
179 In the next Chapter, the parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of the parental role as related to the period 1950-1975, are presented. The interviews generated that account which rests on the recall of childhood perceptions of parents and teachers, and then the interviewees own experience as either parents or teachers. The times were changing and so were the expectations and demands of parents.
180 CHAPTER 7
PARENTS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS - THE SECOND COHORT 1950-1975
‘The Good Old Days Were Dreadful For Me’ (O’Halloran)
In this Chapter the perceptions of ‘Parents in their role as the primary educators in their children’s Catholic education’- are presented from the cross-generational stance, i.e. as in childhood memories of teachers and parents, and subsequently in their respective adult roles. The participants are from the Second Cohort of parents and religious teachers in the period, 1950-1975, in New South Wales Catholic Schools. The data are analysed in the light of the literature pertaining to the changing social and educational context and the changes within the Catholic Church community, related to II Vatican Council. An additional question related to Vatican II was included for the Second and Third cohorts.
My parents did whatever the Church said to do – they were so committed to their own faith and their beliefs that whatever Father, Sister or Brother said – it was gospel. Whatever they were asked to do, they would have done it. My mother made cakes, helped with fetes, sewing costumes for concerts and providing afternoon tea and suppers, for card parties to raise funds. We were always short of materials in the schools, and fund-raising was a central function that happened all year round for the Church, the school and the parents. (O’Halloran)
Parents liked Catholic education because they considered you were in good hands, and that was a comfort to them.. Whatever the Brothers and Sisters said was law. You were going to be taught the 3 R’s and progress well enough to get a job. In the Catholic school you were living within a Christian environment where you were taught your religion, and on every Friday we would go to Benediction and say rosaries. They saw it as the proper place for a young Catholic child who would ‘keep the faith’, so my parents never questioned anything. You felt secure. (O’Connor).
181 The Code of Canon Law and Papal Encyclicals having proclaimed that parents are ‘the first and foremost educators of their children’, raise the question of how that role has been recognised at the Catholic school level during the period, 1950-1975 of the twentieth century. On the basis of oral histories, I argue that the parents were marginalised and that their role consisted of one related to submission, compliance and conformity in support of the Catholic school and the parish. There was little recognition of that role, despite the Church documents. Oral history and qualitative research methods reveal scant notice of any such parental role, during this period. However after the Second Vatican Council, as one teacher remarked, ‘things were changing’. This Chapter examines the sociological processes that firstly, kept the parents in their acquiescent status, and secondly, that allowed a shift that was occurring in society and the Church that was indicative of a change slowly emerging in the way the parents perceived their role in Catholic education.
The specific question related to Vatican II was phrased, ‘how was the Catholic school community affected by the Second Vatican Council, particularly in the light of the emphasis in the Conciliar documents, on the ‘parents’ role as the primary educators of their children?’
Catholic Church Documents and relevant literature Chapter 4 analysed in detail Church Documents, published throughout the twentieth century, which emphasised the role and responsibilities of parents in their children’s Catholic education. Several features of these authoritative teachings bear on the data reviewed in this Chapter.
Pius XI in Encyclical, Divini Illius Magistri (1929: 74), stressed that parents were the first teachers, and education would only be efficacious in proportion to their teaching and example. The Australian Catholic Bishops took up this theme in upholding the value and efficacy of the home. ‘The home is the child’s first school, its mother is its first teacher’ (Fogarty 1959: 385). The lack of preparation for parents to fulfil their obligation and duty of educating their children was acknowledged, thus they were to be assisted by the school.
182 Pastors were to warn parents of their grave obligation, not in a merely theoretical and general way, but with a practical and specific application to their various responsibilities concerning the religious, moral and civil training of their children (Fogarty 1959). The means to this end was to be through the religious orders of teachers who came to staff the Australian schools.
The whole aim was to preserve the religious community life of the Church through the school and to impart to the child, ‘the immense spiritual vitality of the Church itself’. Additionally the religious incurred certain professional obligations, the main emphasis being on scholarship. Fogarty (1959: 388) notes that as ‘important as holiness of life was, it was not regarded as a substitute for learning’. Consequently the acquisition of knowledge became a conscientious duty of the teaching orders.
Malone (1999: 1) in a study, 25 Years (1973-1998) of Religious Education in Australia – a Catholic perspective, states the role of the Catholic school is to support and assist parents in their role. However, she proposes that ‘while Catholic tradition rightly affirms that parents are the first educators of their children, this cannot be taken to mean that they are the first school teachers of their children’. This statement seems contentious in the light of the Bishops’ nomination that ‘the home is the first school, and the mother is the first teacher’. The role of the school is given over to those in the community with the requisite training, aptitude and skills (Malone 1999).
Durkheim (1964) states that in the division of labour, the main task of socialisation focuses attention on education, the family and religion, thus inferring a strong liaison in responsibility between the parents and teachers (Thompson 1982: 84). The community’s school teachers, according to Malone (1999: 1), assume their responsibility for the task as complementary to and supportive of the parents, whom she acknowledges as the primary educators.
183 The opening statements of this Chapter, cited from interviews, reveal how children viewed their parents’ role in the Catholic school, as one that essentially supported the school in fund-raising and upholding the authority of the parish priest and the religious teachers. The parents conveyed the utmost confidence in the religious teachers in the Catholic school. There is no indication in Malone’s study, how it may have been presented to parents that they were the primary educators.
Historical background to Catholic experience – 1950-1975 Religion permeated the Catholic schools and they were at the centre of Catholic life between the world wars. Parish cohesion and direction underpinned the building, financing and maintenance of the schools (Campion 1987: 154). Like most poor immigrants, the Irish in Sydney settled together ‘in ethnic communities formed through the parish, which provided both psychologically and socially, a sense of security and belonging. Campion (1982: 48) suggests that ‘in a hostile world, the parish was both a refuge and a primary social milieu, a home away from home’, where they could practice their religion ‘the faith of their fathers’. Campion’s portrayal of the Catholic parish recalls Durkheim’s generalised account:
religious minorities are an interesting example of the tempering of character, of the training in life that a strongly cohesive group communicates to its members. Wherever a church is in a minority it is obliged to fall back on itself, to fight against hostility or ill will from outside. There is a backlog of solidarity, or mutual aid and comfort which is unifying and sustains the faithful against the difficulties of life. (Durkheim 1961: 230)
One of the participants recalled how:
There was this fierce Irish thing and three of our four grandparents were Irish, and that was all still bubbling around the World War 1, in the forties. I remember Mum had this picture of Paddy Finucane – an Irish pilot above the fridge. I suppose it was that kind of nationalism and the Irish bit – our heroes – they were all wrapped up together. A past history had a lot to do with it. A certain pride within a strong culture. (McCormack)
Most Catholics were of Irish descent and poor (Anne P. O’Brien (1988: 193). The parish priest was a figure of authority and power. Turner (1992: 248) asserts ‘obedience and
184 respect were due to the clergy simply because they were the clergy’. At the same time, Campion (1982: 50) presents another view, that the Irish-Australians knew both the failings and virtues of their priests and accepted their leadership with respect and loyalty, and in many instances, with affection. The Catholics considered their religion was about loyalty to the group or community, albeit a religion that stressed authority and obligation. Turner (1992: 248) argues that it was an ‘inflexible and repressive system’. A Durkheimian understanding of authority is pertinent; ‘authority is called moral because it exists in minds, not in things’ (1961: 88). The authority of priest, and religious, implicit in religious teaching was conferred and conceded by ‘the faithful’, the people for this phase of the study.
The parents and teachers of this period 1950-1975 went to primary school during the 1930s, when the Depression lasted till about 1937 (Conway 1971: 47). They were in secondary school at the start of World War 11. As reflected in the data, the effect of the Depression on families varied, depending on the geographical location of the school and the employment status of parents.
1. Childhood memories of second cohort, parents and religious teachers
Relationship between the home and the school It was one of absolute trust and confidence. ‘The parents’ role was to back up the efforts of the teachers. Sometimes parents turned up to occasions like First Communion and fetes or concerts, but they were not involved really’ (Donnelly).
My mother knew all the teachers in primary and secondary school and was friends with some of them all her life. She was also heavily involved in the parish. My parents were very strong on the faith practice – their loyalties were to the Church and to school. (O’Grady)
‘There was no formal communication and there was minimal contact between parents and teachers. In fact the only time they would be sent for was when we did something wrong’ (Burke). In the interviews ‘to be sent for’ was a very serious matter for the parent and the
185 child. ‘It was a kind of fear at the time – not to upset them’ (Kerr). This fear arose from the parents’ dependence on the clergy, nuns and brothers, a dependence that was unobtrusively fostered, and was also, a subtle means of exclusion. The respect allied with the fear encouraged the stance, that ‘we had them on a pedestal’. Such was the respect and prestige. Durkheim (1961: 52) explains that ‘custom and tradition have such power and prestige as to leave no place for reasoning and questioning’.
Parents did not have much say. The only time I remember my parents meeting with the nuns was when the parish priest and two nuns came to our house to visit for the first ever time. The reason they came was because they didn’t want me to leave school. I wasn’t beloved by them but I was reasonably clever. They wanted to discuss it. The talk at the time was horrific for poor families and there were seven of us and I thought I would leave and get a job, to help us survive. My mother used to take in washing to get some money, as it was still the aftermath of the Depression, and my father was unwell. He had been badly injured in a work-related accident, which had left him with limited mobility. He thought the war was coming and we had an old well in our backyard, which he thought – if the bombs started falling we had somewhere to go. He was down in it, cleaning it out when they arrived. He pulled himself out and he was pretty soiled. He asked my mother for a cloth to clean his hands. After wiping and drying his hands, he put out his hand to the priest and the priest put his hands behind his back. That hurt me and my mother, but I know it hurt my father badly. I could cry now thinking about that action. That was the only time they had anything to do with my parents. (O’Meara)
The painful memory was evident. Robertson (2000: 4) believes that ‘people remember most accurately what has been particularly interesting or important to them. What is remembered at that stage is retained for a very long time’. The collective memory shared the view that the parish priest melded the community and that he was ‘way up there in the structure and reigned without question’. While they felt demeaned, they did not protest. Such was the degree of their submission to the priest’s act, it did not diminish his status. Another incident recalls the dogmatic assumption of authority implicit in the priest’s withdrawal from shaking hands.
In interview Hanley recalls the ‘punishment’ visited on his mother:
From a small country school, I won a scholarship to a city high school and my parents could not afford boarding fees to attend a Catholic school, so I had to come to Sydney and live with relatives where I attended a selective State High School.
186 The Irish priest came to see my mother to tell her that she would not be able to receive the sacraments while I was at the State school. My mother felt it very much. I remember she went on working for the nuns and priests in the country. She was always cooking and making things for the nuns. Any Catholic balls or fetes she’d participate in them - helping them whenever she was needed. But it was very hard on her. She loved her religion and she loved her Communion. She did tell me many years later she was devastated by that decision and how pleased she was later on to have it lifted, when she was able to have Communion before she died. But that was the way it was and the Irish applied it. (Hanley)
Such experiences demonstrated the totalizing character of priestly authority,
as one where subordinate member of a group can accept commands as ‘valid norms’ out of a genuine belief in the worthiness of those in control, and support for the aims they were pursuing. (Weber cited in Parkin 1990: 76)
Another interview reiterated the generality of the rule insisting on Catholic schooling. ‘Catholic education was important and people were excommunicated or denied the sacraments if they didn’t send their children to the Catholic school’ (Sullivan). Fogarty (1959: 215) reinforces the wide acceptance of the ruling and claims that priests in Australia considered it to be a serious offence and ‘denied the sacraments to parents who sent their children to State schools’ irrespective of their financial resources. Campion (1982: 164) alleges that ‘when we were growing up we did not criticise the clergy’. It seemed like God had put the Church into the hands of the clergy and ‘we were happy to leave it there’.
Coming from the nineteenth century era when Catholic schools were denied government funding, the Irish bishops and priests enforced the rule. As the last cited participant, offered in retrospect:
I can see that it’s easy to criticise but that was the way education in the Catholic schools was organised from 1880s onwards and if they hadn’t imposed that rule they never would have succeeded. The only trouble was that it went on too long. I’m talking of 1935. (Hanley)
It could be argued that a ‘high price ‘had to be paid for non-compliance. Such ‘compliance may be brought about as a consequent of total powerlessness’(Weber cited in Parkin 1990: 76). The priest was the final arbitrator.
187 The Catholic schools were maintained by the contributions of the parents, their efforts in fund-raising and the sixpence a week school money, paid to the nuns. Most of the participants agreed that while it was ‘scarcely enough for the nuns and brothers to live on - no one was embarrassed or kicked out because they could not pay the fees’. However the following instances show some religious deviated from that generous acceptance.
Every Monday morning without fail Sister would come in and say, stand up all those who haven’t paid their school money and of course I would be the only one who didn’t have the sixpence to pay my school money. I’d even gone out to them and said ‘my parents can’t afford the school money’ - thinking that would be it. But for eight years every Monday morning I had to stand up, in front of the class – they all knew - I couldn’t pay the school money, and I thought why didn’t the nuns know that too? But they did know that. I was humiliated every Monday morning, thinking I would go home and cry and, beg of my parents so that they would get their school money. But I knew it was useless me going home and begging, it just wasn’t there. My poor mother was at her wits end. I would say that my family was one of thousands that lived through very hard times. (O’Carroll)
Errante (2000: 24) suggests that, in the light of the previous statement, ‘our position in the world not only affects our interpretation of the world, but our sense of self mediates our telling and remembering of the world, and our place in it to others’.
Other interviewees have commented that ‘at this Depression time in a poor area, many of the nuns and brothers were starving’. Does the humiliation of a ‘non-paying child’, suggest that nuns had to deal with the ‘profane’ by seeking the money?
Another memory of a fee incident involved a family from southern Europe.
The country where my Mum and Dad came from they did not pay fees. I would have been embarrassed if my mother had gone to the school because she couldn’t speak English. But she did not go out anywhere except to Church. Where she came from they’re got churches like we’ve got pubs on every corner here. While the fees were very little I know, I was also embarrassed because Mum and Dad wouldn’t send the money along to the school. He was the only one in the house who worked and there were eight of us. I hated school because there were no other ethnic people there and the girls used to call me ‘darkie’ and that. When I got into 6th class my
188 patience would go. I remember I had a fight and a half with a girl one time. I always felt – I was one out. Not with the nuns but with the children. (Vella)
The painful rejection in this incident demonstrated ‘the racist contempt induces self- contempt in its victims and helps to deny them, knowledge and recognition of their own tradition’ and places them in an excluded position (Bourdieu 1990: 3). Black (1991:4) speaks of a cultural identity for those who share the same religious meaning system, but, Lewins (1978: 138) maintains, that ‘culture divides more than religion unites’. Irish culture pervaded the Catholic school, and, the hostility, directed towards the Irish Catholic as a member of a minority group in the wider society previously, was now being placed on a member of a different nationality and culture in a Catholic school. Although Vella was a Catholic, her personal exclusion was felt, in that she was ‘the one out’. The Irish Catholic solidarity of the school rejected the different; Italian Vella was excluded from any sense of belonging of community. Conflict is always potentially present with a minority group in relation to the dominant group (Lewins 1978).
Fogarty (1959: 443) acknowledged that ‘very frequently even this small contribution of sixpence a week could not be made without hardship to families’. Sometimes no charge at all was made or it was just let go.
From different points the parents and teachers were united in their efforts of ensuring that the children received a good education, the needed social capital (Bourdieu: 1986). This theme came through in the children’s perceptions. In society generally, Horne (1987: 182) proposes that there was a concern that children should ‘get on’, which was considered to be in a good white-collar job. He suggests that for Catholics, it was ‘not only concern for the child but also for the good name of the Church, in urging that children ‘get on’ in the world’. Fogarty (1959: 314) furthers this notion when he observes that ‘at this time the Church itself stood in great need of a learned and cultured Catholic laity which would further its interest and uphold its prestige’.
189 The collective childhood memory regarding their parents’ level of education was that it had finished at the primary or elementary level, consequently they wanted their children to continue into secondary education. For most the bursary or scholarship opportunities were the best means of achieving this aim, thus securing a good education.
I went to the nuns and parents wouldn’t listen to any of our complaints because they considered Sister was doing her best for us and my father, having seven children, and in the Depression was out of work for 12 months. Sister belted the daylights out of us but ‘she was doing her best to get us on in life’. So we really suffered and I had two terrible years and I hated every bit of it. We had to go to school all day Saturday – this only happened to the bursary students and it was all belted into us but I must say I learnt more from those nuns than I ever did at the school where I won the bursary to. They gave us a wonderful grounding in mathematics and spelling. It was violent but they got results – four bursaries in one family’ and the home totally backed the school without question. (Delaney)
Another such instance occurred when a participant recalled, that five from her family got state bursaries and the five members went on to university. Fogarty (1959: 477) notes that through the bursary and scholarship systems particularly, the economic and social position of Catholics of middle and working classes improved. This not only added ‘incentive and purpose to the whole primary course, but to their being able to stay on in the secondary classes’.
A participant recalled:
I won a scholarship but then it was withdrawn. My father was not a good Catholic and he didn’t belong to the Hibernian Society. They had scholarships going for girls so that they could go on to a Catholic College. I had great support from the Sister who taught me that year. She encouraged me in every way with my English and, writing and everything. This nun asked me to ask my father to stop on his way home from work. He saw the Sister and he told me later, that I had won the scholarship but it was given to this other girl because her father was secretary of the Hibernian society. The Sister was very upset about the fact that I didn’t get it but I was not supposed to know about it, so I couldn’t discuss it with her. So I lived with that – I had to. But when I did the Intermediate, I won a State bursary but by then, my father would not let me take it as he said ‘none of the family have had that opportunity so I can’t let you have it’. So after all those years of struggle – that was it. I wanted to be a school teacher. (O’Halloran)
190 Fig. 9 The Hibernians 1907 (Gilmore 1992: 141) (The Hibernian Society was an Irish Catholic Association of men pledged to assist one another as needed).
The injustice and disappointment were still apparent as she went on to add, ‘I can still remember the smells of the playground – the stale bread and jam that was for lunch. They were hard times. The “Good Old Days” were dreadful for me’. Proust (1983: 902) regards this memory as discerning ‘the essence of things’, when we are able to ‘breathe a new air, an air which is new, precisely because we have breathed it in the past’.
Exams were significant events – rituals marking the seasons of the school year. Results were the culmination.
Examination results meant a lot. Sporting success meant a lot and there was a sense of – well we won that one. (O’Grady)
I think in the Catholic school we had to sort of make our way as we were fighting for an identity in the public sense. (Burke)
191 There was always a lot of rejoicing with good results and with the kids getting into the public service. It was a big thing in those times because that meant a pretty secure job. I think that’s one of the reasons why the public service - both state and federal, is crowded with Catholics. (O’Connor)
The Catholic school was central to the Catholic community that held itself as different from the surrounding society. The sectarianism of the time reinforced difference.
Sectarian attitudes
We had a large Catholic family, and a non-Catholic, Anglican relative when visiting us, let us know that she considered it to be a disgrace – all this breeding with a large family. It is still lingering on today – this suspicion of Catholics. (O’Carroll)
‘There was a definite antagonism between Catholics and Protestants even amongst kids - it was us and them’ (Donnelly). Up to the 1950s sectarian attitudes of Catholicism and anti- Catholicism, still prevailed (Horne 1987). He claims this division was one of the most significant in Australia. Hostility had developed in earlier times between the Irish Catholics and Protestant members of society, based on bitter distrust and suspicion of the Catholic Church. Horne (1987: 61) suggests it was nurtured by the Protestant clergy. Evidence of the antipathy came through in the childhood memories of this study’s participants. ‘My mother converted to Catholicism, and she was ostracised by her family for many years’ (Kerr).
The following illustrate collective childhood memories:
It was a case of the pubbos and us – Us and Them. Kids from the public school would try to take your cap off on your way home from school. (Flanigan)
Bigotry was strong. There was a big division in society. You didn’t mix with non- Catholics at all. You usually played with the children you went to school with. (McCormack)
To go to the public school was like darkening the doors of the Anglican Church. Even if somebody got married or died in the family you couldn’t go. (Donnelly)
192 Anti-Catholicism in Australia according to Campion (1982: 94) ‘was a muted underground phenomenon that spoke most eloquently in its silences’. As a result, a ‘ghetto mentality’ was the firm view of most Catholics.
The emphasis on difference firmly based on Catholic doctrine and practice, overlaid the competitive goals of the Catholic schools. Their students were to ‘get on’; Catholic education invested social capital in the next generation that would achieve higher social position than their parents.
Discipline was maintained with physical punishment leaving many with negative experiences of school.
I remember when I was in a State school and the teacher there used to dish it out – slapping our faces and so forth – he was a Latin teacher and you could not make a mistake. But we survived. (O’Byrne)
On reflection, he felt it was ‘a certain culture at the time – aggressive teachers who wanted to get results’. Recalling such punishment was ‘reproachment or disapproval’ – not physical punishment – but more of a psychological nature, in ‘holding the child at a distance, ostracizing him, making a void around him’ (Durkheim 1961: 174). Douglas (1978: 6) contends that ‘ each pattern of rewards and punishment moulds the individual’s behaviour, but only if he can find some principles to guide him to behave in the sanctioned ways’. However, even with the memory of ‘the strap leaving a negative view of schooling’ a participant felt ‘with all the guilts and straps you knew the Brothers cared for you’.
Parents had not questioned the teacher training as most parents themselves had left school after sixth class. One observed, ‘many of the religious had no qualifications other than that, they wanted to be religious. They became religious and started to teach’ (Flanigan). One of the religious teachers reiterated, ‘you went straight to the novitiate and from there to a school and started teaching’ (O’Malley).
193 The themes reiterated in interviews and focus groups discussed to this point dwell on authority, which was always upheld by the parents. The status of the teachers and that of the parish priest was affirmed by the parents. It seems that no one could ever complain about the teacher, ‘as the teacher had to be right, always right. Parents would not have listened’ (O’Connor). Consideration for Sister or Brother was emphasised.
My sister got into trouble for not doing her homework properly and talking in class, I remember my mother saying ‘we send you to school to learn – not to be a nuisance to Sister. Just get on with your work and stop being a nuisance. (Burke)
The parents would be upset if children complained, as it possibly inferred, that they were causing ‘any trouble’ to the nuns or brothers. All were united with one aim for the children – ‘keep the faith and get a good education’. Parents thought so highly of the nuns and brothers, that ‘we would never have gone anywhere else to school’ (O’Grady). These assumptions were inherent in the Church’s decree that bound Catholics, to send their children to Catholic schools, or be deprived of the sacraments.
In summary, the standing and authority of priest and teachers were accepted without question by all parents participating in this study. It carried over into full acceptance of religious teachers.
As Campion (1982: 70) observed ‘the catechism had to be memorised without discussion thus ensuring obedience, deference and the recognition of authority as primary features’ of religious education. This type of religious education inferred that the children ‘had to know the words of the Catechism’, giving the correct answers to questions which ‘they repeated from memory’ which Turner (1992: 248) depicts as ‘information acquired by rote’. Archbishop Beovich of Adelaide, designated it as an example of ‘parrot-like repetition’. Fogarty (1959: 394) notes that Inspectors complained that ‘it is all very well for children to know the words of the Catechism, but it was far better for them, both to know and understand them’.
A religious teacher offered the following example:
194 I had taught the Catechism and I thought the children I taught, knew it off by heart. However a priest asked children ‘what was the greatest of all misfortunes?’ and a child answered, ‘the priests and Bishops of the Holy Catholic Church’. (O’Carroll)
The lack of understanding illustrated the Inspector’s point. Instead of answering ‘mortal sin’, the child gave the right answer to another question. However, after the Second Vatican Council in 1965, this method of Religious Education was replaced with a totally different approach based on religion, as integrated with life experience.
2. Religious teachers’ perceptions of parent involvement in their schools
Relationship between Parents and Teachers In this section teachers tell of their own role and its relation to parents, through the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
The parent role, as perceived by the religious teachers, and evident from the data, is one of support for the teachers and the school. The parents were expected to ‘pay fees’ and make contributions. These were principally made by mothers, who helped with fetes, made cakes or sewed costumes for concerts. The need for financial aid has been stated in Chapter 6. Sullivan continues ‘there were no government hand-outs, you were dependent on the fees and fund-raising’. Durkheim (1995: 313) contends that the religious life elevates the person with the notion of the ‘sacred’, and money matters were consistent with the ‘profane’ aspect. Hence the parents were involved in the ‘profane’ activities of fund-raising, cake making and so on.
However (O’Carroll) considered these fund-raising activities were also a means of building up the community relations between the parents and the religious teachers. The communitarian aspect of the Catholic school was a significant strength. and as a functional community, it centres around a religious body to which the family adheres, and of which the school is an outgrowth’ (Coleman and Hoffer 1987: 214).
195 How did teachers involve parents? A participant O’Malley, nominated ‘sport as an area where the fathers were involved, in refereeing football games or coaching sporting teams and by providing transport’. Connell, et al. (1983: 52) found in their study ‘ Making the Difference’, that ‘most of the fathers got most of their contact with teachers on the touchlines of football grounds watching their sons play’. O’Malley went on to say that ‘parents were always on hand to provide a party for a successful team at the end of the season’.
Working bees at the school were another major feature of involvement.
