The significance of theory in the implementation of curriculum change in religious education

A new study in Melbourne, Australia, has investigated curriculum change in religious education against the background of literature on curriculum change in education in general. Amongst its several findings, it was ascertained that clear information and theoretical understanding about a curriculum change in religious education is just as important as it is in any other field of study. In the absence of such information and understanding the leaders who were responsible for implementing the curriculum change in religious education made certain curriculum accommodations, and emphasised particular professional development activities for teachers that were not in keeping with the theoretical underpinning of the change. The implications for ‘top down’ curriculum change, such as those mandated by Church authorities or state authorities, are significant.     

Promoting fundamentalist belief? How scripture is presented in three religious education programmes in Catholic primary schools in Australia and England and Wales

ABSTRACT

Regardless of what method is chosen for formal religious education, the fundamental principle of all catechetical activity in the Catholic Church is fidelity to the Word of God and the concrete needs of the faithful. This article will argue, however, that fidelity to the Word of God falls short of the requirements of the Catholic Church in the three religious education curriculum schemes that dominate current religious education in Australia and England and Wales. Utilising a set of ‘best practice’ principles drawn from documents of the Catholic Church and developed by the author in an unpublished doctoral thesis this article identifies and describes practices which misrepresent and distort Scripture. In its own terms, good hermeneutics should be a priority for Catholic religious education. This article reveals significant hermeneutical problems with prominent Catholic religious education programmes in three countries.     

Assessing Impediments to Leadership Succession in Australian Catholic Schools

Evidence from the field indicates that many good candidates are not applying for principalships in Australian Catholic schools. Research aimed at developing an instrument to assess their reasons for not applying was conducted in New South Wales, Australia. A sample of 977 assistant principals, religious education coordinators and other coordinators were used in the evolution of a survey instrument. Scale development procedures resulted in a 32-item questionnaire with 8 underlying scales (namely, Unsupportive External Environment, Systemic Accountability, Lack of Expertise, Personal and Family Impact, Explicit Religious Identity, Gender Bias, Interview Problems, Loss of Close Relationships). Validation data indicated that this instrument--the Impediments to Leadership Succession Inventory--has sound structural characteristics. Use of this instrument revealed that respondents who perceived clear disincentives and systemic and societal devaluing of the work of principals were less inclined to apply for a principalship.     

A social cognitive framework for examining the work of Catholic religious education teachers in Australian high schools

Religious education in Australian Catholic High Schools is the raison d’etre for the Catholic education system and religious education teachers are critical to this mission. This paper offers a framework for investigating the self-efficacy of religious education teachers.

We first describe the nature and context of religious education in Australian Catholic schools. We argue that the teaching of religious education presents a set of unique challenges to teachers, compared to teaching other disciplines in the curriculum. Next we review the extant literature on Social Cognitive Theory, and self-efficacy as it may apply in this context. Then we look at likely constructs that may impact upon teacher self-efficacy for teaching religious education: collective efficacy, teachers’ implicit theories about student ability and student faith, and the intrinsic spirituality of religious education teachers.

We present a theoretical framework for examining the self-efficacy of religious education teachers, and we argue for research in this area that has not been studied hitherto, making this a unique contribution to the field of the psychology of religion, and to practitioners.     

CHILDREN'S SPIRITUALITY AND “THE GOOD SHEPHERD EXPERIENCE”

This article aims to explore the connections between a religious education curriculum's methodology in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, Australia and some contemporary theories about children's spirituality. “The Good Shepherd Experience” curriculum is intended for use with 5- and 6-year-old children in the first years of formal schooling. It forms a part of the To Know, Worship and Love religious education text based curriculum, directed for use by schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne as a key text in the religious education curricula. In exploring connections with children's spirituality, this article analyzes “The Good Shepherd Experience” in terms of wonder (mystery-sensing, contingency, and dependability), play and imagination, and the ability to use religious language and concepts.     

