Modern Catholic Schools serve local communities well

Professor Anthony Finn St Andrew's Foundation Cardinal Winning Lecture Former General Teaching Council for Scotland Chief Executive Anthony Finn will tomorrow (1 March) give the 2014 Cardinal Winning Lecture. Following a survey of schools, Professor Finn, a former Headteacher and senior officer in Fife and now based in the University of Glasgow, will analyse patterns of attendance and achievement in Catholic schools. His findings suggest that Catholic schools generally perform very well and are popular in the communities which they serve. And the current Catholic school population is certainly not limited to traditional Catholics, or even to those who no longer practice their religion. Increasingly, other Christians and those of no religious background are making a choice for a values-based education for their children. Although the number of Catholics attending church services has decreased in recent years, there seems to be no shortage of parents who wish to enrol their children in Catholic schools, a number of which are now oversubscribed. Tony Finn will use his talk to highlight issues which the Church and Catholic educators should review as its school population changes.