When I came to a new school as a principal I found that the secondary school needed a lot of repairs. I contacted a parent who was an architect, who came to the school and listed all the various jobs that had to be done. A roster of parents who volunteered to help, was set up for a year. At the end of the year all the repairs had been carried out and the parents felt a real sense of ownership: this is what they were doing for their kids. (Delaney)
Connell et al. (1983: 89) considered that compliance in this school milieu could be seen as ‘an enthusiastic engagement with the school and its project’. Another example of a different kind of involvement of the parents:
We had large classes like eighty-seven in a class. This was in the 1950s. The parents would be there – they would take the slow children for reading and things like that. They also helped with sport – like when we were taking them swimming. We’d never have managed without them. (O’Byrne)
This teacher demonstrated a very positive attitude towards the involvement of the parents and strengthened it, by acknowledging ‘we’d never have managed without them’. Bernstein (1971: 192) reinforces this premise when he asserts, that in helping children with reading ‘parents must be brought within the educational experience of the school child’. He maintains that ‘by doing what they can do, they can do it with confidence’, that is within the realm of the parents’ competence.
However, a different view was presented:
196 If parents had offered to help, I don’t know that it would have been appreciated really. I think the sisters were very much in control and in the country the classes were smaller. They didn’t seem to need the help that we did in the city with those huge classes. I think, even if they had offered, it would not have been accepted. The lines were pretty clearly - very definitely drawn. (Sullivan)
Stacey (1991: 4) observes that ‘schools running smoothly do not want to be upset by groups of parents’. However, it could be argued that the exclusion of the parents was one of control. Bernstein (1996: 19) points out that it ‘conveys boundary relations of power, and socialises individuals into these relationships’. Berger and Luckmann (1991: 83) identify the teacher, who carries the authority and responsibility and discreetly defines ‘the roles to be played in the context, and controls and predicts all such conduct’.
As O’Malley emphasised ‘the lines were pretty clearly, very definitely drawn’, conveying the impression that, the teacher, was very conscious of the respect for her role having been, in Durkheim’s terms, ‘invested with authority or ministry’ (1961: 155). Furthermore, Stacey (1991: 119) believes that ‘parents were seen by most teachers, as an additional and avoidable complication in an already demanding life’.
The Parents’ and Friends’ Association The popular memory pointed to Parents’ and Friends’ Associations in schools as the principal way parents were involved. Various activities were nominated as their province. The collective memory was about fund-raising as Burke reflected, ‘the P. and F. would have dances and social gatherings to raise money. They probably don’t raise money any more now; but in any case, you need a better way of dong it’. It was indicative of a change in focus. Kerr noted ‘there were committees started, such as, finance, social, etc., and some parents were quite actively involved in an advisory capacity’.
Another view of the Parents’ and Friends’ Association was offered:
We had a very good P and F and that was mostly run by parents. I used to go to meetings, but I think I was the only sister that did, the others didn’t go. The parents were involved in everything – the men were plumbers, did the plumbing and others mowed the lawns. We had enjoyment – it was a happy school. There was a good sense of community. Some of the mothers helped with the music, singing, choirs,
197 eistedfords and others helped with reading. They were welcome to be involved and we had speakers come to meetings for the parents on some educational issue. But they were poorly attended. No matter how much you tried, it wasn’t easy to involve the parents. (Delaney)
Other ways included, ‘some mothers came and did playground duty for us when we had our staff meetings’. (O’Byrne)
the classes were so big but they were easy to teach because they were obedient. In the country school – which was small the parents were always around doing things at the school. So we met all the time and if there were any problems we would talk about them. (O'Carroll)
Parent/Teacher Nights Connell et al. (1983: 54) consider parent/teacher nights were designed to overcome the problem that parents’ contacts with teachers were only infrequent. O’Byrne contends ‘the aim was to educate the parents. Introduce them to any new ideas about education so that they know what to expect from the children’.
Another teacher expressed the view: We had Parent/Teacher nights in the 1970s in secondary school. Schools realised that we had a lot of migrants. We found that the migrant children wouldn’t tell their parents, as they didn’t want them to come. The parents, when they did know, didn’t want to come because of their poor English. So we devised a scheme where we asked the girls to bring their parents, and so they interpreted where necessary and that brought a lot of them along. When I asked, would her mother help with the canteen – thinking it was a way of getting her to mix with the other mothers, her daughter said “no, she can’t speak English”. I said “it didn’t matter” but they were ashamed of their parents and, of course, she did not ever come. (Kerr)
Connell, Stroobant, Sinclair, Connell, Rogers, (1975: 250), found in their research, there were striking differences between the ‘language of siblings and the language of parents’ it seemed to ‘strongly indicate the degree of cultural ambivalence experienced by some second-generation migrants’.
Anderson (1993: 187) explains that several millions of migrants, almost half of them from continental Europe, the Middle East or Asia, came after World War 2, to a country which was a predominantly Anglo-Celtic society. While they were anxious to maintain their
198 Catholic, cultural traditions through schooling in the Catholic community, ‘they were inclined to place a higher value on pluralism than social cohesion, as they tended to stay close to those of the same culture’ (Anderson 1993: 187).
It seems that the lack of spoken English of the mothers, and their daughters’ embarrassment, may have been the basis for the parents’ exclusion. Sargent (1994: 178) notes that the second generation of migrants often grow up with ‘cultural ambivalence’, which can create conflict between parents and their children. Connell et al. (1975: 267) claimed that the least English spoken at home gave reason to suspect a culture conflict and personal adjustment for some migrant young people.
The teachers were aware of the difficulties and spoke of their efforts to overcome them.
Other contact we had with the ethnic parents was to go and visit them and so relationships would be established that way. They loved us to come and visit them, and gradually we encouraged them to come to a Parents’ and Friends’ meeting, and over supper you’d have a yarn. If there was anything serious well then you would send for them. (Hanley)
The collective memory of Parent/Teacher nights was that they had been worthwhile and they described them in the following ways: For Burke the positive outcome was that ‘you could get to know and understand a child better, and in some places, we insisted on the child coming as well’. It was noted that:
the relationship was strengthened by these meetings as there were not as many functions as were previously held, and you needed the contact with the parents and they with you, and the other teachers. (Kerr)
Another teacher also saw them as a means of communication:
Parent/Teacher nights came in about the time of the Wyndham scheme. We used to have an open night when parents would come through. We tried different things to get the parents to the school. I think the aim was ‘let’s communicate more with the parents. In a large school it was difficult to get to know people. (O’Byrne)
199 Connell et al. (1983: 55) explain this situation, as ‘parents not being very familiar with the way the high school works and lacked confidence in approaching it’. They also claim that ‘the school as an institution does not do much to overcome their reservations’. However Hanley noted that ‘in a poor area the parents thought – they sent their kids to school, and the responsibility stopped there’. It could be argued that the Catholic school having been set up to assist them in their role as ‘primary educators’, the parents had very little appreciation of their nominated role. Was it necessarily a total abdication of responsibility, a lack of confidence, or were they simply unaware of their Church-designated role?
Partington (2002: 190) notes that older immigrants have difficulty learning the language to a competent level and are thus limited. As noticed by a teacher:
The attitude of teachers or the perceived attitude of teachers, where they’re professionals, they talk a language that others do not know. I think that is an underlying thing and particularly in the multicultural scene where the parents are really not too good with their English. (O’Malley)
Berger and Luckmann (1991: 83) estimate that ‘every institution has a body of transmitted recipe knowledge, that is, a knowledge that supplies the institutionally appropriate rules of conduct’. They go on to say ‘it defines and constructs the roles to be played in the context of the institutions in question and it controls and predicts all such conduct’.
A different point was made:
The weakness in the system was – it was the converted who came to meetings etc. and you had to chase up the others which was always difficult. When you have a small school – you can say – well, you tell us a time when you’re available and they can’t get out of it. (O’Carroll)
This premise was borne out in the research of Connell et al. (1983: 54) in that the teachers asserted that the Parent/Teacher nights were of questionable value. Their comments included: ‘To the parents, the time is far too short; to the teachers the parents you really want to see are the ones who never come’. Hughes, Wikeley and Nash (1994: 34) found that many parents in their relationship with the school, were perceived as having little
200 interest in what went on at the school provided their own children were happy. This view was upheld:
I think there a lot of parents who are not terribly interested in making contact with schools and teachers on a personal basis, unless there’s some sort of problem. However, I always felt that if I knew the parents of a kid I would have much more success with the kid and I’m sure of that. (Hanley)
Another point indicated change:
I think they (Parent/Teacher nights) came in because the parents backed up everything in a supportive way. But later on divisions came and there was a greater need for the parents to find out what was happening because parents were more critical in some ways. Things were changing. I think the academic competitiveness was one of the reasons why the parents wanted to know and of course – it was going up the ladder. Society was changing as well. (Kerr)
Connell et al., (1983: 139) speak of social mobility as a metaphor which requires us to think of social structures as ladders. In support of this observation, it was proposed that ‘I think people were becoming more affluent in some areas and school fees were getting higher. They began to want value for money’. (O’Malley)
Many working-class parents, Connell et al. (1983: 141) found, who had grown up during the Depression were intent on protecting their children from slipping back into poverty in the future. They had become aware that educational qualifications offered greater job possibilities so they were aiming to achieve that goal for their children. Moreover, Connell et al (1983: 141) go on to say the parents saw the school as a way of ‘putting a floor beneath their kids future economic circumstances’.
Hughes et al. (1994: 24) noted a ‘consumer’ attitude among the parents that they considered was related to ‘choice’. However it was proposed that some principals saw the children as the consumers and the parents as partners. These situations are appraised by Connell et al. (1983: 128) as ‘parents being mostly richer, more powerful and often better educated than
201 some of the teachers’. This fact also tended to give them a marked degree of confidence in these transactions and a strong sense that they have rights to exercise.
However, Stacey (1991: 33) concedes that while some teachers felt threatened by the rhetoric of parents’ rights, others have come to value the parents’ knowledge and experience of the child and see themselves as ‘one’ of many educators in the child’s life. At this point, she contends, they began to see parents as partners.
While parents have invested in their children’s education as social capital with the intention of upward social mobility, Bourdieu and Passeron (1977: 167) consider the school a liberating force, in the expression of social mobility. Moreover, it becomes the means of transmitting the benefits that accrue, from one generation to another. All these points indicate that in society generally, and particularly the Catholic school community in particular, a shift was occurring.
I think the complexity of schools, the size of schools, size of staffs, that pretty closed relationship is much more difficult, if not impossible than it was previously. (O’Byrne)
Fees It was acknowledged that some parents could not afford to pay fees, but alternatives were available.
I found that, in one school, where a family was experiencing difficulty, the father would attend to all the plumbing needs of the school and sometimes bring his family with him at weekends to tidy up the grounds. (O’Carroll)
Burke described how some families who were in a similar position, brought us ‘fruit and vegetables’, while other parents brought ‘meat, chickens and eggs’. It was recognised that ‘some would try to pay a little as they were proud, and the sisters lived very frugally and poorly in those days’. Delaney however, admitted ‘I wasn’t aware of children who didn’t bring their school money. It didn’t occur to me that anyone didn’t pay’.
202 The gifts proffered to the religious teachers, in lieu of fees, were a form of alliance in that they were as generous as possible and in this way, ‘they communicated, helped and allied themselves to one another’ (Mauss 1990: 60). ‘I don’t remember anyone being embarrassed about fees. They were never discussed’ (Byrne).
Complaints These changes contrast with conduct emanating from interviews in an earlier historical period, discussed in this thesis (Chapter 5). They were in agreement that ‘parents would never complain. ‘Whatever Father, Sister or Brother said, it was right’. However, Sullivan in this second phase of research, recognised that parents were exercising their rights, when they felt strongly enough about an issue to express their dissatisfaction. The following examples describe the emergent assertiveness of parents:
There was a family with a Down Syndrome child. He was learning French and the Irish brother had quite a large class. He rang the mother, to say he was having problems with the child. She asked why and he said, ‘last term he got 99 and this term he only gets 77’. I remember she came to me and said ‘I never want to see another bloody French book in my house again’. It was causing tension in their home. The principal had to tactfully suggest that the next year, the Brother didn’t teach French. (Delaney)
Another instance:
As a principal I remember a parent coming in and saying ‘this is my last boy here and this is my last fee’ I said ‘what’s happened?’ ‘A Brother kicked him out of his English class for the whole of 1st term and he was in the loo in the HSC’. I went to see the English teacher and said ‘you’ve got to take him’ – it is an injustice’. In big schools people can get lost. I always felt you had to have an open door so that parents felt they could come and approach you as a principal or deputy. (Kerr)
Mothers crossed the divide and were both ‘with the child and with school’. Connell et al. (1983: 53) speak of the division of labour between parents in child-rearing and see women as having primary responsibility for children, which then ‘carries over to their relation to the other major child-rearing institution, the school’. Most children they maintain, take school troubles to their mothers in the first instance. Swanson (1993: 221) explained this situation as ‘while the teaching profession holds the technical expertise of schooling’, it is
203 the family who have the most intimate knowledge about, and caring concern for, a child. Consequently, the parents guard and protect the interests and needs of individual children.
At that time in the 1960s, it would seem that mothers, who supported the school in a conforming, submissive way, would react with fervour, especially to a perceived injustice related to their child. Durkheim explains this situation as:
Conformity does not amount to passive resignation but to enlightened allegiance. Conforming to the order of things because one is sure that it is everything it ought to be, is not submitting to a constraint. (1961: 115)
The principal in this case not only recognised the need for the parents in his school to express their dissatisfaction but he was encouraging it, and in this way ‘empowering them’.
Parents as primary educators Were parents aware that they were the primary educators?
I don’t think they realised it but they were certainly told. I would try to get them to make decisions about things but they would always throw it back to me. I would let them know it was their responsibility really. (Kerr)
It was proposed:
In the previous generation the parents really accepted what the school did and yet in the next generation they are still expecting the school to do everything. But schools were actually trying to hand back and encourage them to take more responsibility. (O’Malley)
Berger and Luckmann reflect on the link between expectation and reality and insist: a sense of knowledge that can be borne out in experience and the same body of knowledge, is transmitted to the next generation. It is learned as objective truth in the course of socialization and thus internalised as subjective reality. (1991: 84)
Stacey (1991: 22) argues that the exclusion of the parents except for specified roles, fund- raising and sport etc. over many years, has created a ‘blurring of roles’ and some
204 uncertainty for both parents and teachers. She goes on to say ‘it is not always clear where the teacher’s job ends and where the responsibility of the parent begins’.
What were the obstacles to wider Parent Involvement? There were different views of obstacles to wider parent involvement. Burke considered ‘parents are wanting more and more involvement but it is a question of time and how’. The question is raised in the light of that statement, were there other reasons? A consensus emerged as participants reflected on the issue. O’Carroll placed the problem with the school community itself when he claimed: ‘Previously, there was a great sense of security. The social cohesion nowadays is not what it used to be, in that a parish/school Catholic community was a very cohesive group in the past’.
Berger and Luckmann (1991: 174) suggest that ‘subjective reality is thus always dependent upon specific structures that form the specific social base and there are social processes required for its maintenance’. The Catholic school community prior to the 1950s, could be described as a culturally united community, predominantly Irish, in a hostile society. There was a strong allegiance to the Catholic faith and a great degree of respect and deference for the religious teachers and the priests. This induced a strong sense of solidarity based on their faith and close, social relationships.
One way in which the Catholic school community had changed, was reflected, as follows:
There is a feeling of inadequacy. You can have a wide range of parents of highly educated parents down to those who have very little education and there’d be mixed feelings between them. (Hanley)
Morse (1999: 30) expands this observation when she proposes that diversity is the most recognisable characteristic of Catholic families, and is apparent in the various different ways ‘of being Catholic’. They tend to draw from the traditional view of Catholicity, ‘what makes sense for them now’. She suggests that ‘they make concessions to secularising influences’.
205 On the other hand it was suggested:
I think the parents are starting to struggle with the Church as it is. They’re starting to question and they can see that there are a lot of injustices and people are educated now. They are just not going to go along with things the way they did. I think that is great. (Sullivan)
In support of this notion, Arbuckle describes a growing number of Catholics as:
well-educated and well informed by the early 1960s, who felt ill at ease with a church encouraging undue dependence on clerical institutions and frowning on democratic principles and scientific advances. (1993: 37)
A further significant factor preventing some parents from being involved, is a language barrier. Teachers recognised this as a deterrent, preventing parents of other cultures from coming to the school. It was observed:
The attitude of teachers or the perceived attitude of teachers, where they’re professionals, they talk a language that the others do not know. I think that’s an underlying thing and particularly in the multicultural scene where the parents are really not too good with their English. (Delaney)
Ochiltree (1984: 31) sums up this situation as ‘families feel threatened by schools and authority and others have barriers of language and values’. They do want the best for their children, she emphasises, but avoid the school, not from apathy, but other commitments such as a workload, family stress and the embarrassment of their lack of English.
Parents expectations from the Perspectives of Teachers Collectively the teachers believed that parents ‘wanted everything. I think they expect teachers to be a mother and a father, I really do and they expect too much of them’ (Kerr).
A difference in priorities relating to lay teachers was nominated:
I maintain that the RE lesson was a most important part of the day but many of the lay teachers didn’t see it that way. If something had to take place in the curriculum for the day, they would think it would be the RE class that had to go, which was really against my grain. I was the only religious - it was difficult. (O’Byrne)
206 A change on the part of the parents’ attitude is reflected:
In my day whatever sister said went whether it was right or wrong, it didn’t matter and the parent sided with the teacher. Well now it’s a complete reversal. The parents side with the child and it’s the teacher who has to prove that they’re in the right. (Burke)
What was done to equip parents in their role? Some teachers spoke of courses at the school:
We used to run scripture courses for parents. Then we got in guest speakers like Michael Fallon and they were reasonably well attended and the parents really enjoyed them. Discussion groups in the homes worked for a while. Word of mouth is the best recommendation. (Hanley)
It was recalled that other communication was via newsletters. O’Carroll proposed ‘I think your Parent Participation in Schools group has done a heck of a lot. But the whole thing moves very slowly’. Kerr found that ‘those who did come to the initiatives put on by the school did benefit from them, gave them more confidence in the educational setting’.
Teachers’ Reflections It was recalled:
I remember having seventy seven in one classroom that could only accommodate sixty six desks, so many had to share. When the state school inspector came and he asked me ‘Brother, haven’t the parents complained?’ I was surprised at his question, because they would never complain. But I think it blew his mind even in those days, with seventy seven kids in one class. (Delaney)
In the parents’ total submission to ‘authority’ both in the school and parish, harmony and contentment were integrated. At the same time, in this attitude of compliance and assenting stance, cultural approval was engendered , not only by the authority figures but also from the other parents.
With regard to the parent role, others discerned that:
207 I think we are at that stage where more has to be done re their being the primary educators. I’m sure with all these sorts of things deep down if the ownership is right, the project is right’. (Hanley)
While O’Byrne considered, ‘I think the parents want more say and people have got to find ways to help them have more say’.
My concern is for these children whose parents are uneducated and the cycle goes on and on, and the parents don’t see the importance of education. I think the religion has to be back in the home as the parents are the first educators. (O’Byrne)
Burke pointed out ‘if students go away remembering some teachers who impressed them, then it still happens in terms of influence’. Berger and Luckmann (1991: 151) contend that ‘the child takes on the significant others’ roles and attitudes, and internalises them and makes them his own’. In this way the child becomes capable of acquiring ‘a subjectively coherent and plausible identity’ modelled on the ‘significant others’ in his/her life.
Vatican II With these parents and teachers a question was raised about the effect of Documents of Vatican II on the Catholic school community. Some teachers felt great excitement, others felt it was a time of crisis, it brought more education of the laity, methods of teaching religious education in schools were dramatically changed. But others felt it had very little effect on Catholic schools and indeed, some felt great difficulty with the changes. O’Farrell (1992: 406) comments ‘the immediate liberating and exhilarating effects of Vatican II, were, to some extent, replaced by ‘pockets of dispute, unsettlement and confusion’.
It made it so much I remember it was all very exciting – I do remember the changes in religious education away from the old Catechism. I can remember the new syllabus coming out and being very excited about it all and loving the way we could teach religion, more alive. (O’Carroll)
Vatican II according to ( Anne O’Brien 1999: 194) promoted a holistic understanding of education, and life-centred catechesis. It also ‘ushered in far-reaching changes in the Church’s understanding of itself, and of the rights and responsibilities of all its members’. They were to act as partners in carrying out their responsibilities for Catholic education, but
208 significantly, it also created deep divisions in the Church. It was to ‘lead to more education of the laity and they began to take their rightful place’ (Sullivan).
But O’Carroll found it difficult as ‘the parents still had the old style religion and they were passing that on to the children, and it was quite conservative. I think that is a big concern today.’ Apparently the parents were not alone in this regard as ‘many of the religious preferred and kept to the old way of doing things’ (O’Byrne). Durkheim (1961: 257) explains this situation as ‘to be able to conceive of past traditions as committing the future, we must conceive of them as dominating the individual’… while at the same time ‘maintaining themselves about the ebb and flow of generations’. The challenge for the parents and the teachers, who were unconvinced of the value of the changes, was to persuade them to move forward. This is not easy, as Durkheim (1961: 48) describes ‘the sum total of a man’s life activities is aimed at adapting to his milieu and adapting it to his needs’. Delaney acknowledged the lack of preparation for the changes emanating from the Conciliar documents. ‘I think one difficulty for older ones was that the parents weren’t prepared for the changes and the clergy weren’t either. Some of them still aren’t’.
Arbuckle (1993: 37) claims that ‘the Council’s values helped to undermine the creation mythology of a vigorously strong church culture’:
It got going with the religious because they were asked to go and look at their roots, do renewal and we did. But the people in the pews got nothing from the priests and some of them still haven’t been renewed. (Burke)
Arbuckle (1993: 37) considers that ‘symbolic forms or patterns of interaction operate most powerfully, at the level of the unconscious, which gives us an all-important sense of experienced meaning and order... mostly we are rarely aware of the degree to which culture powerfully influences our thoughts, emotions and actions’. Grounding these concerns about the impact of radical change are the observations of teachers (and parents) reflecting on the 1970s Hanley considers what is to be gained:
209 You’ve got plenty of kids in the school who are pretty well churchless; why did their parents send them there? They think they’re good schools or they might get a bit of religion and that would be good for them.
Flynn (1993: 424) found in his research that the parents’ desire for a Catholic education for their children was however clearly evident in their reasons for choosing Catholic schools. They were based on three grounds. ‘The quality of the teacher, the quality of education and the religious nature of the schools’.
There were various perceptions of how Vatican 2 had impacted on the school community. ‘Very little’ suggested O’Malley who went on to say:
I don’t think it had much affect on Catholic schools. There was a lot of upheaval in the teaching of RE. The number of vocations was lessening so we had a lot of lay staff. And when the Wyndham system started there was an enormous increase in enrolments.
There are two apparent major factors related to change in this statement.
Significantly the ‘upheaval in the teaching of RE’ is echoed in other perceptions that follow, and the depletion of religious teachers. Bouma suggests that this situation, in which there is a changing system of values,
leaves people with the uncomfortable feeling that nothing is secure and that even the institutions which claim to be vitally concerned with ultimate meaning and eternal values, are in reality conforming to a situation not necessarily defined by them but for them. (1992: 12)
That dilemma is well reflected in several interviews:
I think the kids of the sixties and seventies – I don’t know about the quality of their religious education. I just think we were just struggling and we didn’t know what to teach them and I think they missed out. From a rigid Catholic (background) to the freedom of that and I suppose none of us handle freedom too well. There’s been a loss by that. (Delaney)
It was noted:
210 A lot of people got hit for six. You know they couldn’t cope with the changes, in the Catechetics. They weren’t getting any say really and so the experts were trying to get the message to them and I think gradually the Catholic laity have taken over the whole field. It’s superb. (Sullivan)
Additionally:
At times it got out of hand and made quite a few mistakes. But with the teaching of RE they have come back to, I think what is a very enlightened approach to the teaching of RE these days which has been in place for the last ten or more years. (Kerr)
Arbuckle (1993: 45) describes what can happen in a process of change. Initially some people enjoy the changes, while others begin to fear for their cultural and personal identity/security. As unease or stress increases there is a move to freeze the changes in legislative action. In this way any anxiety associated with the changes will be contained while others ‘believe that more legislation will rapidly promote in-depth change’. He maintains that along with structural change there must be an attitudinal conversion or adaptation, as legislation alone will not alter anything. Chaos is the result unless each adjustment has been made. As a result other responses emerge, for example, ‘grief for the loss of the familiar, anger, paralysis or the ‘go-it-alone efforts of the individualists or denying there are any problems at all’.
Several saw the times as a decade of crises.
We were getting toward the time of fewer sisters and the beginning of lay teachers. I think it made us study more the documents because around that time so many of our sisters left the order and that created great gaps in our schools. We began reading more deeply in theology and scripture. But in the early seventies schools, it is said were having a really bad time because we didn’t have enough direction to teach these young people who were floundering. There was a kind of malaise you’d say about religious education and more and more sisters left the secondary scene and it was much more difficult to get teachers to teach religion. (O’Byrne)
This state of Religious Education is acknowledged by Flynn (1993: 402), who declares:
211 Many parents today grew up during the years following Vatican II when religious education itself was experiencing the turmoil of experimentation and new directions. Other immigrant parents to Australia find themselves in a strange land, struggling with a new language, with out the support of the traditional religious practices of their homelands.
