In this ground-breaking book, Gerald Grace addresses the dilemmas facing Catholic education in an increasingly secular and consumer-driven culture. The book combines an original theoretical framework with research drawn from interviews with sixty Catholic secondary head teachers from deprived urban areas. Issues discussed include:

*Catholic meanings of academic success
*tensions between market values and Catholic values
*threats to the mission integrity of Catholic schools
*the spiritual, moral and social justice commitments of contemporary Catholic schools

This book will be equally useful to leaders of Catholic and other schools and to all those interested in values and leadership in schooling.

Gerald Grace is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Institute of Education, University of London. He is also Director of the Centre for Research and Development in Catholic Education, based at the Institute of Education.

PART I Theoretical frameworks 1 The Catholic school: the sacred and the secular 2 The field of Catholic education: perspectives from Bourdieu and Bernstein PART II Historical, cultural and research contexts 3 Images of Catholic schooling: pre-Vatican II 4 Catholic schools post-Vatican II: a review of research studies PART III Catholic schools in three English cities: fieldwork studies 5 Research approaches and fieldwork 6 Mission and leadership: concepts and challenges 7 The use of talents: Catholic theories of academic 'success' or 'failure' 8 Market culture and Catholic values in education 9 Spirituality, morality and personal and social justice 10 Catholic schools: the renewal of spiritual capital and the critique of the secular world