The Ignatian Leadership Model for Catholic Schools: Critical Spirituality Theory on Leadership Practices

Catholic schools in Indonesia played an essential role in educating young Indonesian to serve their brothers and sisters. This study demonstrates how three Catholic schools continue the important role of educating students to serve others: St. Matteo Ricci High School, St. Robert Bellarmine High School, and St. John Berchmans High School. Utilizing a multi-case study of leadership practices, this research study examines the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm’s impact on school leaders who promoted religious inclusivity. The study similarly highlights the challenges in promoting religious inclusivity. This research illustrates how the school leaders infuse their spiritual values into the school community to embrace religious diversity. The findings illustrate how the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm which influences school leaders’ leadership practices through the lens of critical spirituality theory. Data analysis through the lens of Critical Spirituality theory reveals that the leaders in the three Catholic schools had five spiritual values: cura personalis, companionship, magis, openness, and being people for others. By showing their spirituality through personal relationships, the leaders encouraged the school community to embrace religious diversity. This study also discovered that school leaders used the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm to promote religious inclusivity with its five elements, namely: context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation. The findings also suggest five approaches for leaders to infuse their spiritual values in order to nurture a religiously inclusive community: faith formation, communication, role model, personal approach, and school programs. Furthermore, this research has three implications for the school leadership practice: a) critical spirituality theory can be combined with the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm to evaluate the school leadership’s practices in promoting inclusivity, b) the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm can be applied to the leadership practices, and c) the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm can be adapted to a multi-religious community. Finally, this research proposes recommendations for future study and leadership practices