Abstract Title
Evaluating the trajectory of Catholic school religious education
Abstract
Evaluating the trajectory of Catholic school religious education
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 social change. Today, in globalised, digital, secularised culture, the importance and urgency of this role have never been greater; cultural change has accelerated exponentially, and, for many, traditional religious sources of meaning are no longer prominent or plausible reference points. Rather – secularised, individualistic, young people in Westernised countries appear preoccupied with a consumerist lifestyle, orchestrated by the potent imagery and iconography of media advertising and marketing – while at the same time there are unprecedented high levels of anxiety, depression and mental health issues.
Religious education, with core curriculum status in Catholic schools, has credentials for studying directly the contemporary human quest for meaning to help resource the spirituality of young people, no matter what their religious disposition. And there are some historical precedents where the scope of Catholic religious education has broadened beyond Catholicism to include study of other religions and of the ways in which culture influences basic human spirituality. There is a need to review the trajectory of Australian Catholic school religious education to see where it stands in relation to the approach outlined above, and to see how it might adapt to be more meaningful and relevant for today’s students.
The paper shows that since the 1980s, but especially within the last decade, Catholic school religious education has been on a different trajectory called ‘ecclesiastical drift’. Both the underlying assumptions and the discussion of purposes (the discourse of religious education) were gradually articulated almost exclusively within an ecclesiastical frame of reference. Terms such as faith development, faith formation, Catholic identity, evangelisation and mission became the main normative constructs for the discourse. These church terms are not primarily about education and their usage in replacing educational words tends to result in discontinuities with both the realities of the classroom and young people’s spirituality; if religious education is perceived to be an exclusively ecclesiastical activity and not an educational one, its fundamental educational purposes are eclipsed. This reinforces student and parental impressions that religious education is not really an integral part of the curriculum, but a nominal requirement of Catholic school authorities which has little relevance to young people’s education and personal lives. The place of religious education as a valuable core subject in the school curriculum is thus eroded; its perceived academic status has also declined – it seemed to be at a higher level in the 1990s. In turn, ecclesiastical drift contributes to a deterioration in young people’s perception of how valuable religious education might be – with consequences for their level of engagement and readiness for an academically challenging study.
The paper suggests that this is a crucial time for a review of the trajectory for a 21st century Catholic Religious Education. A ‘course correction’ is proposed – a change of emphasis in language, purposes, content and pedagogy which is more ‘outward-looking’ and less ‘Catholic-centric’, without neglecting commitment to the faith tradition. What will be the outcome if it remains on the path of ecclesiastical drift? Is a more meaningful and relevant alternative too difficult to imagine and too hard politically to implement? The paper stresses the importance of a critical evaluative dimension to religious education, which can help young Australians learn how to negotiate a path through an increasingly complex and challenging culture. While focussing specifically on the Australian Catholic sector, the argument may well have relevance for other sectors and in other countries
Evaluating the trajectory of Catholic school religious education
Evaluating the trajectory of Catholic school religious education
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 social change. Today, in globalised, digital, secularised culture, the importance and urgency of this role have never been greater; cultural change has accelerated exponentially, and, for many, traditional religious sources of meaning are no longer prominent or plausible reference points. Rather – secularised, individualistic, young people in Westernised countries appear preoccupied with a consumerist lifestyle, orchestrated by the potent imagery and iconography of media advertising and marketing – while at the same time there are unprecedented high levels of anxiety, depression and mental health issues.
Religious education, with core curriculum status in Catholic schools, has credentials for studying directly the contemporary human quest for meaning to help resource the spirituality of young people, no matter what their religious disposition. And there are some historical precedents where the scope of Catholic religious education has broadened beyond Catholicism to include study of other religions and of the ways in which culture influences basic human spirituality. There is a need to review the trajectory of Australian Catholic school religious education to see where it stands in relation to the approach outlined above, and to see how it might adapt to be more meaningful and relevant for today’s students.
The paper shows that since the 1980s, but especially within the last decade, Catholic school religious education has been on a different trajectory called ‘ecclesiastical drift’. Both the underlying assumptions and the discussion of purposes (the discourse of religious education) were gradually articulated almost exclusively within an ecclesiastical frame of reference. Terms such as faith development, faith formation, Catholic identity, evangelisation and mission became the main normative constructs for the discourse. These church terms are not primarily about education and their usage in replacing educational words tends to result in discontinuities with both the realities of the classroom and young people’s spirituality; if religious education is perceived to be an exclusively ecclesiastical activity and not an educational one, its fundamental educational purposes are eclipsed. This reinforces student and parental impressions that religious education is not really an integral part of the curriculum, but a nominal requirement of Catholic school authorities which has little relevance to young people’s education and personal lives. The place of religious education as a valuable core subject in the school curriculum is thus eroded; its perceived academic status has also declined – it seemed to be at a higher level in the 1990s. In turn, ecclesiastical drift contributes to a deterioration in young people’s perception of how valuable religious education might be – with consequences for their level of engagement and readiness for an academically challenging study.
The paper suggests that this is a crucial time for a review of the trajectory for a 21st century Catholic Religious Education. A ‘course correction’ is proposed – a change of emphasis in language, purposes, content and pedagogy which is more ‘outward-looking’ and less ‘Catholic-centric’, without neglecting commitment to the faith tradition. What will be the outcome if it remains on the path of ecclesiastical drift? Is a more meaningful and relevant alternative too difficult to imagine and too hard politically to implement? The paper stresses the importance of a critical evaluative dimension to religious education, which can help young Australians learn how to negotiate a path through an increasingly complex and challenging culture. While focussing specifically on the Australian Catholic sector, the argument may well have relevance for other sectors and in other countries