This observation was confirmed:
I think teaching religion was kind of like working on the present situation, where we are here and now. Instead of divorcing religion from life, you worked on life and brought religion into it and I can remember thinking this is a bit airy fairy. Because I had taught the catechism and the children I taught knew it off by heart. (O’Carroll)
What did schools do to enforce the parents’ role as primary educators? Different opinions emerged in response to this issue. It was conceded that:
the parents are better educated than our parents were but as the primary educators, I think we have to teach them religion and the sacramental programs with First Communion and Confirmation. The parents said how much they had enjoyed them .I think they will get used to this system and I think it’s an important step in having the family involved. (O’Malley)
As mentioned earlier, Flynn (1993: 401) regards the family as the strongest influence in a child’s life. ‘It is not the school, nor was it ever meant to be’.
The Conciliar documents can be recalled:
A declared doctrine emanated. It placed emphasis on parental rights and responsibilities and involvement in the school. But how to handle sise and how to grasp the values, the good values and find effective practices to implement those values. How to do all that was not so easy and I think those parents who sort of wished to be involved in the school had no difficulty in being involved Why aren’t they all involved in the school? I don’t know. (O’Carroll)
The Vatican II Documents also directed the importance of a school policy.
Up till that time we did not have a school policy, we just did what the sister who was in charge did. But once we started getting lay teachers we had to have a policy and that was a big thing, We all worked on what was in the school policy and every parent was given a copy of it. (Sullivan)
212 In reflection Kelly (2003: 6) considers that ‘the very courageous brave, hopeful, joyous enthusiasm of the council seems to have given way to something far more cautious’. He speculates that ‘the largest part of the problem was, we did not realise how rapidly changing that ‘modern world’ would prove to be’.
Most parents would have felt pretty inadequate because they themselves learnt the Catechism. Unfortunately he noted there hasn’t been very much in the way of faith development for parents – it’s one of the great gaps I think in our whole way of doing things. Still there are a lot of parents who are still practicing and the young ones are still not practicing and this is causing the parents a lot of anguish. (Burke)
Most of the participants were in agreement that parents are realising that while the younger generation mightn’t be practicing as they did with the Catholic faith, so long as their children are good and when they have children of their own, they might start coming back to the practice again. They agreed that the young people are very compassionate with a strong sense of justice and go out visiting nursing homes and join in the St. Vincent de Paul night van in the cities.
3. Parents’ Perceptions of Parent Involvement in Schools
Relationship between the Parents and Teachers The parents’ perceptions of their involvement in their children’s Catholic schools appeared to support teachers. The relationship between them was based on ‘a high degree of respect and trust’(Donnelly). Comer (1986: 442) pointed to the concession of power to teachers who in turn, exercised an authoritarian style of individual and institutional behaviour. However he goes on to say most people within the school shared a sense of community. Taking up this point, Flynn (1993: 49) describes ‘this spirit of community’ as one that is, ‘characterised by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity and provides a sense of belonging or bonding to members of the school community’. O’Connor sums up, ‘they backed up the efforts of the teachers in whatever was asked of them’. Pettit (1980: 16) asserts that historically the Australian community has been actively discouraged from participation in the formal educative process.
213 These parents recalled different ways of parent involvement.
I used to mow the grass at the primary school and be a labourer on Saturday working bees. I only knew the staff because there were concerts and things like that we always attended. But I don’t remember being involved in the teaching arrangements. (McCormack)
He did not indicate in his tone or expression that he expected to be involved in the latter in any way. Ochiltree (1984: 27) explains that while teachers would be concerned about the intrusion of ‘amateurs’ in their domain, parents would have been conscious of the organizational formality and fearful of their own educational incompetence.
It was a friendly informal relationship and the primary school was just a lovely school and I think we were fortunate our child went to it. We had no complaints about the secondary Catholic school she attended either. (O’Meara)
Another supportive view was offered by O’Grady, ‘I felt free to go to see the teachers in the primary school and they were very good, and did everything they could to see that a child was happy at the school’. This relationship is explained by Durkheim (1961: 239) as, ‘there is nothing more agreeable than collective life, if one has had a little experience with it at an early age … it also has the effect of enhancing the vitality of each individual in the milieu’.
A parent describes her involvement in her daughter’s school:
I knew all the teachers. We would have little get togethers or discussions about things the school needed. The teachers were very welcoming and receptive. I think I was as involved as much as I wanted to be. (O’Connor)
McCormack agreed ‘it was a good relationship, I was as involved as much as I wanted to be’. In establishing good relations with parents, Stacey (1991: 12) maintains the teachers are giving support to each other, so that ultimately they can help the child. The need to foster good relationships with the teachers was outlined:
214 Both my wife and I were involved. We recognised how important it was to establish relationships with teachers at the school. So I took every opportunity I could get to talk to teachers, my own kids’ teachers or the principal, and become known at the school. My wife did the same. So we both got involved. And she enjoyed it. (Flanigan)
This kind of relationship exemplifies Coleman’s (1991: 7) notion of a Catholic community. He sees the school as an institution that complements the family in the joint task of bringing children into adulthood.
Sometimes the maintenance needs of the school prompted the parents into running a fund- raising school community action. Donnelly observed ‘we got to run a fete because we needed some physical material or the building needs painting or something like that’. Parents working on these fund-raising ventures, according to Connell et al. (1983: 52), have the opportunity to talk informally with teachers and other staff, during the course of the event which is beneficial to both. O’Grady contended that:
schools expected parents to help raise funds. No government money, and the school money would not have been enough to put food on the table for the nuns and brothers. Many Josephite nuns in the heat and dust of the country were starving.
Fogarty (1959: 443) interprets it as ‘vowed to poverty, the religious were maintained in frugal simplicity, receiving nothing more than the humble fare and sombre raiment that became their state’.
The fathers were involved in sport, mainly football teams, McCormack and Donnelly agree that:
there’s no way the men are going to get overly involved with their children’s schooling – they’ll get involved with the kids playing soccer or whatever and yell and scream on the sidelines, but I think the Aussie yobbo bit is still around and the poor woman still has to battle.
215 To reinforce this point, Connell et al. (1983: 174) contends that while football is more often played by boys than girls, the main focus is on the ‘program of constructing masculinity’.
A couple outlined their various ways of involvement:
We were very involved with our children’s schools. I was on the appeals committee and had to go around and ask for money. But we both helped. I was secretary of the P and F and worked on the fetes, tuckshops and used to ‘sew my heart out’ at my daughter’s school. Then there were the art shows – we were involved in everything at the schools By going to the tuckshop you got to know the other parents and you felt you were part of it and that happened at all the schools where my children attended. (O’Connor’s)
Thus a sense of community within the structure of the school was inculcated. Connell et al. (1983: 53) suggest that certain roles are engendered. Mothers tend to work in tuckshops, deal with complaints and attend to academic aspects such as supervising homework. Whereas, fathers are engaged in major fundraising committees. Hughes, Burgess and Moxon (1991: 103) elaborate that ‘the use of mothers in these ways, shows them as only being encouraged or allowed to undertake roles as subordinates’. However Greeley (1973: 16) considers it was more in the nature of commitment, which implies ‘emotional attachment and loyalty to a group thus enabling cohesion, unification, continuation and perpetuation of norms and values’. From the data, there was no indication that the ‘mothers’ considered their roles as ‘subordinates’.
‘I was not involved in the school as I was working’ (Vella). This difficulty for some parents, Ochiltree (1984: 31) believes would be viewed by some teachers as apathy. Hence, teachers conclude ‘we never get the ones we want to see’ (Stacey 1991: 25). ‘We didn’t ever have any invitations re parent involvement. We probably went to speech nights. There was a high degree of trust’ (O’Halloran). This ‘trust and mutual respect between home and school were sometimes taken for granted, according to Comer (1986: 443), and inherently fostered by the school community as a whole.
216 Participants’ reflections revealed:
We didn’t feel the need to be more involved with the school. I suppose we were passive parents probably to the point where we could have or should have contributed more. But there were no calls made and I didn’t take any initiatives. (Donnelly)
Weber cited by Parkin (1990: 76) expresses this state as ‘normative compliance. It is spontaneous rather than engineered’. At the same time it may be brought about as a consequence of powerlessness, of which the parents were completely not conscious.
Parent/Teacher Nights The general opinion of Parent/Teacher nights was that they were helpful as indicated by various observations:
They must have helped the relationship between parents and teacher because we never had any problems and she was always very bright right through school. They required every parent to go but for us – there were no problems. (O’Grady)
In the high school I used to go to meet with various teachers. I think it was useful for the teachers as well as the parents to have those interactions. (Vella)
Donnelly had reservations:
I think Parent/Teacher nights were helpful with all my children except one, who had a reading problem and I just felt they were pushing him further aside all the time. Too hard basket. We did not really find much help.
Her disappointment was evident in that she had not received the assistance that she hoped for, as well as a sense of relief, that her child had eventually overcome his difficulty. But she had not pursued it with the teachers.
It was perceptively noted:
I think their aim was to understand better maybe some of the children that weren’t doing well. I mean it was really no need for understanding for the ones that do well. But understanding, if there was anything, that was stopping these children from
217 doing better. So I think if a child was not doing better – they wanted to know the reason. (Vella)
Obviously, it had not always worked out that way.
Complaints A consensus emerged: ‘mothers dealt with them mostly’, as evidenced in the following example.
One of our daughters had a problem – she was accused of stealing and it was put over the PA. I couldn’t leave home at that time as I had a little baby and I was looking after my mother. I didn’t have a car. My daughter asked a friend to ring me from a public phone and tell me there is trouble up here at the school. She rang and said ‘its all lies. – we know it wasn’t her’. When I got in touch with the nuns they told me it was a mistake and I remember saying well ‘you put it over the PA and say it was a mistake but she didn’t, which hurt my daughter and me. (McCormack)
Hughes et al. (1991: 101) define this as ‘maternal involvement’ and claim, that this factor has a direct relation to the type of involvement, mothers are encouraged to take. They claim that teachers portrayed some ‘mothers’ as a problem for the school system, hence the previous story and the ‘too hard basket’. Berger and Luckmann (1991: 72) underline the school’s dominance as institutions, which by their very existence, control human conduct and set up ‘predefined patterns of conduct’. The unproblematic sector of everyday reality is only so, until its continuity is interrupted by the appearance of a problem. They continue ‘additional control mechanisms are required, only in so far, as the processes of institutionalisation are less than completely successful’ Berger and Luckmann, (1991: 72). It would appear that the nuns as the ‘institutionalised actors’ did not consider it necessary to apologise. However, this situation was altered when:
a complaint came when one of the nuns rang to say my daughter had broken a chair. They really had it in for her. My husband went up to see them and asked to see the chair. ‘When I saw it – I told them it is rotten and it should have been demolished’. They said they were sorry. (Vella)
The difference in response to a personal contact and a phone call, is only matched by the gender issue. Connell et al. (1983: 64) assert that ‘fathers were only usually called in when
218 there was a big decision to be made or big trouble had arisen’. However, the father in this case took up the issue himself in going to see the Principal personally, and demanding to see the chair, although his wife considered this was asking for ‘further trouble. In response to this initiative, he received an apology.
What were the obstacles that parents perceived to greater involvement? ‘The idea of parent involvement beyond the fund-raising, P & F activity, never arose’ (O’Meara). A reason proffered by McCormack, ‘The nuns thought they were pretty right in everything they did and while parents supported the notion, other parents reinforced it’. The authority of the teacher in Durkheim’s terms, (1961: 88), carries with it the prestige that elevates the person beyond themselves. This authority is allied with the group and the focus is on certain beliefs and sentiments, particularly these are certain moral ideas and moral feelings. They are closely bound to the very core of the collective conscience and a vital part of it. The strong cultural theme tended to hinder the recognition by parents of their role as primary educators. The total submission to ‘authority’ both in the school and parish ensured harmony and contentment The parents appeared to have been ‘happy enough’ in their acquiescent role as it evoked cultural approval, not only by the authority figures but also by the other parents (Newby 1977: 11 and 13).
Lack of time as a preventive means:
I think it is time that prevents involvement. If you talk about people on the north shore where the majority of women would marry so that they are able to stay at home – it’s their choice as to whether they want to stop at home and be with their children or not. If we’re talking about people on the other side of the line over in the western suburbs, these people – don’t ever get a chance to get ahead. Because they’re at work all the time they haven’t the time to be involved. (O’Connor)
While economic reasons were posed:
Today it has to be economic. If there are not two incomes coming in, it must be tremendously difficult these days, as you know the pressure on both parents to raise enough money to put a roof over their head and this applies to single parents as well. (McCormack)
219 Other incentives were proposed:
Parents need encouragement to try things particularly from the principal, who will say ‘that’s a good idea. But it’s another job for the principal. which is part of the trouble. (O’Grady)
Berger and Luckmann (1991: 72) propose that institutionalisation occurs whenever there is a reciprocal typification of habitualised action by types of actors’. These habitualised actions are always shared ones.
There are subtle ways parents are excluded:
I was at a P and F function and they had got in a speaker which had been organised by the P & F. The person gave an address on the education of boys. But the MC for the evening was the principal of the school and it was obvious to me, that the executive of the P and F were sitting there and took no part in the actual MCing, introduction of the speaker or thanking the speaker, it was all done by the principal as if the parents were not there But parents are not recognised as partners in the theme of subsidiarity – it is all tied up with authority and the school. (Flanigan)
Vatican II The decree of parents as ‘the primary educators of their children’ received particular Emphasis in the Documents of Vatican II (Bushman 1999). The premise was strengthened in the Declaration on Education (1965, par.3) in placing particular importance on the notion of parental partnership in Catholic education (McLaughlin, 2000: 82). Moreover, he argues, quoting from a Vatican document, Charter of the Rights of the Family:
The primary right of parents to educate their children must be upheld in all forms of collaboration between parents, teachers and school authorities, and particularly in forms of participation designed to give citisens a voice in the function of schools, and in the formulation and implementation of school policy. (1983, par 5e)
What effect did Vatican II have on the Catholic school community?
220 The Second Vatican Council (as discussed in Chapter 4) brought change and revision of customary practices and attitudes. In particular, traditional understanding of religious authority was revised.
Some of the parents’ impressions included:
I can’t remember anything specific. I suppose the nuns came out of habits – that’s one thing. They were all superficial changes. Although as a result of Vatican II there was a distinct change from the practice at the cathedral when I was at school and what happened when our child was at school - Religious Education studies seemed to drift into a minor role. (McCormack)
Dunne (1989: 148) portends that as a result of the sometimes dramatic changes to the teaching of religion in the post-Vatican II period, many parents and priests are still holding on to a pre-Vatican II approach to the Church and its teaching. Children are frequently caught in the middle with the parents holding one position and the teacher, displaying a defensive ‘I know best’ attitude, with a very different position.
Within the Catholic Church, Anderson (1993: 189) describes parochial schools as community schools. He sees their purpose, as ensuring the transmission of the religion and culture from one generation to the next, hence the need for the family to be in unison with the teaching at the school.
Durkheim (1961: 52) provides some understanding of the position when he proposes that ‘society is continually evolving; and morality itself must be sufficiently flexible to change gradually as proves necessary’. He goes on to add ‘this requires that morality not be internalised in such a way as to be beyond criticism or reflection, the agents par excellence of all change’.
An interview with one participant grounded the importance of this simple unquestioning acceptance:
221 the Green catechism, reciting off the questions and answers and that’s all I remember about that. This little book. My main memory of faith development is really this idea of how everyone is important. (Flanigan)
O’Hara in an Oral History Interview in University College, Berkeley, supported that view.
I went to Catholic schools all through my education. It was just the accepted thing to do. When I grew up I remember thinking there were the Catholic kids and the other kids, who went to public schools, so I thought they were the Publics. We certainly learned the catechism by rote. You did a lot of memorising as a Catholic student. You weren’t particularly encouraged to be creative in your thinking, but it was a good solid education. We certainly learned how to diagram sentences. And I came out of grade school with a good set of grammar rules. (1997: 15)
Fogarty (1959: 393) describes the ‘penny’ catechism as it was known, as the basic text in religious knowledge, and identifies its being too ‘technical’, with professionally worded definitions only used by theologians and quite unsuitable for children. It called for ‘excessive memorizing’ with mechanical answering and no understanding of the answer. The following interviewees offered their diverse reflections prompted by Vatican II.
A sharp change in the hierarchy of importance of subjects and religion was sent down and I think this was partly due to Vatican II and fewer vocations of the religious orders. The need to employ lay staff, and you felt they just didn’t have that yearning faith that the religious orders had. I think the civilian teachers concentrated on the subjects they were employed to teach and the emphasis on religion was seriously diminished because there were fewer nuns that altered things. (O’Meara)
Arbuckle (1993: 4) explained as ‘chaos, the generally, sudden cultural breakdown in which a people’s network of meaning systems, (symbols, myths and rituals) tend to disintegrate’. As a result, he maintained that the insecurities and uncertainties emanating from the upheaval of Vatican II, left people feeling confused and even numb. Durkheim describes this disturbance as ‘anomie’, where discrepancies exist between a group’s expectations and their achievements’ which is followed by increasing disorder and a degree of instability (Thomson 1982: 85).
222 O’Farrell (1977: 407-408) recounts how Catholics felt that they were impelled into an ‘uncomprehending, unfamiliar world’. The former obsessional tendencies regarding security, caution and deference to authority, characteristic of the ‘earlier, socially emergent Catholicism’, were widely diminished or disregarded.
However, a different perspective was given:
My honest view is that very few, in percentage terms, of Catholics in this country were actually aware it was on. Even now when I talk to Catholic friends many of them are still not aware of what you’re talking about. If you use terms like Vatican II they look at you a little bit suspiciously as much as to say, ‘you’re one of them are you?’ (Vella)
Donnelly expressed a great concern of Church leaders in suggesting, ‘I think what is typical of many Catholics is the disinterest, that’s the biggest worry. Disinterest rather than being for or against’.
Further observations:
I don’t think it has affected the Catholic school community. I haven’t seen any evidence of it. Mind you in this country a changeover was occurring at the same time with our loss of religious vocations and religious orders, which were so much part of our school system. (O’Grady)
Horne (1987: 64) presents some of the changes taking place for Catholics in society at the time. The ‘promptings of humanism that idealised the permissive society were evident. Catholics generally were emerging from their ghetto…Australia was becoming a hedonist consumer society’.
I don’t think the Catholic school community was affected. I remember it was supposed to be the free conscience bit. You’re guided by your conscience. I found that a little bit hard, because we were used to rules and regulations and we’d lived our life that way. You didn’t prevent having children, you accepted what were given. (O’Connor’s)
223 The strict adherence to the pre-Vatican II way of life obviously resulted in people being bewildered with the changes. Bouma describes this position as:
when a changing system of values, in an age of rapid change , leaves people with the uncomfortable feeling that nothing is secure and that even institutions which claim to be vitally concerned with ultimate meaning and eternal values, are in reality conforming to a situation not defined by them but for them. (1992: 12)
In reflecting on the significance of Vatican II, positive features were voiced:
I don’t know that we studied the Vatican II documents as closely as perhaps we should have done, but the notion of the laity becoming much more involved in the life of the church was certainly an appealing thing. (O’Halloran)
Concerns regarding the changed emphases were expressed:
From my point of view I think the tendency to tell young people that it is no longer compulsory to go to Mass has completely ruined the whole of the approach of young people. I keep telling my cleric friends that it was their fault that the young people aren’t turning up to the mass because, while they might perhaps tell them that it’s not compulsory, they should concentrate on telling them how badly they need to go to mass. It’s a habit. We went as a whole family to mass. (O’Grady)
The principle of subsidiarity in Vatican II was well recognised: ‘Decisions should not be made at higher levels if they can be made lower down.’ (Arbuckle 1993: 207).
Drawing on this premise, the lack of recognition of the parental role, is regretted:
The parents just accept things. It’s the definition of school that keeps coming back to what a school is essentially – the principal, the teachers and the kids. Yet all the documentation and discussion talks about the involvement in parents in the school. It is a bit of a nonsense to me. It’s a community and they’re all equal partners. (O’Grady)
It could be argued that Bernstein (1971) as cited by Douglas, (1978: 8) shows, that for teaching institutions strong insulation holds so long as power is securely monopolised. He goes on to say that ‘insulations are the result of effective power. They are also a means of making it effective all the way down from its source to the boundaries of control’.
224 Subsidiarity in practice is questioned: ‘The idea of subsidiarity; how do you translate that into actual decision making in the school. It doesn’t mean the principal ‘MC on the night’ – it means the opposite to that’ (Flanigan). Parents need encouragement to participate in schools and a genuine welcome. The onus will definitely be very much on the principal and school staff, to see that ‘they are involved in ways which complement and do not duplicate the roles of professionals’ (Ochiltree 1984: 27).
The Role of the Principal The significant role of the principal received marked emphasis in the acceptance of parents and recognition of their participatory role in the following data. One teacher articulated a view variously observed:
If you’ve got a really creative principal who has developed this wonderful relationship, this partnership in the school, and there are schools like that with fantastic principals that the parents could not do enough for. It’s not having to chase up parents – it’s where the parents are willing, and they want to be around the school and involved, – the principal can say “I will have no trouble”. (McCormack)
The importance of relationship between parents and the school was stressed again:
I think it varies tremendously – depends on the nature of the initiative I think and the relationship the parents have with the school in the first place. (Donnelly)
It was summarised as:
The Principal is the key. The leadership ability within the school, and part of it is to understand that the principal has a big job with the teachers, to get them to understand the nature of the relationship they want to try to develop with their parents, and alternatively, sometimes it is an uphill battle with principals. (O’Meara)
Connell et al. (1983: 154) have highlighted the overarching significance of principals. They are essential to educational change and they are personally a focus of the social networks surrounding the school. The principal is the key.
225 Teacher training Stacey (1991: 6) maintains that if the teachers are all committed to the idea, they will need some formal training in order to work with parents. Ochiltree (1984: 34) believes that teachers will need to develop interpersonal skills in dealing with parents at the pre-service level. Furthermore, they need to develop tolerance and understanding of changing patterns of family life, but at the same time, they should not have to deal with any of the family problems that may arise.
Additionally, O’Meara discerns that ‘if the teachers haven’t been trained to look to the relationship of teachers with parents, they could be lacking in this ability’. An example of the difficulty related to the recognition, at an executive level, of the role of parents as the primary educators’, was described:
A member of the CCSP (Council of Catholic School Parents) was involved in the writing of a document to do with the fundamentals of governance of Catholic schools, and the reference to parents was not nearly enough. She had to work hard to get it in that ‘the parents have a primary place as related to their children’s education in the Catholic school’. It wasn’t there. She raised it at the development stage and finally got that written in. (O’Grady)
The relationship between the family and the formal system of education in Australia, Ochiltree (1984: 1) observes, is in the process of change. At last, she maintains, ‘the family’s role as the primary educator of the child’ is receiving recognition. Coupled with this premise is a growing awareness that parents, having the ultimate responsibility for their children, should be more influential with regard to the way their children are being educated. Ridden (1992: 77) asserts that the community and culture of the school should be defined in terms of an agreed understanding, between all concerned, of ‘what the school is about; values that underpin the school’s activities; behaviours that are and aren’t acceptable; who does what, and how, and why it is done’.
226 A parent brought these more abstract understandings together in observing:
What I would like to see is the procedures in our Catholic schools where they actually translate the challenge into what their expectations are for the involvement of the parents as partners in the school. (O’Grady)
He expresses concern in observing that:
Some schools are dismantling the old traditional parents and friends arrangement as they’re more active, in talking about boards. The board doesn’t replace the P & F. The role of the board is quite different. Governing boards are to set up finance committees to raise funds for the school. (O‘Grady)
Friedman (1999: 147) writes in a way apposite for teacher leadership and their collaboration with parents. School Boards can involve parents and coalesce their authority, placing responsibility on all members. However, Pettit (1980: 195) points out that parents’ involvement with schools is ‘becoming longer over the duration of a child’s attendance at school, they are better informed and they are interacting with schools with greater confidence’.
In reflecting on the past one participant explained:
The old model of the P and F was where you had religious orders and your parents and friends supported them and they enjoyed doing it, because they didn’t really have any concern. They felt the faith development was in good hands and for the parents – they felt – ‘the religious was helping me to develop my faith as a parent’. What parents need is encouragement from the principal. (Flanigan)
This admonition might be contested, as Ochiltree (1984: 33) points out, ‘some parents may prefer that schools continue in the traditional manner as it is easier for them’.
One parent explained succinctly:
The rhetoric is in place but translating those vision statements into practice – is a different matter. The documents from the NCEC and those on the role of the Catholic schools have all the rhetoric in there. I think parents are looking for more
227 participation in their schools. It ‘s a demanding generation. It’s more individualistic more self-centred and when you think about an issue to do with their kids’ schooling they think about their children and what’s good for their child. (O’Meara)
It is acknowledged, that previously the parents were accustomed to the ways in which things were done and accepted it without question. This resulted from the habitus (see Chapter 2, p.31,) which Bourdieu (1990: 53) explains as ‘conditionings associated with a particular class of conditions of existence which produce systems of durable, transposable dispositions, which are then predisposed to function as structuring structures’.
