What is amissionstatement?

JUST ANSWER THREE SIMPLEQUESTIONS:

· Who are we?

· Why are we together?

· What do we do?

Simple? Not really. Each of those questions

is weighed down with meaning beneath the

surface. Each question invites you to the

level of depth you need to inspire and bond

the purpose of your school community.

Who are we?

A massive question which the Catholic

Church would answer by saying that

we are a mystery as human beings: we

are rooted in the earth but our minds

soar to infinity. We are children of God

with a calling to steward the earth, we

are amazing and yet broken, we have

filled the earth and yet are frail and

short-lived. At a more practical level

we are all educators, students as well

as teachers. We are people committed

to learning and growing our individual

talents. We are pilgrims on a journey

through education and we carry

within us the presence of God in some

mysterious way

Charism - away of living

L E A D E R S H I P S Y M P O S I U M N E W S L E T T E R 3

IN THIS ISSUE

missionvisionwho we arewhat we dohow we belongcreating a living,breathingcharism

"As I teach, I project thecondition of my soul onto mystudents, my subject, and ourway of being together."

Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach

www.roe-uk.co.uk@CharismRoe

mission statementcont...Why are we together?

We are together in Catholic education

because it is a matter of the heart, of

relationships. We learn through

relationships, through searching for

answers together. We learn from others

about our own gifts and weaknesses. Our

friends mirror our soul and heal it too. We

are together because it is not good for us

to be alone and because education is a

matter of the heart. We are together

because we are trying to build a culture

that challenges the harsh and superficial

world around us. We try to model what a

community looks like when it is inspired

by the Gospel of Jesus. Together, we try to

build the household of God among us and

reach out as a community to those around

and in need.

Teaching is thearchitect of anation DR. YOGESH SHARMA (ADAPTED)

Teaching is not a profession,

It is a holy vocation,

It is a divine mission,

It needs committed attention.

What do we do?

We learn together: parents, students

and staff. We look at the world

around us and prepare our students

to take their place in life, develop

their gifts, deepen their spirit and

make a difference to their families

and the world around them. We do

that by good academic learning

adjusted to student needs. We do that

through deep spiritual relationships

that bring hope and optimism into

young lives. We do it by helping pupils

to ask questions more than give

answers. We do it by engaging with

the heart, easing the anxieties that

block learning and helping students

to find joy in being themselves. We do

it by reverencing the mystery of God

in each person whatever their

background and we offer the Gospel

and sacraments as a source of life and

wisdom for the whole learning

community.

These answers come from one

person. But a mission statement

needs to involve the whole

community. It needs to capture a

range of understandings. It needs to

inspire and it also needs to arrive at

values that can translate into at least

some visible consequences.

It cannot just be stuck on a wall.

Honest teachers earn admiration,

They give dull and empty minds inspiration,

Help sleeping cells get stimulation,

Because proper teaching is a transformation.

And the strongest pillar of education,

It widens and matures imagination,

From slavery and darkness, it is a liberation of the

soul.

It enlarges mental horizons and sharpens awareness.

The accent is not always on examination,

Good teaching requires a higher imagination,

Good teaching is revelation and the architect of a

nation.

Education hasbecome an institutionwhose purpose in themodern world is notto make culture, notto serve a livingcosmos but to harnesshuman kind to thedead forces ofmaterialism.Education alsodamages the soul.

Robert Sardello The Mystery ofWholeness, 1992

RESOURCES PADLET

Charism - A Way ofLife

Charism &Spirituality

Charism &Community

A definition ofSoul for alleducators: Soul is the vitalenergy a personcarries thatgives purposeand meaning totheir lives.

Education &Life of the SpiritWRINGE 2002 (P. 169)

Education as we currently experience it

is often presented as essentially

concerned with externals, with gradable

and above all observable integrative

skills, competencies and dispositions,

which will enable individuals to become

employable, performative and generally

acceptable future citizens. In this

endeavour the life of the spirit would

seem to have little part to play…

8 Principles ofsoulful learning EDUCATION AND THE SOULJOHN P MILLERNEW YORK PRESS 2000

1. The sacred and the secular cannot be

separated

2. The dominance of the secular has led to

the repression of our spiritual life

3. An awareness of the soul can restore

balance to our educational vision

The importance of the pause

Respect for the space before speaking

and acting deters us from plunging

ahead when the right time for action

or closure is still pending. gifted

actors, comedians, orators and

leaders have an instinct for this

quality. We have all noted the pause

just prior to an important point when

participants are momentarily waiting

for release from tension created by

the pause itself. Premature closure in

the name of efficiency deprives the

soul of a deeper engagement and a

learning opportunity about the vital

energy that moves them from within.

Adapted from Pascale and Athos:

The Art of Japanese Management.

