Critical challenges and dilemmas for Catholic Education Leadership internationally

This paper considers the challenges faced by contemporary Catholic Education systems with particular reference to the contrast between the prevailing neo-liberal agenda and gospel values. It explicates this contrast from the perspectives of current critiques of the influence of the new manageralism in education and relevant literature on Catholic Education including successive documents originating from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education. The challenge for Catholic Education is examined from the perspectives of curriculum policy and practice and the preferential option for the poor. The paper considers the possibility of integrating a Catholic perspective across the formal curriculum and outlines the approach adopted by the Ontario Institute for Catholic Education. Concerns regarding elitism in Catholic Education are examined from Australian and Irish viewpoints