Parents’ Expectations of Catholic Education and Subsequent Concerns The way the expectations of the school are presented to parents was put forward as a matter of serious concern:
They are presented in a negative way. It’s really telling them the things that they mustn’t do – it’s a little bit like the approach of the students. It’s not a challenge and not presented as such. It is presented at enrolment time – some attempt is made but that is all – then it’s forgotten. (O’Meara)
However, Ochiltree (1984: 27) considers it could be related to ‘fear of conflict between parents and teachers’. This hesitancy could be due to feelings of inadequacy and possible threat, which exist in both groups.
Personal concern for the religious faith and practice of their children was shared:
I expected that our children would be good living people, when they grew up. Not just as they were adults, but as children – thoughtful towards other people and to help them in any way they can, you know, and respect them. I think respect is very important. That’s why I say, you know, the kids – I don’t know when they saw their father and what he had to put up with, looking after my mum and dad, but he respected them, and that was because he knows how much I love them and he never had that. He doesn’t know his father and he’s had to leave his mum in another country when he was 15/16, and he always respected his mother. And he was doing things for his family financially and everything and he looked after them, until we got married. So the example was there for our children. What gets me is we’ve given an example of going to church and that but they won’t go to church, except for my eldest one. (Vella)
228 The example for their children is emphasised by Flynn (1993: 401) when he discerns that ‘the strongest influence which shapes their deepest values awaits them , when they arrive home each day. While the Catholic school has an independent religious effect on students, it cannot replace the home’. Despite the influence of school and family, parents expressed unhappiness when that strong socialisation failed. A degree of disappointment was evident:
Only some of our children go to Mass and none of our grandchildren go to Mass. But then a lot of parents aren’t going these days. Of course some of ours married non-Catholics but still, one of them still goes with our daughter to Mass. (O’Connor)
Flynn (1993: 413) found ‘there has been a consistent, steady decline in the participation of youth in Sunday Mass over the past two decades’. He acknowledges that ‘the level of parents’ expectations of their children’s attendance at Sunday Mass, had also declined by one-third during that time.
A sense of sadness was evident in the comments:
I tell them if I can spend an hour - two hours bowling I can spend an hour at church. But you can’t push them. They’re old enough to know better. That’s it. You tell them, it’s up to them what they do. But they’re very Christian in their way of life. Just wonder if they say a prayer before they go to bed, or when they get up. (Vella)
The tendency to place so much emphasis on religious practice in the past, according to Flynn (1993: 420), ran the risk of ‘reducing Christian faith to ritual performance’. However, he went on to say ‘today there is the danger of being dismissive of the importance of Sunday Mass and regular religious practice which, as a result, is an underestimation of the role in nourishing personal faith in God’.
What are your hopes for the future? Parents and teachers hoped for a faithfulness to prayer and practice:
I hope like what we’re doing now. We say the rosary. We should say the rosary. I say it in my language and she says it in English. I sit down sometimes in the afternoon I might go outside and sit there on the bench and say my rosary. But I tell
229 my kids, right , if they do they do, if they don’t , they don’t But they’re not bad kids, you know. They’re not. I just wish they’d go to church. I’d like to see them going to church. I feel if somebody does something for you, you’d like to go to their home and say thank you and that’s what I would like to see them doing at the church. (Vella)
The concern for the family is evident and in support, Greeley (1973: 139) acknowledges that there is a need to ‘perpetuate values, constantly to restore personal, group and social identity, to buttress the boundaries of social order in the sacralisation of internal family relationships’. He believes the love between the husband and wife, and the children safeguards the family as a transmission agency over time. With regard to the decline in religious practice, Friedman (1999: 227) strongly argues that ‘while religion has become less a matter of ethnicity but more a matter of choice, most people stick like glue to the religion they got from their mother and father’. Furthermore, ‘they may lapse but they will not switch’.
For Catholic parents in their role, an optimistic view was proposed:
Being supportive as such. Being seen as part of the loop. Translating the rhetoric into actual practice. The parents are not involved in any particular ways. The key for the future is parents as real partners, and being accepted as such. (O’Grady)
Parents’ Reflections Different parents commented:
My experience of Catholic education was wonderful when I was a young person educated in Catholic schools. I have some concern about the direction in which Catholic education will be forced to travel. I’m amazed at how well it’s done actually with the disappearance of religious orders. (O’Halloran)
The most important thing we could give our children was a good education to start them off in their lives. They’ve done far better than we did and they’ve had greater opportunities. (O’Connors)
I’d like to see Catholic education progressing as it is. I read our diocesan news and I feel the teachers are so well trained in religion that people say the nuns out of the schools it’s ruined everything. I don’t think so. I think when I look at the
230 qualifications of some of these teachers they’re really doing a wonderful job. They’re training the children for their sacraments and we see the behaviour in the church when they bring them in. I just hope it continues. (McCormack)
For Durkheim (1995: 44) religion survived because it is a ‘unified system of beliefs and practises relative to sacred things, which unite into one single moral community called a Church and is an eminently collective things’. The celebration of rites provides an emotional bond for the participants and for those who share in the ‘creed and celebration’. The communal rites unite and signify that unity unchanging from generation to generation thus providing for the continuity.
A humane, caring perspective was put forward:
I think the standard of education is very, very high and all the activities that they now have including sporting activities and dramatics and all the things like that – we never had those things. They’ve introduced all these items and I don’t think Catholic education can be beaten, and also they are concentrating on those who aren’t so brilliant. Helping them along. They don’t concentrate on the able and cast the others aside. I think that’s good. (O’Meara)
However some anxiety was expressed:
But as I say the only thing that worries me is whether they are really getting the message across to these young people as to the necessity of continuing to go to Mass; continuing to keep contact with their religion and continuing to keep contact with the lessons of the gospels. (Flanigan)
Friedman (1999: 75) speaks of ‘stunted expectations’ which induce a sense of hopelessness, in a society where discipline, loyalty and commitment become scarcer ‘goods’. Inevitably there is an enormous strain on marriage and family life. In terms of the life within a Catholic school and parish Mol (1983: 108) proposes, that ‘religion requires involvement and commitment, and needs to be relevant in terms of the expectations of society generally’. In fact, cohesion of the religious community is an important prerequisite for survival and relevance.
231 Dunne (1989: 143) argues strongly, it is essential that support be given to the parents as ‘the primary and principal educators’ and to ensure that parents can carry out that responsibility. He sees it as a major challenge to parents and to the Church as a whole. The passivity of parents was linked to confidence that teachers were the authority in sphere of education. Not even when learning problems occurred neither two of reporting parents, Donnelly and Vella complained or demanded better teaching.
The themes of authority and status of the religiously consecrated, (sacred authority), are clear in the data and very significant. Early indications of changing involvement in religion, apparent in the raising of questions about religious authority surfaced in some accounts emanating from this second cohort of participants. The third cohort reported in the next chapter returned again and again to the issue of authority as wielded by Church authorities, bishops, priests and religious teachers. Religious commitment may remain strong in principle, but its content changed – a trend to be reviewed in the final chapter.
232 CHAPTER 8
PARENTS AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS – THE THIRD COHORT 1975-2000
The untrammelled way…
The interviews examined in this Chapter, the continuing research with the youngest cohort reveal marked changes in relation to the Catholic school and community. In previous Chapters, the parent role had been one of unquestioning deference to authority, support of the schools as the means of perpetuation of the faith and as generation of social capital towards upward mobility. It was an acquiescent role preoccupied with ‘profane’ matters, such as simple basic tasks of making cakes and other things for fetes, to raise dollars (Durkheim 1995).
As previously stated in Chapter 7, a particular question related to the Second Vatican Council was included for the Third Cohort. It was phrased, ‘how was the Catholic school community affected by the Second Vatican Council, with a special emphasis, from the Conciliar documents, on the parent’s role as the primary educators of their children? As the Third Cohort of parents and teachers were at school during the earlier post-Vatican II period, some of their perceptions as children, of the effects on the Catholic school and community, are relevant to the discernment of any change, in the relation of parents with teachers.
The way things were and the repercussions of the distancing of parents was tellingly described by one participant.
233 There was no interaction between parents and teachers. I was in a Catholic boarding school for primary education, as my mother was a single parent. The parents only saw the nuns on visiting day, which was once a month. Nothing was said about how I was going socially, intellectually, spiritually or physically. Then when I went to a Catholic secondary school, there was no contact with my mother at all, except paying the school fees and the report coming home – that said ‘he needed to lift his game and he can’t do this, this and this’. No one discussed with my mother or me, how this could be done. There was no link at all. No interaction. When I went to a secondary boarding school for the last years, the only interaction happened because my mother was taking the initiative of going up to find out why I was getting low gradings and she thought I was lazy. But that brings in a whole issue, that I had in my education of having come from another country to Australia, and skipping second class. I went from first class to third. So I lost out on all the phonetics. I couldn’t write essays and I had to repeat my Higher School Certificate. If earlier contact with my parents and teachers had taken place, that could have been solved. But that made me very aware of how there was no contact at all. (Boyd)
In the third period of the twentieth century 1975-2000, from the oral histories of the Third Cohort, the perceptions of the parents and religious teachers as children reveal that the parents were still ‘handing the child over to the school, and deferring to the authority of the religious teachers’. As a continuation of the study, I argue that despite the Church’s proclamation that ‘parents are the first and foremost educators of their children’, the parents were still, largely, marginalised in their role. While they were essentially involved in fund- raising at the school level, nothing indicates that they were involved in decisions as to how the money was spent. Moreover, according to their collective memory that lack of involvement did not seem to concern most of them.
Post-Vatican II Church teaching reflected a shift in emphasis and increased concern to involve parents. In the document The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, not only is the primacy and responsibility of the parent role reiterated but ‘the climate and role of the educating community, which is constituted by the interaction and collaboration of its various components: students, parents, teachers and directors. Attention is rightly given to the importance of the relations existing between all those who make up the educating community’ and the need to foster this dimension (Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education 1998: 22, par.18).
234 Changes, related to the teaching of religious education, focused on religion integrated with life experience in the world and had extensive ramifications (Rossiter 1985). In their article, ‘Religious Education and Changes in the Church’, Crawford and Rossiter (1993) discuss this notion of change in teaching by referring to the question of core beliefs. Previously a uniform Catechism was used in Catholic schools throughout Australia since 1885 and was replaced in 1962 by the Australian Catechism. Authority and obligation were the matters that received greatest emphasis. Rossiter (1985) explains the method as one that sets out material in a question and answer style in a theologically precise format. Hence, the rote memorization of the Catechism style of teaching (Praetz 1980: 36), when it was replaced by different modern methods, caused a degree of anxiety and ambivalence in the older generation. This confusion occurred when different groups were working from a different agenda (Crawford and Rossiter 1993).
Furthermore, for many of them, with changes in the way Mass was celebrated, the disappearance of traditional practices, the way religious apparel was worn and the demise of the various sodalities, there followed a sense of sadness or loss. Campion (1987: 206) describes the changes as perhaps, ‘destabilising rather than exhilarating’. Johnstone (1997: 362) portrays the effect as one that ‘began to fray the fabric of this sub-culture’. It had depended substantially on the collective identity of the institutional and hierarchical echelons in the Church. The sudden depletion of the religious teachers, who left their Orders during this period, also contributed to this momentous change. Campion (1987: 235) considers that inherently ‘the collapse of the central pastoral strategy emanating from the nineteenth century, a Catholic school staffed by religious sisters and brothers, for every Catholic boy and girl’, was seriously threatened.
This phase of the research examines in the first instance, the perceptions of the role as told by eight parents and eight religious teachers, who were children in Catholic schools in the 1950s, and 1960s. They were asked to recall the memories of how their parents were involved at the Catholic school. Then secondly, how they as parents participated in Catholic education during the late 1970s, 80s and 90s, or as religious teachers in their
235 strategies relating to parents, during this period. The same questions related to the relevant issues in the study, were explored from the three different perspectives, as children at school, as parents or as teachers.
The Catholic Community and cultural diversity 1975-2000 This third cohort reflected on parental relation with their children’s school during a time, the late twentieth century, when Australian society and culture continued to change. Horne (1987: 194) suggests that a consumer, affluent society was becoming evident during this period and differences emanating from other cultures, which essentially stemmed from the influx of migrants, were being inculcated into the Australian way of life (McGregor 1981; Smolicz 1985). The Catholic school reflected this cultural diversity in that a large proportion of students came from a particular, cultural and religious background (Croke 2002: 4).
The Catholic community, which had been essentially of an Irish cultural composition, was becoming diffused. Other cultures, such as Italian, Maltese, Portugese, Croatian, Serbian and from different parts of Asia and the Pacific region, gradually pervaded the Catholic Church and Catholic schools. The point is made cogently by Bouma and Singleton (2004: 12) in their comparative study of religion in Melbourne and Hong Kong. They find that despite the religious diversity that has increasingly prevailed in recent decades, religious harmony stems from demographic, cultural and social structural reasons that they identify.
The difficulties experienced by Catholic migrants in their efforts to become part of the ‘Universal Church’ and its reluctance to absorb them into the parish community are highlighted by Lewins (1983). Some problems, Lewins (1983: 81) contends, stem from the notion Australians and clergy hold of ‘a good migrant’ Catholic as one, who ‘actively participates in parish life and accepts financial commitments of the parish’. The cultural differences related to financial commitments, such as Catholic school fees, has been previously mentioned in Chapter 7. An interviewee explained that in her country of origin, there were no customary school fees, and due to her parents limited English, they did not
236 understand that Australian Catholic schools, were dependent on fees in support of Catholic education.
Pressure was exerted to conform, by other Australian members in the parish and school communities. The inconsistency of the expectation can be traced to the early colonial days in Australia when the British demanded that the Irish Catholics and clergy conform to British cultural norms (O’Farrell 1992). While one cultural group of shared faith may become cohesive, a common faith midst differing cultures can be problematic (Lewins 1983: 84). Tensions, also, within the bureaucratic Church structure were insidiously engendered in Catholic Australians, who reflected the attitudes of the wider milieu in their relationships with migrants, in the parish community – ‘they should fit in’ (Lewins 1983).
In earlier times, Comer (1986: 442) claims young people learned about life and values from significant adults in their world such as parents, teachers, and religious leaders. They were, to a great extent in agreement about such matters. Through this sense of community, trust and mutual respect between home and school were taken for granted. However, television, and technology ushered into society far-reaching effects which were probably never anticipated. Coupled with these changes and with the changing structure of the family, it became evident that there was the need for innovative ways of approaching the education of children in society generally and the Catholic children in particular (Malone 1999).
Society during this period was one of growing economic prosperity and with a wide recognition of the significance of education. While there were no dislocating events, except for the Vietnam War, and the associated protests of the 60’s, McGregor, (1981: 296), indicates that other social issues, such as indigenous rights as a matter of social justice and the rights of women, were well to the fore.
Extensive change was taking place in Catholic schools as the religious teachers left their Congregations and there were few entering religious callings. While some continued as lay teachers, the religious were being replaced by lay principals and staff (Luttrell 1996: 34; Campion 1987: 235). The composition of the school community, which consisted of so
237 many different nationalities, presented the staff with a diversity, not previously encountered. Diversity, in terms of differing customs and beliefs, had to be considered.
As noted in Chapter 6, government reports such as Karmel (1973), and McGowan (1981), encouraged parent initiatives at the school level. The underlying (or overall ) objective was for parents to play a more active, influential role in their children’s education. However, for Catholic parents, the other significant dimension of the ‘parents as primary educators of their children’, was also linked.
Formal recognition was given to these imperatives in the following ways:
The formation of the Parent Participation in Schools Unit (PPSU) (see Chapter 6), in the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Education Office, whose services were utilised by many schools throughout New South Wales; Council of Catholic School Parents of the New South Wales Catholic Education Commission (CCSP); Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board of the Sydney Catholic Education Office (SACS), the Federation of Parents and Friends Associations (P&F) and the Australian Parent Council (APC).
While each group was focused on involvement of parents, it seems that each had a different agenda. (Hogan 1978) l. Childhood memories of third cohort, parents and religious teachers
Relationship between the home and school The participants recalled that there was little interaction except if there was a complaint. Generally, the mothers, who started their children at school, were very influential in the choice of schools and dealt with complaints. An example of this occurrence follows:
My mother was very decided that I would not go to the school where she had been as she did not have a good experience there. She was a scholarship winner and they didn’t want their children to be scholarship winners, because in her day they were treated very much like second class citizens. (Lennon)
Furthermore, Ryan adds, ‘my mother chose the schools – she was the mover and shaker’. Exceptions to this rule occurred where parents were not fluent in English, and, in which
238 case, Galletta explains, that an older sibling, such as a brother or sister, would have commenced the younger member of the family at school. Fathers were not involved in these matters, unless the father happened to be the parent with some English, or it was a concern of a more vital nature. An illustration of the latter situation is outlined:
I remember in high school that my father had to go up to see the principal at the Catholic school to plead with her to let us in. We were non-Catholics but Sister Anselm, who was a very firm and forceful woman met her match with dad. We were actually the first non-Catholics to go into the Catholic school. That really was probably the only teacher my parents ever met. (Rafferty)
Another point was made regarding fathers’ involvement in the school by a participant:
We had to go to the State school for secondary education and I remember my father going up to see the principal because my brother was jumping in and out of class windows and things like that. The principal thanked him for coming because it apparently sent the whole staff room into orbit – that a parent had actually asked for an interview. (Fleming)
In the light of the introductory statement from (Boyd), the principal’s attitude was unusual. He maintained that there was no real interaction between parents and teachers. If parents sought a meeting with a teacher or the principal, out of concern for their child, as his mother did, the attitude was not welcoming. This premise was supported by other participants.
I don’t remember parents being around unless you were in trouble or kept back, and mum and dad would want to know what was going on then. (Hennessy)
My father brought me to the city boarding school and I don’t think he ever came again. (McCrae)
The only interaction I observed with parents was with those who worked in the tuckshop or who covered the books in the library. But of course they wouldn’t have got a leg in to hear how their boys were going. It was really just a greeting from brother. (Sheehan)
However, hurt feelings and rejection of his mother were inherent when one parent remembered:
239 When my mother did approach the brothers it was very much on their terms. Like looking down on Mrs. so and so. It wasn’t really Mrs. so and so having the right to challenge anything. That’s how I perceived it and I wasn’t even brought in on the interview with the brothers. Like that’s the whole extraordinary part of the pastoral link. The parents and the child were not seen together with the teacher. It was always just the parent with the principal or the teacher direct. (Molloy)
Ways that Parents were Involved The following typified the collective memory of participants regarding their parents’ involvement with the schools:
Tuckshops, fund-raising, sewing costumes and making stage equipment for concerts, sports carnivals, working bees, fund-raising, ‘making cakes – millions of them for fetes’, building, maintenance and repair jobs, involvement in P & F, mothers’ clubs, attending speech days and nights, and as one person said. ‘my parents came to anything where the invitation was to come’.
Connell et al. (1983: 131) in line with these observations, quote a principal who, when confronted with a working class parent who was querying why his child was not learning, said: ‘Its parents’ educational incompetence. They don’t understand it’. The principal indicated that she was pleased for parents to participate – but on the schools’ terms, not theirs. She would like parents, ‘to come and help paint the new Resources Centre’.
An underlying assumption of the inability of the les educated to participate emerges as another significant aspect in this statement and is upheld to some extent as illustrated:
They would have had no say in the management and the philosophy and the curriculum of the school. That would have been beyond them. My father and mother left school in the primary school. (Butler)
A typical example of fund-raising in Catholic schools is proffered:
There were always raffles that were part of the Catholic way of life. We used to joke it’s not a Catholic function unless there’s a raffle and that continues really. It was very much accepted by the Catholic community. (Pierce)
240 These were the means of building or maintaining Church institutions and were not only acceptable in the Catholic culture, but were ingrained in the members of the Catholic community. However, other denominations held a different view.
While other Christian denominations thought that raffles encouraged the sin of covetousness, in Catholic circles, raffles, chocolate wheels, silver circles, lucky envelopes and other games of chance were part of everyday life. Church debts were cleared by elaborate fairs and bazaars. (Campion 1987: 126)
Obstacles to Parent Involvement It appears from the data that there were several ways in which parents were prevented from being involved. Some were cultural, family–related, while others were due to the hierarchical nature of the structure within the school community. One section of the school community is described thus:
The parents, as I remember, that were generally missing were parents of ethnic families and I think the language barrier was a huge one. The kid whose parents were Italians were often the ones who were not present. I think most of my peers were Anglo Celtic background so that the Church, the parish and school were all kind of interwoven, so that they were all there. (Hennessy)
Hornsby-Smith (1978: 112) in his study of Catholic schools, proposes that a cultural conflict could arise for some parents who were not well-educated and experience difficulties with language, thus prompting them to avoid that particular milieu. He speaks of ‘the theme of Interdependence’ which highlights the need for co-operative participation in the life-long process of children’s education.
A sense of inferiority is exemplified in the following statement:
I think my parents would think that they wouldn’t be able to go into a school because they weren’t educators. They weren’t teachers – they didn’t have the teacher’s skills to be in there or they didn’t even have the knowledge of the system to be there. (Sheehan)
The fact that they had been decreed by Church law as ‘the first and foremost educators of their children’, raises the question ‘was it ever conveyed to them?’ This point is taken
241 further by O’Rourke who comments that ‘nor did they have the language, the terms. I think that was the way it was for my mother and her feeling of inadequacy’. As Collard (1990: 166) alleges ‘Catholic educational leaders are called upon to proclaim a vision and mediate organizational reality through language’. Moreover, the cultural context will either ‘embody or contradict the values upon which the school is founded’. This point is augmented by Hill and Woolmer (1985: 27) as they claim ‘it is difficult for parents at the school level to articulate a coherent philosophy of education; they do not always have the language to express their ideas’.
From the interviews the obstacles encountered by working mothers and parents with poor English, became apparent. In line with this view:
My mother was single parent and in the sixties in a very Catholic community to be a working mother was quite unusual. From my memory she was not encouraged to be involved at all if she couldn’t serve in the canteen, and she couldn’t do that. She felt she was regarded with slight suspicion because she was different. (Fleming)
My mother felt isolated from the school community, as she was a single parent. (McLeod)
I used to see mothers in the tuckshop, but mine would not have gone because of her poor English. (Merlino)
In interview one participant explained:
Power and control on the part of the principals and the teachers, coupled with the threat to go into dialogue, was not part of the Anglo-Irish background. It was always hierarchical. It’s a real justice issue that parents, as the prime educators of their children have that right to work collaboratively with teachers. As Dewey says ‘education is not just a preparation for life, it is life’. So if its going to be holistic the parents have always been the primary educators. (O’Rourke)
Status of priests and religious teachers How was this power and control maintained? Was it an insidious, subtle process of exclusion engendered by the religious, perhaps not consciously?
242 Remembering their own schooling, participants pointed to the utmost deference and respect towards religious: ‘priests could do no wrong, brothers and nuns could do no wrong’ (Messina). Holmes (1969: 16) asserts that ‘the basis of our relations with authority are laid down in the very earliest years of our life’. He goes on to say ‘conformity to pre-established principles’ of inherent respect and deference paid to the priest, is allied with his ‘doing good work’ in serving the community.
It was more formal in those days than it is now and I think that’s how it would have probably been perceived. There was a certain aura and respect around teachers and being seen to sort of do the right thing in terms of follow on procedures. There was a certain sense of freedom in communication with them, but also there was certainly a sense in which they were apart and of another world. (Galletta)
Anne P. O’Brien, (2005: 210) points out that many of the religious women, however, experienced difficulty in dealing with the power of the parish priest. She relates how the convent Superior needed to request the priest’s permission to raise funds for resources in the school. As this money was considered by the parish priest to be diverting it from other parish needs, dissension often ensued. On the other hand some parish priests ‘by their cheerful, fatherly kindness’ supported the efforts of the nuns, thus establishing a natural, happy community.
Another view proposed related to the positive aspects of the school community:
The atmosphere in the school was welcoming and warm. When one of the nuns had a Golden jubilee, my mother picked a beautiful bunch of flowers and sent them to her. When my sister was born, and she was named the same name as one of the sisters, I remember my parents coming from the hospital and bringing the baby down to the school. (Sheehan)
Enormous trust and respect for the priests and religious were significant in the data and inferred a ‘palpable spirit of community’ (Wilkinson 1990: 118). However, it could be argued that there was all the potential for true community, which incorporates ‘inclusivity’, but was it ever realised as such?
243 Erikson (1968: 106) explains that ‘religion is the oldest and most lasting institution in which, throughout man’s history, has striven to verify basic trust’. This, in turn, ‘becomes the capacity for faith’. Impinging on this vital need, ‘man must find some institutional confirmation and trust’. For the Catholic parents, it also incorporated an essential trustfulness of ‘others’, which found expression towards the religious teachers and priests in the school community. But relations could be severely disrupted.
One participant told of how her parent was extremely hurt by a decision which affected her child.
I remember one thing that I’ll never forget, that mum was upset about, but she never went up to the school about it and that was when I was in Year 5 and I won a bursary, they didn’t give it to me. They said dad was working and therefore mum and dad could afford to pay the school fees. That was very unfair because with four children, and dad was struggling and mum didn’t work. So mum was very upset because one nun made that decision in the primary school. It was never discussed with my parent and that would have helped, as we were all still at school. But they never questioned anything. (O’Rourke)
The unquestioning attitude of the parents, in turn transmitted to the child, is explained by Goffman (1959: 20) as ‘each participant is expected to suppress his immediate heartfelt feelings in a group, as this is in accord with others’. Furthermore, ‘each participant in given situations, conceals his own wants behind statements which assert values to which everyone feels obliged to give lip service’ (Goffman 1959: 20).
