CES - Catholic Schools: Mission and Governance

For further information about the canonical requirements relating to Catholic schools, please download the document at the bottom of this page.

Governors have a whole raft of statutory duties. Indeed the governing body decision planner, available on GovernorNet, lists 85 functions of the governing body and shows at what level decisions can be delegated. This paper will concentrate solely on the statutory role of a foundation governor.

Foundation governors are appointed by the school�s founding body, church or other organisation named in the school�s Instrument of Government. They may hold their governorship in an ex officio capacity if they are the holder of an office specified in the instrument of government, for example a parish priest.

For Catholic schools under the trusteeship of the diocese, foundation governors are appointed in the name of the diocesan Bishop.

Foundation governors have a legal duty to preserve and develop the Catholic character of the schools and to ensure that the school is conducted in accordance with its trust deed.

� �foundation governor� means a person who is appointed as a governor otherwise than by the local education authority and who �

(a) Is appointed for the purpose of securing the character of the school, including where the school has a particular religious character...such religious character, is preserved and developed, and

(b) Where the school has a foundation, is appointed for the purpose of securing that the school is conducted in accordance with the foundation�s governing documents, including, where appropriate, any trust deed relating to the school;�

For Catholic schools under the trusteeship of the diocese the Trusts under which Catholic schools are established contain within their objects a requirement to provide education for Catholic children.

To be eligible for appointment a person must not be disqualified by law from being a governor and will need to fulfil any criteria specified by the diocese, which will invariably require that they are a practising Catholic. This requirement would be considered essential in light of the legal duty to preserve and develop the Catholic character of the school and the vital leadership role they play within the Catholic community.

The ethos of a Catholic school does not relate solely to the arrangement whereby it admits baptised Catholic children. Rather the Catholic ethos is a lived experience and permeates every aspect of school life.

�A Catholic school�s �ethos� may be understood to be the outward signs and experiences of the teachings of Christ and the Catholic Church in the totality of daily life in a Catholic school�[1]

It is the case that a Catholic school is so designated by the Diocesan Bishop. The Diocesan Bishop is Canonically responsible for his schools and ensures that the Catholic ethos of the institution is maintained, particularly through the appointment of Foundation Governors and overseeing the appointment of members of staff to ensure that the Catholic school is fully compliant with its published mission and is inspected at regular intervals under the provisions of section 48 of the Education Act 2005.

All those within the school community are required to uphold the values of the Catholic faith. For example, the CESEW produces model contracts for use within Catholic schools. Those contracts include a requirement for all staff to:

�...expected to be conscientious and loyal to the aims and objectives of the school, having regard at all times to the Catholic character of the school, and not to do anything detrimental or prejudicial to the interest of the same.�

The CESEW Model Disciplinary Procedure also defines as an example of misconduct in a Catholic school:

�Conduct on the part of a teacher or worker which is incompatible with the precepts, or with the upholding of the tenets, of the Catholic Church.�

There are a number of areas where implementation of the school ethos would be most evident as follows:

The right of governing bodies of Catholic schools to control their own admission procedures is enshrined in the 1944 Education Act and 1998 School Standards and Framework Act. The School Admissions Code and the Equality Act 2006 continue to reinforce that right. Those protections are continued within the provisions contained in the new Equality Bill, currently going through the parliamentary process.

Current legislation and the School Admissions Code of Practice provide for schools with a religious character to use faith based over-subscription criteria in order to give higher priority in admissions to children who are members of, or who practice their faith or denomination.

All maintained schools must provide religious education and daily collective worship for all registered pupils and promote their spiritual, moral and cultural development.

RE, as part of the basic curriculum, should be provided for all registered pupils attending a maintained school. It is the head teacher�s duty to secure this provision and the governing body of a VA school must also exercise its functions with a view to securing this provision. For VA schools the RE offered is determined by the governors. For a VA school with a religious character it will be in accordance with the trust deed or, if there is no provision in the trust deed, in accordance with the beliefs of the religion or denomination specified for the school.

All registered pupils, up to sixth form, attending a maintained school should take part in daily collective worship. Again it is the head teacher�s duty to secure this but the governing body of a VA school must exercise its functions with a view to securing this. Legislation provides that, in any maintained school, collective worship is to be �wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character, except where a determination otherwise has been successfully obtained. The character and content of collective worship in a VA school is determined by the governing body. For a VA school with a religious character it will be in accordance with the school�s trust deed or, if there is no provision in the trust deed, in accordance with the beliefs of the religion or denomination specified for the school.

Section 48 Education Act 2005 provides that it is the duty of the governing body to secure that denominational education and the content of the school�s collective worship are inspected. In the case of Catholic schools the governing body will be expected to work with the diocesan authority when choosing a person to carry out the section 48 inspection as required in the regulations. DCSF expects those inspection reports to be made public via the CESEW websites and DCSF funds the inspections. These inspections typically enable the Bishop to meet his Canonical responsibilities regarding RE and the Catholic life of the school.

