Abstract Title
Research Insights: Teaching and Assessment Practices in Religious Education
Abstract
This paper presents a Western Australian (WA) perspective of Catholic Religious Education (RE). The perspective recognises RE as an academic learning area reserved for the classroom and that which complements aspects of other learning areas as well as the religious life of the school. The paper draws from a pragmatic, mixed-methods study completed in 2018 that investigated the perceptions of religious educators about the use of a state-wide, standardised assessment in RE. The assessment is called, The Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment (BRLA). Developed in 2007 by the Catholic Education Office of Western Australia, the BRLA measures student learning in RE across four dioceses. The assessment comprises multiple choice, short and extended response test items. Students in three, year levels ranging from age eight to fifteen participate.
The scope of the paper attends to six themes that emerged from the study’s findings and build a metanarrative that addresses the research problem, how do religious educators in Catholic schools in WA, perceive the BRLA. Administration, as theme one, suggests that most of the religious educators had positive experiences of administering the assessment. The religious educators indicated the process for administration was straightforward and familiar. Engagement as theme two, offers insight into how the religious educators’ perceptions of BRLA, may have influenced their perceptions of how students and teachers were supported in preparation for the assessment. The level of support seems to have been perceived in terms of the religious educators’ experiences of engagement with students, their parents and the system administrators of the assessment. The third theme is Purpose, which draws on the findings that identify the religious educators’ as perceiving the purpose and role of the assessment in contrasting ways. The fourth theme, Professional Formation suggests that the religious educators’ contrasting perceptions of the assessment may have been shaped not only by their initial experiences of engagement with preparing for the administration of the assessment but also further informed by how they experienced and approached the teaching of RE. Theme five, Accountability focuses on how the religious educators’ contrasting perceptions of the assessment seem to have reflected how they interpreted educational responsibility for student learning, based on the use of a large-scale, standardised assessment (LSA) of which they were not directly involved in developing. Assessment Practices as theme six, further draws from the religious educators’ contrasting perceptions of the nature and role of LSAs and the application of those perceptions. This theme identifies a connection between how the religious educators either expressed inclusive or exclusive interpretations of accountability and their narrow or broad preferences for measuring student learning.
The themes build on local, national and international research and literature about RE and the use of LSAs in education. The themes provide new knowledge about teaching and assessment practices in RE by classroom teachers and school leaders in Catholic schools. This knowledge identifies points of difference and similarities among and between majority and minority groups of school-based religious educators. To represent the new knowledge, a matrix is used. The matrix has four quadrants, each showing the relationship or interplay that appears to have existed between the religious educators’ perceptions of the assessment and the contextual experiences that appear to have influenced those perceptions. The matrix represents the profiles of the religious educators in the study and forms a stimulus for engaging in evidence-based dialogue about the nature and role of RE and the purpose and use of assessments. Such dialogue has the potential to improve the effectiveness of student learning in RE and help integrate contemporary theories and policy expectations about RE with school-based teaching and assessment practices within Catholic education.
Research Insights: Teaching and Assessment Practices in Religious Education
This paper presents a Western Australian (WA) perspective of Catholic Religious Education (RE). The perspective recognises RE as an academic learning area reserved for the classroom and that which complements aspects of other learning areas as well as the religious life of the school. The paper draws from a pragmatic, mixed-methods study completed in 2018 that investigated the perceptions of religious educators about the use of a state-wide, standardised assessment in RE. The assessment is called, The Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment (BRLA). Developed in 2007 by the Catholic Education Office of Western Australia, the BRLA measures student learning in RE across four dioceses. The assessment comprises multiple choice, short and extended response test items. Students in three, year levels ranging from age eight to fifteen participate.
The scope of the paper attends to six themes that emerged from the study’s findings and build a metanarrative that addresses the research problem, how do religious educators in Catholic schools in WA, perceive the BRLA. Administration, as theme one, suggests that most of the religious educators had positive experiences of administering the assessment. The religious educators indicated the process for administration was straightforward and familiar. Engagement as theme two, offers insight into how the religious educators’ perceptions of BRLA, may have influenced their perceptions of how students and teachers were supported in preparation for the assessment. The level of support seems to have been perceived in terms of the religious educators’ experiences of engagement with students, their parents and the system administrators of the assessment. The third theme is Purpose, which draws on the findings that identify the religious educators’ as perceiving the purpose and role of the assessment in contrasting ways. The fourth theme, Professional Formation suggests that the religious educators’ contrasting perceptions of the assessment may have been shaped not only by their initial experiences of engagement with preparing for the administration of the assessment but also further informed by how they experienced and approached the teaching of RE. Theme five, Accountability focuses on how the religious educators’ contrasting perceptions of the assessment seem to have reflected how they interpreted educational responsibility for student learning, based on the use of a large-scale, standardised assessment (LSA) of which they were not directly involved in developing. Assessment Practices as theme six, further draws from the religious educators’ contrasting perceptions of the nature and role of LSAs and the application of those perceptions. This theme identifies a connection between how the religious educators either expressed inclusive or exclusive interpretations of accountability and their narrow or broad preferences for measuring student learning.
The themes build on local, national and international research and literature about RE and the use of LSAs in education. The themes provide new knowledge about teaching and assessment practices in RE by classroom teachers and school leaders in Catholic schools. This knowledge identifies points of difference and similarities among and between majority and minority groups of school-based religious educators. To represent the new knowledge, a matrix is used. The matrix has four quadrants, each showing the relationship or interplay that appears to have existed between the religious educators’ perceptions of the assessment and the contextual experiences that appear to have influenced those perceptions. The matrix represents the profiles of the religious educators in the study and forms a stimulus for engaging in evidence-based dialogue about the nature and role of RE and the purpose and use of assessments. Such dialogue has the potential to improve the effectiveness of student learning in RE and help integrate contemporary theories and policy expectations about RE with school-based teaching and assessment practices within Catholic education.