Religious Education In Catholic Schools Research Articles

A case study of parent perspectives on interreligious learning and teaching in a diverse Catholic school context: ‘Building a civilisation of love’

ABSTRACT In the pluralised contexts of many contemporary Australian Catholic schools, cultural and religious diversity is a reality that could be ignored or potentially utilised to enhance learning. This case study probes the perceptions of parents regarding their children’s engagement in Religious Education in a Catholic school and in particular, engagement in interreligious learning and teaching. The small qualitative study utilised interviews with parents that were analysed and coded to reveal themes that are then discussed in light of the literature reviewed. Four key themes emerged: engagement, diversity, voice and agency, and identity revealing potential for enhancing partnerships with parents and families in the educative project of growing young Australians into their humanity and working towards the creation of a civilisation of love. The study points to a potential for the ‘wider Church’ to engage families in dialogue through articulating the why and how of Religious Education in Catholic schools (including interreligious learning and teaching) and enhancing parental engagement in such learning and teaching to resource the spiritual/religious identity of all as they grow into the fulness of life.

Will There Be Teachers? An Analysis of the Congruence of Religious Beliefs of Initial Teacher Education Students and the Patron’s (Religious Education) Programme for Catholic Schools

For historical reasons, the vast majority of primary schools in the Republic of Ireland are under the patronage of the Catholic church. Patronage involves a number of responsibilities, including the provision of a Patron’s Programme. Traditionally in the form of Religious Education (RE), such programmes should satisfy the curricular requirement for religious/ethical education and act as an expression of school ethos. In order to meet this responsibility, the Irish Episcopal conference in 2015 published its first curriculum in Religious Education, which forms the basis for the Grow in Love programme for pupils from Junior Infants to Sixth Class in all Catholic primary schools. However, effective teaching and learning of RE is dependent on the ‘buy in’ of those teaching it. The religious beliefs, understandings, and practices of those teaching RE are influential in this regard. Drawing from the data of a large-scale, multi-phase study, this paper describes the religious identity and beliefs of first-year students entering an Initial Teacher Education programme in Ireland—in this case, the Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree—to qualify as primary-level teachers. It situates the data in the wider context of religious identity and beliefs in Ireland and goes on to explore how the religious profiles of these students fit with the required understanding, knowledge and ability to teach Religious Education in Catholic schools. Findings indicate that the majority of these students identify as Catholic and believe in God. For most, God is important in their lives. However, there is a complexity to these beliefs, with a significant number who do not know what to think. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the teaching of Religious Education and for the patrons of Catholic schools.

Religious education in Catholic schools in Ireland and South Korea: complex layers of diversity, policy and teacher agency

ABSTRACT This paper explores and compares the experiences and perspectives of primary teachers regarding the teaching of religion in Catholic schools in Ireland and South Korea. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten teachers from each country. The findings highlight the contrasting perspectives of teachers from the two countries regarding the importance of and approach to religious education as a response to the challenges posed by pluralism. Teachers from Ireland predominantly exhibit a proactive approach, valuing diverse viewpoints and making efforts to engage in interreligious dialogue. Conversely, many teachers from South Korea demonstrate a deep appreciation for their own belief in God and prioritise the faith development of children. The comparative study highlights the importance of understanding teachers’ experiences and the ways in which they navigate the intersection of religious diversity, national policies, Catholic ethos, and their own personal faith perspectives. Our findings demonstrate the central role of teachers’ beliefs and future-oriented agency in the construction and implementation of religious education which does not always follow prescribed confessional or secular-neutral approaches.

Standards Setting in Religious Education: Addressing the Quality of Teaching and Assessment Practices

This paper describes a set of educational initiatives in Religious Education (RE). The paper addresses RE as an academic learning area and reserved for Kindergarten to Year 10 classrooms in Catholic schools. The initiatives described in the paper are evidence-based; they are guided by research and student achievement data addressing contemporary assessment reforms within the Australian educational context and considering the implications that the reforms have on the quality of student learning in RE. The reforms include quality assurance measures such as large-scale, standardised assessments (LSAs) and social moderation tools. The purpose of the measures is to establish standards that support the alignment of teaching and assessment practices. Such an alignment in the RE learning area has the potential to strengthen and improve student, as well as teacher, knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Faith Tradition. The paper draws from the Catholic RE school curriculum in Western Australia (WA), assessment principles outlined for schools in WA, an Australian Research Council Linkage project and local research about teacher perceptions of an LSA in RE. The paper supports local and national policy expectations recommending a review of the quality of RE as a learning area. Furthermore, given the prominence of the Catholic Church’s mission of evangelisation and the nature and role of RE in Catholic schools as part of that mission, the paper endorses the Church’s current stance on thoughtful dialogue and renewed efforts to bring a better understanding about Catholic culture and education to the world.