Other views of participants reflected hurt feelings and disappointment.
I think there was great frustration because my mother, who I think was a woman ahead of her time, you know, she wasn’t one to kind of like, just be put down by men because that is what we’re dealing with here, men and women. She found them very boorish, they weren’t kind of very focused in being able to give answers and there was a threat on the parent even questioning. So there was an imbalance of power. It wasn’t a collaborative encounter. The teacher felt incompetent in dealing with the case of my mother which only led to further frustration. (Ryan)
244 It could be argued that her frustration only increased her isolation and vulnerability. This notion is depicted by Brady (1995: 66) as she contends that ‘in our society women usually live on the fringes of power and thus have a stronger sense of life as exile’. She proposes that the ‘patriarchal authority is monological and one-dimensional’ and suggests, it is thus maintained in the patriarchal Church. Connell et al. (1983: 173) claim relationships between sexes are also relations of power. They note that in discussing gender ‘we are talking about ways in which social relations get organised in the interests of some groups, over-riding the interests of others’. As a result, they go on to say, individuals can also suffer from the social construction of gender relations.
Macpherson (1997: 539) speaks about how people respond to social exclusion in a variety of ways. These can include, ‘passivity, shame and despair or alternatively, through a group action attempt to reverse the process of exclusion’. He observes that the most common response is passivity. Other studies, he maintains, have revealed that socially excluded groups feel a sense of worthlessness or impotence, which keeps them in their subjugated position.
Another instance centred around a parent who was anxious about her daughter.
I remember a girl in my class and her mother was a teacher in the local state primary school and there were a couple of occasions when she did come to the school about issues and she was known as a real troublemaker. I think she was a concerned mother. I remember hearing that she was a trouble maker, and a know- all and that it really wasn’t the thing to do. We all picked that up. I think that it came from the other parents as well. One said ‘you don’t do that, and that’s making trouble and she thinks she knows every thing because she’s a teacher’. (McCrae)
The justification for the parent’s intervention is described: ‘She felt the best contribution she could make to her daughter’s well-being was a sound and happy education so ‘that she can make her own way in life’ (Johnson and Ransom 1983: 10). This instance is another example, where the consensus of the group prevailed in viewing the mother as ‘a trouble- maker’, a view conveyed to the children also.
245 What Role do you think parents were expected to perform? The gender issue again became evident in the following perception:
I think it’s very sad to say but I really think the brothers thought of the women as cooking and ironing and in the kitchen preparing that lovely meal for their husband at night and not to be opening their mouth and it was really - a male chauvinist thing. From the Catholic area of the brothers that was something that was very strong. And in a way you could equate that, then the nuns who became hierarchical over their women colleagues outside, because of their role. (Lennon)
Anne P. O’Brien (2005: 83) notes ‘gender inflected identity in complex ways. Within the Church, women were ‘other’ to the hierarchy’. Campion (1987: 106) sums up, for churchmen ‘there were only three kinds of women: nuns, mothers and sources of temptation’,
Hill and Woolmer (1985: 26) from their literature, reinforce this notion, in identifying certain ‘paternalistic’ traditions that prevailed in Australian society. These traditions included ‘women should be in the kitchen, aboriginals (sic) on the fringes, Asians in restaurants and parents in tuckshops’ (McGowan 1981 cited by Hill and Woolmer, 1985: 26).
There was no dissent from the view of parents’ place during their childhood:
Pay the fees and keep out of the way, just to be a supportive parent and to keep out of the school and never to complain, never to ask, never to interfere, nothing, no. (Boyd)
On a point of practise of the Catholic religion these impressions were outlined:
I think parents were expected to back and support what was being done at the school. Most definitely and particularly in relation to Catholic education. Those were the days when people still asked who went to Mass on Sunday and obviously, it was poor showing for your parents if you hadn’t been. We were caught up in the Irish tradition. (Butler)
246 My parents considered themselves to be the first educators of their children in the faith and it was very strong. We were taken to confession every Saturday afternoon and that was still happening in the sixties. (McCrae)
This kind of commitment is closely entwined with consistency and predictability according to Mol (1977: 12). He suggests that ‘ritual maximises order, strengthening the bonds and reinforcing the place of the individual in his society’.
Relationship between Catholic Community and society I guess we were considered a class apart, that it was clear we ran our own separate system. I remember listening to my parents talking of when the Archbishop of Canberra/Goulburn closed his schools and all the children went off to the state schools. So that was a pretty daring thing to do. My parents were right behind him. You were certainly aware there was tension between the two systems. I know when the inspector came we were certainly told in no uncertain terms to be on our best behaviour. It was a matter of some tension that we would pass the inspection. That was quite an ordeal obviously for our teachers. (Messina)
In support of this statement Luttrell (1996: 27) notes, that the visit of the inspector was for both, teachers and pupils, a fraught event. Catholic schools welcomed the government inspectors, in order to obtain ‘registration’ by the State primary and secondary education authorities. However, there were Catholic Inspectors also, who made visits to Catholic schools and issued reports. Comments such as, ‘there is an excellent tone in this school…Catechism well known…a good school where the pupils make steady progress…singing is unusually good’ were reported. (School Report for St. John’s Intermediate School, Auburn, and Marist Brothers Intermediate School, Auburn, held at St. John of God Presbytery, Auburn) cited by Luttrell (1996: 28).
There appeared to be an emphasis on behaviour and image, as portrayed in a statement:
If you went to a Catholic school you would have learnt your manners, you would have learnt how to wear your uniform properly, speak properly, you were more uppity if you went to a Catholic school than a state school. Catholic schools were perceived as refined. Academically I don’t know, because we never had assessments. (Fleming)
247 Catholics had always valued their schools. Parents and teachers speaking of these later decades stressed the special value of the Catholic school as a total education. It was special and different and had dismissed the earlier sense of sectarianism. The following excerpts from interviews point to a multi-faceted satisfaction and pride.
I think within the Catholic community Catholic education was perceived as being different, and state school people thought so too. Not better but different. (Boyd)
I had good friends who lived in my street, and went to the state school. (Sheehan)
I think Catholic education was seen as being very significant. I think we Catholics grew up with a bit of a sense of inferiority – still coming out of that whole sense of the Irish and their place in the world. The sort of gentrification hadn’t occurred – that came in a slightly later generation. So we would have grown up thinking that we had fewer resources and managed on less in the school. And the parents were making it possible. You knew that teachers were giving their life’s work really, because they were religious. But that sense of struggle and hardship was there. It was not something that was your right. It was much more a case of fighting for what you had achieved. (Hennessy)
Turner (1992: 55) claims ‘the term Catholic was a badge of inferiority’ and followed on from earlier times, when ‘the claim for equal citisenship was a wanton impertinence’, and contributed to their exclusion. Furthermore, she describes ‘the aggressively defiant attitude of some Catholics, stimulated by their feelings of inferiority, did not diminish the discrimination often exercised against them’. This was changing. It could be argued that the Catholic community was consolidated around the school:
Attendance at a Catholic school was just taken for granted. It was so much part of our Catholic upbringing. There wasn’t any question about anything. In the parish, school community they all worked completely together. We really did perpetuate the Catholicism. (McLeod)
Expectations of Catholic schools The shared common objective was for children to have a good education as they represented ‘social capital’ for the parents and for the Church. This aim and attitude to
248 those in authority was also inculcated from an early age, as is demonstrated in the following:
We were expected to get a good education and to be respectful and understanding of authority, and all that would help you when you leave school so that you could do anything you wanted to do afterwards. The nuns were there to teach you and so you’d get in there and do it. (Messina)
It was drummed into me from when I was very young, you must get an education and you must be able ‘to support yourself and your children if you end up in my circumstances, (mother) – without having to wash clothes and cook other people’s meals’ –that was it. (Fleming)
This position is upheld by Anne P. O’Brien, (2005: 92). The nuns fostered a sense of identity and belonging in Catholic Girls’ Schools, and nurtured the desire for independence. This ‘enabled some of their brightest students to leave their mark’. While social mobility may have been envisaged, it is noted that a practical notion of being independent in society was also equally as strong.
Discipline The fact that discipline was upheld in the Catholic school gave parents ‘firm security’. They considered that teachers reinforced their own endeavours regarding the behaviour of their children.
The overarching conviction was that mothers generally dealt with complaints, and on the whole, respected the authority of the teachers, especially in terms of discipline. Some instances are outlined:
You must have deserved it – corporal punishment. (Lennon)
If sister/brother said that, then it must be right – you must do as you are told. (Butler)
You didn’t discuss any difficulties with a teacher – you just had to grin and bear it. (Ryan)
249 There weren’t any problems because you got the cane if you didn’t behave. (Galletta)
Fees There did not seem to be any recollection of anyone having difficulty paying fees. But as one participant reflected ‘it would have been settled privately. That was a particular thing that Catholic schools handled well’ (Pierce).
However, one participant observed, ‘we could not have afforded the fees at Catholic schools, and so, for my parents, it actually didn’t cost any money for us to go to one, as two of us got bursaries at the school’ (Messina). Bursaries enabled children to attend the particular Catholic schools and these gifted children typically were strong academic achievers. Fees were not an overt concern in these later prosperous decades, and ‘State Aid’ helped the schools’ financial stability.
The perceived merits of the following quotations tell of a deep regard for the religious integrity, discipline, care and overall quality of the broad education focused on the children and their best development. The parents’ concern for their children’s well-being educationally, socially and spiritually, was so closely allied with that of the religious teachers, that it instilled a secure, shared sense of commitment.
My parents had great regard for the priests, the brothers and the nuns. The best part was the way schools were run and staffed by religious, and that gave them consolation. (McCrae)
The religion. My family definitely like your First Holy Communion, first Confession, Confirmation. They loved the nuns being there, in the habits and they looked holy. They were concerned about the standard of education. They liked us to pass exams and to do well They were worried if we didn’t. They never questioned anything. (Hennessy)
I think they chose schools which would have an atmosphere of care, encouragement, scholarship and good friends. I know too they wanted some reality in education. (Pierce)
Standards of social behaviour, expectations around educating a young lady, how she ought to be performing in society. Social and moral codes would have been
250 important. I went to school in the days in high school where you still had to wear your hat and gloves, and there was that expectation of how you would behave as a student at a Catholic school. Importantly, there was the perception and expectation that they would encourage young women into achieving their potential. (Merlino)
Discipline was a strong theme voiced through the interviews.
Aspects that parents disliked Parents’ list of dislikes had a significant commonality. The teachers could be too demanding, too harsh and sometimes too remote from the needs of children. The following quotations are indicative:
Being out of touch with the real world. So little emphasis on humanizing – the emotional missing out. They just didn’t know how to cope. (Butler)
Unreasonableness. Sports uniforms comprised a long uniform, with a shirt underneath, stockings, socks and sandshoes because we were ladies above all else. My mother thought it was the greatest load of garbage ever, because it was costing her money for stockings that I kept falling over when running consequently putting financial strains on the home front. (O’Rourke)
My brothers went to boarding school and they became so unhappy they came home. Mum felt that their discipline and expectations about what the boys had to do, were far too harsh. (Fleming)
They did not express any displeasure about Catholic education. If we were not doing well, it was our fault, no blame was reflected on the school. (McLeod)
Some of the very features that parents liked about Catholic education, also caused some friction on the home front. For example, they admired the lady-like dress of the uniform, but felt the strain produced when frequently replacing new stockings for sport. Nonetheless the image was important to the religious and possibly to the parents also. At the same time, it could be argued that the status of the religious teachers carried such respect, that parents did not complain.
The Effects of Vatican II on the school community Religious values and practices were no longer taken for granted as ‘immutable and inflexible’. Response to the challenge of Vatican II varied widely. Some teachers and
251 parents were ambivalent, others dismayed and some teachers embraced new opportunities for reflecting on their faith. There was a marked difference in the ways participants as young people reacted to the changes of Vatican II in the Catholic school and parish:
Before (Vatican II), we all did everything the same way. There was no sense in ever trying to question anything. I can remember being in a panic because I couldn’t remember the Catechism - we learnt it every night, and we were tested every morning in primary school. (Sheehan)
In a particular school I attended there was one Sister who taught us, who was way ahead of her time. She had put together a whole thing on the documents on the role of the laity and she was really quite a feminist. She encouraged us, the girls, to think about our place in the world. She felt liberated by the Vatican II documents and she passed that on to us. But when I came home and started questioning, that really alarmed Dad. (Butler)
There seemed to be a whole period where there was sort of nobody who quite knew what to teach, and so there was a period where nobody knew what to keep - so it all went. (Pierce)
Mum and Dad to this day will still say girls after me didn’t get the religious education that I got. They say there was a complete loss of something and we know faith should be caught not taught but there seemed to be a difference. (McLeod)
YCS’s (Young Christian Students) came in and we thought that was really groovy as you had an excuse to go and be with the boys. It was a Catholic thing. So all of that was quite exciting. (Merlino)
I remember people’s reaction when the altar rails were taken down and we didn’t kneel any more. I remember people being upset when this square thing was plonked on the middle of the alter. I remember we saw a little bit of hair from under the veil on one of the nuns and we could see her knees as the habit had been shortened. The whole school lined up at the gate and watched the sisters come over out of the convent door and we were just mesmerised. (Ryan)
The altars, Horne (1987: 65) submits, came out amongst the people. Their plain, unadorned materials; were simply constructed and possibly ‘symbolised a new sense of communality and straightforwardness’.
They were no longer black from head to toe, they actually looked like real people. (Fleming)
252 I never understood what Vatican II was. You know it was just like things started disappearing or appearing. (Rafferty)
I remember sitting next to an elderly person still with her Latin Mass book and refusing to answer in English. It was very unsettling for the laity as many older people were anxious as there were huge changes. (O’Rourke)
There wasn’t enough sharing of the documents or the information from the documents and I think that’s still the case today. A lot of people don’t know they exist; there is such a treasury there. (Pierce)
Arbuckle (1993: 42) explains this point of view:
For centuries Catholics were treated like dependent children for they were told by a clerical leadership exactly how to win salvation by obeying a list of detailed rules or ‘ho-to’s’.
This set of rules was previously mentioned in Chapter 7 with the repetitive, parrot-style question and answer format of the Catechism (Fogarty 1959; Campion 1987), and also earlier in this Chapter (Rossiter 1985). Arbuckle goes on to say:
Suddenly the Council says Catholics are to stand on their own feet and make decisions for themselves in the light of the needs of the world, the Gospel and Church teaching. Cultures, and especially long established culture of pre-Vatican II Church, do not change smoothly simply because a document or authoritarian leaders say they should. (1993: 42)
This premise becomes evident from the data of the parents’ and teachers’ perceptions that follow.
2. Religious teachers’ perceptions of parent involvement in their schools
Relationship between the home and school Listening to and reviewing the interviews with these teachers pointed to relatively recent published research and commentary on Catholic schooling. In this section I report on the perspectives and observations of the teachers and highlight convergence, as well as occasional divergence, in their understanding of the relation between themselves as teachers and the parents of children entrusted to their schools. And wherever relevant, I
253 relate the observation and analysis, drawn from published literature, that bear on the interview data.
The teachers’ perceptions of how parents were involved during this period varied considerably. While some teachers, volunteered that ‘we couldn’t manage without the parents’; others conveyed reservations about having parents too close to the action in the school. Comments came through the interview data, such as, ‘we were not used to parents having their say, and we couldn’t handle it. We’d growl about it’.
Charlesworth (1966: 93) considered the centre of power rests with the parents, and schools must view themselves ‘as the delegates of the parents’. Parents, have a personal right to exercise in seeking an education service that meets the needs of their children. The school that they choose will be according to the ‘dictates of one’s own conscience’ (John Paul 11 1982: 76).
In the following description of a Catholic School the emphasis is on relationship, values and community: A school is not only a place where one is given a choice of intellectual values, but a place where one has presented an array of values which are actively lived. The school must be a community whose values are communicated through the interpersonal and sincere relationship of its members and through both individual and corporative adherence to the outlook on life that permeates the school. (Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education 1977: 28)
Millar (1980: 2) observed, in the light of this statement, that for a child to feel a sense of belonging and security, the values and philosophy of the school should be closely aligned with those of the home and vice versa. That contention reinforces the need for teachers and parents to work closely together, thus forging links between the home and the school.
Charlesworth (1966: 97) proposed that at the time, the Second Vatican Council ‘affirmed the rights of parents in education’. He pointed out that ‘this will remain so much pious and hypocritical theorizing … if Catholic parents are not granted some kind of effective say in the management of the schools they sent their children to’. He claimed that Catholic parents
254 complain that Catholic schools, largely, carry on as though parents did not exist at all (Charlesworth 1966: 93). On the other hand Charlesworth (1966: 93) submits ‘Catholic teachers claim that the parents themselves are not interested in participating actively in education’. He continued, ‘this is especially true in religious education where parents do very little and leave the whole business to the schools’.
These assertions raise the question, what has been the result of the Church edicts in the Catholic schools in New South Wales during the period 1975-2000?
How have teachers involved parents in Catholic schools ? The interviews reveal that many of the ways, in which parents had been involved in the schools, followed the usual, traditional patterns. However there was a shift in some schools towards more recognition of parents as ‘participants’ by principals.
Participants outlined a considerable range of activities in which parents helped the school.
Performances and concerts, sacramental programs. Lively parent and friends meetings, weekly school bulletins went out informing them of what’s going on, what’s happening and ‘can you help here or there?’ (Lennon)
Parents would be involved in informal things like P & F boards, mothers’ clubs, involvement with sport and very strong, cultural activities. You’ve got a musical club, there’s a committee for the kids that do music and drama. There are art shows. You would sometimes invite parents to come and talk to classes about some particular area. (Hennessy)
I used to put on displays of the students’ work in secondary school during parent/teacher meetings. Mothers not only helped with costumes for concerts but some helped train the children for their parts in plays. They were involved in the traditional one of fundraising but I would also encourage the P & F to do something of a spiritual nature such as faith development. (Ryan)
These accounts tell of the extending parent role. Nonetheless, King and Young (1986: 160) claimed that uniformity rather than diversity prevailed in the ways that parents were involved in schools across Australia. They sum these roles as ‘caretaker and fundraiser’. However, channels of communication such as newsletters, school bulletins, parent/teacher
255 meetings and invitations to be involved were being initiated beyond the earlier, fundraising role. A participant nominated how he had broadened the scope:
I had an advisory council which meant further involvement than the P & F. It had a sort of bigger vision and was described to me by Brother Walter Simmons. It agreed on matters of staffing, curriculum, financing, development policies. Later on I introduced school boards of a pastoral nature, such as in Queensland. They had about six or seven clear areas of concern. This was a much greater role that the P & F. (Ryan)
I really find the lack of school boards in New South Wales a sad circumstance. An advisory board was just a step towards school boards and was totally supported by the principal. (McCrae)
Stephens (1997: 86) supports this view, describing advisory boards as a ‘means of broadening the base of decision making responsibility but decision making responsibility does not rest with them’. Perhaps this could infer, Stephens (1997: 87) maintains, a tokenism and merely a nominal acknowledgement of a form of participatory decision- making. However be believes that a responsible school board expects from its members a ‘realistic assessment of their responsibilities, an acceptance of their accountability’ to the community and higher authorities, which they serve. The appropriate use of their formal powers is essential to the well being of the school (Stephens 1997: 86).
In the interviews, another aspect of collaboration is presented:
I think parents are far more involved and it’s a real partnership between the parents, teachers and students. It’s just all different – not only in Catholic schools but all schools. There is a new spirit of collaboration of togetherness. (Pierce)
This point was taken further by Charlesworth (1966: 95) who suggested that parents should have some kind of effective say in the ownership and control of Catholic schools. He contended that while this was usually vested in the parish priest, and in the particular order in charge of the school, it would be possible for joint management to be exercised in collaboration with representatives elected from the parents of the children at the school. It
256 could be assumed that this stance was pre-empting the establishment of School boards and councils.
Different forms of communication and the need for such, were evident in other ways that teachers described:
I always had parent interviews with the child present and I’d show them the marks and the exercise books. I felt very strongly about the real flow of communication. While the role of parents still includes fundraising, there were also social and advisory roles that were included. They formed a sounding board of consultation for things being done in the school. (O’Rourke)
Schools, Hill and Woolmer (1985: 26) proposed, must take the initiative in developing constructive dialogue with parents in fostering their involvement in their children’s education; the nub is the nature of the relationship between parents and the school.
When arriving at a new school as principal, an interviewee described his approach to the parents:
I would write to the parents very simply and give them my expectations and ask them for co-operation as my school depended upon their involvement. If they wanted a good school and a good education, I needed their help to be involved in the school. I would wait for the first time and I’d see how it went and then I would write to them again. (Boyd)
This new principal offered possibilities of ‘partnership’ between the home and the school, and was keen for such participation to develop. The emphasis on communication and mutuality highlights the ‘shift’ that was occurring. Mutuality (in being) described by Graham, (1994: 3) is shaped by the degree of respect and shared values of the other. Hornsby Smith (1978: 115) in upholding this view, proposes that the rights and duties of parents in being acknowledged, provide a focus on the shared aim of parents and teachers, in relation to educational needs.
School boards and councils, now being developed, provided a forum for parental involvement. However, advisory councils were set up in few schools in Sydney in 1980s.
257 The School Boards In operational terms, Harper (1980: 49) suggests that a board comprises various committees with a board member as the chairperson. The committee members, she believes need to have a clear idea of their mandate and knowledge related to the responsibilities of the committee. For those reasons she advocates a training program. One teacher described the way school boards functioned:
They are not really boards of management – they’re probably advisory boards and a means of consultation for the principal. If I took an issue to the board and they had a particular view, it would weigh very heavily and strongly about which way you went with your decision. While they wouldn’t make it a directive, you would be very unwise and unlikely to go against what they came up with. (Lennon)
The principle of subsidiarity - a tenet of Vatican II, (Arbuckle 1993: 207), means that decisions based on consultation amongst those closest to the learning situation, is advocated for school board structures in Catholic schools. This is allied with the Karmel Report (1973) decree that the devolution of responsibility should be handled at the local school level. According to Stephens (1997: 83) the role of the parish priest in relation to the parish school, the participation of the laity in drawing on their gifts and talents, the principal or teaching representatives, all constitute the most likely membership of the board. He emphasises the promotion and recognition of parents as the first and foremost educators of their children, as essential in relation to the board. Coman (1986) considers that school councils/boards are one important way of involving parents significantly in decision- making. They need to articulate the interests of parents effectively in order to have any specific effect on decision-making.
Millar (1984: 4) reported in her study of School Boards in New Zealand, that a parent observed discerning recruitment and selection was vital towards a successful well-run board and that regular inservicing of the board and committee members was crucial. In interview recruitment was described:
An elected board could be difficult; while by invitation tended to be easier, because you knew what you’re looking for. I think people regarded it as an honour to be asked to go on the board. (Lennon)
258 How did Vatican II affect the School Community? The teachers interviewed voiced positive effects. The Church was now connecting with ‘the world’; absolutist priestly authority was to disappear; parents could be expected to participate in the schooling of their children. But in Australia such effects occurred slowly and most religious and laity seemed reluctant about the possibilities of change.
I think the Church felt it should have been more a part of the world. Couldn’t stand outside the world as a judge of the world. Had to be part of the fabric of society and be a source of good news. It was about connecting with other people. The world was questioning and better educated. (Hennessy)
I think too there was a change of attitude in the Church. Pre-Vatican II I think the parish priest almost ruled the parish and what he said went in all sorts of fields. Not only just in the liturgy either. Parishioners didn’t really have much say and the priests had a very strong influence over parochial primary schools. (Ryan)
However, the power of the clergy was unassailable and lay subservience was so ingrained, that it was set in place spanning many years (O’Farrell 1992: 186).
It was so slow being implemented here – the only external manifestation of Vatican II was the Mass going from Latin to English, it was a very controlled change. (McCrae)
I don’t think it was really felt until the late seventies. The hierarchical thing remained the same. I think it took forty years to address the three demons of power, control and image to get into a collaborative model. (Pierce)
It did have an effect on Catholic education but still I think it was almost just like external change. Internally the attitude hadn’t changed. Power, control and image. (Boyd)
I think Vatican II undermined the parents in a way. For them to know that they are the first educators of their children, put responsibility back onto them. Preparing the children for the sacraments and involving the parents was good. I’m not sure that they understood why they were being roped in, in such a way. (Sheehan)
Sheehan’s observation highlights the question of what was being done to raise the level of parental awareness their role as primary educators. This edict has always been clearly stated in the Code of Canon Law, but obviously it was not until Vatican II, that teachers and the
259 Church started to reinforce it. In response to the question ‘Has it ever been put to parents that this is their role?’ the following observation was made.
I think it’s been attempted but not always successfully. For some parents that would be a bit too confronting for them to be the primary educator. (Lennon)
I think parents even today expect the schools to do the educating. They don’t see what they do as educating. They see education basically, as what you learn in the classroom and what you do for the HSC and school certificate and so on. (Hennessy)
Do these views suggest elements of the ‘we know best’ premise, and the subtle conditioning of the parents with regard to their children’s Catholic education, which was conveyed in the earlier relationship with parents? These teachers felt any change to comfortable attitudes would occur slowly. To expect too much was unrealistic.
