A case study of interreligious learning and teaching in a Catholic primary school – a nexus of leadership, pedagogy, identity, and relationships

Abstract

Australia is a religiously diverse nation with a growing trend in ‘no religious affiliation’ and irrelevance of religion in the lives of young learners and their families. The purpose of this study is to explore the perspectives of School leaders, teachers, and support officers in describing their role in interreligious learning and teaching in the context of one school. Whilst this is a study of one context, the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) data and Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) school review data indicate it is a high functioning school. Fourteen one-to-one interviews were transcribed, analysed, and coded revealing themes that clarify key features of the data guided by the research question. Leadership, diversity, relationships, pedagogy, learners, and religious identity emerged as key themes. Delving deeply into the perceptions of the school staff in relation to their engagement in interreligious learning and teaching may offer some insight for other contexts endeavouring to increase the relevance and plausibility of religion in the lives of learners.

Keywords:

• Interreligious learning and teaching
• recontextualisation
• religious education
• religious identity
• leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Toni Foley. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Toni Foley and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of James Cook University, Human Research Ethics Committee, ID H8146.

Notes

1 This trend is reported via the Australian Federal Census and is reflected in the populations of many Australian Catholic schools as reported by the Independent Schools Council of Australia. Anecdotally adults and students report the lack of connection between the ‘Church’ and their own lives and choose not to be affiliated with institutional Church which appears to be out-of-step with societal norms.

2 Many Australian Schools are reviewed, and improvement agendas set with external consultants using the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) National School Improvement Tool (https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article = 1019&context = tll_misc). This tool consists of nine domains in which schools are rated from low to outstanding according to the evidence collected by consultants (documents and interviews with personnel and stakeholders). A school that is rated as ‘outstanding’ in all the nine domains would be considered high functioning. Many Australian Catholic Schools utilise the KU Leuven ‘Enhancing Catholic Identity’ survey instruments to assess student, staff, and families’ attitudes towards the Catholic Identity of a school that align with theoretical schemas. According to the ECSI researchers, in Good Shepherd Primary school, ‘the greatest strength uncovered through the subpopulation instrument is the vast majority of students, staff and parents in the Recontextualising subpopulation. … This bodes well for promoting the Recontextualising Catholic Dialogue School – which, based on the ECSI research, has the highest potential for enhancing the identity of your Catholic School.’ (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 2019, 27) This school is considered ‘high functioning’ in regard to its capacity to enhance its Catholic Identity.

3 A Reconceptualist approach ‘operates from an educational framework rather than from a catechetical or ‘shared Christian praxis’ framework. The most prominent proponent of the reconceptualist approach has been Gabriel Moran upon whose work the Brisbane Catholic Education Model for Religious Education is based’ (Brisbane Catholic Education 2020). (see https://catholicidentity.bne.catholic.edu.au/religious-education/SitePages/A-reconceptualist-approach-to-the-Religion-curriculum-P12.aspx)

4 The pedagogical practices or educational processes in any one subject area will vary according to the educational purpose, for example to retrieve information, to make meaning, to question assumptions, to achieve automation (e.g Math multiplication tables). The subject of Religion aligns well with subjects that often utilise an inquiry-based pedagogy, such as History, Civics and Citizenship and other Humanities and Social Science learning areas. Utilising inquiry-based pedagogy, students are primarily aiming to make meaning. Critical inquiry, which is utilised in Health and Physical Education, English and other Humanities and Social Science subjects can assist learners to question and to delve deeper into assumptions and perspectives which is also useful for facilitating the educative purpose of Religion. Automation and the use of Explicit instruction are processes that would be less often utilised in Religion because a key purpose in the teaching of religion is for the learners to make meaning through their own inquiry. This stands in contrast to the ‘catechism or doctrinal era in the early 1960s’ (Rossiter 2020, 194).

5 In the Australian Curriculum for Primary schools there are eight learning areas that must be taught (core): English, Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, The Arts, Technologies and Languages. For Australian Catholic schools there is an additional core learning area that must be taught: Religion.

