What Can British Catholic Schools Learn About Leadership from OECD Data? Part 1: Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners

Much of the literature on leadership in Catholic schoolsLeadership in Catholic schools refers to the Catholic identityCatholic identity of the schools and approaches to leadershipLeadership inspired or at least echoed by the faith. Yet Catholic schools in the United Kingdom are required to serve students from all backgrounds, irrespective of faith. As the schools benefit from public funding, observers could argue that their first responsibility is to provide a good education to the students they serve, irrespective of faith. Beyond aspects of school leadershipSchool leadership related to the faith, other policies and practices should also be in place to ensure that Catholic schools deliver. The aim of this chapter is to share with Catholic schools findings related to teachers and school leaders that emerge from research at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The first part of the analysis focuses on teachers and school leaders as lifelong learners. The second part (next chapter) considers teachers and school leaders as valued professionals. It is hoped that sharing findings even in a simple descriptive way may provide useful insights for Catholic schools.