专业化教师教育课程的理论样态与基本结构

课程的理论样态是对课程存在形式的一种理性描述。它不仅反映着特定的社会理念,更从本质上决定着课程的结构和人才培养质量。传统教育下产生并广泛应用至今的以服务社会为宗旨的线性单向课程,在新的世纪里应完成课程样态转换。教师教育的课程体系应由以专业教育为主线转向以课程为中心;课程的实施与管理应由学年学分制转向学分制;课程样态应由线性单向转变为现代教育理念下以服务学生为主旨的网状有向课程结构。     

Catechesis and Religious Education in Canadian Catholic Schools

A key concept in contemporary Catholic educational discourse makes a distinction between religious education and catechesis. This distinction is based on the assumptions of faith commitment on the part of catechesis and the focus on cognitive outcomes on the part of religious education. Many official documents on Canadian Catholic school education, however, reflect an understanding that closely associated catechesis with religious education or fail to sufficiently distinguish between the two. The article argues that changes in contemporary culture make catechetical models of religious education problematic and that Catholic schools in Canada would be well served by an approach that emphasizes the educational goals of religious education. This is not to say that catechesis has no place in religious education but this is best achieved by making use of cognitive and effective outcomes in lesson planning and realizing that the school as a whole has many opportunities to foster catechesis.     

Religious experience as an aim of religious education

This article presents a model for religious education based on three central elements. First, it is argued that religious experience, or direct experience of the Divine, is an essential part of a full religious life, that religious experience is based in, enabled by and examined against, the body of knowledge in a given religion, and that religious experience is itself a form of knowing. Second, it is suggested that there be three sets of aims in religious education curriculum: knowledge aims, moral value aims and spiritual aims, the last of which encompasses religious experience, which religious education should aim to encourage and facilitate among students. Third, the teacher is presented as the central factor in such facilitation, and the pedagogical and personal characteristics of this ideal teacher are described.     

The Politics of Catholic Education in Zambia: 1964-2001

In colonial Zambia, the school served as a key means of Christian conversion and Church growth. During this period, the provision of education was almost the total preserve of the missionaries. Even by the time of Zambia's Independence in 1964, sixty-six per cent of the primary schools were operated by missionaries and about thirty per cent were run by Catholics. After Zambia gained its national Independence, this changed. As in other African countries, the state desired to control the educational system, which in Zambia's case it achieved not by a direct take-over but through legislation. As a result of the 1966 Education Act, the system became so centralized and bureaucratic while restrictions were so numerous that the autonomy of Church-run institutions became very restricted. At first, Catholic authorities continued to work within the system by even retaining their primary schools, but after about six years during which government tended to marginalize the Catholic agents more and more, like many Protestant groups before them, they handed over their primary schools to central government in 1973. At the same time, however, they continued to open and operate a number of secondary schools and two teachers' colleges. Nonetheless, even here, regulations created difficulties for promoting and maintaining an acceptable post-Vatican II Catholic and Christian ethos because, in accord with the Education Act, they no longer controlled intake of students, employment of staff, or direction of the curriculum. Frequently, Catholic institutions had a preponderance of non-Catholic students and sometimes of non-Catholic staff. With attempts by government to impose what it termed "scientific socialism" in the late 1970s and early 1980s, sometimes by appointment of staff who had been to Soviet bloc countries and were trained in political education, even the maintenance of a religious ethos was threatened. This continued until a change in government came in 1991. One of the first actions of the new Movement for Multiparty Democracy government was to revise the regulations affecting Church-run schools to enable them to become more autonomous and to encourage them to extend their commitment even by taking back some of the primary schools that had been given over in 1973. It thus introduced a new Education Act in 1993 which allowed Church-sponsored institutions significantly greater freedom in terms of financing, student enrolment, appointment of staff, and curriculum development. This article traces the history of Catholic institutions in Zambia between 1964 and 1991, illustrating some of the difficulties which they encountered while operating in accord with their ideals, especially the promotion of justice which became more explicit and central to Catholic education after Vatican II. It argues that the Catholic Church cooperated closely with government in a state-controlled system in the years immediately after Independence, especially in its attempts to provide an educated labor force which was so much a priority for Zambia at that time. It also supported the government's efforts to create an egalitarian society through the educational system even if it may have produced a more relevant curriculum for school drop-outs if it had greater autonomy. Catholic secondary schools never numbered more than thirty, in a country that currently has 256, and with the rise of basic schools have become even less significant statistically. Yet, Catholic institutions' academic programs merited repeated acclaim from government, while they became much sought after by parents and students, both Catholic and non-Catholic. Even when government grants from the 1980s onward became less and less adequate, Catholic institutions maintained high academic and infrastructural standards. They had books and equipment which were frequently the envy of government institutions. What they have perhaps lost in terms of proportionate quantity, they greatly gained in quality. Even within a tightly government-regulated system they made a distinctive contribution. While the Church did not entirely endorse much of the Marxist approach of the early educational reform movement, it was in accord with the ideal of equity which the movement propounded. However, when government leaned too heavily on what it termed "Scientific Socialism" in the late 1970s, the Catholic and other Church authorities resisted not because of its egalitarian direction but because of its suspected atheism. When attempts were made to replace religious education with political education and when the government introduced atheistic literature into their schools, Church authorities made frequent protests with only moderate success. Nonetheless, religious education remained a core subject in the basic curriculum while political education continued to feature. In more recent times since the change of government in 1991, the ideal of equity has become more difficult for the government to pursue because of its debt servicing and Structural Adjustment Program. Fewer funds are available for social services like health and education and so the government had to adopt a policy of cost-sharing which has made education less available to the poor. At the same time, the society is becoming more clearly divided between haves and have-nots while the educational system itself is becoming more clearly a preserve of those who have means. The Catholic Church is thus confronted more than before with a choice because of the autonomy which has been granted through the 1993 Education Act. It can remain closely integrated within the system which is not only of poor quality but, because of the government's policy of cost-sharing, tends to exclude larger and larger numbers of the poor. Alternatively, it can step out and present a model of school that continues to maintain the highest academic standards but which at the same time ensures that an acceptable Catholic, though ecumenical, ethos is recreated where the promotion of justice is pivotal. Thus, not only those who have means, but the poorest of the poor, will be accorded a fair opportunity to benefit from the educational system which has been at the heart of the Catholic endeavour in Zambia, certainly since 1964 but probably from the outset.     

