At the heart of our Catholic schools is the mission to educate and develop the whole person. Jesus Christ is at the centre of the vision for Religious Education for schools, who aspire to educate and form students who are challenged to live out the Gospel.

Religious Education plays an important role in holistic student development through the provision of rich encounters of faith and genuine dialogue to enhance meaning making to support a religious or nonreligious worldview. For some families, especially those new to Catholic schooling or coming from a non-religious background, Religious Education can feel unfamiliar or raise questions about what happens in the classroom. This article explains what students learn in Religious Education, the Religious Life of the School, and how it supports their learning, wellbeing and development across school and life.

What Does Catholic Religious Education Involve?

In our schools, Religious Education can be understood to consist of two distinct but complementary dimensions; teaching people about religion (Religious Education), and teaching people to be religious in a particular way (Religious Life of the School). Religious Education is a core subject area, and like other subject areas, follows a P – 12 curriculum. Set by Brisbane Catholic Education, it describes the core content which is organised into four interrelated strands: Sacred Texts, Beliefs, Church and Christian Life. The Religious Life of the School is focussed on the spiritual formation of students and their faith development. It can also be broken into four strands: Religious Identity and Culture; Evangelisation and Faith Formation; Prayer and Worship; and Social Action and Justice. Through weaving these two dimensions together the fullness of the Religious Education program can be reached where, as well as developing skills, values and dispositions, students, through their learning and experiences, are invited into a deepening encounter with the living God.

Study of Scripture and Church tradition

One of the four strands in the Religious Education curriculum is ‘Sacred Texts’, which refers to the Old and New Testament of the Bible.  When teachers engage students with biblical scripture, they develop interpretation and meaning making skills to deepen their understanding of God as presented in the Bible.  Townsville Catholic Education utilises the KIMME Model, which is a four-step process that engages students in a deeper knowledge and understanding of scripture. 

• K – Know the Text – students acquire knowledge and understanding of the scripture through reading and learning about the background of the text
• I – Inspire the Imagination – students engage imaginatively with the scripture to consolidate their understanding and connect with the characters, experiences or emotions in the text
• MM – Making Meaning – inquiry-based questions and life experiences guide students to a deeper understanding of the scripture and its relevance to their lives, considering how it is speaking to them today
• E – Express Understanding – students reflect on the scripture and consolidate new learnings and express their deeper understandings

The focus of this model is to allow students, regardless of their believing position, to a place where they are able to make meaning of scripture and apply it in their own lives. The model is supplemented by WIRE (Writing in Religious Education) which helps students develop a deeper understanding of themselves and others within spiritual, moral, social and cultural realms.

Teaching of Catholic Values

Under the ‘Christian Life’ strand of the Religious Education curriculum is the sub strand, ‘Moral Formation’ and ‘Mission and Justice’, which supports students to learn about values from a Catholic perspective and connect the Church’s teachings of love, compassion, forgiveness, respect and stewardship to their own personal experiences. These values are also brought to life through each school’s particular Charism, which gives a distinctive emphasis on how they live the Gospel day to day. For example, a school with a Mercy charism might focus on how hospitality, generosity and service underpin the ethos of their school. These values then serve the purpose of guiding relationships and policies and encourage students and all members of these communities to practise these values in practical ways.

Prayer and Liturgy

Prayer and liturgy form an important part of daily life in our schools. Through the Religious Education curriculum, students learn about different types of prayers. Through the Religious Life of the School, students are invited to become active participants in prayer and liturgical celebrations. Classroom prayer, whole-school liturgies and celebrations of the Eucharist all invite students to grow in their relationship with God. These shared experiences also help to shape a respectful and inclusive school culture where gratitude, compassion, justice and service are lived expressions. Prayer also supports students’ wellbeing by creating calm, predictable routines and a sense of belonging, allowing students to grow in their understanding that they are known, valued and loved as a person created in God’s image. For families, liturgical celebrations can also offer a meaningful partnership with home and parish, connecting the everyday experiences of school with the life of faith.

Community and Service

Throughout the Religious Education curriculum, students learn about Mission and Justice through developing their understanding of sacred texts, church beliefs and Christian life, and how this calls us to a life of serving others. Teaching the Catholic ethos of social justice, service and charity requires action. Some of our school action programs include supporting charities like St Vincent de Paul Society, Catholic Mission Australia and Caritas Australia, which sees students, in age-appropriate ways, raise awareness and funds for people in need both locally and internationally. Specific actions can differ between schools, but some initiatives include; engaging with St Vincent de Paul Society for students to participate in ‘Homeless sleep outs’, ‘Mini Vinnies’ programs in which students visit aged care facilities and the collection of items for St Vincent de Paul’s annual winter and Christmas appeals. Students learning about and engaging in community service supports the living out of the gospel message by serving Christ in the poor with love, respect, justice, hope and joy to bring about a more just and compassionate society.

How Religious Education Complements Academic Learning

Religious Education and the Religious Life of the School work together to complement academic learning and the holistic development of students in our Catholic schools. Our schools hold their Catholic beliefs as central to their mission and such beliefs permeate all that is done in a Catholic school, including the teaching and learning across the entire curriculum. As students study Humanities, for example, they explore people, cultures, history and civic life. Religious education adds a rich lens of meaning to these studies by inviting students to reflect on the Catholic Social Teachings such as Human Dignity, Solidarity, Participation and the Common Good. Throughout their schooling, religious education supports students to grow in moral reasoning and social awareness, helping them to develop a thoughtful conscience and speak respectfully about different viewpoints when engaging in learning about historical and contemporary issues. Religious Education also deepens the teaching and learning of school-wide days such as Reconciliation Week, National Day of Action Against Bullying, Harmony Day and NAIDOC Week, by helping students connect action and celebrations to the Catholic worldview that every person is created in God’s image.

Do All Catholic School Students Have to Participate in Religious Education?

Religious Education is a learning area with a formal curriculum for the classroom learning and teaching of religion. As a subject, it aligns the philosophy, content, structure, academic rigour and assessment and reporting modes used in other learning areas. As such, all students in our Catholic schools are required to participate in the subject of Religious Education. Some elements of the Religious Life of the School, such as prayer, liturgy and mass are invitational in nature and all students are encouraged to participate. If there is a particular cultural reason that your child may not be able to participate in an event, it would be best to contact your school's APRE or Principal, who will be best placed to support you with this.

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In the context of a contemporary Catholic school, both the classroom learning and teaching of religion and the religious life of the school work together to achieve the vision for Religious Education in the Townsville Diocese. This vision is to educate and form students who are challenged to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and who are literate in the Catholic and broader Christian tradition so that they might participate critically and authentically in faith contexts and wider society. This approach seeks to effectively develop the whole person through their education in our Catholic schools.

For further information regarding specifics of your school’s context, please reach out to your school’s Principal or Assistant Principal of Religious Education / Identity and Wellbeing.

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