Educational Achievement

In a simple comparison of the numbers of students who complete year 12 of schooling, the Catholic schools appear to do considerably better than other schools. On average, for the whole population, 42% of students who went to Catholic schools completed year 12 compared with 27% of the population.
However, it is possible that this has to do with the families who send their children to Catholic schools rather than the influence of the schools themselves. The National Social Science Survey provided the opportunity to control these factors of the family’s social, economic and educational background. The parents who sent their children to Catholic schools were little different in social and economic background to the parents of children who went to other schools. However, the parents who chose Catholic schooling were more likely to be university graduates themselves, and more likely to have more books in the home.
Even when one takes into account the more intellectual orientation of parents sending their children to Catholic schools, the effects of the schools themselves remain substantial. Controlling for the orientation and background of the parents, still 38% of children attending complete year 12 compared with 27% in the population as a whole.
Children who went to Catholic schools were more likely to go to university than those who did not go to Catholic schools. However, this can be explained almost entirely in terms of the greater numbers of Catholic school students reaching year 12. Of all students who reach year 12, Catholic school students are no more likely to get to university than others.
Catholic schools may be educationally successful because they encourage a more academic orientation. However, the results regarding university do not support that strongly. The explanation is more likely to be found in the guidance and discipline of the schools which encourages students to keep moving through to the later years of schooling.

Encouraging Faith

Catholic schools were established not only to provide a good education in a general sense, but to pass on the Catholic faith to children. The National Social Science Survey allows us to look at this in several ways. We can compare, for example, the church attendance of those who attended Catholic schools to those who did not. We find that those who attended Catholic schools, on average, attend church more frequently than those who did not. While, on average, Australians attend about once or twice a year, those who attended a Catholic school attend more than several times a year. Attendance at a Catholic secondary school appeared to have slightly more influence on attendance at church later in life than attendance at a Catholic primary school.
Catholic school students affirm belief in God and the idea that there is a God who concerns Himself with every human being more strongly than other students. There is also a weak, but significant correlation, between attending a Catholic secondary school and having a positive view of the church and the clergy.
Students who attended other church schools also tended to affirm religious beliefs and involve themselves in religious practices more than those who attended government schools. However, Catholic students are stronger than the students on other church schools in both religious beliefs and practices.
However, one might ask whether the Catholic school is influential in its own right, or whether these results are influenced by more devout parents preferring to send their children to Catholic schools. Regression analysis allows us to control for the affects of parental practice and also whether the person attended church themselves as a child.
In regards to church attendance, there is a correlation of .17 between attending a Catholic school and the frequency of church attendance as an adult. However, there were stronger correlations between the attendance of mothers (.36) and fathers (.34) and the person’s own attendance as a child (.26) and church attendance as an adult.
Almost 13% of the variance in church attendance is explained in terms of the mother’s attendance when the person was growing up. The father’s attendance adds a little to the explanation, accounting for a total of 14.6%. The person’s own attendance as a child also explains a little of the variation: a total of 15.2%, and attending a Catholic secondary school makes it 15.6%. Having been a student at a Catholic secondary school does have a very small, but statistically significant (at better than .005 level) independent relationship to church attendance as an adult. However, the independent relationship is very small compared with that with the parents’ involvement.
The results are similar in relation to belief in God. There is a correlation of .16 between how sure people are in their belief in God and attending a Catholic school. Again, however, most of that relationship can be explained in terms of the fact that the parents with stronger religious practices, and presumably beliefs, are more likely to send their children to Catholic schools.
When one controls for the influence of parental practice, and the person’s own childhood involvement in the church, attendance at a Catholic secondary school has a very small, but statistically significant, independent relationship with belief in God in later life.
Attending a Catholic school relates weakly and positively with general attitudes towards the church and towards the clergy. However, when one controls for the relationship with parents’ religious practice and with practice as a child, it appears that attendance at a Catholic school does not have an independent relationship.

Survey of Oblate Schools

These results corresponded, in general terms, with those found in the survey of 11 and 12 year students of Oblate secondary colleges, undertaken by the Christian Research Association. The survey found that just over 50% of the students said Mass at school helped them to feel close to God. 23% said it did not help and the rest did not know whether it did.
Forty percent of the students said they intended to attend a church at least once a month or more often after they left school. Another 10 percent said they would attend occasionally, and 50 percent said they would never attend or only on rare and special occasions.
The current levels of attendance as well as their future intentions (which were a little less frequent than current levels of attendance at a parish) among these students were well above those of the population as a whole. However, most of the differences can be explained in terms of parental influence.
Most of those students who attend Mass in the parish do so under the influence of their parents. Correlation with the father’s habits of church attendance is particularly strong. Many students who attend Mass with their families also find the religious activities in the school strengthen their faith and help them in their daily lives.
On the other hand, students who come from homes where the parents do not attend are often negative towards religion in the school. They say they do not find it helpful and that it is boring and difficult to understand. There were only 16 students in the total sample (2.5 percent) who attended church weekly or more often of whom both the father and mother attended church less than once a month. The school is one of several significant influences on the attitudes and opinions of students about religious matters. However, alone, it has limited influence. Yet, without it, parents and the parish would also find it more difficult to have a positive influence in the affirmation of Christian faith and practice among their children.

Philip Hughes