Transcript EUROPEAN SCHOOLS Brussels

and
The teaching of catholic religion
31th of May 2010
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The words which express the essential aims of the
European Schools have been sealed, in parchment,
into the foundation stones of all the schools:
“Educated side by side, untroubled from infancy by
divisive prejudices, acquainted with all that is great and
good in the different cultures, it will be borne in upon
them as they mature that they belong together. Without
ceasing to look to their own lands with love and pride,
they will become in mind Europeans, schooled and ready
to complete and consolidate the work of their fathers
before them, to bring into being a united and thriving
Europe.”
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official educational establishments
controlled jointly by the governments of the
Member States of the European Union
governed by the Intergovernmental Protocol
ratified by the national authorities of the
signatory countries
There are currently fourteen Schools in seven countries (Belgium,
Netherlands, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain and
Luxembourg) with a total of approximately 22.500 pupils :
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Four in Brussels : Uccle, Woluwe, Ixelles and Laeken (actually
on the site of Berkendael ),
Alicante, Frankfurt am Main, Mol, Bergen, Karlsruhe, Munich,
Varese, Culham, Luxembourg (I & II).
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Brussels I, Uccle : 3.154 *
Brussels II, Woluwe : 3.124 *
Brussels III, Ixelles : 2.925 *
Brussels IV, Laeken : 805 *
Total : 10.008 students
15 different linguistic groups shared out according to
the schools.
About 36% follow the Catholic religion course, 19%
Protestant religion, 3% Orthodox, 1% Jewish, 1%
Islamic and 40% the course of non-confessional ethics.
A course on Buddhism has been started two years ago
in Brussels III for some students.
*estimates for September 2010
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The schools depend on a Board of Governors
composed of a representative from each of the member
countries of the European Union, a representative from
the European Commission and a representative from
the European office of Certification for the European
school in Munich.
Since 1986, the ordinaries of the places of each
European school who have authority in the matter of
teaching catholic religion, are represented on the Board
of Governors by the COMECE for everything which is
common to all European schools : status of the teachers
and religion class, curriculum, regulations, …
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to give pupils confidence in their own cultural
identity – the bedrock for their development as
European citizens;
to provide a broad education of high quality, from
nursery level to university-entrance;
to develop high standards in the mother tongue
and in foreign languages;
to develop mathematical and scientific skills
throughout the whole period of schooling;
to encourage a European and global perspective
overall and particularly in the study of the human
sciences;
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to encourage creativity in music and the plastic arts
and an appreciation of all that is best in a common
European artistic heritage;
to develop physical skills and instill in pupils an
appreciation of the need for healthy living through
participation in sporting and recreational activities;
to offer pupils professional guidance on their choice of
subjects and on career/university decisions in the later
years of the secondary school;
to foster tolerance, co-operation, communication and
concern for others throughout the school community
and beyond;
to cultivate pupils’ personal, social and academic
development and to prepare them for the next stage of
education.
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the study of a first foreign language (English, French
or German), known as L II, is compulsory
throughout the school, from the first primary class;
all pupils must study a second foreign language (L
III), starting in the second year of secondary school;
Language classes are taught by native speakers and
composed of mixed nationalities. Also for art,
musical and physical education classes;
From the third class of secondary school, history and
geography are studied in the pupil’s first foreign
language. Economics, as option from the fourth class,
also.
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Basic instruction is given in the official
languages of the European Union. This
principle allows the primacy of the pupil’s
mother tongue (L1) to be safeguarded.
Consequently, each school comprises several
language sections. The curricula and syllabuses
(except in the case of mother tongue) are the
same in all sections.
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1958 : Pierre van Stappen, Belgian Jesuit priest, set up
the association of the Foyer catholique européen for the
pastoral needs from the European civil servants
1962 : at the request of Cardinal Suenens, Archbishop
of Brussels-Malines, an international team of Jesuit
took charge of the pastoral care of the families of the
students of the European schools
1987 : the responsibility for catholic religion teaching
in the European schools in entrust to a layperson :
Catherine Roba.
1989 : Cardinal Daneels confirmed the mission
entrusted to the Society of Jesus.
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49 teachers from 11 different nationalities
(among them one Jesuit, Father Jean Beckers,
and one Dominican).
All of them are employed part time by the
Head of each school after nomination by the
local religious authority who have delegate
power to the responsible for catholic religion
teaching.
Some of them teach in two or three even four
schools.
The proposal coming from the Gospel and from
Christ invites everyone :
To commit oneself in active life, by integrating
one’s Christian faith into choices and personal
decisions,
To unite struggle and contemplation by putting
one’s confidence in God present in all things,
To awake particular attention to those most in
need.
Like other schools, the European schools are confronted with problems
related to youth : Drugs, violence, isolation, significant diminishment of
religious practice.
The evangelization of young people is more and more necessary because the
teaching of religion is no longer addressed , for most part, to Christians and
for those who are more committed the purely academic aspect of the teaching
does not answer their expectations.
It help to maintain a certain religious culture, a moral teaching and a contact
with the young people and their families, but it must be completed by
educative activities.
The specificity of the European schools is an opportunity to transmit the
universal (and therefore European) dimension of the Church. There a need o
multiply the occasions for meetings with the local church and the possibilities
of religious experiences.
The different linguistic groups need to have their own pastoral reference
points and occasional celebrations which are sign of Gospel unity.