Education is the key to a good society. Educators have a great responsibility to preserve and develop our shared cultural inheritance. This inheritance is more than simply an accumulation of 'knowledge' but includes this 'knowledge' in the wider context of what it is to be a good human person.
In this light, this blog has striven to promote the virtue of reading as a sine qua non of the professional teacher. Recent posts have identified a range of texts which will assist educators in their crucial cultural mission: The Lost Tools of Learning (May 14); Understanding Teaching and Learning - Classic Texts on Education by Augustine, Aquinas, Newman and Mill (October 9); Communicating Faith (November 6). All of the above have a major contribution to make to understanding the complex yet rich field of education.
A new text for those interested in Catholic Education is now available: A Companion to Catholic Education (Gracewing) offers a series of essays on key themes arising in Catholic Religious Education. While this volume does not claim to be a complete textbook or manual of instruction on the Catholic faith, it serves as a gateway to the further study of theology - the discipline once known as the 'queen of the sciences'. More broadly, this volume is another reminder that all education and schooling is rooted in the study of a cultural inheritance - in this case religious - which demands a considered response.
I wish all the readers of this blog a happy Christmas and a fruitful 2012.