Early Childhood Teachers’ Confidence to Teach Religious Education and the Influences Which Impact Their Teaching of Religious Education in Catholic Primary Schools

This article reports findings from a study that examines the factors which influence early childhood and care (ECEC) early career teachers’ confidence in teaching Religious Education (RE) and how it impacts their teaching of RE in Catholic primary schools in Western Australia. Teachers’ confidence is a teacher’s belief in their ability to accomplish a goal and refers to strength of belief. Research in this area has shown that confidence is correlated with the sense of teaching efficacy and responsibility for student learning. Whilst there has been some research into teacher confidence, there has been insufficient research into early childhood teachers’ confidence to teach RE in Catholic schools in an Australian context. Literature supports the notion that if early childhood teachers have a strong teacher confidence for a subject, they are more motivated to teach the subject and this has a positive correlation with positive student outcomes. The epistemological approach underpinning the research is constructivist in nature; therefore, it is based on understanding the constructed realities of what humans know of the world and themselves as produced by communications and systems of meaning. Three case studies follow teachers from their early career to second-year experience in Catholic schools. This study investigates support structures and aspects that contribute to teacher confidence in the teaching of RE. The main themes identified by the data that contributed to confidence or lack of confidence included training, family and religious backgrounds, teaching and learning, mentoring and support in the first year of teaching. The implications of the results for pre-service teacher training and support for graduate teachers are discussed and some suggestions are offered about the courses provided by universities and what schools and education systems can do to support early career teachers to teach RE effectively in Catholic schools.

Perceptions of pre-service and graduate early childhood and primary teachers regarding their confidence in teaching Religious Education in Catholic primary schools

ABSTRACT This research reports an exploratory study of 22 pre-service teachers involved in the Religious Education courses offered by The University of Notre Dame Australia, as part of the university’s accreditation to teach religious education. The study examined the influence of key factors on how confident these pre-service teachers perceived themselves to be to engage with the necessary knowledge to effectively teach religious education in a Catholic school. The pre-service teachers were surveyed pre and post their final-year internship, and subsequently, six of these were interviewed at the end of their first term of employment. Results indicated that out of the five compulsory courses, the two teaching method courses were found to be most influential in developing confidence to teach. Family, religious background, schooling, and mentoring were found to be influential in confidence development. In addition, confidence improved across the timeframe.

Rymarz, R., Engebretson, K., & Hyde, B. (2021). Teaching Religious Education in Catholic Schools: Embracing a new era

Rymarz, R., Engebretson, K., & Hyde, B. (2021). Teaching Religious Education in Catholic Schools: Embracing a new era

Book Review: Irish and British Reflections on Catholic Education: Foundations, Identity, Leadership Issues, and Religious Education in Catholic Schools

Book Review: Irish and British Reflections on Catholic Education: Foundations, Identity, Leadership Issues, and Religious Education in Catholic Schools

‘Faith without ideology is dead’: what are the implications for Religious Education in Catholic schools and colleges of taking this assertion seriously? An essay for teachers of the subject to consider

The article seeks to explore a number of ‘double binds' in the theory and practice of Catholic religious education. There is a disparity between the goal of education, as a universal practice of human development, and faith formation, which is more correctly understood as an intentional, ‘elitist' formation of a minority elite. How to make sense of this ‘asymmetry'? With the help of two Jesuit theologians, Karl Rahner and Juan Luis Segundo, the asymmetry can be appreciated, not as a dilemma to be resolved, but as an anthropological constant. Rahner writes of ‘anonymous Christianity', Segundo gives a distinctive account of ‘faith and ideologies’ in need of each other. Taken together, these two theologians help us to re-calibrate our understanding of what Catholic educators are seeking to achieve.

Dialogue in community: conditions and enablers for teacher professional development in Catholic schools

This article explores conditions and enablers for teacher professional learning in religious education in Catholic schools. It examines the impact on religion of the pluralising and secularising influences in Australia today and identifies what this asks of religious education and religious educators in response. New pedagogical approaches which emphasise identity formation as critical to religious education, make teacher identity formation and ongoing learning vital for Catholic schools to undertake. The article proposes that teacher professional learning in Catholic schools focus on developing the following three dispositions and skills: self-awareness and reflexivity; openness to faith perspectives; and courageous communication skills. The article investigates teacher professional learning theory and research to make recommendations for teacher development in religious education. It raises two concepts as integral to professional learning in a Catholic context: Dialogue and Community. These concepts are highlighted as theologically and strategically important for Catholic school communities to attend to and explore.

