Catechism of the Catholic Church Sexual Identity (No. 2333) “Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.”

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The Catechism of the Catholic Church

This article brings together some of the literature on worldwide trends in religious education that have influenced the delivery of curriculum in this field in Australian Catholic schools. The approaches to religious education since the time of European settlement in Australia are surveyed in light of international trends and the pedagogical techniques underpinning each paradigm. Pedagogical techniques are reconceptualized in terms of the interplay between pedagogy and the development of approaches to religious education. As pedagogical techniques are applied, tried, tested, and modified, new approaches to religious education become distinguished yet remain interrelated. This article conceptualizes the process as “pedagogical drift”. 1 1Parts of this article have been published in Buchanan, M. (2003). Survey of current writings on trends in religious education. Journal of Religious Education 51(4):22–30.

Pedagogical drift: the evolution of new approaches and paradigms in religious education

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 ...

Putting textbooks to work: empowering religious education teachers

This thesis aimed to study the perspectives of religious education coordinators' in secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne regarding their management of a particular curriculum change in religious education. The change in question involved a 'top down' (Morris, 1995) change to a 'text-based curriculum' (Pell, 2001) directed by the Archbishop of Melbourne, who is responsible for religious education in Catholic schools throughout the Archdiocese. Situated within a qualitative paradigm this research utilised grounded theory as a means to identify and analyse the theory generated from interviews with religious education coordinators who were responsible for managing the change. The emergent categories were used to generate new theory in relation to how religious education coordinators managed the curriculum change. Key theories generated from this study included factors that impeded the change such as an inability to understand the theoretical position underpinning the curriculum innovation, and inadequate qualifications to teach religious education. It also generated theory about factors that assisted the management of this change such as time to reflect on practice, and support from school leadership teams. The theory generated was analysed against the existing knowledge about curriculum change in education, textbook use and leadership in religious education. A distinguishing aspect of this research is that it linked the general literature on educational change as it applies to curriculum change, with curriculum change in religious education.The study also proposed some recommendations for future directions and practices concerning the management of curriculum change in religious education in Catholic schools.

Management of curriculum change: An analysis of religious education coordinator's perspectives on the management of a particular curriculum change in Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne

This article is concerned with the connection between religions and education. It explores the case of one particular values education programme, ‘Living Values: an educational program’, and its link with the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU) to show how the programme originated and developed, which individuals and institutions were involved in these processes, how such a programme finds application in British schools and what form such application takes. The article traces a ‘chain of transmission’ from inception to classroom and looks at the reception which a values-based programme finds among teachers, pupils and parents. The article is based on ethnographic and documentary data gathered in a one-year research project (September 2001 to October 2002) in the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU) at the University of Warwick.

‘Living Values: an educational program’—from initiative to uptake

This paper reports on and analyses some aspects of the development by the Catholic Archdiocese in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia of a series of religious education textbooks to be used in all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese. It surveys research and literature on textbooks in the contemporary classroom to show that they are still used as key tools in teaching and learning. The author then analyses some local issues that were in the background to the decision to produce textbooks, explains and justifies the choice of content for the middle secondary books, which are intended for use by 14 and 15 year olds, and discusses three themes from the literature which have affected the presentation of the books. Finally, a brief indication of an ongoing evaluation plan is presented. Because this project is very new ‐ the first books have only been used for one year and later levels are still being written ‐ the purpose of this paper is largely descriptive, and historical in that it sets the development of the ser...

Kathleen Engebretson

Papers

Writing Church‐sponsored Religious Education Textbooks