I think it takes years for a whole new theology to seep into all of us. I mean you just don’t tell people that on one day that Father’s in charge and it comes from Pope right down through Father and we are the ‘people’ of God and so we have this co- responsibility for living out that call. I mean that’s an enormous shift. We are only working our way through that. (Ryan)
Vatican II occurred within the sixties when society irrespective of Vatican II was changing pretty dramatically. So you had probably two things causing a change within it. (McCrae)
With hindsight I think there was too much change too fast basically and these changes have been sort of brewing at Vatican level for so long and once they were unleashed upon the Church – the horse bolted. It was just such a shift in culture – it was enormous. And yet there are some who are trying to draw the reins back in again. (Pierce)
Crawford and Rossiter (1993) speak of the tension that existed between the more conservative elements in the Church and those with liberal, progressive views. One interviewee observed, ‘programs about Vatican II documents are not really valued by the parents as a whole’ (Ryan). Was this because of the neglect on the part of Church authorities to instigate information and courses to enlighten the ‘faithful’?
260 The obstacles to parent involvement The lack of skills or strategies related to parent participation stemmed from a gap in the teacher-training of ‘how to go about it?’ (Stacey 1991: 20). Principals felt stressed when called upon to involve parents when they have so many demands inherent in their responsibilities for running secondary Catholic schools.
Work commitments. Also I think one of the main reasons a school maybe reluctant to involve parents is because they don’t know how to do it or they might feel threatened. Most principals I think of large secondary schools are not opposed to it but I’m battling to see it. It’s heavy work running Catholic schools and the day to day effort of keeping the staff on side, keeping the students reasonably studious about their studies, performing well on the sporting field put on the production, well that’s about all a Principal can cope with. (O’Rourke)
The parents’ perspective from this cohort noted matters that hindered their getting involved: work commitments, not seeing it as important, and not receiving the notices. Furthermore, single parents faced increased difficulty in taking on more commitment for getting involved. Some felt the students themselves preferred their parents keeping away from their school sphere.
Sometimes the publicity does not reach them, if it is sent home via the students. It is censored by the children. (Boyd)
It’s been a trend where parents become less involved. It’s not cool to have mum or dad around the place in secondary school, except for tuckshop They might want their parents to be there watching at sporting events but not be visible. (Ryan)
I think it is still a power thing and also they’ve got so many pressures on them – having to work; and if it’s a single parent it is really very demanding. (Sheehan)
Some teachers felt that parents left it to the school to deal with every aspect of education. Such parents did not want to get involved.
I think a lot of parents expect the schools to do everything, the same as society in many ways. Whenever there is a problem with young people, the schools are expected to fix it. Drug education, sex education, driver education, - everyone says – get the schools to do it. They are expected to become part of the curriculum. (Lennon)
261 I think it’s the hierarchical thing of power. They’re made to feel second class citisens and it’s almost like you worry about your job at home, and we’ll worry about our job at school – it is Us and Them – not a partnership. (Hennessy)
Social inclusion engages the ‘actors’ in mutual recognition and mutual exchange. As they all share the one objective of bringing to fruition the ‘social capital’ of the children, reciprocity and trust are fundamental in this milieu (Stewart, 2000: 13). In contrast Hornsby-Smith (1978: 40) claimed, that ‘Catholics can be particularly prone to authoritarianism’.
In a school in an affluent area where I was teaching, the parents ‘paid us to do it’ and ‘you do it well and deliver because we’re paying expensive fees for this’. They drove their children to school in grand cars and picked them up in the afternoon and you never saw them again. (Ryan)
This attitude had been criticised by the Bishops in writing on the family (1951: 1) and was to be ‘condemned’ (Praetz 1980: 37), as they considered the Catholic school was merely an agent.
I think that it is our job to turn around the attitude of ‘we pay fees for you to do it’. We have to encourage them to be concerned about the various aspects of their child’s education. I think all people like to be involved and given the right circumstances, I always presume that parents want that, and then I go from there. (Sheehan)
This stance is confirmed by Ochiltree (1984: 25) in the recognition of the principal as the key person, in stimulating links between parents and the school. She considers that parents only fear innovation if they are excluded as they do not understand when they are not part of the process.
I think there are a lot of opportunities for parents to be involved but I still think a lot of teachers are haunted by the demon of the past – fear of parents. They’re seen as the enemy. But I think we should develop an open door policy so that where ever there were any concerns that parents have, they do feel free to approach the teachers to get help in that area. (Pierce)
262 Fear of conflict with parents can inhibit relationships between parents and teachers. It can also be related to feelings of inadequacy in the parents and or lack of skills on the part of the teacher (Ochiltree 1984: 27).
Complaints Where complaints were concerned, the principal took the initiative in dealing with it as illustrated in the following examples:
I wouldn’t allow a complaint to fester. I would ring the parent up and go to see them. I’d simply say ‘what’s the problem? It is only about seven out of ten times in my life that I had to do it. I was pro-active to any complaints. I just cleared the air. Meeting them at home was softer. In the principal’s office people can feel intimidated and I hate intimidating people – I think it is unfair. (McCrae)
Years later I regarded any complaint as a blessing because at least I was hearing what the parents were actually saying. As the years went on I was more open at P & F meetings, and I looked forward to them to be given the good feedback which became a sort of mechanism for the school as the years went on. In the early days I was frightened of it you know. (Boyd)
People are usually accepting if a child is misbehaving or not working. Sometimes though they only want to hear one side of the story but most parents realise there are two sides. The majority of people are very supportive and will endeavour to do something. They might not always be successful but they are willing to try. (Ryan)
I think the parents certainly wanted to have more say and I noticed in the 70s the parents would come forward to have their say about what the school was doing, or not doing, or what the school was doing badly. They would even come and complain – I really noticed that – they would actually come up and complain. (O’Rourke)
Relationships between parents and teachers that are built on good-will emanate a positive and facilitating influence on all concerned, particularly the child (King and Young (1986: 165). Was this indicative of change occurring in the relationship between parents and school staff? Parents were becoming more aware of their ‘rights’ in the education of their children and were not content to remain in a submissive role. Stacey (1991: 27) explains that as the parental role has become more central, ‘it is primarily a political one’ which presents as threatening and powerful.
263 Communication In interview some parents complained of a lack of communication. Yet teachers insisted different forms of communication were offered. These included school bulletins, newsletters, parent/teacher meetings, courses being offered to parents and surveys.
My newsletters were very open and always promulgating the open door policy - come and see the teachers if you have a problem or get on the telephone and give us a call. (Hennessy)
Every school I have been in has had a newsletter which goes out weekly or fortnightly. Parents have input into it via the P & F or boards or other committees that may want to put in something. (Ryan)
I sent slips to the home classes the day after Parent/Teacher interviews to hand up and tick the sheet whose parents came – and I considered that was a strategy to the kids and the parents to let them know I wanted them there. (Lennon)
It’s matter of communication. If you communicate nicely, regularly, sensibly, simply and clearly – people will respond. I was able to get a fair number of parents to do the renewal of faith course. Also Understanding Your Adolescent Course. I felt parents responded in proportion to how well you promoted it. If you send it home through the post I found they would respond. I always included a circular from me about these kinds of things which went in the post with the school report – four times a year. I’d take advantage of the postage. It might seem a costly way of sending it but I would explain that this is important to me and I want you to receive it. (McCrae)
Buskin(1975: 23) considers intelligent, realistic newsletters to parents are an extremely valuable means of maintaining complete community relations in a ‘good’ school. Numbers were an issue in terms of attendance at initiatives offered by the school. ‘We organise frequent parent discussions and there might a hundred…and this is a school of fifteen hundred girls’ (McCrae). Another interviewee reinforced the lack of numbers as he claims ‘we’ve got visiting speakers coming next year and this will also be for the parents. However, you tend to only get small numbers from my experience’ (Ryan).
Special sympathetic mention was made regarding single parents and the school. ‘I feel very much for single parents – the single mothers. They’re working, and are mentally and psychologically exhausted - alone rearing the children’ (Boyd).
264 Fees The subject of fees conveyed a degree of ambivalence about whether people were paying them or not. Alternatively, it was found that ‘sometimes debts accumulated into large amounts of thousands of dollars’ (Sheehan). It became evident that ‘schools are becoming more assertive in recovering school fees when parents don’t respond to letters etc. But that’s a small minority’ (Sheehan). Other interviewees nominated that ‘it’s been my experience that if there is a legitimate problem …the schools will bend over backwards to come to an arrangement – even to the point of not charging fees’ (Hennessy). This view was shared by most interviewees. However, it was acknowledged that the ‘fees are a big burden for parents, especially in single parent families. I think the system is trying to alleviate the problem, so that there is an opportunity for an education for their sons or daughters’ (Pierce).
Parents’ Expectations of Catholic Schools as perceived by the Teachers The general consensus from the teacher responses was that parents expected ‘a good education which would enable their children to take their place out in the wider community’. It was noted that in the education for girls ‘the parents want for women the values that feminism espouses more or less. Not rabid feminism but that many doors can open for their daughters’. Some considered the parents saw the function of the school as a means to solving some of the problems with the children. They wanted strong pastoral care and strong discipline in the schools, at the same time, instilling in the students strong self- discipline.
One interviewee asserted: I think there is confusion about what the school is really for. If it’s to produce little practicing Catholics that often doesn’t happen, and I think there’s a lot of heartache from parents who have paid, good money only to see their children depart for many years from church practice. So if the criteria is ongoing church practice, then it’s going to fail to deliver. (Hennessy)
Moore (1973 ) in his study found that if there is a conflict of values between the home and the school, the child will opt for the values of the home. This notion was expanded further as follows:
265 I think young people are spiritual but not terribly religious at the present time. They’re passionate about a lot of issues in the world that we older people were not. They have a soft spot for the poor, the aborigines the refugees. Perhaps the adults are religious but not very spiritual. The Church has to change to get the young people back again. (O’Rourke)
This was reinforced in the light of Vatican II as there has been so much change.
It has become kind of almost like a myth with young parents. In a way they’re free of a lot of that baggage of the Church that we had in the past. It’s caused a lot of tension in some ways because it presented change, constant change. Recently we had a boy on retreat who was a product of in vitro fertilization. A teacher was doing something on ethics and as he was a product of this, he felt very badly. (Lennon)
The Catholic laity are described by Crawford and Rossiter (1993: 19) as being better educated, and as a result, they are more appreciative of their freedom in choosing and evaluating their own spirituality. They view ‘questioning’ as related, to natural consequences of a society with different religious options.
It seems there is a conflict between what the parents want for their children and their own input into the Catholic formation.
The parents want their children to be practising Catholics but often the parents are not practicing themselves. The school cannot provide everything. It provides a certain climate and if parents have got a choice between Catholic or any other, they’ll go for the Catholic all the time – the environment is right. But it does have to be a participatory partnership and what happens at schools has to be matched at home. (Sheehan)
Greeley suggests:
There is no explanation of why Catholics don’t depart. But because they like being Catholic they stay and complain about the quality of preaching, and protest about what they don’t like in the parish and in the Church – but they are still ‘Catholic’. (1990: 136)
266 It is a certain loyalty. Despite intermittent ambivalence, parents, as observed by teachers valued their Catholic identity and wanted that identity and ‘belonging’ for their children. Traditionally it was the woman or mother in the home who was responsible for the transmission of piety to her children (Turner 1992: 59). Generally it was expected that the onus of instilling the Catholic faith, seemed to belong to the mother. As one mother/parent stated –‘we work, we go to help at the school and the parish, run our homes – we now try to do it all’. Poole and Langan-Fox (1997: 248) noted in their research of Australian women and careers, the tensions and conflict incurred by women ‘attempting to do it all’.
The concept of ‘religious identity’ is also acknowledged as very important by Crawford and Rossiter (1993). The collective view of Catholic education was cantered around the notion that ‘it provides people with a holistic education that is equipping them for life where they’re at along the journey’. One interviewee considered that ‘there has been a lot of time talking about the past, and not living in the present… it’s a very subtle process meeting young people where they are at. Not where we want them to be at’ (Boyd).
In terms of religious education it was observed:
Some schools have very creative staff and offer amazing sorts of religious experiences of all kinds which are then not matched back at the parish level where young people do not seem to be welcome. So we’ve got a big cultural gap generationally. (Pierce)
Teachers’ Reflections on the Hopes and Future for Catholic education These hopes and reflections were composed of various features and some integral components of Catholic education. As evidence of the strong influence of Catholic schooling, teachers pointed to more commitment of young people related to their Catholic religion was nominated, along with their fidelity to social justice programs, and working on night patrols.
Three particular aspects were emphasised in the comprehensive goals as follows: 1. A good school:
267 There are four to five areas that make a good school. You must have strong leadership, a keen thrust about teaching and learning, research ways for parent participation in schools, as it is crucial. In my vision for the future we should give all the students who have potential leadership to be really trained in leadership – it needs to be nurtured. Really go for it. Make it strong. In identifying and nurturing this potential – we would be encouraging students to be responsible and to take their freedom seriously. The next stage is school boards. (Ryan)
2. There was a sense of loss expressed with regard to ritual.
My own Catholic education was a strong experience of Catholic symbols – like there was the mystery. This is missing today in a lot of Catholic ritual, lots of blessings and the sense of community. We’ve got a whole rich treasure there of Catholic ritual that is just waiting to be unleashed upon us. (McCrae)
3. The divergence of parish and school was also lamented after the strong bonds that existed between the parish and school communities in the past.
It’s very sad that there is the big divide between parish and school. The school does its things extremely well. Most of the lay staff are extremely committed. There’s got to be a lot more integration of faith and life and it’s slowly happening. But there’s still a long way to go especially as we’re getting fewer and older priests. When things die something else is forced out to happen. (Hennessy)
The final reflection which asserted the challenging notion of ‘change’, also offered a way forward, in terms of collaboration and partnership between parents, teachers, priests and students, the constituents comprising the Catholic school community.
I welcome all the change that has come. You can’t halt change and that’s the thing that Catholic education, in some ways, would like to control. My experience of Catholic education has been very positive. There have been great successes academically and we also have to own the brokenness, and that’s the issue - because in the brokenness, which was never part of the equation when I was growing up. There was vulnerability but it was not acknowledged – it was all about success. You had to succeed. Now the Church in Catholic education has a great opportunity to learn from this mistake. Read the signs of the times - and if we don’t, we have to take the consequences. (Lennon)
Additionally, the role of the teacher needs to be enhanced. As one interviewee advocated:
268 I’d like to think that schools, teachers and education are recognised as being pivotal to the development of society. Teachers have huge expectations on them and often they’re not given the support they need to do all the things that are expected of them. (Pierce)
With regard to parent involvement and participation, Hornsby Smith (1978: 117) concedes that shades of traditions of the parent position of ‘no say’, are still to be encountered, but the position has changed.
From the above – the following form the basis of the obstacles:
Teachers don’t know how to involve parents, fear of parents, principals have too many demands, parents have too many demands, work commitments especially as single parents, communication at fault, power, hierarchy, need for collaboration and partnership, students’ attitudes towards parent involvement in secondary schools, parents’ own attitudes related to expectations.
In summary, from the teachers’ perceptions of the parent role there is a positive thrust towards greater involvement of parents. Some principals are emphatic that ‘it has to happen’ while others are well aware of all the demands on staff, especially in secondary schools The obstacles tend to be associated with ignorance and fear, faulty communication, confusion on the part of parents of their role as primary educators and the purpose of the Catholic school in terms of education generally, but particularly religious education. There is still a feeling that hierarchical power is being exerted in what appears as a disguised, subtle exclusion of parents that seeps through the system, even though the rhetoric is promulgated. Thus productive change related to the concept of partnership and collaboration between all the members of the school community is in a state of inertia and flux.
269 3. Parents’ perceptions of parent involvement in Catholic schools
Relationship between the home and school Parents, in this third cohort, describe the Relationship between Teachers and Parents, as related to their children in Catholic schools, during the period, 1975-2000.
During this period of 1975-2000, more documents from official sources started to appear regarding ‘parents as the primary educators of their children’, but little active recognition was evident. Parents themselves were beginning to put forward some initiatives requiring collaboration between parents and teachers. Millar (1980) raised questions related to the role of parents, community and Catholic schools in the future challenges for the 80s which flowed out of a national conference, that included the expansion of parental participation in Catholic education. The current thinking of the conference favoured ‘giving reality to the declaration that parents are the prime educators of their children’ (Catholic Education Commission, New South Wales 1980: 7). Following on, the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board published Parental Participation in Sydney Catholic Schools (1989). It was stated that, as a result of this leadership statement, a review of Catholic school life and culture had been undertaken in many school communities. Parents as Partners - a Vision Statement as expressed by Catholic Parents, was issued by the Eastern Region’s Parent Consultative Committee for the Parents and Friends Federation of the Sydney Archdiocese.
Some of the parents who were interviewed for this study are actively engaged as Parent Representatives in Catholic schools in New South Wales. They also hold various positions on committees related to parental interests in children’s education, Catholic and otherwise. In view of the recognition of the parent’s role in their children’s Catholic education at an official level, the question emerges – what has happened regarding the recognition of the parent role at the school level ?
How were parents involved? One parent who became actively involved offered her rationale as a basis for, not only, her own interest but also, as a means of stimulating other parents:
270 I always knew my children were my responsibility and I found that, at the school, they actually supported me in my role as primary educator. I responded to a note in the newsletter where they were looking for a parent representative on a committee to formulate some policy. So I went to those meetings after school and I felt as if I was heard, and it probably made me fiercely determined to get more parents involved because I know now that there are teachers in schools out there who want it. (Rafferty)
The following comments describing their involvement in Catholic schools, came from a focus groups of parents:
I did get involved very heavily and it appeared that everything was very welcome. I soon learnt though that there were some things that were not your domain. When you thought you had developed enough skills to be able to be involved in an advanced way you were very quickly told, absolutely no. In my local school at a P & F meeting I was told by the principal after a meeting that he didn’t want the parents knowing that – which was all the things that parents could be involved in. (Butler)
It was becoming apparent that well-informed parents, who became increasingly confident in their interactions with schools, were prepared to challenge the system as such, in dealing with principals and other teachers (Pettit 1980: 11). However, the principal must have an ability to work with others in the school community, students, staff and parents, so as to move this community collectively to the achievement of their shared goals of Catholic education (Duncan 1990: 83).
I think there is a rider on how you explain those different Church documents, at the school level, it’s about power and control. Some of our principals don’t even know that the Canon regarding parents and organizations exists. (Merlino)
They don’t want to know. (Rafferty)
I think it’s a threatening thing. We’re not a collaborative Church. (Galletta)
Exactly that. I think that we’ve always been invited to participate in ways the school saw it appropriate for parents to participate. At no stage did anyone ask me how did I think it as appropriate to participate. (Fleming)
271 Gollobin, (1994: 26) suggests that a most formidable issue occurs when desire for change is ‘professed’ by those in authority and yet there are intangible factors which are set in place to maintain the status quo. Does this situation instil, in the parents, a sense of not really belonging beyond a certain point? Partington (2002: 190) argues that the underlying fact which influences alienation, is power and that this is how it was subtly preserved. Sergiovanni and Starratt (1993: 46) draw on organisation as metaphor for describing a school, in order to illustrate the limitations that are implied. They believe schools need to be understood as learning communities. In this proposal, all in the community, students, teachers and parents, share values, purposes and commitments, that will bond the community and work together to embody these values. For this reason, Duncan (1990: 83) considers the principal is the key facilitator, a view supported by the participants.
I think there are individuals teachers – some stand out in my mind as being great partners in my children’s education and they probably just had that way of dealing with people. I would have had the opportunity to do more than a lot of other parents because I was considered to be an OK parent. I wasn’t a critical parent. People like us got involved in the school and we were allowed to go and do things because we were trusted. Then you were put in this very difficult situation where you actually didn’t want to be seen to be betraying the trust. (Rafferty)
The parents’ feeling of possible manipulation was allied with the evident frustration of the other parents who were all committed to the recognition of the parent role as promulgated in the Conciliar documents. Reid (1993: 143) offers an example, as she describes a woman, who having her words ignored in meetings reflects ‘Didn’t I just say something?’, and being left in a state of bewilderment. Being silenced by an authoritarian figure, Reid (1993) claims is more than a symbolic gagging, as it represents a literal restraint of the ability to put forward one’s perspective. It is also placing limits on access to dialogue and decision making, hence others will set policies and define rules.
Coman (1986: 8) in his study of ‘the inability of Catholic parents to influence the direction of things in relation to closure of schools’, contends that ‘in the past education was viewed as a closed system. As such those on the inside insulated themselves as far as possible from the community’ they served. He believes that Catholic education in claiming parents as
272 partners, who having chosen Catholic schools, have a big investment in the decisions affecting the Catholic school of their choice and require due recognition. Those directly involved are the governing bureaucracy, the teachers and the parents. However, Praetz, (1980: 6) maintains that in the bureaucratic system, ‘professional administrators influence decision making and also decide the areas in which decisions will be made’. This observation suggests that parents would have limited input regarding specific ‘areas’ of concern to them. One parent reflected, ‘it seemed to me that in times when enrolments were down, parents were very important people… there were other times when parents didn’t seem to matter at all’ (Butler). In support of this observation, King and Young (1986: 159) suggested that teachers, principals and educational bureaucrats tend to increase parental participation in schools based on reasons that are ‘likely to be political and economic, rather than administrative , social or educational’.
I got quite frustrated because eventually I started to see it as it was. You should at least have some knowledge of what’s happening and you were denied that real knowledge as long as you turned up at tuckshop, everyone was happy that you produced income. But nobody was very happy to actually show you where it all went. (Fleming)
It was noted by King and Young (1986: 157), schools often depend on funds raised voluntarily by the parents of the children to enable them to function in terms of essential programs and resources. Yet, as demonstrated, the parents felt marginalised in the process of accountability but, at the same time, would not have considered raising the issue. This observation has been a continuing theme through out the study of the parents’ role.
Coman (1986: 5) reinforces this stance, as he claims that in the past, the ‘traditional respect held by the Catholic laity for their clergy and religious often prevented them challenging decisions made by those in authority’. This aspect was previously inherent in the parents’ non-questioning attitude. However the current parents are expressing their frustrations, as they encounter a subtle wall of exclusion or ‘the ‘no go territory’ in their efforts to encourage and involve other parents.
The lack of consultation with the parents actively engaged in the school was cited:
273 Men would control the P & F up to this time, and the finances associated with the money and buildings were discussed with the parish priest – it was about control. When the principal was no longer religious, this changed as they lost their status somewhat. Women began to emerge because they were more upfront in their lives. They wanted to be more active participants – not just doing the tuckshop, but there was no consultation. For example, there was a decision to close a primary school after a school fire. I mean it was just cruel as the parents went back and scrubbed those desks so that the place was ready for primary school children to attend the next day. After they’d worked the parents to the bone over this – they decided it had to go to make way for the secondary school for Year 11 and 12. There was no consultation. (Galletta)
From this statement two significant issues emerge. Firstly, it is proposed that with the loss of the religious principal, the status of the role was ‘somewhat’ diminished. As a result, King and Young (1986: 102) discerned that ‘there was a subsequent change in the pattern of control’ which affected the cohesive, compliant nature of the school community. Secondly, the traditional role of women was also changing both in society and the Church, and it was evident that many Catholic women were not prepared to accept the Church’s assigned submissive role (Greeley 1990: 147). Furthermore, appropriateness of gender roles according to Hughes et al. (1991: 106) confined ‘mothers to safe and unchallenging tasks which fit comfortably with divisions between professional and lay expertise’.
In his study, Coman (1986: 5) found that the influence of the Catholic parents in being involved in the direction of things in relation to their children’s Catholic schooling is minimal. Furthermore he claims, that the main influence on the schools, both currently, and in the future, should be exerted by the parents of the students. This premise is in line with the rhetoric in the Vision Statements: ‘we are committed to the development of Catholic schools which welcome and involve parents as partners’.
Other ways that parents have been involved in the schools include:
When I was in St. Michael’s Primary school I did reading, the tuckshop, helped when they had fetes and helped in the Personal Development Program and the organization. We were always at the school. (McLeod)
274 I have helped out with reading in the classroom, with perceptual motor programs and complementing the teacher’s role in the classroom. I have been in the tuckshop, activities like the athletics program and the swimming carnival –being an adjunct assistant to the teachers. I think the tuckshop is a good way of getting to know other parents and being seen by teachers, who come past and you can make the effort to get to know them. (Messina)
However, as Benevento (1997: 129) found in her study, ‘there is a coterie of parents who like things the way they are and who are content to have the school run along traditional lines’. At the same time, their statements express an understated sense of ‘being part of the school community’. Dwyer described community as:
The members of a good school community have a deep sense of belonging. They welcome new members and seek to involve others in decision-making. The community is involved in the life of the school and generates confidence in it. (1989: 98)
These parents regarded it as important to get to know the teachers and other parents, even to be involved directly in a school curriculum program of Personal Development.
Involvement in secondary schools Involvement in secondary schools appears to be a vastly different experience from that of the primary school. King and Young (1986: 156) asserted that overt parental participation tends to lessen, as the child progresses from primary to secondary school. Often this is due to children not wanting to have parents around. Some parents have found that the way the school is organised, creates difficulty for them in continuing their interest and involvement (Connell et al. (1983: 53). Furthermore, some parents considered that an age of independence was closely associated with the transfer from primary to secondary school (Johnson and Ransom 1983: 8).
