Religious Education in Australia: The Voices of Practitioners and Scholars
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Research Context
1.2. Sector Profile
1.3. Research and Practice Trajectories
1.4. Perspectives of Practitioners and Scholars
The twin actions of encounter and dialogue act as a bridge for multicultural and multifaith perspectives in a pluralistic society. Every Christian is called to go out to others—to dialogue with those who do not think the way they do, with those who have another faith, or who don’t have faith. To encounter all, because we all have in common our having been created in the image of God. We can go out to encounter everyone without fear(Pope Francis reported in Reese 2013, para. 2).
Dialogue is the interaction between people where each aims to present themselves authentically and seeks to understand the other as they truly are, forming an I-Thou relationship. This relationship is characterised by mutuality, openness, and directness. The ‘I’ relates to the ‘Thou’ not as something to be studied, measured, or manipulated, but as an irreplaceable presence that responds to the ‘I’ in its individuality
- What are the dominant themes in RE?
- What is affirmed in the existing practices of RE?
- What future can be imagined for RE?
2. Method
2.1. Participants
2.2. Data Collection and Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Day 1: Awaken
3.1.1. Interpreting the Verbal Data
3.1.2. Mapping Themes and Relationships
3.2. Day 2: Celebrate
3.3. Day 3: Imagine
4. Discussion
4.1. Theoretical Propositions
4.1.1. Formation
4.1.2. Pedagogy
4.1.3. Curriculum
4.1.4. Partnerships
4.1.5. Research
4.2. Strategies
- Formation: Confirming forums for sharing and networking and integrating faith experience and theology.
- Pedagogy: Dialogue in promoting RE method and nurturing teacher dispositions of moderator, specialist, and witness.
- Curriculum: Engaging teacher formation in a diverse set of skills and including school-based leaders of RE at future national gatherings.
- Partnerships: Strengthening communication between ACU and Catholic education authorities and including partners who collaborate with schools (e.g., parents, parishes, spiritual movements and associations, and dioceses).
- Research: Gathering quality data, learning from and applying the findings, and ensuring that meaning and communications are critical to ongoing effective learning.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
1 | We extend our sincere appreciation to the editor of the eJournal for Catholic Education in Australasia for granting permission to reanalyse selected published original data using Leximancer and to report these new findings. |
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Themes and Days | Awaken Day 1 | Embrace Day 2 | Imagine Day 3 |
Research Questions | What are the dominant themes in RE? | What is affirmed in the existing practices of RE? | What future can be imagined for RE? |
Data Collection |
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Data Analysis | Analysis of participant responses using IPA and Leximancer. | Thematic emphases and relationships using IPA and Leximancer. | Advancing theoretical propositions to inform future directions |
Main Ideas | Themes | Domains |
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More experiential and inquiry approach to RE … reconsideration of what we do in senior RE. | Senior schooling | Pedagogy and Curriculum |
What exactly is expected of an RE teacher in a RE classroom in a Catholic school today, both primary and secondary? | Consensus on purpose of RE | |
Formation of our teachers and parents in Catholic Education is key. Celebrate and share our successes more overtly and encourage best practice. | Professional learning | |
We need to model the radical inclusion of Jesus and ensure everyone can find a place of comfort, solace, compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and mercy when they are part of Catholic Education | Community for all | |
The vital importance of RE teachers being able to sensitively listen to students and engage them with inquiry into ‘the big questions’ with sophistication in drawing upon/connection with the tradition. | Voices of youth | |
There are so many points of congruence between us, along with some significant and productive collaboration, but we have never achieved a National RE curriculum. This continues to result in duplication and inefficient use of resources. This matter is still worth pursuing. | National curriculum and resourcing | |
Embedding a Catholic world view across the curriculum; improve quality classroom teaching of religion; and encourage an encounter with Jesus in the religious life of the school. | RE and Catholic school identity | |
Invitation—proposing not imposing; the critical need to differentiate the faith encounter. RE teachers need to be supported in their intrinsic spirituality and their self-efficacy. | Teacher evangelisation | Formation |
We need to awaken the witness factor in our younger RE teachers and undergraduate RE students. | Teacher formation | |
It’s not good enough to have well-meaning, ‘generally spiritual’ people in the religious education space when we are trying to draw secondary school students into experiences where they can encounter Christ. | Witness | |
What form of RE curriculum/pedagogy is responsive to our context and equips young people to dialogue with a pluralist/secular society? | Holistic engagement | |
We need a critical mass of staff who passionately engage and promote Catholic identity of the school. | Critical mass | |
How do we ensure RE enhances the identity of everyone in our schools—‘fullness of life’ for all? | Catholic identity | |
Recognising that we do God’s work and that union with God is critical in the work of religious education. | Embracing | |
Catholic schools have something to offer Catholics (the Church) and, potentially, many others (who send their children) and the broader society. | School as engagement | Parents/Parish/ Partnerships |
Listen to parents and their opinions (families are the most important influence). Increase our efforts in the formation of parents. | Parent engagement | |
The importance of parish life in renewing/refashioning to engage with people’s lives and respect the agency of all the baptised. | Complement-arity in mission | |
The La Salle Academy important for new research and providing resources to advance this cause. | ACU partnerships | Research |
More work needs to be done on what makes for effective faith formation of students in Catholic schools. | Quality practices | |
An effective and efficient way of collaborating will be the development of contemporary resources that support the teaching of religious education. This needs to be well informed by research aligned to contemporary pedagogies. | Quality resources needed |
Effective | Challenging | Visioning |
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Pedagogy Themes | ||
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Principle: Advancing an inquiring, experiential, encounter-based pedagogy. | ||
Formation Themes | ||
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Principle: Advancing formation for personal identity and school mission. | ||
Curriculum Themes | ||
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Principle: Advancing curriculum which is inclusive, relevant, inquiring, and life-giving. | ||
Parents/Parish/Partnership Themes | ||
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Principle: Honouring inclusion and engagement with family, parish, and community. | ||
Research Themes | ||
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Principle: Advancing research which identifies needs, informs practice, and monitors outcomes. |
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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Hall, D.; Sultmann, W.F.; Lamb, J.T. Religious Education in Australia: The Voices of Practitioners and Scholars. Religions 2024, 15, 1025. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091025
Hall D, Sultmann WF, Lamb JT. Religious Education in Australia: The Voices of Practitioners and Scholars. Religions. 2024; 15(9):1025. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091025
Chicago/Turabian StyleHall, David, William Francis Sultmann, and Janeen Therese Lamb. 2024. "Religious Education in Australia: The Voices of Practitioners and Scholars" Religions 15, no. 9: 1025. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15091025