Society in Northern Ireland can be characterised as being underpinned by an enduring cultural, religious and political divide between two dominant communities: Catholics and Protestants. The educational system largely reflects and contributes to the reproduction of this separation. Teachers are generally deployed in schools that are consistent…

The Scriptural metaphor, 'Into the Deep', characterises a trial Religious Education curriculum within a Catholic diocese of Australia. Teacher developers (n = 40) and teacher implementers (n = 85) from 37 schools responded to the influence of six Religious Education Development Principles (REDP), and statements on the implementation processes at…

In the spring of 2020, schools of all sectors across all nations were forced to close their doors as COVID-19 rippled through communities. Drawing upon the concept of liminality, which refers to a stage, state, or period of transition (Soderlund & Borg, 2017), this study investigated the intersections of the experience of liminality during the…

This article draws extensively on data from "Cultivating Talent: A National Study Examining Pathways to Increase the Presence of Hispanic Teachers and Leaders in Catholic Schools," conducted by Boston College researchers and released in January 2022. The report looks to understand and appreciate the various ways in which Hispanics…

The Irish religious landscape is changing. Census data reveal that the percentage of those who identify as Catholic is in steady decline, while the proportion of those with no religion continues to rise. Christian religious practice in Ireland is also decreasing, especially among young people. Catholic schools, once the dominant provider of second…

This paper examines the experiences of six teachers from a regional, Australian diocese who attended World Youth Day (WYD). It also reports on aspects of their worldview and their experience working in Catholic schools. Overall participants were very positive about working in Catholic schools, and though not connected in an ongoing way with parish…

Drawing upon 15 semi-structured interviews with teachers at a Catholic school in the British city of Hull, we offer new qualitative insights on the effects of students' unequal access to digital tools when switching to distance learning in the context of COVID-19 school closures. During the 2020-2021 academic year, this school serving pupils from…

The question: 'Education: Commodity or Public Good?' (Grace, G. 1989. "Education: Commodity or Public Good?" "British Journal of Educational Studies" 37 (3): 207-221. doi:10.1080/00071005.1989.9973812) is more prescient than ever, and this paper probes the ways in which Catholic school teachers experience market-oriented…

Centering on (a) the pathways and beliefs that characterize the experiences of Hispanic Catholic school diocesan leaders and (b) the impact of ethnic and cultural heritage on their leadership practices and perceptions, this article articulates the key findings of a qualitative descriptive study involving eight Hispanic Catholic school diocesan…

While Latinx children are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. school population, the majority of Latinx Catholic school children may never be instructed or led by a Latinx teacher, principal, or administrator. This is a lamentable gap given that a shared student and teacher identity (i.e., home language, ethnicity, background knowledge, lived…

This critical ethnography examined the motivations of, and processes used by teachers to advocate for the inclusion of students with exceptionalities in their Catholic school. Because students with exceptionalities have been marginalized in k-12 Catholic schools, learning more about teachers who have been successful advocates on their behalf is…

This article overviews the contemporary context for teaching Religious Education (RE) in Ireland and profiles changing religious demographics in an increasingly secular context. It presents the findings of a two-year mixed-methods study undertaken in two third-level Catholic colleges in Ireland, investigating four hundred third-level Initial…

This paper discusses educational insights drawn from a mixed-methods study in Religious Education (RE). The study involved 238 teachers and school leaders, working in 65 Catholic schools in Western Australia (WA). The focus of the study was the educators' perceptions of a large-scale, standardised assessment (LSA) called "The Bishops'…

This study uncovers the meanings that secondary teachers working under the religious structure of Jesuit institutions attach to their work. I draw on theoretical insights coming from organisational behaviour. I use cases of teachers who worked or work in Catholic high schools run by the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit order. I…

This paper draws on the findings of a small-scale research study based on interviews with twenty serving Catholic headteachers from the primary and secondary phases and from the maintained and independent sectors. The focus of the study was to explore the concept of 'spiritual capital' among the headteachers and to evaluate the impact of two major…