Catholic schools in England and Wales have displayed “a commitment to standards but also a commitment to wellbeing, to supporting the wider cultural and spiritual and moral development of children,” the UK’s Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families has said.
Mr Ed Balls was speaking to the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales (CESEW) annual Parliamentary Reception to celebrate, promote and affirm Catholic education.
His comments come amid controversy about the role of faith schools in the UK education system. Early last month, the British Humanist Association called for the Equality Bill, currently making its way through Parliament, to undermine the religious ethos of schools.
And in April, one of the biggest British teachers’ unions, the National Union of Teachers, called for faith groups to be banned from running schools, accusing faith schools of perpetuating “segregated schooling”.
However, Mr Balls explicitly congratulated the CESEW on the fact that they “disproportionately take children from more disadvantaged backgrounds than the average, disproportionately take children with greater ethnic diversity than the average, and consistently achieve results which are above average”.
Mr Balls also praised the contribution of Catholic schools to community cohesion and citizenship, saying that “many of our Catholic schools are at the cutting edge of promoting community cohesion and we have a lot to learn from those schools”.
He went on to thank CESEW for their “strong support” noting that “We’ve learned a lot from the Catholic Church and the approach of the CES to education. I value this relationship and I look forward to working with you more in the years to come.”
Also in attendance at the reception were Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, and the new Chairman of CESEW, Bishop Malcolm McMahon.
Headteachers, principals of Catholic sixth form colleges, diocesan officers, MPs, and members of the House of Lords were also at the reception. More than 800,000 children, young people and mature adults in England and Wales attend Catholic education facilities.
In his first speech as CESEW Chairman, Bishop Malcolm McMahon described his new role as “a great joy and a great challenge” and reflected on the many gifts Catholic education in particular can offer the world of education in general, saying that it was time for Catholics to “step forward”.
Seeking to define the ethos that makes Catholic schools so special, Bishop Malcolm said that Catholic education can speak a “word of truth” and a “word of grace”, teaching the world to “seek goodness”.
Acting as host Jim Dobbin described the reception as “a celebration of Catholic education in all its forms, locally, nationally and internationally” expressing his hope that the Catholic education system would continue to go “from strength to strength” saying that this would be “not just for the benefit of Catholic education but for the benefit of education in total”.