哈佛课程改革与学术文化的耦合

哈佛的卓越是不争的事实,其背后不是失去大学的灵魂而依赖于放飞的灵魂,放飞的力量来自课程改革与学术文化的调谐耦合。哈佛历次重大课程改革都伴随着学术文化转型,选修课程制度的全面推行源于并促进教派学术文化走向人道宗教学术文化,通识课程改革彰显了国家主义学术文化的诉求,核心课程共生于世俗社会学术文化语境。哈佛课程改革坚守服务学生发展的永恒使命,同时从社会与个体双重需要出发寻求精英教育目标的时代建构,变与不变之间,课程改革与学术文化转型在促成大学理念的流变中不断创造哈佛的历史。哈佛大学课程改革与学术文化在神聚理念、身寄场所、彼此建构中实现调谐耦合,进而守望和延展大学的卓越。     

Assessing the psychosocial environment of science classes in Catholic secondary schools

Much Catholic school and church rhetoric suggests that Catholic schools possess distinctive learning environments. Research into this aspect of Catholic schooling has been hampered by the lack of an appropriate assessment instrument. By drawing on contemporary church literature, the perceptions of personnel involved in Catholic education and existing classroom environment questionnaires, a new instrument was developed to assess student perceptions of classroom psychosocial environment in Catholic schools. The use of this instrument in 64 classrooms in Catholic and Government schools indicated significant differences on some scales. The distinctive nature of Catholic schooling did not extend to all classroom environment dimensions deemed important to Catholic education. Specializations: Catholic education, learning environments. Specializations: conceptual change in students, science teacher professional development, scientific reasoning, learning environments. Specializations: learning environments, science education, educational evaluation, curriculum.     

中小学“阳光体育运动课程化”探究

洛龙区教育局把阳光体育运动作为实施素质教育的突破口,创新性地提出将阳光体育运动课程化,并深化为"大课间行为艺术新课程体系".该体系是:校长作为第一负责人,是新课程设计运筹的主体;体育教师是指导的主体;各年级主任是管理、协调的主体,班主任是实施、监督的主体.阳光体育运动课程化保证了学生每天锻炼1h,调动了学生积极参加体育活动的主动性,提高了学生身心健康和运动技能,培养了锻炼兴趣和良好习惯,并使跳绳运动从特色向传统发展,也有效地促进了中小学校园文化建设.     

The Christian Family as Mediator

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.     

STANDARDIZING TRAINING INSTITUTIONS FOR RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL WORKERS

The progressive spirit of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) spawned a myriad of graduate departments of religious education in American Catholic colleges and universities. These departments evolved to include other master degrees (e.g., pastoral studies, pastoral counseling, divinity, spirituality, and social justice). As the numbers of students in religious education degree programs significantly diminished, the degree designation in religious education was often terminated. Today, an ever increasing number of religious education practitioners in the Catholic context do not have graduate degrees in religious education. This ongoing reality significantly alters the field of religious education and its practice in the Catholic context.     

