Understanding and Living the Ethos in a Catholic Primary School

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How is the Ethos of a Catholic School Distinct from Other School Types?

What distinguishes the Catholic school is that its concept of the human person is rooted in the teaching of Jesus Christ as embodied in the Catholic faith community. Each person is a spiritual being who comes from God and whose destiny is to be with God when this life is over. The ideal of the Catholic school proposed here is one whose ethos or characteristic spirit is rooted in its ‘Christian concept of life centred on Jesus Christ: He is the One who ennobles people, gives meaning to human life, and is the model which the Catholic school offers to its pupils’.

The Catholic school also seeks ‘to promote the Christian concept of the world whereby the natural values, assimilated into the full understanding of man redeemed by Christ, may contribute to the good of society as a whole’. In this way Catholic schools have a robust spiritual and moral value system. This is appreciated not only by the Catholic parents, but also by laypeople of other religions or none who want their children to be educated in a Catholic school.

The Catholic school welcomes diversity and strives for inclusivity. It is open to people of other denominations, other faiths, and none, welcomes them into its community and respects their beliefs. The religious freedom and the personal conscience of individual students and their families must be respected, and this freedom is explicitly recognised by the Church. On the other hand, a Catholic school cannot relinquish its own freedom to proclaim the Gospel and to offer a formation based on the values to be found in a Christian education; this is its right and duty. While it maintains its own ethos and provides religious education and formation in the Catholic faith, the Catholic school sees this diversity as an opportunity for dialogue and understanding with those of different faiths. Building on what Pope Francis refers to as a culture of encounter and enriching its intercultural education, Catholic schools seek to cooperate with parents of other traditions who wish to provide religious instruction for the children in their own tradition. This welcoming ethos explains why Catholic schools are among the most inclusive schools in Ireland today.

For more informayion, please visit https://catholiceducation.ie/understanding_living_ethos/

Qualifications to Teach Catholic Religious Education in Catholic Primary Schools

Please see the document Recognition of Qualificationsto Teach Catholic Religious Education in Catholic Primary
Schools on the Island of Ireland for information on the necessary qualifications. The document is available here @ Recognition-of-Qualifications-web

There is also a clarifying letter for candidates who graduated prior to 2011 @ Clarification on Qualification to teach Catholic RE

For more information please visit:

Qualifications to Teach Catholic Religious Education in Catholic Primary Schools