Staff | Policies & Documents

PASTORAL PRACTICES IN BRIGIDINE SCHOOLS

Let us love in deed and in truth and not merely talk about it. ]John 3:18

Pastoral Practices in Brigidine schools are informed by our motto of Strength and Gentleness. These ideals are further articulated in the Core Values of Brigidine Sponsored Education -

Pastoral practices are a very important aspect of a Brigidine school and the most powerful element of evangelisation.

The context for pastoral practices in Brigidine schools is set in several documents agreed to by our schools, in particular 'The Criteria for an education that is Catholic'.

The usual place for student pastoral needs to be met is within the school. The way the school community is structured and the overall culture that is established is a vital component of the set of pastoral practices that are the norm of the school. Central to all pastoral practice is establishing trusting and supportive relationships between students and staff. At the same time it needs to be noted that staff-staff relations are the most powerful model of pastoral practice we can offer young people.

Pastoral practices are central to good curriculum practices. All young people want to learn and it is therefore crucial that they can experience success within the valued curriculum offered by the school. We need to find as many ways as possible to offer programs that have multiple entry points and flexible time spans for achievement. Assessment and reporting practices that enable all students to experience success are essential.

Students may not allow us to see their desire to learn if they have failed so many times that their only recourse is to pretend they are not trying. We need to constantly review the curriculum in terms of its suitability for the actual students present. We believe that a curriculum that is based on cooperative practices rather than on competition is much more conducive to student well being.

Students will help each other and an atmosphere that encourages peer support is to be encouraged. An interdependent conmiunity is one of the goals of our pastoral practices.

If we consider the needs of adolescents and the things they value most we can help them manage the 'growing up'that takes place during these forinative years. Each young person experiences changes that are physical, social, mental and moral and each of these poses challenges for both the young person and the teacher. We need to recognise that there is also a growing capacity in adolescents to recognise a spiritual dimension to life and we should provide many opportunities for this growth. Part of this will be helping students critique the values of our society.

Among the most important things for an adolescent is friendship. We need to build up opportunities for young people to establish friendships, to deal with the inevitable upsets that occur in areas of relationship and to understand that real friendship is not based on what we can get from the relationship. A culture in the school that values a happy atmosphere and decries nastiness, bullying and'put-downs'will help students be at peace enough to develop their own value system and feeling of being worthwhile. Teachers should be encouraged to be friendly towards the students (recognising of course that they need to maintain an adult stance in their friendship with students).

Another important element of adolescence is a developing self image. We need to promote the self esteem of each student - sometimes in a targeted way. Almost evey student responds to praise and recognition. We can build these into many activities that are part of school life and we can also devise extra activities that aim to have an individual or a group feel more confident and competent.

Students need to be able to make mistakes. We need to foster a culture of forgiveness and starting again. Students learn very little if they are not willing to take some risks and inevitably make some mistakes. They should be assured that teachers ask only that they show some real desire to begin again and try (for as many tinies as this is necessary).

A process for establishing the rights and responsibilities of all in the school community can be very helpful. Consequences of unacceptable behaviour should be constructive and not mindlessly punitive. An automatic list of punishments following certain actions does not recognise all the variables that should be taken into account if we are to be just.

Some students bring to school problems from their lives at home or elsewhere. We need to give them opportunities to talk if this is what they want to do. If their problems are such that they are enduring and debilitating for the young person they should be recorded confidentially and staff who are dealing with the young person alerted to the need for special care. Lack of such sensitive communication often means a lot of unnecessary suffering for students.

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