6 The Church document, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, (Vatican 1965) reflects significant shifts in the Catholic Church’s understanding of revelation. In Dei Verbum, ‘revelation is no longer simply a body of truths contained in Scripture and taught by the Church. … There is a movement away from revelation as revelata (truths disclosed) to revelation (personal disclosure)’ (Scott 2020, February p. 5/6). However, Dei Verbum does not define revelation and at times refers to ‘religious truths’ (Vatican 1965. Par 5,6). Scott proposes ‘Revelation happens, as a living interpersonal event, in the depth of human experience. The church can transmit documents, written records, doctrines, art, and practices of the tradition but not divine revelation. (2020 February, p. 6)

7 The understandings of parents and students are to be explored in subsequent research.

8 The students come from backgrounds including, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, Philippines, India, Sudan, China, South Africa, Chile, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Taiwan, Samoa, South Korea, Germany, United States of America and New Zealand. The school does not have a designated language teacher, however there is a support teacher who works with learners who have English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D).

9 This research was conducted after an initial shut down of schools due to a COVID-19 outbreak. While participation in the research was voluntary, the time to interview the staff was restricted to 20 minutes to minimise the impact on the teacher as teachers were operating in uncertain times.

10 The spiritual life of the community involves the Prayer and Worship, Religious Identity and Culture, Social Justice and Action and Evangelisation and faith formation. (see https://catholicidentity.bne.catholic.edu.au/religious-education/SitePages/Religious-life-of-the-school.aspx)

11 Hattie’s meta-analysis of 1,400 studies of influences related to student achievement found an average effect size of 0.40 of all the interventions studied. He subsequently judges success relative to this ‘hinge’ point’ to indicate what works best in education. The effect size is calculated as the standardized mean difference between the two groups: . (Hattie and Zierer 2018, xviii)

12 St Mary MacKillop (1842–1909) is Australia’s first and only saint to be recognised by the Catholic Church. Mary was the co-founder of Australia’s first order of Religious Sisters, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. She was known for her work in educating the poor and social reform.

13 Post Critical Belief Style is one in which an individual has ‘a personal belief in a transcendent God while being aware that only through symbolic mediation and on-going interpretation people can enter into a relationship with the Divine’ (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 2019, 3).

14 This learning can be supported through institutions such as the Australian Catholic University that offers undergraduate and post Graduate courses that assist teachers to understand and engage in learning and teaching practices that support the learning and teaching of Religion.

15 For believers who hold the understanding of ‘revealed truths’ that are transmitted via documents or doctrines, they may be challenged by individuals who come to their own personal revelation through dialogue and encounter with a personal Divine. Such individuals could challenge each other over issues such as euthanasia, abortion, eucharistic participation of divorcees or other marginalised groups e.g. LGBTQI+ community or the poor and homeless.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Toni Foley

Toni Foley is the Assistant Principal Religious Education at Our Lady Help of Christians School, Cairns, Australia and PhD student at James Cook University. Her research interests include, religious identity, interreligious learning and teaching, pedagogy and wellbeing. Toni is currently exploring perceptions of interreligious learning and religious identity: interplay of learning and teaching.

Maree Dinan-Thompson

Maree Dinan-Thompson is Professor and Deputy Vice Chancellor Students, Division of Student Life at James Cook University. Her expertise lies mainly in the field of curriculum development and change, and assessment, relative to the discipline of Health and Physical Education. Her primary and secondary school teaching was spent in Catholic Education schools, and she has worked on research projects that been of benefit to Catholic education.

Nerina Caltabiano

Nerina Caltabiano is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the College of Healthcare Sciences at James Cook University, and a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society. Her expertise lies mainly in the field of social psychology and educational psychology. She has published work on mother–child relationships, romantic relationship difficulties, trauma, youth suicide, anger, bullying, help-seeking behaviours in higher education, classroom digital technologies, and research projects that have been of benefit to Catholic education.