On Friday 19 June diocesan inspectors of religious education gathered at Cathedral Hall to say a warm thank you and farewell to Sr Mary Jo Martin, the Diocese's Chief Inspector of Religious Education.
Sr Mary Jo was appointed in 2009 by the Education Commission to review and strengthen the inspection of religious education across the diocese. In this role, she was supported by a Diocesan Inspection Committee, appointed by the then-Bishop George Stack, Chairman of the Commission. With her customary enthusiasm and vision, Sr Mary Jo suggested to the Commission that schools needed to know what they were to be measured against.
Thus began the preparation of the third edition of what is known as ‘The Red Book’ or, more formally, ‘Our Catholic Schools’. Published in 2010, it offers, to quote Cardinal Vincent, ‘support, challenge and a measure by which our schools and colleges may be judged by all who, in their various ways, help us to maintain the valued tradition of Catholic education in this country and our commitment to the common good of society’.
Following on from the publication of ‘the Red Book’, Sr Mary Jo tackled the all-important recruitment and training of inspectors. Alongside this, a Diocesan Framework for Inspection was published with an Inspection Handbook and an outline Self Evaluation Form for schools to complete prior to inspection.
Although she has been the main inspiration for, and the considerable driving force behind, the changes in diocesan inspections, she has always recognised the importance of consulting those responsible for religious education and of the need to take serious account of what they say, hence the revisions of all the inspection materials.
Sr Mary Jo has spearheaded a revolution in the inspection of religious education. A significant outcome of the now well-established inspection regime has been a steady rise in the quality of teaching and learning in line with high expectations of the inspection process.
At her farewell in Cathedral Hall, Mrs Jane Goring made a presentation to Sr Mary Jo on behalf of the inspectors. Jane, currently Deputy Headteacher at John Henry Newman Secondary School, will be taking over the role of Chief Inspector in September this year.
