Teacher Faith Formation as Response to an “Existential Crisis” in Catholic Schools: Western Canadian Superintendents’ Perspectives

Abstract

The shortage of teachers who can strongly identify with the religious mission of Catholic schools is at the point of an “existential crisis,” according to a system leader in Catholic schools in Western Canada. Drawing upon exploratory interviews completed with ten chief superintendents (who oversee large school districts), this paper reveals that while school districts offer various forms of faith formation regulating the personal lives of teachers amidst divergences between Church doctrines and social trends is complicated. Because the complexity of teacher faith formation is incredibly di f icult to address, we discuss three key areas to renew the state of affairs: focusing on the individual teacher’s journey, creating content that is dialogical and seeks to integrate faith to life, and coalescing of Catholic educational partners to forge the political will to better support teacher faith formation.