New York 1981

4. We can nourish the students' soul

through creating a curriculum for the

inner life

5. The authentic and caring presence of a

teacher can nourish a student’s soul

6. Education of the soul must be

accountable and include academic

attainment

7. Teachers need to nourish their own

souls and become contemplative in

teaching

8. Parents need encouragement to be

present and mindful with their children.

Since moral andspiritual values arean integral part oflife itself, theycannot be shuntedoff into a separatecurriculum. Theyshould permeate theentire curriculum.

Erma Pixley, Moral andSpiritual Values in thecurriculum.

Pi Lambda Theta JournalVol 30 No4

I came toTeach…© LESLIE OWEN WILSON – ALLRIGHTS RESERVED

I came to teach, to see what I could find

Inside my students’ deeper selves.

I came to try and open minds

Before they were seamed shut.

I came to channel passages,

Hoping to connect hearts to heads and

hands.

I came to entreat,

To coax ennobled thoughts,

Ideals, and love of self and others.

I thought that this must come from

inside out

Into the essence of their beings,

Into relationships,

As connections to words and deeds,

And become a pedagogic styles.

I came to teach but was changed in

other ways,

And now remember that life is still a

two-way street.

These were lessons I needed to commit

to memory, again.

Perhaps it is enough to say, I came to

teach but learned instead.

The Courage toTeach: EXPLORING THE INNER LANDSCAPE OFA TEACHER'S LIFEPARKER J. PALMER

If we want to grow as teachers -- we must

do something alien to academic culture:

we must talk to each other about our inner

spiritual lives -- risky stuff in a profession

that fears the personal and seeks safety in

the technical, the distant, the abstract.

I came to probe,

And sometimes poke,

To make them think, and laugh

At small and narrowed views.

For I wanted them to see,

With their own eyes,

Beyond the limitations of closed

perceptions

Into the beauty and the pain of others’

views.

I came to teach,

But learned instead

That they had just as much to say to me.

Their lessons often raw,

Sometimes unformed and yet complex.

I came to give and yet was given.

For through their gifts I saw anew

That I must learn to guard against

complacency, conclusions,

And the allure of too soon ends.

I came to grow, Unknowingly

To shed my false, new scholar’s skin

And metamorphose Into to something

new and strange –

Something far beyond the shadows of my

old instructive self.

I came to teach but was changed in other

ways,

And now remember that life is still a two-

way street.

These were lessons I needed to commit to

memory, again.

Perhaps it is enough to say, I came to

teach but learned instead.

A definition ofSoul for alleducators: Soul is the vitalenergy a personcarries thatgives purposeand meaning totheir lives.

LET YOUR LIFESPEAK:LISTENING FORTHE VOICE OFVOCATION

We are exploringtogether. We arecultivating a gardentogether, backs to thesun. The question is ahoe in our hands and weare digging beneath thehard and crusty surfaceto the rich humus of ourlives.

Parker J. Palmer

EducatingToday andTomorrowVATICAN 2015

Catholic schools and universities are

educational communities where

learning thrives on the integration

between research, thinking and life

experience.

Learning can also provide the

opportunity to open students’ hearts

and minds to the mystery and wonder of

the world and nature, to self-

consciousness and awareness, to

responsibility towards creation, to the

Creator’s immensity.

The Catholic school is for the human

person and of human persons. The

person of each individual human being,

in his or her material and spiritual

needs, is the heart of the Church’s

teaching: this is why the promotion of

the human person is the goal of the

Catholic school. Catholic School on the

threshold of a new millennium

The education ofeven a smallchild, does notaim atpreparing himfor school, butfor life.

MariaMontessori

The Inner Teacher's Voice First, we all have an inner teacher whose guidance ismore reliable than anything we can get from adoctrine, ideology, collective belief system,institution, or leader. Second, we all need otherpeople to invite, amplify, and help us discern theinner teacher's voice.

PARKER J. PALMER, A HIDDEN WHOLENESS: THEJOURNEY TOWARD AN UNDIVIDED LIFE

Teachers are called upon to rise up to a

major educational challenge, which is the

recognition, respect and enhancement of

diversity. Psychological, social, cultural and

religious diversity should not be denied, but

rather considered as an opportunity and a

gift…Teachers must be open and

professionally knowledgeable when they

are leading classes where diversity is

recognised, accepted and appreciated as an

educational asset that is beneficial to

everyone. Those who find themselves in

greater difficulties, who are poorer, more

fragile or needy, should not be seen as a

burden or obstacle but should be at the

centre of the school’s attention and

concern.

ROOTED IN THEEARTH, HEADSREACHING EVENINTO HEAVEN!

Let us protect ourchildren; and let us notallow them to grow upinto emptiness andnothingness. Let ussteer them away fromthe harmful chase aftermaterial things and thedamaging passion fordistractions... Let useducate them to standwith their feet rooted inGod's earth, but withtheir heads reachingeven into heaven, thereto behold truth.