Re-contextualising Catholic School Religious Education: Educating Young People Spiritually, Morally and Religiously for the 21st Century

Philip Phenix’s (1964) book Realms of meaning: A philosophy of the curriculum for general education started the ever growing movement concerned with how school education might help young people in their search for meaning, purpose and values in times of rapid cultural change. Today, in globalised, digital, secularised culture, the importance and urgency of this role have never been greater. Religious Education, with core curriculum status in Catholic schools, has both credentials and precedents for studying directly the contemporary human quest for meaning to help resource the spirituality of young people, no matter what their religious disposition. But a ‘course correction’ is needed for the discourse of Catholic Religious Education which has ‘drifted’ almost so exclusively into ecclesiastical terminology that its educational credibility as a valuable spiritual/moral school subject has been eroded, creating an ever widening discontinuity with the realities of the classroom and young people’s spirituality. A more outward-looking and less Catholic-centric emphasis would help, without neglecting commitment to the faith tradition. While concerned with the Australian Catholic sector, the article may well have relevance to other countries and contexts.

Self-efficacy in preservice teachers preparing to teach religious education

Teacher self-efficacy is understood as a teacher’s belief in his or her ability to successfully accomplish a specific teaching task in a particular context. Studies have been undertaken to determine preservice teachers’ self-efficacy in particular curriculum areas, but none have been completed that relate to the teaching of Religious Education (RE). This article reports on the findings of research undertaken with a group of preservice teachers preparing to teach RE in Catholic secondary schools in Melbourne, Victoria. The preservice teachers (PSTs) were enrolled in the Graduate Certificate in Religious Education (GCRE), which is the qualification undertaken by preservice teachers at Australian Catholic University (ACU). The course consists of four units—two in theology and two in RE. A group of preservice teachers at Australian Catholic University who were enrolled in the GCRE were asked to participate in the research about their self-efficacy to teach RE. The results of the research outlines the importance of self-efficacy to the task of teaching and to teaching of the specialist area of RE in Catholic schools. The outcomes of the research indicated that the group of preservice RE teachers had higher levels of self-efficacy to teach RE at the end of the unit than they had at the beginning. This finding, which confirmed research conducted in other curriculum areas, was that preservice teachers’ self-efficacy was enhanced by their participation in the unit.

Religious Education in Catholic Schools to Educate for Living Faith

The central proposal of this essay is that religious education in Catholic schools is to educate for living faith and not simply for instruction about Catholic or other religious traditions. For long this claim was taken for granted. Now, however, and for various reasons, there is growing sentiment that formation in faith is exclusively the work of family and parish, whereas religious education in Catholic schools is to proceed solely as an academic discipline, teaching religion as one might teach mathematics or science or any other subject. This essay proposes that we resist this diminution of religious education in Catholic schools (hereafter RECS) and precisely to honor the nature, purpose, and ways of knowing that are inherent to Christian faith, and likewise to reflect the Christian intellectual tradition.

Interreligious education and the contemporary school: contexts, challenges and theologies: an Irish perspective

A strong current in contemporary Catholic thought – the theology of interreligious or interfaith dialogue – stresses the importance of dialogue and collaboration with followers of other world faiths. This article proposes that religious education in Catholic schools, particularly at post-primary level, needs to engage more with this theological resource in order to promote mutual understanding and collaboration in today's climate of growing cultural and religious pluralism in Western Europe. Such work, it is also argued, is particularly challenging and urgent given the reality of the limited and limiting approaches to religious education, especially in regards to Islam, currently found in state schools in England and France. The paper proposes the development of models of religious education predicated on valuable theological insights inherent in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and subsequent post-conciliar and theological reflection. It begins with some comments on Western Europe's changing social, cultural and religious circumstances.

PENGARUH PEMBELAJARAN PENDIDIKAN AGAMA KATOLIK TERHADAP PERKEMBANGAN IMAN DAN PERUBAHAN PERILAKU SISWA SEKOLAH MENENGAH PERTAMA KATOLIK DI KOTA MADIUN

The task of organizing education is primarily the responsibility of parents and assisted by the community as long as it is needed. The task of organizing education is also the responsibility of the Church. The Church takes part in the world of education, among others, through Catholic religious education in Catholic schools. The learning process of Catholic Religious Education is intended to improve the faith of Catholic youth. The research was conducted by using qualitative research method. Qualitative research method is a form of research designed to examine attitudes, views, feelings, and behavior of individuals or groups of people or social issues being investigated. This study aims to analyze the extent to which Catholic Religious Education affects the development of faith and behavioral change of the Catholic Junior High School students in Madiun. The results of the research indicated that 7 (58%) of respondents stated that junior high school students were students between 13-15 years old. There were 12 (100%) respondents said that Catholic Religious Education taught in the School was able to help the junior high school students to have more knowledge about Jesus and his preaching. As many as 6 (50%) of respondents stated that Catholic Religious Education is very helpful to get know more about themselves personally. There were 8 (67%) of respondents stated that the teaching of Catholic Religion made their faith progressively improved. Broadly speaking, all respondents experienced that Catholic Religious teaching has made their Catholic faith being developed so far. It made the respondents more diligent and actively involved in throughout Catholic Church activities and any social affairs.

