The importance of Catholic Social Thought in Education Leadership

What is it about?

The study aimed to situate the catholic social thought (CST) in education leadership, which, in most learning institutions, appears to be less understood. Simply put, education leadership is an object of service intended for societal wellbeing and global peace. Its impact permeates the lives of individuals and communities, which extends to the collective dynamics of society. The core principles of the CST are human dignity, common good, solidarity, stewardship, subsidiarity, participation, preferential option for the poor, rights and responsibilities, and promotion of peace. These principles are situated in education leadership so that human societies achieve millennial wellbeing and global peace. The study was carried out by scrutinizing catholic documents on CST to understand if the principles influence education leaders in their learning institutions. The process included observational and exploratory methods, interaction with school leaders, deconstruction of the interactions, ethnographic approaches, social constructivism and pragmatic approaches. It is now argued that the current technological advances and exponential population growth are causing anxiety and distress to education leaders who have traditionally relied on the status quo. Their action and behaviour are a burden to societal wellbeing, and it is changing people in an unprecedented manner. The fear of a knowledge explosion in societies that were less known for influencing global politics has led to abuse of authority by education leaders. The fear has also led to the subjugation of members of minority groups to conditions that are ethically and morally in conflict with the principles of the CST. According to these principles, education leaders must afford equal opportunities to all racial, cultural, social and linguistic groups to learn and to lead, actions which promote societal wellbeing, harmony and global peace.

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Why is it important?

Our education system, in human history, is littered with tribulations and so, we are yet to achieve the ideals of distributive justice. As we witness societal advances in technology and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), we are yet again to witness how education leaders will manage the change. These advances, coupled with changes in education priorities and policies across continents, the declining economic frontiers across nations, and the declining teacher physical and mental health associated with stressful teaching demands, increasing teaching workload, and increasing teacher burnout, more than ever, require a new and progressive frontier in education leadership. The advances and declines, coupled with students’ poor classroom behaviour, declining students’ engagement intheir own learning, parents’ relentless and unrealistic demands that their children achieve the same education outcomes regardless of their academic abilities and deficiencies, present new dynamics in the field of education. We project that these dynamics will cause a record teacher shortage in the next few decades.

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