Towards a common ground: Arab versus Western views about challenges of Islamic religious education curriculum of the twenty-first century

The Islamic religious education curriculum of the twenty-first century is a cornerstone in a hot debate about necessary educational reforms in the Islamic World. This study aimed at investigating the depth of agreement/disagreement between Arab and Western educational views about challenges of this curriculum through reviewing academic articles/reports that were published in this field between 2001 and 2011. Fifty-seven Arabic and English academic articles/reports were chosen from a pool of around 500, to be analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Contrary to expectations, findings revealed that views of Arab authors about reforming Islamic religious education curriculum of the twenty-first century are not far from those of Western authors. Conferences and co-projects between Arab and Western educators are recommended.     

Putting textbooks to work: empowering religious education teachers

In 2002 a paper entitled Writing Church‐sponsored Religious Education Textbooks by Engebretson was published in the British Journal of Religious Education. This paper reported on and analysed some aspects of the development, by the Catholic Archdiocese in Melbourne, Victoria, of a series of religious education textbooks to be used in all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese. The paper contextualised the series, entitled To Know, Worship and Love, in the field of literature on textbooks in the classroom. It discussed some local issues that had led to the decision to produce religious education textbooks, explained and justified the choice of content for the middle secondary books, and discussed the presentation of the books. In the final section of the paper, it was indicated that future papers would report on the evaluation of the series and its implementation, as a three‐stage research project was completed. The first stage of the research project collected responses from teachers and Religious Education Co‐ordinators (RECs) to the Years 7 and 9 books, that is those books written for students of 12 and 14 years respectively. This paper discusses a significant finding that emerged from this stage of the research, that is the relationship between textbook use and level of qualifications and experience in the teaching of religious education. This major finding is of interest in relation to a range of educational issues in religious education, including the role and use of resources, the mandation of resources by Church hierarchies, creativity and flexibility in teaching religious education, teacher confidence and experience and the important issue of content knowledge. Further papers will explore evaluations of the Years 8 and 10 books, and overall issues that have emerged from this Archdiocesan curriculum project.     

CONSULTATION: A Final Report

In 2008 Quebec introduced a new ethics and religious culture course. This marks a significant development in Canadian education as the mandated curriculum is intended for use in publically funded secular schools. In the past such courses have been in the domain of denominational schools. This new approach is examined in the context of the profound changes in Quebec society in recent years, typified by the sudden decline in the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. An overview of the curriculum is given, noting its basis as a particular type of phenomenological approach to the study of ethics and religion. The curriculum is analyzed against the theoretical perspectives developed by Moore and Wright. A number of issues on the scope of the study, the significant demands it places on students and teachers, and how it critically engages with religious truth claims are examined.     

Religious education and the pandemic: postcolonial perspectives

ABSTRACT

This article provides a critical, historical analysis of religious education and the pandemic through the perspective of postcolonial theory. Showing through an interdisciplinary lens how colonialism and contagion have conjointly configured cultural and civilisational change, it shows how sources from religious and literary history can illuminate the current critical landscape of decolonisation. The article opens with some general contextual remarks about decolonising the curriculum at the interface of postcolonial theory and education. Demonstrating, then, the political-theological currency of contagion, the article frames contemporary church closures during the pandemic as presenting contrasting lessons in theology from the pandemic present and world history. Revisiting the colonial on this basis, the article shows how religion and education have also been at the epicentre of empires. Thus, the spread of Biblical literacy had the unforeseen historical consequence of interconnecting erudition and the eradication of peoples. The article outlines here how and why, therefore, the role of religion and education is integral to the critical contours of postcolonial theory. These analyses provide, it is argued, potentially liberating disciplinary frameworks for religious education itself; and lessons, too, to which postcolonial theory could also well attend, that is the abiding importance of religion in education.     

Quality of religious education in Croatia assessed from teachers’ perspective

The main aim of the present study was to examine the quality of religious education in Croatian primary schools when assessed from teachers’ perspective. Religious education teachers (N?=?226) rated the impact of certain factors on the existing quality of religious education in primary schools and expressed their expectations about the future status of this aspect of education. In addition, teachers rated different sources of their professional satisfaction as religious education teachers. We identified understandable latent dimensions of teachers’ opinions, expectations and satisfaction where retained dimensions are modestly interrelated. The conducted regression analyses suggest that teachers with different professional status-related personal attributes are fairly uniform in their views, expectations and satisfactions. An interesting finding of this study concerns the relationship between school-based Catholic religious education and the parish-based catechesis, where an existing relationship represents a weak source of religious education teachers’ satisfaction. This represents a valuable empirically driven insight regarding the Catholic religious education in Croatian schools with some importance to the broader context of religious education in general.