Friedrich Frobel

A PersonalReflection on thePower of CharismMAUREEN MEE, FORMER VICE-PRINCIPAL,LORETO SIXTH FORM COLLEGE MANCHESTER

It is no exaggeration to say that getting in touch

with the charism of Mary Ward, the founder of the

Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, helped to

save our sixth form college from closure. Loreto

College is in the heart of Moss Side, an area of

Manchester which, in the early 1990’s, was

deeply troubled by gang warfare, drug running

and shootings, much of this happening within

yards of our college. It was the decade when

Manchester was dubbed “Gunchester”. Parents

started to doubt that the college was a safe place

for their sons and daughters, enrolments began

to decline, and we were in grave danger of

closing.

Into that challenging situation, on an INSET day

in 1992, walked Sister Pat Murray, an

inspirational Loreto sister who at that time was

Loreto Education Officer in Ireland.

She later worked to develop education in South

Sudan and is now in Rome as Secretary General

of the Union of Women Religious Superiors. Sr

Pat had been invited by the Principal, Sr Patricia,

to speak to the whole staff about vision and

values in a Loreto school or college. On that day

she spoke to us about the story and values of

Mary Ward, characterised by her commitment to

freedom, justice, sincerity, truth and joy. She got

us to think about what a college might look like if

it explicitly embraced the spirit and values of

Mary Ward.

At a time when our morale was at rock

bottom and we were in danger of losing all

hope and confidence in ourselves, she gave

us a sense of being part of something much

bigger than ourselves, she gave us a story to

be proud of and a reason for striving to

remain open.

Today that college has three and a half

thousand students and a very clear and

proud sense of its identity as part of an

international community rooted in the

values of Mary Ward. That sense of identity

is, in part, because of what happened after

that INSET day. We decided that a

commitment to this charism had to go

beyond the warm feeling that came from

just embracing the words. Nor did we want

it to be something seen as the responsibility

of just the R.E department and the

chaplaincy.

"Let yourvocation, beconstant,efficaciousandaffectionate."

Mary Ward

"We arecalled by Godto a vocationof love."

Mary Ward

A PersonalReflection on thePower of CharismCONTINUED

Yes, we could – and did – re-write our mission

statement in the light of our new understanding,

but we concluded that if we wanted to make the

values a living reality in our college then we

needed to find a way of building them into our

key policies, processes, and routines. We wanted

the charism to find expression in our day-to-day

encounters with our students, in how we taught

them and how we supported them. This led to

many lively discussions in staff meetings! In the

early months a new quality framework was born

within which all college teams reflected on their

contribution to implementing the distinctive

charism and this began to form part of the self-

assessment process. Over the years, together

with the other Loreto schools in England, we

worked on a Vision and Values booklet, five

values became seven, a professional

development programme based on Ignatian

pedagogy - Teaching for Learning and Living:

something more than ordinary - was launched,

and, most recently, a booklet for governors was

written which highlights the distinctive features

of governance in a Loreto community.

So that one inspirational moment became a

defining moment in our college’s history.

Over the years that followed, the work of

successive generations of leaders in

building our founder’s charism, not just into

our mission statement but also into key

processes like teaching and learning, has

helped to give our college a shared sense of

purpose, an aspirational culture, and an

identity as part of a 400-year-old

educational endeavour to build a better

world.

"CherishGod’sVocation inYou."

Mary Ward

"Love andSpeak theTruth at alltimes"

Mary Ward

A Pastoral reflection with staff using the Charism of theschool

Sometimes a specific incident or experience raises a complex reaction within ateacher’s work. It could be a dramatic event that disturbed the staff member or asurprisingly successful event. An event that is surprising or apparently complicated islikely to be a good focus for a pastoral reflection. The line manager may well recognisesuch events before the staff member and may need to invite them to consider theirexperience in an informal conversation under some of the following headings:

· What happened?· What did you do and why?· What were your feelings before, during and afterwards?· What Gospel stories or themes are raised by this experience?· How does your experience connect with the ethos of our school?· What does this experience say about you as a teacher?· What would you do the same what would you do differently next time?· Does this experience suggest any change?

o in school?o In your view of your worko In your sense of belonging?o In your sense of vocation?

The opportunity for a teacher to reflect in depth upon a specific incident can help theline manager to understand the day to day thought processes of a teacher and tosupport their deeper motivation and personal growth. The discussion arising from thisreflection can also create opportunities to affirm the skills of the teacher and alsocorrect and deepen their sense of belonging to the school community.

A session like this needs some notice from the line manager to join a voluntary sharedreflection outside any recordable or professional process. It is meant to be anexpression of pastoral concern for the ongoing personal development of the staffmember. For that reason, it can never be imposed on a member of staff but must befreely taken up in an atmosphere of mutual trust.

www.roe-uk.co.uk@CharismRoe