A recently released document funded by an Australian  Government agency and released by Victorian Roman

Catholics entitled Catholic Schools Development Framework and Standards of Practice  clearly illustrates that Roman Catholic education is private and not public education. Catholic education is Catholic in purpose, in other word it is based on the religious purpose of a private multinational, corporate, centralised church. This Catholic purpose is its raison d'etre.  DOGS quote from this document to prove the point.

Catholic schools share a specific, recognizable Catholic identity that reflects the life, work and teachings of Jesus Christ and the evangelising mission of the Catholic church. The daily interactions among all members of the school community reflect belief in and commitment to the Catholic identity of the school.

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Catholic schools are learning communities that assist the Church in its mission of spreading the gospel of Christ.

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The Catholic school is a place of integral education of the human person through a clear educational project of which Christ is the foundation.

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The Catholic school is both a sign and an instrument of the evangelising mission of the Catholic Church. Catholic schools provide an integral education of the human person. Catholic schools enhance the human dignity of their students because the education they provide is based on a profound understanding of the Christian conception of human life.

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Catholic schools call upon young people to form values based upon a specifically Christian view of the world, which has Christ as its foundation. Through the critical dialogue with culture, Catholic schools provide an education in life and faith to all in the school community.

It is within the total experience of school life that students and staff engage in a search for meaning. In a classroom that is based upon sound educational principles, and directed towards the growth of the whole person, the general curriculum is a vehicle for the exploration of values, life, culture and faith within a Catholic framework.

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The school's vision, as an expression of the Catholic school, gives clear parameters for the professional behaviour of teachers.

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Teaching and learning programs in Catholic schools develop the student as a whole person. Providing opportunities for students to learn successfully, while ensuring their faith development, is the raison d'etre of Catholic schools.

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Teachers  strive to understand the search for meaning in the lives of children and adolescents. They ensure that all teaching programs reflect Christian values.

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In a secular and pluralistic society, the Catholic school has a special role to play in ensuring that its specific Christian educational values are understood, acknowledged, and appreciated by families.

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Parents and family members are welcome in a Catholic school. They are encouraged to share, reinforce and embrace the catholic ethos, and to witness and celebrate their faith within the school community.

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Catholic schools are a Catholic presence in the local community. They form collaborative partnerships with parents, religious and other groups, professionals and various agencies within and beyond the immediate community, such as universities that are concerned with the education and well being of young people.

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Catholic schools have close connections with Church, diocesan and parish life.

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The Catholic Church has strong concern for social justice. It engages in dialogue with civic authorities to promote its beliefs and values in accordance with the mission of Christ....Catholic schools assist the church to actively promote a compassionate and just society.

Meanwhile, the motto for Australia's highest lay/religious Roman Catholic body, the National Catholic Education Commission is an accurate  statement of the principle behind the educational institutions of that church.

Advancing and Promoting the Interests of Catholic Education in Australia!

This is the proud proclamation in 2008, but it was the last thing the Roman Catholic Church representatives would own in the DOGS High Court case.

COMPARE THE PURPOSE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION: WHAT A DIFFERENCE

 The public school and public education serves a public, not a private purpose. The public school is not maintained for the personal advantage or private gain of the teacher, proprietor or body of managers: nor does it exist simply for the enjoyment, happiness or advancement of the individual students or his parents. The public school and system serves the whole society by providing schools available for all children throughout the community to ensure that the knowledge and understanding necessary for the responsibilities of citizenship. Moreover, it is public in purpose. It attempts to bring the public together in an exercise of community , citizens learning to work together for their own and the communities children, encouraging them to live, work and play together. Above all, our Founding Fathers set up public education for a public political purpose, in an attempt to avoid the cancer within the body politic.

 The public school serves the public. It accepts and does not discard the racial, religious and social minorities. Nor does it turn away the poor, the handicapped, the problem children and the underachievers. The public school provides access to all children, irrespective of class, colour, religion, ethnic or national original or geographical location. Moreover, teachers, administrative staff are not debarred or preferred because of religious, ethnic or social class reasons.

ACADEMICS/POLICY MAKERS PLEASE NOTE

Academic writers and policy makers in Australian education should note that public is not private and private can never be public education. They do themselves and the Australian citizenry a great disfavour by engaging in Orwellian doubletalk.

The seven other aspects of the definition of public education in Australia should also be considered when academics and policy makers attempt to marry the public with the private sector.

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