An exploration of contemporary pastoral care practices used by teachers and leaders in Australian Catholic schools and their connection to Catholic identity
Publication Details
Topliss, J.,
&
Leber, N.
(2023).
An exploration of contemporary pastoral care practices used by teachers and leaders in Australian Catholic schools and their connection to Catholic identity.
International Studies in Catholic Education,.
Abstract
This research provides a snapshot of the perceptions of 14 teachers and leaderswho had just completed thePastoral Care and the Schoolcourse, offered as partof their Master of Education programme by The University of Notre Dame,Australia (UNDA). The participants were surveyed at the completion of thecourse through a qualitative survey that included both open and closedquestions. The survey was designed to provide a snapshot of theirunderstandings of pastoral care practices from their course and experiences asteachers/leaders. Results indicated that 29% of the participants were unaware oftheir school’s pastoral care policy or programmes. Many envisaged leadershipsupport and early career mentoring as influential in planning pastoral careinterventions, considering 43% of participants were still in their early stages ofteaching {3rd to 7th years of teaching}. Four common themes were foundacross the study that strongly link pastoral care to the heart of leading Catholicidentity in a Catholic school. These were: providing a contemporary definitionof pastoral care that links Catholic identity for staff; the role of pastoral care insupporting Catholic identity through sacramental programmes; the importanceof leadership in providing clear dialogue to staff about pastoral care andstudent wellbeing concerns; and implementing training of pastoral careprogrammes to assist early career teachers. As such, pastoral care becomesmore than knowledge about student or staff welfare, it embodies a key elementof leading and promoting Catholic identity within a school itself.
Keywords
pastoral care; Catholic leadership; early career teachers; religious education; Catholic identity
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