The governing body has the overall responsibility for staffing, deciding the number of staff and when a member of staff leaves, whether to replace him or her. The governing body may delegate certain staffing functions to the head teacher, or an individual governor or committee of governors. Governors will lead the process of making appointments to the leadership team.

The governing body is the employer of staff in a VA school. The governing body should give the diocese the same advisory rights as the local authority, as recommended in the School Staffing Guidance, to ensure that the Diocesan Bishop is in a position to fulfil his Canonic responsibilities.

In VA schools which have a religious character, the governors have extra rights in relation to employing, appointing and dismissing members of the school workforce. The governing body may give preference to persons;

� Whose religious opinions are in accordance with the tenets of the religion of the school;

� Who give, or are willing to give, religious education in accordance with those tenets.

In considering dismissals, the governing body may have regard to any conduct that is incompatible with the precepts, or with the upholding of the tenets, of the religion of the school.

Preference can therefore be given to practising Catholics in appointments to teaching posts and in non-teaching posts where there is a genuine Occupational Requirement.

The importance of the role of the teaching staff is acknowledged by the Bishops collectively. The Bishop�s Conference of England and Wales has set out its requirement to its schools as follows:

�The preservation and development of the quality and distinctive nature of Catholic schools depends on the faith, practice and commitment of the teachers in the schools, working with their governing bodies�[2]

The requirements of the Bishops as set out in their Memorandum are upheld as widely as possible and in the event that those principles are not upheld the diocese, as the representative of its Bishop would take appropriate action to try to ensure that the school does not stray from that mission. The Bishops collectively also contribute to the continuing professional development of staff generally and religious education staff particularly through the Catholic Certificate of Religious Studies (CCRS). This is a national certificate delivered locally, standardised nationally and recognised in all dioceses in both England and Wales.

The Bishops� Memorandum refers to the employment of Catholic teachers as a high priority, whilst at the same time recognising the contribution of teachers of other Christian Churches, other faiths and other teachers. The Memorandum also requires that for the most senior roles i.e. the posts of Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and Head or Co-ordinator of Religious Education the post must be filled by a baptised and practising Catholic. For other leadership posts that directly affect the Catholic Mission of the school they should, wherever possible, be staffed by skilled practitioners who are committed Catholics.

One of the statutory duties which all governors have is, in accordance with section 21 of the Education Act 2002 as amended by section 38 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, is a general responsibility for the conduct of the school providing that, inter alia, the conduct of the school is under the direction of the school�s governing body.

As previously referred to, a foundation governor within a Catholic school is under an important legal duty to preserve and develop the Catholic ethos. The foundation governor does so through his/her leadership and management ensuring, particularly in the areas referred to above, that any requirements necessary to preserve and develop the Catholic character of the school are implemented.

The foundation governor also complies with this important legal duty by ensuring that the Bishops� requirements set out in the Memorandum of Appointment are adhered to. The appointment of practising Catholics in leadership and pastoral positions within a Catholic school are essential. In fulfilling this statutory requirement a foundation governor must also give proper and due consideration to the need for succession planning. It is the case that recruitment to head teacher posts is noted (e.g. in research of Professor Howson at Oxford) to be more difficult in the Catholic sector. Governing bodies should always work closely with their diocese to look at finding practical solutions which will still enable their statutory duty to be fulfilled. The CESEW has produced materials to assist schools including the DVD produced by the CESEW Leading a Catholic School: The Best Job in the World. The CESEW has suggested that each governing body should have a nominated governor responsible for succession planning and that the governing body should ask the head teacher annually to report on what is being done to support succession planning.

Foundation governors should also ensure that the school is conducted in such a way that the Catholic character of the school is preserved and developed. It is therefore asked, for example that CESEW model contracts are used since they contain provisions which specifically relate to employment within a Catholic school. Likewise the governing body should ensure that policies adopted by them are suitable for use within a Catholic school. Again, it is therefore agreed that the CES model grievance and disciplinary policies are adopted. It is also, for example, recommended that a governor is appointed with specific responsibility for sex education; every school is required to have a governor�s sex education policy. That governor must ensure that the sex education provided is in keeping with the teachings of the Church.

The legal position in relation to employment law is complex and requires adherence to correct policies and procedures. Issues of conduct which may be incompatible with the Catholic Church can be particularly difficult. Governing bodies should ensure that such matters are dealt with as soon as possible and that full and proper HR and legal advice is taken and most importantly advice from diocesan officers, who will be best placed to advise in this area.

The Diocesan Bishop would consider any failure by a foundation governor to take steps to prevent an appointment in contravention of the Bishops� Memorandum as a very serious matter. Such failure on the part of a foundation governor is likely to be seen as, not only a breach of the Bishop�s requirements on the appointment but also a breach of the foundation governor�s statutory duty. In those circumstances it would be appropriate for the Diocesan Bishop to consider removal of that person from their role as a foundation governor.

[1] Christ at the Centre, paragraph A6

[2] Memorandum on Appointment of Teachers to Catholic Schools