Irish and British Reflections on Catholic Education

 This volume presents an interdisciplinary and systematic review of Catholic Education Studies across Ireland and Britain. Taken together, the chapters drill down to the foundations, identity and leadership matters in Catholic education and schools. It is in reading the complete volume that a more precise picture of Catholic education in Ireland and Britain develops into sharper focus. This is important because it reflects and crystallises the complexity which has almost organically developed within the field of Catholic Education Studies.  It also provides a powerful antidote to the naïve reductionism that would boil Catholic education down to just one or two fundamental issues or principles. Contemporary Catholic education, perhaps globally but certainly in Ireland and Britain, is best depicted in terms of being a colourful kaleidoscope of differing perspectives.  However this diversity is ultimately grounded in the underlying unity of purpose, because each of the contributors to this volume is a committed advocate of Catholic education.

The volume brings together a rich range of scholars into one place, so that these voices can be listened to as a whole. It includes contributions from leading scholars, blended with a plethora of other voices who are emerging to become the next generation of leading researchers in Catholic education. It also introduces a number of newer voices to the academic context. They present fresh perspectives and thinking about matters relating to Catholic education and each of them confidently stand alongside the other contributors. Moreover, these reflections on Catholic education are important fruits to have emerged from the collaboration made possible through the creation of the Network for Researchers in Catholic Education, which was established in 2016 under the auspices of Heythrop College, University of London.

Sean Whittle is a Visiting Research Fellow at St Mary's University in Twickenham and a Research Associate with the CRDCE, with Professor Gerald Grace. He also held a Fellowship at Heythrop College, University of London, for four years.  Alongside these academic roles he works part-time as a secondary school RE teacher at Gumley House FCJ Catholic School in West London. He completed his doctoral studies at the Institute of Education - UCL, defending a thesis on the theory or philosophy of Catholic education. His book, A Theory of Catholic Education (Bloomsbury 2014), presents a robust philosophy of Catholic education that draws heavily on insights from Karl Rahner. Dr Whittle controversially argues in support of a non-confessional theory of Catholic education. In December 2016 Routledge published Vatican II and New Thinking about Catholic Education, which is a collection of essays edited by Dr Whittle on the impact and legacy of Gravissimum Educationis.  In recent years he has been collaborating with other academics working in the field of Catholic education in order to create the Network for Researchers in Catholic Education (NfRCE). As a result of this collaboration he has been able to publish two further edited volumes in 2018: Researching Catholic Education, (Springer) and Religious Education in Catholic schools in the UK and Ireland (Peter Lang).  He has also been working as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Brunel University on the Religious Literacy project with Dr David Aldridge, Prof. Gert Biesta and Dr Pat Hannam. The final report on Religious Literacy and RE was published by the charitable trust Culham St Gabriel in 2019. He continues to serve as the secretary for the NfRCE and organises the annual conference for this association. He also serves as Vice Chair of academic association AULRE.