Abstract
This study explores how one teacher, Rebecca, makes sense of teaching history in a Catholic school. This Catholic school had a clear religious mission and did not have required curriculum or high-stakes tests. Yet, findings indicate that Rebecca did not attend to the religious mission in her teaching and, in absence of curricula or high-stakes tests, she relied heavily on the textbook. Findings demonstrate the need for a greater understanding of what curricular content is being taught and learned in Catholic elementary and secondary schools and how it aligns with the mission and purpose of Catholic schools.
Highlights
In 2013 Pope Francis issued his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, on Catholic education
What implications do these statements of purpose have on day-to-day instruction in Catholic schools? Research in Catholic schools has focused on how the promotion of Catholic identity influences the leadership of the school (Wallace, 2000; Scanlan, 2011) and how the leadership of the school influences the Catholic identity of the school (Fuller & Johnson, 2014), but little attention has been given to how this purpose influences the classroom and pedagogical decisions of teachers in any subject
Over the past century, Catholic schools have seen a decline in the number of religious that teach in their schools
Summary
In 2013 Pope Francis issued his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, on Catholic education. Evangelii Gaudium outlined Pope Francis’ vision for Catholic education to be an answer to secularization and “deterioration of ethics” in society Pope Francis and the USCCB have outlined a clear purpose for Catholic schools to enact. History classrooms provide an interesting lens for exploring how Catholic identity is incorporated into content of the class because of the interconnectedness of religion and history. Justice Clark and the Supreme Court understood the necessity of teaching about religion and the connection between history and religion. Catholic history classrooms provide another layer of religion as they both examine the role religion has played in society as well as a way to discuss Catholic identity and faith
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