In secondary school I have been a parent on interview panels for promotional positions within the school, P & F participation. At the Diocesan level I was the parent on the religious education committee that oversees religious education with in the Diocese. I felt my opinions were welcome and encouraged. (Butler)
Stacey (1991: 9) maintains that it was a long time before school authority accepted parents on the interviewing panel for new staff. She found that the first time a ballot for a parent
275 representative who had been teaching, was selected, the popular opinion was ‘she knows how to do things’. This stance reflected in Greeley’s observation (1990: 81) that ‘the kinds of laity with whom the clergy (or it is assumed teachers) tend to be most comfortable, are those who are still respectful and docile’. Others were reluctant to come forward, as they needed convincing about their value if ‘experts’ were going to be there.
It’s a challenge to get involved in secondary school. At present in my daughter’s secondary school we’re organising a parent dinner for the Year 7 and 8 parents just to get to know one another. The sise of the high schools can be a drawback. Perhaps some good feedback about a school mass that was really impressive. I think they need to hear the good things as well as the criticism. (Rafferty)
Other ways we were involved in secondary school was through tuckshop, social committees. We did all the fund raising for Melbourne Cup day, the fetes and made sandwiches for another Year’s Class Mass, when the families came. On Open day you could help by meeting with prospective parents and support the teams on sports days. (Molloy)
These two parent descriptions highlight the differences between their expectations of the type of involvement. One reflects confidence and ease in the relationship with the staff, to the extent of offering some complimentary feedback to them. The other parent is more comfortable with the fundraising and other mundane activities, such as providing ‘sandwiches’ for school events.
Parent/Teacher Meetings The collective impressions of parent/teacher meetings were that they were good ‘if for some reason your child is not doing well, and by meeting the teacher you can both see what can be done’. In primary school your child was identified quickly, but in secondary school, because they had so many students, a lot of time ‘I’ve found they really had to think ‘Oh, which one is that!’. Buskin (1975: 95) regarded parent/teacher meetings as an opportunity for an upfront meeting between the teacher and the parent. It provided the parent with a glimpse of the ‘full picture’ as related to the child. This includes what happens every day, from how the child relates to others in the class to the attitude displayed towards school and the teacher. It will follow that the teacher’s classroom attitude towards the child will be positive.
276 Obstacles to Parent Involvement. Negative feelings from the past were proposed as a means of keeping parents out of schools:
A lot is reflected in the way we have been educated. ‘You do as you are told because that is the way it is done and you should have respect for the Church and for God and for the leader etc’. The structure is based on the Church. (Messina)
There seemed to be general acceptance that some parents ‘aren’t interested’. Some parents felt there is a degree of apathy as well as, alternatively, a high level of stress in parent’s lives. In their study of Family and School, Johnson and Ransom (1983: 8) found that a parent who had received little formal education would not be likely to visit her secondary school unless ‘there was something seriously wrong for her children. She was not an apathetic parent, but she was an ‘invisible’ one’. Others attributed the disinterest to the system and the way parents have been encouraged over the years to be dependent:
I think it’s an inevitable result of constantly spoon feeding people and dictating to them that ultimately you’re not going to get this same group of people who have been used to that unless they’ve got a real burning desire within themselves. (Fleming)
Additionally, it was suggested some think ‘it’s not their job’. While others adopt the view that ‘they have paid and that is it. At the same time, they would be the first to complain about something’ (Merlino).
I think time is a big factor. Also I think that these days you’ve got a group of parents who are not Catholic or who are disenfranchised Catholics. Some of them don’t feel comfortable in that very Catholic environment – like they’re outsiders. (Galletta)
Turner (1992: 94) points out that some Catholics, when they saw the reforms that were being advocated in the Conciliar documents and were being ignored by some priests, they either left the Church or chose whether or not, to participate in liturgy and parish concerns.
277 One parent analysed the ambivalence and, for some, the abdication of involvement with the school:
There might be some parents who don’t perhaps recognise the significance of parent involvement and how important it is. A child’s achievement is almost directly related to parent involvement. I think that too many things have allowed parents to abdicate their responsibility. The school takes on the responsibility of teaching the children, and parents have allowed themselves to have the responsibility taken away from them. (McLeod)
Another parent surmised that parents had been ignored or pushed aside too often in the past:
I think parents who have wanted to be involved have been continually knocked back. They’re never asked their opinion about anything and they’re basically told that they’re out of order if they do ask a question. (Butler)
The principle of subsidiarity promoted in the Vatican II Documents, as all sharing in the team or group’s mission, suggests that parents, as stake-holders in the Catholic education of their children, have every right to ‘ask a question’ (Arbuckle 1993: 208).
Many of the teachers are living in the past where they’re used to parents giving way to them and they’re very precious in their attitudes. The schools are still insular and think that parents haven’t got the right to come along and challenge them. (Molloy)
This notion is reinforced in the professional status of the teachers as outlined in the following examples:
There are barriers, as parents still see teachers, as the experts. Sister, Brother, Father – as it used to be. Now it is – well the teachers are the ones who are trained. (McLeod)
Secondary schools are so big and busy. There are some teachers who they feel threatened by it. This is because a lot of teachers are currently being besieged with child protection legislation and a whole lot of things, and overburdened with the new curriculum. (Merlino)
278 Benevento (1997: 134) reflected on similar attitudes that she discerned and claimed that Catholic colleges and universities need to take more responsibility in their professional education programs to ensure that teachers and administrators develop skills in parent education and parent inclusion. However unless teachers endorse the principle of ‘parent participation’, they will not be committed to it.
There is so much jargon – UAL, TER and now it’s UAI and people often don’t take time to explain those things and I think some parents think it’s all too much and so they are quite willing to hand it over. (Molloy)
Buskin (1975: 98) alleged that ‘jargon’ is sometimes used by teachers, in order to cover a feeling of insecurity, or to impress parents with their professional knowledge or the teacher is inexperienced.
What can be done to overcome some of those barriers? When describing education in Catholic schools, Croke (2002: 9) specifies need for recognition that the student’s development is enmeshed in a web of relationships within the school and home. The participants addressed this question, in many instances, from the perspective of their own experience in the following:
Our own personal way has been to be cooperative and collaborative and to ask what can we do to help you? (Rafferty)
You can’t be confrontational. I believe in supporting the school in whatever they dish out, because they have ultimate responsibility for your child while they are at school. (Butler)
I think a lot of these issues come around to ‘leadership’ and numbers. Teachers are inclined to think meetings are inconsequential if only ten parents turn up. This is used for a way of not holding meetings. But the ten parents who did turn up, are your best support, your leaders, natural people who have evolved as being the representatives of that natural community. (Fleming)
Principals frequently use the ‘poor numbers’ as an excuse. Yet some, where friendship and warmth from the principal, can actually encourage some of these more nervous parents to participate and the numbers grew dramatically. We need to have more meetings at different times to accommodate parents’ needs. (McLeod)
279 Millar (1980) reported on similar issues. Attendance at school meetings could vary from eight to one hundred and forty. Furthermore, the eight parents who did come expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to meet and share with other parents and be supported by the school.
The Role of the Principal. From the responses of the parents it is evident that the Principal plays a significant role in involving parents, building a sense of community and strengthening the relationships between all concerned, as well as instituting pastoral care. These features are illustrated in the following ways:
The school was welcoming and the teachers were all helpful and lovely. I noticed the difference when we came here. The primary school was not anywhere like St. Michael’s. The teachers were not friendly – they lacked the warm family feeling that we had there. Of course we had a beautiful principal. I don’t think you could have got better. She was always outside when you picked up your children and at the gate to meet you of a morning. And the priest -if he didn’t have a funeral – he would be out there too just to say hello. (McLeod)
The Principal in secondary school was wonderful and she was in control. When Sister Ambrose left another Principal came and it became a completely different school. The girls weren’t close to her-they didn’t know her. Sister Ambrose remembered everything – if you had been to a function or not and the parents felt pretty good as if they were wanted. (Merlino)
Telling the principals what they have to do is not going to get you anywhere. You have to actually go and build a relationship and be there to help them through a problem and then they’ll be much more likely to listen to you. (Rafferty)
Single Parents. Special measures needed to be set in place for single and other parents who may be working, according to Stacey (1991: 58).
I think it is very difficult for them as they’re working all the time and can’t come during the day. If you have a Mass and they’re usually trying to rotate the children to do a little reading or involve them in some way and if their mother or father isn’t there, they think – Oh no one to see me. It’s hard for the child. (Butler)
You know if you’ve got a full time job you can’t take time off and then you would need the money if you’re on your own to support the child. (McLeod)
280 Interviewees reflected on the extent to which the school supported the single parents.
They suggested various pastoral means of giving that support.
I think it is difficult for people who are in a situation of being alone with children or remarriage or divorce or whatever. I’m aware that within our school community when families are in crisis we’d actually, at both the primary school and now the secondary school, have a pastoral care team that offers support to families, and I know in the past that has included a situation where a mother has been left with a young family. Where meals have been provided and offers to help them through a difficult time. I think that’s very important for a school community to do that. (Messina)
They did help them a lot. They would involve them in dinners for them – like having a dinner somewhere and rotating around different places to support them. (Merlino)
For the evening meetings the principal would arrange for the older children in the family to come and mind the younger children in another classroom in the school so that the parents could come to the meetings and it was a lovely community. (Molloy)
In a range of ways all parents could be involved in decision-making, but many encountered resistance to any sustained involvement.
In an age when women particularly have a far greater range of functions they perform both professionally and personally, they at the same time, have a far greater expectation of their involvement in all their children’s activities. (Fleming)
I am still struggling to have that involvement and I’ve been there twenty-one years. There needs to be somebody who has that enthusiasm and initiative and able to do it without of having to cop all the flak. So you need energy, support and encouragement from both arenas. (Butler)
Millar (1980: 5) recommended in her paper that a pastoral guidance worker or community education officer be based in each school to establish links between the home, the school, local resources and the parish. This recommendation was largely ignored. In a later study of intergenerational family poverty, Millar (1993: 99) suggested the initiation of a Pastoral
281 Home/School Liaison person in each school community to be an intermediary between these agents. Subsequently Bishop James Foley (1996: 79) cited by McLaughlin (2000: 93), raised the possibility of engaging a pastoral worker in the school, who would attend to students needs and also liaise with families. Some schools currently have a ‘Community Liaison Person’ attached to the school community.
Parents’ Expectations of Catholic schools Parents sought involvement and spoke of the many points where parents could get involved, Molloy listed the possibilities: Recently our primary school had an evening for parents to come along and experience the mathematical programs so that they could engage their child in mathematical learning processes. Whereas I think it would have been surprising in my day for a parent to be involved in learning activities. It can be quite demanding for parents the expectation of their involvement. Every week it feels when term is in full flight there’s a meeting of some kind at one or other school when you’ve got children across various schools. (Molloy)
Parents emphasised that good education and usually religious education was expected. And, as with the earlier cohort, discipline and training were valued and expected.
I mean they have little programs after school for the ones that can’t read to help them along and they give that little bit of extra care. That’s what I have always found. (Butler)
Good quality education. The parents expect excellent results in secondary schools. The parents of students with lower ability expect the best that can be offered and extra curricular staff. There is an expectation of excellent service, respect and discipline which is very high on the agenda. I think parents want the Catholic ethos but not necessarily the religion. (Rafferty)
Other benefits such as security and safety were nominated. Parents opted to send their children to Catholic schools because the schools provide ‘a caring atmosphere that promotes Christian values and is supported by a ‘fair but firm’ discipline’ (McLaughlin, 2000: 84).
These parents believe that most parents support school initiatives, particularly those of a social nature. This is well illustrated in the following success stories:
282 A few years ago they had a drop in numbers and we decided to do an orientation for Year 7 parents. We put on a barbecue and invited Year 7 students and their parents and other students were involved in taking them on a tour of the school. Most of the tutor group teachers came along to meet the parents and we had a sausage sizzle. Some people disparaged the idea. It was a great success and people said it was the first time that they had really felt invited for a reason other than people wanting them to do something. (McLeod)
We had a cocktail party at the beginning of the year for the new secondary parents but I felt it should be for all parents I think it was the individual invitation. (Messina)
As a result of these ‘gatherings’, the parents felt they were being effectively included. The boundaries between the school and home were being merged (Hornsby Smith 1978: 18). At the same time, one of the needs of the school community was realised by the increase in numbers, due to the efforts of the parents. But more was needed. The parents interviewed cited examples of how they could and should be involved:
I sometimes ask the question ‘what is the involvement they want?’ I know what I want. (Galletta)
I want to be part of the decision making about things that affect family. Decision about uniforms, what’s sold in the canteen, how many excursions each year, how much fund-raising and some of the curriculum e.g. drug education. I want to know how the decisions are made. (Fleming)
I also want to know what considerations are being made for those feeling excluded. I know that if someone walks onto the school playground that they will feel excluded unless somebody reaches out to them and brings them along. (McLeod)
Vatican II. The Documents of Vatican II threw most Catholics into a state of confusion (Turner 1992: 93). The unchanging nature of the Church, as the members had been taught, was changing dramatically and radically. To compound this confusion they became aware that whereas some priests welcomed the reform advocated by the Council, others refused to make any, but the most minimal changes and then with reluctance. Greeley (1990: 4) in speaking of the changes associated with Vatican II, alleges that a large number of elderly conservative Catholics are bitterly opposed to the change in the Church in recent years.
283 Several parents spoke of the need to understand and so accept the initiatives of Vatican II. The process was unsettling and in some ways changed parental expectations and interaction with their children’s schools:
I remember the Mass changing from Latin to English. More lay people getting involved. Changes in the liturgy in the mid-sixties. They turned the altar around. We now have parent groups in the evening. (Butler)
I think Vatican II was in some ways responding to an awakening that was present within people anyway. Parents are more involved because they have different perceptions of their relationship with their children and the school. Parents have a different sense of their relationship to the school by virtue of the fact that they’re not all religious nuns and brothers. Is it the Church communicating and empowering lay people, or lay people are aware of their own role and responsibility, and demanding it?. It’s difficult to unravel. (Rafferty)
Parents were beginning to recognise their primacy as the educators of their children. But concern about their adequacy for the role prevailed. The following responses related to the recognition of the parent role were evoked:
It has been given greater recognition but I think one of the challenges is whether parents always feel well enough equipped to be the primary educators. (Merlino)
The parents expressed different aspects related to their religious education which had both positive connotations and some sense of loss in ritual that seems to have gone.
I remember we’d always go to Benediction on the first Friday, and we’d go to Confession – be taken class by class. But unless it was their First Communion I don’t remember my children being taken to Confession on a regular basis. (Messina)
I don’t think the structures are in place as they used to be. It’s probably harder for children to catch their faith from their school setting. Yet I think the faith for them is articulated in a way that is more real for them. (Rafferty)
I think at least my children have had the opportunity to be educated in an environment where the meaning of faith is translated into ordinary circumstances of life and is perhaps more real. They are less dependent upon some things. Yet they
284 have a better opportunity to engage with faith as it’s meant to be lived rather than to engage with a set of rules that one day they might abandon because it’s not very relevant to their lives. (McLeod)
The religious culture of Australian Catholicism has been complex. Massam (1996: 242) considers a multi-faceted spirituality which incorporated a range of symbols and frequently called on Australian Catholics to ‘embrace paradox and ambiguity’. As they made a bid for certainties, the responses and commitments related to faith in God and Catholicism were diverse and changed over time. It is apparent that while some people welcomed the changes, others felt at a loss.
I found the schools were very welcoming and it was appreciated what you did for them. You were never made to feel like you were intruding, like being there doing the work and you were thanked for what you did. (Rafferty)
The collective view for the future emphasised ‘they keep the discipline and the religious side and their high standards. (Butler)
I think we need to be more positive. I would like to see Catholics being proud of it and parents identifying themselves as a Catholic parent and not apologizing for it. Then we can offer hope to the generations to come. (Fleming)
The rhetoric turned into reality. Recognition of their role. (Galletta)
Recognition of principals who don’t find talking with parents a hassle and can actually work through problems. They are real leaders probably with innate skills. Principals who are defensive – they need to acquire the ‘leadership’ skills. (McLeod)
I would like to see on the bottom of those teachers’ contracts that they have to include parents and treat them with respect. But I think it’s all linked with our style of Church. I believe you can’t build a community if you’re not involved in it – you have to build it together. (Molloy)
The notion of ‘building community together’ was proposed by Cardinal Edward Clancy (1994: 3) when opening a Conference, Beyond the Rhetoric, Families, Schools and Parishes - Building Effective Partnerships, (O’Hearn 1994: 3). He claimed that it is inherent in the origin of the Australian Church as a lay Church, which incorporated a strong partnership between parish, school and parents. Clancy (1994) acknowledged that in the
285 intervening years the strength of it had been somewhat diminished. Nevertheless, he urged that in the next five years of the decade, there were religious, pastoral and educational reasons for going beyond the rhetoric in building more effective partnerships.
Different dimensions were reflected in the overall estimation of the participants’ experience of Catholic education.
I had a close relationship with the nuns as I grew up. They imparted their sense of spirituality and the place of faith in your life. Their modelling of it enabled you to rise to the challenges life offers in a challenging world. (Fleming)
I’m very grateful for Catholic education. I had a real problem with a child. It wasn’t academic results. It was about pastoral care of a student in a high school when I felt totally disempowered as a parent and suddenly there was the school. It made me think that Catholic schools are worth the effort and the pastoral care aspect in the secondary school is essential. (Molloy)
I feel very fortunate to have had the experience. I value the connectedness – the community of home, school and parish communities. We had a situation in our life where our baby was very unwell and died and it was because of Church, that we felt very connected through out. Catholic education has been a big part of my life and I believe it’s a womb to tomb experience. (Merlino)
I believe in it with a passion and that is why I am involved as a parent and as a teacher. It gave me the ability to reflect in a constructive way. It has a wonderful relationship basis. (Butler)
In the conclusion I will examine the extent of agreement between teachers and parents through each generation. Then the trends, continuities and discontinuities through the one hundred years studied will be described. This will lead to reflections on the nature of cultural change as revealed in the crucial relation of parent and teacher, parental groups and the school, where both parties are intent, from different perspectives, on the education of the Catholic child.
286 CHAPTER 9
“BREAKING THE ENCHANTED CIRCLE OF COLLECTIVE DENIAL”
The sociologist has the peculiarity in no way of privilege, of being the person whose task it is to tell about the things of the social world and as far as possible to tell them the way they are. When the sociologist does what he{she} has to do, he {she} breaks the enchanted circle of collective denial. (Bourdieu, 2000: 5)
Conclusion In this thesis the experience of parent-teacher relations in Catholic schools through the twentieth century has been interwoven with regard to the social and cultural context of the time and interpreted to a considerable extent in terms of sociological theory (described in Chapter 2). The trends that emerged in those accounts, changing attitudes towards religious authority and compliance with religious practice, have been traced. In this concluding chapter I draw together my understanding of a changing relation of parents to school and teachers in the pilgrim church moving into the late twentieth century.
The central tenets of this research have focused on the way in which the parent role in Catholic education as the ‘primary educators of their children’ nominated in the Catholic Church Code of Canon Law, has been recognised. The Catholic school was the designated means of assisting parents in their role. Through the accounts from three generations of parents and religious teachers, the changing recognition of the parent role, in practice, within the Catholic school community, reveals authority repeatedly as a dominant, influential issue and latterly, a contested one.
287 In the first fifty years of the twentieth century the parent role can be traced from their childhood memories and later in their adult accounts of roles as parents and teachers, as a submissive one. It was allied with fund-raising or whatever was asked of them, in the support of the school. They were marginalised in different ways in the school community and they remained on the periphery.
At the time, both state and church authorities were committed to cultural and social reproduction to create a prosperous and contented people. Both institutions recognised parents as being significant in the educational process however, there was little expectation of their involvement beyond acquiescence in their children’s schooling. In Catholic schools parents accepted a subordinate conformity further reinforced amongst the parents themselves. Anyone who challenged the religious authority, personified by priests and religious teachers, would have been viewed with a veiled contempt. Bourdieu (1998: 380) explains it as ‘explicit norm of popular taste which contains a warning against the ambition to distinguish oneself’. The parents avoided any kind of upset with those holding vested authority for the education of their children. The subtle pressure, exerted amongst the parents, themselves upheld the status afforded the priests and religious teachers in the Catholic community.
By way of explanation, early in the twentieth century, the parents of the first cohort, were living with societal hostility directed towards them, because of their Irish and Catholic origins. As a result they united with priests and religious teachers and were supported in their shared religious beliefs and practices. They became a cohesive, collective moral community (Durkheim 1995: 44). The focus on the social capital (Bourdieu 1986) invested in the children was for education towards upward social mobility. The means to this end was provided by the Catholic school and religious teachers who had given their lives for Catholic education. Consequently in their loyalty and esteem for the religious, the parents would not have complained about anything. Mothers featured prominently, in obtaining extended education, beyond their own level, for their children. Bursaries and scholarships available to if not won by most families facilitated this aspiration. And the religious were
288 diligently dedicated towards this common goal of further education and the upward social mobility it promised.
In accord with Canon Law, the bishops, in order to achieve their goal of transmission of the faith through the Catholic school, exerted coercion, such as denial of the Sacraments, to parents who did not send their children to Catholic schools. The parents accepted the decision, out of loyalty to their faith. They had their responsibilities clearly enunciated for them and obediently accepted a compliant role. A minority of parents, better educated than most, resented the fact that they were not given any responsibility within the school organisation (Turner 1992), but they too lapsed into the conventional compliant role. Biddle (1986: 69) explains that expectations are the major generators of roles; that they are learned through experience and subsequently ‘integrated within the individuals’ awareness’. These shared normative expectations prescribe and explicate these behaviours. Having been learned, individuals can be relied upon to conform not only in terms of their own conduct, but to sanction others into conforming also.
It was noted that the hierarchy looked to the Catholic school not so much as a support for parents but to make up for parental insufficiencies (Haines 1976: 9). The hierarchical view of the Catholic school was that it was an exclusive rather than a complementary source of religious formation.
The parents submitted to the authority of the priest and religious teachers whose knowledge they thought superior (Durkheim 1961: 88). Consequently parents tended to leave their responsibilities to the religious in the school, not to delegate their authority, but because many felt unable to undertake the task. And as the obligation for parents to send their children to Catholic schools was stressed in the early Code of Canon Law, it could be inferred that the parents having complied, considered that they had fulfilled their obligations and nothing more was required of them.
289 Consequently schools adopted the principal role in the process of inculcation. For Durkheim, (1961: 154) the religious leader conveys in ‘the lofty conception of his mission, it suggests an authority that readily colours his language and bearing’. The collective memory of the participants strengthened this notion, as they considered he speaks ‘in the name of God to whom he feels himself much closer than the laymen in the crowds he addresses’ (Durkheim 1961: 154). Despite harsh decisions directed by the priests towards parents, as evidenced in the data, they did not resile from their submissive and unquestioning loyalty. The esteem, trust and respect paid to the religious teachers, were emphasised many times throughout the interviews.
From the childhood memories of the participants in the first cohort, there appeared to be a ‘subtle conditioning’ of the parents from the priests and religious, ‘we know best’. The ‘religious’ assumed the privilege of their position without question when they became teachers in Catholic schools, and expected a continuation of the parents’ submissive role. Douglas (1986: 48) explains this stance as emanating from previous experience, which is encapsulated in institutions through unwritten rules and provides a guide to expectations of the future. This notion is reinforced by Foucault (Danaher, Schirato and Webb, 2000: 81) who describes it as the ‘diffused, hidden minute aspects of social control that are incorporated by dominant groups’.
As was noted in the metaphorical ‘Looking Glass’ (Lewis Carroll 1997) the dominant images appear to have been teachers and priests, with their ‘sacred status’ (Durkheim 1995) and authority. Thus the parents were marginalised and their ‘conventional role’, rather than their Canonical role, was established and became limited to fund-raising in support of the school. They were not given any information as to how the money was spent and they would not have asked out of fear for any kind of ‘upset’. At the same time parents did not convey any resentment or feelings of being pushed aside. However, Friedman (1999: 75) speaks of ‘stunted expectations, which induces a sense of hopelessness’. Fogarty acknowledges that merely lip service was paid to the responses of the family and the importance of parental guidance. The major emphasis was on the authority of the Church, which Weber (1962) had explained to be inherent in leadership, allied with power.
290 A religious brother, Hanrahan (1922: 117) challenged other teachers at a Catholic Teachers Conference in Sydney, with the observation that they were usurping the role of parents. He felt there needed to be reciprocity between home and school but there is no published account of how that might have been practised. The parents’ role, Hanrahan (1922) believed went beyond their financial support that was offered in two ways, paying fees and fund-raising. Nevertheless, from exclusion in the wider society, the fundraising activities provided parents with a social life within a cultural milieu where they felt comfortable and a sense of belonging. Durkheim (1961: 240) explains it as ‘through time, habit becomes a need... we cling necessarily to the milieu surrounding us. It pervades us, it blends with us’. Thus the Catholic school became the facilitating agent in the educational process and neither priests, religious teachers nor parents recognised the parent role as ‘the primary educator’.
The assertion of Episcopal power being so absolute, and lay subservience so total it was inevitable that these forces were to echo through the life of the Australian Church for a century (O’Farrell 1992).