A Case for a ‘Big Picture’ Re-Orientation of K-12 Australian Catholic School Religious Education in the Light of Contemporary Spirituality

This is the second of two articles that argue a case for a ‘big picture’ re-orientation of Australian Catholic school K-12 religion curricula. The first article1 considered that there has been such a great change in the landscape of contemporary spirituality that the traditional framework of religious meanings within which Catholic school religion curricula are written is out of synch with the meanings that inform contemporary spiritualities. A proposed responsive change in orientation suggests that more prominence needs to be given to the critical interpretation and evaluation of cultural meanings, while not neglecting the more traditional aim of giving young Catholics meaningful access to their religious heritage. The apparently different estimates of spirituality for children and ado-lescents also need to be taken into account. If many of the pupils in Catholic schools will never become actively involved in parishes when they grow up, then religious education needs to offer more than familiarising them with Catholic theology and religious prac-tice; it also needs to equip them with skills to address the spiritual and moral issues they will encounter in life. Attention is given to what this entails in both content and pedagogy, at primary and secondary levels.

Catechesis and Religious Education: A Case Study From Scotland

The publication in 2011 of This is Our Faith (TIOF), the Catholic Church in Scotland's syllabus for religious education in Catholic schools, is a significant contribution to wider debates on the appropriate conceptual framework for religious education. Recent teaching of the Holy See has suggested that religious education in Catholic schools should adopt a scholastic shape and serve as a complement to catechesis. In TIOF, pedagogy, assessment issues and the relationship between cognitive and affective approaches to learning are merged in the context of a distinct faith tradition. TIOF's adoption of a catechetical vision of religious education shows how local churches can adapt Catholic teaching to their own circumstances.

Understanding the Changing Landscape of Contemporary Spirituality.: A useful starting point for reviewing Catholic school religious education

Pope John Paul II, following in the steps of his predecessors, strongly advocated the critical appraisal of the influence of culture on people’s spirituality. This article responds to his directive by seeking to develop an interpretation of how and why contemporary spirituality has changed that will better inform the work of religious educators in Catholic schools. A number of constructs like secularisation, privatisation of religion etc. have been used to describe the significant change in spirituality of many of the young people in Australian Catholic schools over the last 50 years from a more traditional religious spirituality to something that is more secular, eclectic and individualistic. To some extent, this change has been acknowledged; but the religion curricula in Catholic schools still give the impression that all of the students are, or should be, regular church goers – as if Sunday mass attendance was to be the end point of their education in spirituality. An interpretation of change in spirituality in terms of change in cultural meanings has been developed for the purpose of understanding contemporary spiritualities in other than a deficit model. Such an interpretation may be more persuasive in getting Catholic education authorities and religious educators firstly to accept, rather than condemn or ignore, the significant change in contemporary spiritualty; and then secondly, to take steps to address this change positively and constructively in the Catholic school religion curriculum. This article is concerned with the first step – understanding contemporary spirituality; it is intended that the second question will be considered in a follow up article.

A category mistake: why contemporary Australian religious education in Catholic schools may be doomed to failure

Assuming religious education to be the same as other subject areas of a Catholic school’s curriculum by, for example, applying the outcomes based philosophy and language of other subject areas to religious education renders a category mistake. A prominent notion in the work of metaphysical philosopher Gilbert Ryle, a category mistake arises when facts of one kind are presented as if they belong to another. This is significant. When Australian Catholic diocesan syllabus documents treat and describe religious education as being like other subjects comprising the curriculum, a category mistake is made, the effects of which may be damaging for student learning. Following an examination of relevant Church documents to describe its purpose, a brief analysis of contemporary Australian Catholic diocesan religious education syllabi (cases in point) indicates that a series of category mistakes have been made. These findings have significance in informing the development and refinement of theory, policy and practice in religious education.

Faithful dissent and religious education in Canadian Catholic schools: a response to McDonough

McDonough proposes that one way of invigorating religious education in Canadian Catholic high schools is to present a wider range of views under the ambit of Catholic teaching, including those that are currently regarded as dissenting opinions. These are not in keeping with official teaching but enjoy support in the wider Catholic community. In response to this, it is argued that a better understanding of the contemporary discourse on religious education in Catholic schools would accommodate a thoughtful engagement with a range of views. This is in keeping with an educative model of religious education that can distinguish between the educative and catechetical goals of religious education. A stronger focus on the educative aspects of religious education is proposed as a more direct way of improving the quality of religious education in schools.