A case study: Infusing Catholic values throughout the curriculum
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to look at the infusion of values throughout the Catholic school curriculum and the use of Educational Community Opportunity for Stewardship (ECOS) as the vehicle to accomplish this goal as well as to analyze the effects of ECOS on the teaching/learning process in three schools that served as pilots for the infusion process. Several techniques were used to collect data. A survey questionnaire was administered to 119 teachers in 11 schools throughout a diocesan Catholic school system. From the results of this survey, three schools were chosen as case study sites. Interviews were conducted with volunteer teachers and administrators from these three schools utilizing questions from an interview guide developed by this researcher. Document analysis and observations were included as data sources. Qualitative data were organized by themes that emerged from the survey and the interviews. The survey found that participants believe that values education should be a component of the curriculum in Catholic schools and that ECOS provided an appropriate and effective instrument to formalize the infusion of values throughout the curriculum. Participants enjoyed the common training that was part of the ECOS process. It was a professional experience for them and it increased their awareness of values infusion as a primary component of Catholic identity. The study also found that there was no designed follow-up that would enable or encourage principals or teachers to continue to implement ECOS. There was no infrastructure provided that would continue to promote the change after the inservice workshop had occurred. The institutionalization phase of the infusion of Catholic values has not been realized. It was the researcher's conclusion that while ECOS provided an initial step in opening a dialogue on Catholic education, Catholic values, and Catholic identity, the level of commitment on the local and central levels required to sustain and to stabilize the values infusion project was left too much to chance. Emphasis was placed on a far-reaching implementation plan at the expense of institutionalizing the project throughout the system.
Subject Area
School administration|Religious education|Curricula|Teaching
Recommended Citation
Krebbs, Mary Jane, "A case study: Infusing Catholic values throughout the curriculum" (1997). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9809010.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9809010