It became apparent through the accounts given by the second cohort that the intergenerational transmission of the modelling of the parents in their relationships with the priests and religious teachers from the previous years, remained entrenched in the Catholic school and parishes. However, times were changing and societal norms were gradually being eroded. Diversity in the Catholic community was expanded with the arrival of migrants from southern Europe and later, from Asia. World-wide trends indicated that authority was being challenged and the Church was not excluded. The Second Vatican Council was convened in 1965 to bring the Church into the modern world. In secular educational documents the role of parents in the effective education of children was emphasised and Catholic parents became more questioning, a new perspective facilitated by their higher levels of education.
291 The themes of priestly authority and the status of the religiously consecrated, (sacred authority), however, are clear in this cohort’s memory of childhood perceptions. The Irish cultural factor was still strong but becoming somewhat muted. Parents, principally ‘mothers’, continued their quest for ‘a good education’ for their children and, with religious women, were considered to be ‘the backbone of the Catholic Church’. This view is expanded in the Report on the Participation of Women in the Catholic Church in Australia:
Women do more than just participate in the Catholic Church in Australia. In many ways they keep the church afloat! Usually it is the woman in the home who instills religious values into the children, who attends Mass, who helps in school functions, who gives valuable time to committees, and responds in many other ways to the needs of the Church. The woman is always there to help and assist but is greatly under-valued for her service, and rarely given the opportunity to be part of the decision-making process in the Church. (Macdonald 1999: 66)
Parents feeling estranged from the larger community sought refuge in the Church and Catholic community. They enjoyed their level of involvement as fund-raisers as it gave them a social life that reinforced their Catholic faith and Irish cultural traditions. If they were marginalised in the educational process, the data do not reflect any feelings of resentment or criticisms – just ‘acceptance’, emanating from the habitus of their lived experience.
The collective memory revealed that all the parents wanted their children to have a ‘good education’ to enable them to do whatever they chose in life. This, in turn, offered upward mobility in society. Up to 1950, Catholic schools expanded in secondary education, while technical and commercial schools were developed. The upward mobility (Runciman 1974: 66; O’Farrell 1992: 239) desired by the Catholic parents for their children became evident as ex-students of Catholic schools gained recognition and influence in Australian society as judges, doctors, musicians, writers, artists, politicians, actors, public servants and sporting stars.
This belief in the efficacy of the rounded education provided by their Catholic schools remained and is still espoused. But the extent of parental participation in determining its
292 orientation and content became increasingly contended as hinted in interviews with second cohort, and voiced frequently when the third cohort of contemporary parents and teachers was consulted.
Parents were still operating out of a ‘conventional’ fund-raising role. However, early indications of changing involvement in the Catholic school were apparent in interviews with the second cohort, questions about religious authority surfaced in some of the accounts.
The communitarian aspect of the Catholic school was deemed a great strength, which epitomised trust and reciprocity (Douglas 1986). For parents of migrant origin a lack of English deterred them from visiting their children’s school. Sport was an area where fathers became involved. Tuckshops were the province of the mothers. Parents and Friends Associations were instituted in accord with Canon Law. While some teachers stated ‘we could not have managed without the parents’, others felt that if parents had offered to help, beyond their conventional role, their offer would not have been accepted. Berger and Luckmann (1991: 83) claim that ‘the one responsible as the teacher, who holds the authority, and discreetly defines the roles to be played in the context, controls and predicts all conduct’. It is apparent that parents were not encouraged to expand their current role. But political pressures pushed them towards an involvement that the authorities came to welcome.
The campaign for State Aid emanated out of a crisis. Catholic schools and parents were needed in presenting the case for financial assistance from the government. Meetings were held in different parts of New South Wales and organised by parents themselves. They had a responsible role in the negotiations that ensued and many parents developed skills of active participation and lobbying. Despite this dependence on the parents for the effective outcome of the State Aid issue, the Church’s forgetfulness or neglect of recognition of the ongoing parental role in the Catholic education of their children is still in question. Certain frustrations were voiced in these interviews. As one parent observed, the argument of using
293 parents’ rights as the basis of the Catholic case for State Aid cannot, in turn, be disregarded by the Catholic education bureaucracy.
But beyond the political demands for equitable government assistance to their schools, the passivity of the parents still pervaded the Catholic school community. Even when children’s learning problems occurred parents neither complained nor demanded better teaching.
The decree of ‘parents as the primary educators of their children’ received particular emphasis in the Documents of Vatican II (Bushman 1999). The premise was strengthened in the GE Declaration on Christian Education (1965, par. 3) in placing particular importance on the notion of parental partnership in Catholic education (McLaughlin, 2000: 83). He quotes the Charter of the Rights of the Family (1983, par 5e) as, ‘all forms of collaboration between parents, teachers and school authorities, particularly in forms of participation designed to give citizens a voice in the function of schools, in the formulation and implementation of school policy’; these must be upheld.
However the stresses and strains generated by the challenge of Vatican II produced an exodus of religious teachers. Arbuckle (1993: 4) describes the effects of Vatican II as ‘chaos’, due to the sudden cultural breakdown of the network of meaning systems (symbols, myths and rituals). Many were left feeling confused and numb with insecurities and uncertainties. As Turner (1992) noted the unchanging church, as people had been taught, was rapidly changing. One research participant explained, ‘a lot of people got hit for six. They could not cope with the changes’.
As previously stated Durkheim (1956: 9) describes this disruption of accustomed ways as anomie, which is followed by increasing disorder and a degree of instability. Religious teachers were given courses of study on the Vatican documents, but these research participants observed, parents and laity were neglected in this ‘re-education’. Furthermore, some priests did not agree with the changes that emanated from Vatican II and so opened a cause for further dismay among some sections of the laity.
294 Differences in the religious education being taught in schools, were of concern to parents, there appeared to be no particular thrust to introduce the religious education curriculum to them at any time. Parents expressed concern about the religious practice of their children. Neglect of attendance at Mass was a great disappointment to them. They did not expect to be involved in their children’s religious education as traditionally they never had been, but they were bewildered when their children felt no obligation to attend Mass. It had not occurred to them to complain at the school. As Bouma (1992) explains belief and practice is the very substance of religion. These parents concurred. Nonetheless, despite young people’s disregard for the sacred rituals, both religious teachers and parents agreed that young people are compassionate and engaged in various voluntary activities with the poor and disadvantaged, and have a deep sense of social justice.
Dependence had been encouraged by the clergy, nuns, and brothers, and the parents had been socialised into a passive, compliant and largely unquestioning role. Starratt (1990: 51) contended that in the ‘drama’ the ‘players’ had learned their respective roles of conformity. However, other parents were becoming well informed and with the introduction of Vatican II, they were ill at ease with a Church that had encouraged ‘undue’ dependency on clerical institutions and ‘frowned on democratic principles and scientific advances’ (Arbuckle 1993: 37). One parent commented that the school structure, in levels of participation, was a replica of the Church itself, with the laity/parents on the lowest rung.
Of this third Post Vatican II period, the childhood perceptions of the parents were of almost superficial changes in the lay-out of the Church and the procedures of ritual, in particular the change of the Mass from Latin to English. As they grew older they looked for changes that responded to the changing times. Parents understood education was more detailed and their expectations better articulated. They wanted the best for their children but wanted to say what could be best.
Parents expected teachers to collaborate and some teachers responded to the parent requests for more involvement. Parents had changed; several teachers have provided initiatives, and
295 reached out to ensure co-operation between family and school. Some teachers resented what they saw as increased demands on them but the diocesan structures and Catholic education bureaucracy still showed little or no sign of responding to parent participation in the religious education of their children and the recognition of their Canonically designated role as ‘the primary educators of their children’.
As parents in the Year 2002 were seeking more participation in the decisions affecting their children’s Catholic education, this research highlights the tensions that exist between the theory that has been in place over a century, of ‘parents being the primary educators of their children’, and the degree of acceptance of this principle by teachers, the parents themselves, the hierarchy and the bureaucratic structures within the Catholic church.
On one hand, parents were encouraged to participate around election time, raise funds for schools, assist with reading groups in the school, but as found in this research, they were not involved at the decision making level about the closure or other significant matters related to schools. While the role of parents is clearly stated in Vision Statements for Catholic schools, strategies for empowerment of parents in the classified role is questionable or absent.
Parents and teachers in this last period were more open towards acceptance of the parent role and urged facilitation of parent involvement. Many teachers openly encouraged parents to come to the school and participate in a range of activities. Currently, School Boards and Advisory Councils appear to be the popular means of involving parents in decision-making at the school level. Information regarding numbers was sought from the eleven New South Wales Catholic Dioceses as related to primary and secondary systemic schools, and the response was variable. There was no information available from two dioceses. While dioceses are in the process of implementing different models of school boards, others do not have school boards or councils in operation at all. However from the respondents, most schools, seem to have Parents’ and Friends Associations. In the three regions of the Sydney Archdiocese a different model of School Governance is being initiated. They are given
296 titles such as Catholic Schools’ Councils, and School Advisory Councils. Some incorporate a ‘cluster schools model’ of Advisory Councils and the Director describes it as ‘a work in progress that is showing a great deal of promise’ (Canavan, 2005: 5).
Some parents had served on interview panels for Principals in schools and others, who had been teachers, participated in the Religious Education Curriculum. Some parents are actively involved in representing Catholic Education on Government Committees and are employed in Catholic Education Offices as Parent Liaison Officers. There is some official recognition. A document recently issued from the Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Education Office, Sydney Catholic Schools towards 2010, Strategic Leadership and Management Plan, states that in Key area 6, which focuses on parents, partnership, consultation and communication, parents should be engaged. It advocates a culture of engagement with parents:
Sustained engagement of parents, especially in relation to student and community reports, to meet the Australian Government accountability requirements 6.1.1. (2005: 20)
This does not seem to infer ‘parent participation in order to reinforce their role as the primary educators’. It is rather aimed at accountability to government.
What can be attributed to these changes? The parents who do participate in Catholic education, are confident in their role as ‘the primary educator’, and would like to convince other parents of the recognition and the benefits that would flow from participation. Other Catholic parents had remarked, somewhat ruefully, on the divergence of Catholic principles and Catholic practice in the field of education (Charlesworth 1966). Parents who are conscious of their primary right and role in the education of their children reflected in the interviews that Catholic schools tended to operate as if the parents did not exist at all.
The Role of the Principal has been a determining element in the participation of parents in Catholic schools. Research participants spoke of creative principals who are not threatened
297 by parents coming to the school as seen in Millar’s (1988) research. But it was noted that there are others who are inclined to focus on the ‘trouble-makers’ or those ‘you never see’. Fitzgerald and Pettit (1978) claim that the success (or failure) of School Councils depends on the Principal. Furthermore, Norton (2004: 1) asserts that the development of the parent leadership role is dependent on the attitude and vision of the Principal. The teachers who are in favour of greater parent participation, from the participant interviews, are experienced Principals convinced of the benefits to the child and the school community. As one parent asserted ‘if Catholic education authorities adopt a positive approach towards reinforcing the educational role of parents, they will win for themselves the most devoted, dedicated, and convinced allies in their common struggle’ (Slattery 1980).
The acquisition of social capital by the parents to be invested in their children, was the foundation underpinning the parents’ willingness to support the religious teachers, parish and school community. The cultural facets from the Irish background of music, poetry and song were reinforced and integrated in the broader educational perspective of the children, a source of deep pleasure for the parents of Irish origin.
This study found that Catholic education authorities cannot expect parents will rally round just when needed at Election time. Dunne (1989: 139) claimed that while Catholic education and Catholic schools are the crux of the matter in the transmission of the faith, ‘how can we continue to exclude parents in Catholic education if we acknowledge their rights and responsibilities?’ Graham (1989: 108) indicated that with a commitment to a new notion of partnership between parents and teachers, the acquisition of new skills was necessary. Parents need to feel confident before they could participate authentically, in the formation of discipline policies, mission statements and religious education programs. Pastoral processes needed to put into place to bring about collaboration between all concerned. Teachers and parents interviewed for this study concurred and spoke of the necessity for further enabling skills for parents.
Parents did not abdicate their responsibility, rather it was absorbed by the school (Bernstein 1996). They were not aware of their decreed role, until late in the twentieth century.
298 Vatican II had reinforced the parent role in Catholic education ushering in a change in the parents’ perceptions of their role and also their rights and responsibilities, but in the 1960s and 1970s there was little recognition of the parents’ primary role and hence basic responsibility.
While the parents were becoming more educated, they had followed on their own parents’ view of a supportive role for the school. Increasingly after that time they were no longer prepared to accept it in that way. They were wanting more input into decisions affecting their children’s Catholic education.
The teachers interviewed agreed that more has to be done regarding the parents’ role as primary educators. They acknowledged that parents want more say and people have got to find ways to help them have more say. One teacher observed ‘if the ownership is right, the project is right’. This point brings Bernstein’s (1996) theory into view as he specifies that ownership is significant from a stakeholder’s point of view. From this premise his conditions for an effective democracy commence.
Interrelated rights or participation have to be institutionalised. As previously outlined in Chapter 2, (Bernstein 1996) enhancement, the first right, will enable individuals to experience boundaries that can be social, intellectual or personal. In this way individuals are extended and they can step out of designated roles of the past and gain confidence with new skills. He maintains tension points may be experienced, but this is offset by the potential for offering new futures and new possibilities. Duignan (1988) reinforced this theme, and proposed that a process of reflective awareness of past practice will indicate how present practice may be improved.
The right of inclusion is necessary thus enabling parents to be autonomous within a given community, rather than being ‘absorbed’.
The third right of participation lies in parents being given direct input into discourse and the construction, maintenance and transformation of order. It conveys the notion of partnership.
299 In this study some parents who are actively engaged in Catholic education felt their ‘voice’ was not heard.
It is proposed that communities are formed from their own histories, structures of authority, comfortable or comforting beliefs, ideas and values that ‘everyone accepts’. From these conditions a habitus is formed. The Catholic school has been important to parents over the twentieth century. Through their loyalty and steadfast faith they maintained the Catholic education system with their fund-raising efforts and later political activism, but initially they felt inadequate with the educational role and they left that to the school. They trusted the school and entrusted their children to it. To ensure continuance they supported the school with their financial support. This was ‘the game’ and they knew the rules. Community disapproval pushed the need for conformity and the structured conforming way of life, that Bourdieu styles illusio. It is not to be questioned as illusio rules. The objective of ‘the game’ was the religious and secular education of children – a sustained investment of social and cultural capital that would equip the children for life. The subtle conditioning of the parents in knowing their place in the school community ensured that continuation according to the rules of Church authority.
The parents in accepting their subordinate role did not resent it in any way, due to their deference to the ‘power’ of the hierarchical structure of the Church. They were absorbed into the vertical structure of institutionalised dependency and submission. Similarly their children tacitly assumed their parents’ attitudes and beliefs, with regard to the ‘powers that be’. Thus the transmission of acceptance that ‘teachers’ were right and ‘knew best’ occurred and stayed in place for most of the twentieth century. Douglas (1986: 103) maintains that institutions veil their influence and produce sameness. Insulations or hidden mechanisms, Bernstein (1996) proposes, are in place in institutions such as schools to prevent what some principals would consider unwanted intrusion of ‘others’, parents, into their territory. This was described by the parent interviewees who are active in the school community, as ‘the no go areas’ in the relation with the school.
300 The complete trust that was implicit in the relation between the parents and the religious teachers, was a blind trust borne out of gratitude to the religious teachers. It came to be replaced by an informed trust in the teachers in Catholic schools. From comments of the participants and underlined by scholars’ analysis, attention was being directed at the pre- service level of teacher training towards the development of interpersonal relationship skills and strategies for the inclusion of parents in schools.
In Durkheim’s (1966: xv) terms ‘a social fact’ became entrenched. He explains that ‘a social fact is to be recognised by the coercive power, which it exercises or is capable of exercising over individuals’. In the collective consciousness or world view, Durkheim’s espoused ‘social fact’ became established and accepted by all. The parent role, the reality rather than the ideal set out in Church teaching, became such a social fact. The actual role informed and imposed the part parents actually played in the schooling of their children. Social facts normalise behaviour. It is proposed that the key to change lies in a shift in the relationship between parents and their teachers in Catholic schools of the future.
From interviews with the third cohort it emerged some parents have developed a consumer attitude to education. They pay fees, require regular reports, and then assume that teachers are answerable to them. To the extent that this is so, the parent role is not being afforded the Canonical status of being ‘the primary educator’ but is receiving the secular emphasis from a consumer society.
In the light of this research bringing the parent into the school community can go further than authorising school boards to take a greater part of the individual school decision- making. At the time of writing the Executive Officer of the Parents Council is a lone worker operating at the State level seeking to initiate and nourish parents in their nominated role. There is recognition of a need for a stimulus for parents whose children attend individual schools. Ideally, the appointment of a Parent Pastoral Co-ordinator in each Catholic school, would constitute a helpful sign of greater commitment to participation of parents and provide an interface between teachers and parents. The Executive Officer is a
301 token and may portend increased commitment towards the participation of parents in their children’s Catholic education.
A major theme emanating from the study was collaboration between parents and teachers. This was reiterated and with strongest persistence in the third cohort. The accrued benefits have been outlined, not only for the child but for all members of the Catholic school community. The ideal of collaboration emerged alongside the questioning of absolute authority apparently delegated from ecclesiastical to school religious authority. No longer was there the comfortable belief that ‘sister or brother knows best’.
Religious as well as professional expertise was recognised but the recognition was not unequivocal. Times were changing – continually. Better educated parents in a more uncertain world were asking, is this the best way? Religious and/or school authority carried no absolute guarantee and in the ideal of working together, collaboration was being voiced.
To a large extent the loyalty and trust of earlier generations remained, but the trust had to be (well) informed and the loyalty must be reciprocated. This trend cannot be simplistically styled as a repudiation of or even just a questioning of authority. Rather it is a recognition that responsibility implies authority. The responsibility for the education (socialisation) of children lies with the parent and, as Durkheim would add, with the community whose agent is the school.
The making of good ‘Catholics’ for the future is inherent in the education of the young, which is an imperative for the Church to maintain itself, thus ensuring the continuality of the institution.
302 In conclusion, I cite Hervier-Leger (1998: 213: 147) who suggests:
The survival of society overtime is conditional upon the regular uninterrupted transmission of institutions and values from one generation to the next. All these institutions, whose task is to share the ideas, behaviour and the personality of individuals according to the value and norms that these institutions purvey are thus confronted by the cultural discontinuity characteristic of society in high modernity.
Finally, I believe ‘hope is a passion for the possible’ (Kierkegaard 1974). Students of the 1990s
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(2003) The Catholic Encyclopedia, V. 1X (0nline edition) URL 326 Appendices Appendix 1 Information Statement THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES SCHOOL OF SOCIOLOGY THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES SUBJECT INFORMATION STATEMENT AND INFORMED CONSENT Project: Parent, teachers and Catholic School Communities Purpose: You are invited to participate in a study that investigates the role of parents in Catholic education from the early 20th century to Year 2000. We hope to learn how the role of parents has been determined or developed in the light of official Catholic Church documents and the prevailing social conditions at certain points in time during the 20th century. These documents place special emphasis on parents as the primary educators of their children. How this premise has been played out is the focus of this research. You were selected as a possible participant in this study because you have had experience of being a child in a Catholic school and then, later as a parent or teacher. Description: If you decide to participate, you will be interviewed by an investigator who will ask you questions related to your perceptions of how your parents were involved in your Catholic schooling during a particular period over the 20th century, and then, in turn, as a parent, how you were involved in your children's schooling. A teacher will be asked questions related to how they involved parents in Catholic schools. The interviews will be tape-recorded in order to gather and analyse the data collected. The interview will probably last one hour and will be conducted in a setting, at a time and date, which is suitable to you. The recordings will only be made with the participant's full knowledge and explicit trust. 327 Confidentiality: Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission or except as required by law. If you give us your permission by signing this document, we plan to publish the results in professional journals. In any publication, information will be provided in such a way that you cannot be identified. Complaints: Complaints may be directed to the Ethics Secretariat, University of New South Wales, SYDNEY 2052 AUSTRALIA (phone 93854234, fax 93856648, email [email protected]). Consent: Your decision whether or not to participate will not prejudice your future relations with the University of New South Wales. If you decide to participate, you are free to withdraw your consent and to discontinue participation at any time without prejudice. If you have any questions, we expect you to ask us. If you have any additional questions later, Professor Ann Daniel (02) 9385 2608 will be happy to answer them. You will be given a copy of this form to keep. 328 Appendix 2: Informed consent THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES SCHOOL OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES SUBJECT INFORMATION STATEMENT AND INFORMED CONSENT Project: Parent, teachers and Catholic School Communities You are making a decision whether or not to participate. Your signature indicates that you have decided to participate having read the information provided above. Signature of subject Signature of witness Please PRINT name Please PRINT NAME Date Date Signature of investigator Please PRINT name 329 REVOCATION OF CONSENT Project: Parent, teachers and Catholic School Communities I hereby wish to withdraw my consent to participate in the research proposal described above and understand that such withdrawal WILL NOT jeopardise any treatment or my relationship with the University of New South Wales (Hospital or my medical attendants) Signature Date Please PRINT name The section for Revocation of Consent should be forwarded to Professor Ann Daniel, School of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney. NSW 2052. 330 Appendix 3: Interview questions Memories of schools days All cohorts were asked the following questions to No. 30: 1. Where were you born? When were you born? 2. How many were in your family? Brothers? Sisters? 3. In remembering your school days, do you recall how teachers would meet and greet parents? 4. Were all the teachers members of religious orders or were there some lay staff as well? 5. When it came to arranging for you to go to school, which parent made the arrangement or did both parents attend? 6. Do you remember what your parents expected of the school? 7. If a change of subject was indicated or an aspect of your schooling that needed to be discussed, which parent would usually go to see the teacher? 8. If there was a problem either from the child’s perspective or the teacher’s side, who would go to the school? (Child’s complaint about the teacher, or a teacher complaint about the child.) 9. How did parents react? 10. What would they say? For example, would they support the teacher or act on the child’s behalf? 11. What role were parents expected to perform with regard to their children’s education – from the teachers’ point of view or more generally from a school point of view? 12. What do you think your parents’ thought about Catholic education? 13. How important was it for the family to attend a Catholic school? 14. What was felt about Catholic education in the general community? 15. Did parents consider the teachers were well-trained? 16. Would they have been questioning about the teachers’ training - how did they accept them? 17. What features did your parents like about Catholic education? 331 18. What features do you think they disliked or felt unhappy about, regarding Catholic education? 19. Do you remember when parent/teacher meetings were introduced? 20. What was the relationship between the teachers and parents like, as a result of the 1. meetings? 21. What do you remember about the Second Vatican Council of the Church? 22. What effects did it have on Catholics generally? 23. How did it affect the Catholic school community? 24. What happened as a result of Vatican II that you observed or remember 2. with regard to Catholic education generally? 25. What changes became apparent in Catholic schools with regard to parents? 26. Did parents want to be more involved? 27. What opportunities were open to them? 28. How would you describe your experience of Catholic education? Questions addressed to cohort 1 only 29. What do you remember about World War 1? How did it affect you at school? 30. What do you remember about the time when it was over? 31. What do you recall about the Depression? 32. How did it affect families generally? 33. How did it affect families individually? 34. How did it affect families at the school level? 35. How did the school respond? 36. What happened with regard to school fees in relation to: a. World War 1, b. Depression, c. World War 2. Questions addressed to cohorts 1 and 2: 37. What do you recall about World War 2? 38. How did it affect families individually? 39. How did it affect families at the school level? 332 40. How did the school help the families? Questions addressed to parents in cohort 3: 41. How are/were you as a parent involved in your children’s Catholic education? 42. What degree of involvement do you think parents should have? 43. How would you like to see parents participating in their children’s Catholic schools? 44. What avenues are open to them? 45. What do you think prevents parents from participating more fully in their children’s Catholic education? Questions addressed to teachers in all cohorts: 46. How did/do you involve parents in your Catholic school? 47. What do you think parents were/are expecting from Catholic schools? 48. Why were parent/teacher nights introduced? 49. How did/do parents respond to initiatives from the school? 333 Appendix 4: Pseudonyms COHORT 1, CHAPTER 5 Parents Teachers O’Leary Smythe Crennan Kennedy Hurley Hannan Doyle Moriarty Finn O’Reilly McInerney McGinty Breen Brennan O’Shea Driscoll Walsh McDermott Kelly Egan Mulligan Byrne Doherty Maloney Murphy Brophy Heeney Moylan COHORT 2, CHAPTER 7 COHORT 3: CHAPTER 8 Parents Teachers Parents Teachers O’Halloran O’Byrne Rafferty Lennon O’Meara Delaney Butler Hennessy O’Connor Kerr Galletta Sheehan McCormack Burke Merlino Ryan Flanigan Hanley Fleming McCrae Vella Sullivan McLeod Boyd Donnelly O’Malley Messina O’Rourke O’Grady O’Carroll Molloy Pierce 334 Appendix 5: Application for the establishment of a public school 335 Appendix 6: Annex to the application for establishment of a public school 336 Appendix 7: Application for the establishment of a Provisional School at the Perish of Devlin 337 Appendix 8: Services and Courses of the Parent Participation in Schools Unit Sydney Catholic Education Office 338