BBI-TAITE Units

Unit overview and content

This unit examines the practice of stewardship as it occurs through the bishops’ participation in the threefold munera of sanctifying, teaching and governing.

The biblical foundation of stewardship arises out of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church – Lumen Gentium. The unit opens with an examination of the relationship between the key elements of stewardship and the role of bishop, as prescribed by the Second Vatican Council. Students will consider ways in which ecclesial change in the post-conciliar Church resulted in a move towards a decentralised Church.

The impact on the bishop’s role of governance as vicar of Christ is considered, with particular reference to power and autonomy in decision-making.  This will involve study of The Directory on the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops. The depiction of bishop as shepherd will lead students to consider how the guiding principles of the Directory help shape the bishop’s role in administering the particular Church through acts of governance that are undertaken in direct response to stewardship.

Finally, the study of relevant aspects of Book V of the Code of Canon Law will assist students to understand the concept of ecclesiastical goods and how they are regulated in Church law. The principals of the effective stewardship of temporal goods are considered, with particular focus given to the canonical action of alienation of ecclesiastical property (canons 1290-1298). Students are given the opportunity to explore methods of best practice through a case study of a diocese or religious institute.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the biblical notion of stewardship as incorporated into key relevant documents of the Second Vatican Council.
• demonstrate an understanding of the ways in which decentralisation has impact on the bishop’s role of governance, and how this helps define the essential virtues and principles found in the exercise of stewardship. This includes discernment of ways in which care for the Particular Church is divested through the bishop, to local Church, in ways that encourage lay participation in the bishop’s work of stewardship.
• explain the concept of ‘ecclesiastical goods’ and their regulation in canon law within the different structures of the Church, in dioceses and religious institutes, with a particular focus on canons 113-123, 634-640 and 1254-1310. This includes examination of statutory requirements of accountability, delegation and reserved powers in the governance of temporal goods of a public juridic person, with particular reference to canons 113-123, and c. 1303.
• undertake the completion of a specific case study illustrating ways in which dioceses are structured through Vatican II and canon law to assist bishops to enable the exercise of stewardship in the local Church.

Unit content

• • Stewardship – what are we talking about? Stewardship and its relationship to Governance
  • Scriptural and Theological basis of Stewardship
  • Virtues and Principles of Pastoral Governance
  • Structures of Participation of the Lay Faithful
  • Juridic Persons and Juridic Acts
  • Pastoral Stewardship
  • Financial Stewardship
  • Other Temporal Goods Issues

Assumed Knowledge 

P8160 Introduction to Governance for Mission, Ministry and Work in the Church
P8169 Introduction to Canon Law and General Norms

Study hours    

11 hours per week for 11 week session, comprised of

• At least 1 hour per week for online lectures
• At least 4 hours per week of reading.
• At least 6 hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This graduate course unit provides students with demonstrated initiative and creativity an opportunity to focus at an advanced level in a particular area of Leadership, under the tutelage and guidance of a specialist in the field. The unit is designed to refine the skills of independent study by allowing the student to define their own study, and to set their own goals by means of an extended guided reading program.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• develop a focused topic for independent scholarly investigation
• conduct independent research, under supervision, in terms of locating, utilizing and referencing a wide range of appropriate primary and secondary sources
• analyse and evaluate with critical empathy a range of disparate scholarly positions
• defend an independent perspective on the topic of the investigation, and
• produce a cogent set of researched findings in an extended piece of academic writing.

Assumed Knowledge 

For Governance and Canon Law students: P8160 & P8169, and for Leadership students: P8155, M8161 & P9264

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of

• At least 10 hour per week of directed study, including reading, research, consultation with tutor and writing up of assessment tasks.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This unit provides opportunities for students to develop knowledge and understanding of religious education in both its conceptual and practical aspects. Theoretical insights from research in general education contexts will be explored for their relevance to prominent theories of religious education. The importance of historical, philosophical and theological insights to current religious education practices will be examined for their significance to particular settings and the practical context(s) of the students in question. The unit will ultimately challenge students to relate their knowledge of religious education to a specific setting in which religious education is practised.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of the conjunction of religious education theory and educational research and theory in general
• understand prominent religious education theory in formal religious and public education contexts, and
• demonstrate knowledge of current models of religious education to be found in religious and public education settings.

Assumed Knowledge 

Not applicable

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least one hour per week for online lectures.
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This unit introduces the discipline of religious education in Catholic schools in Australia, in its history and current practice. Attention is paid to the current context of religious and cultural pluralism, and the challenges that this presents in religious education contexts. The unit provides overviews and practical approaches to key topics in religious education.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this course unit, students should be able to:

• utilise a general understanding of religious education as a diverse field in developing their own personal philosophy of religious education
• demonstrate an advanced understanding of, and capacity to critically evaluate, some of the major debates that characterise religious education as a field, and some of the most prominent scholars associated with various schools of thought, and
• identify practical issues and problems associated with the current context of religious education, including in the areas of religious and cultural pluralism, and synthesise their skills and knowledge in religious education.

Assumed Knowledge 

Not applicable

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least one hour per week for online lectures.
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This graduate unit allows students to focus at an introductory level on an area of study within a discipline or subdiscipline not available elsewhere in the curriculum. It stimulates the analysis of a current or emergent issue that presents contemporary challenges to Religious Education, distinct from a more general overview. The issue to be investigated will be determined in consultation between the student and the teacher.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• articulate clearly the major elements of challenge involved in the topic
• analyse the factors that have shaped the current form of the issue
• incorporate a range of relevant primary and secondary scholarship into a study of the issue
• analyse the likely impact of the issue in its immediate context, and
• produce a recommendation for action as a response to the challenges presented within the issue

Assumed Knowledge 

D8120 & D8121

Study hours

11 hours per week for 11 week session, comprised of:

• At least four hours per week of reading.
• At least seven hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching Methods

Key notes and workshops at the National RE Symposium; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Unit overview and content

In this unit, students will study, at an advanced level, contemporary theories of Religious Education and their intersections with the discipline of Theology. Furthermore, students will explore in detail the current context for Religious Education, including its status in contemporary political discourse and educational theory, as well as the realities of religious and cultural pluralism in which it finds its expression.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• utilise the methodological tools of religious education and theology to analyse the context for religious education in the 21st century
• demonstrate an advanced understanding of, and capacity to critically evaluate, the work of a number of significant thinkers within 21st century religious education theory, and
• identify complex issues and problems associated with religious education in the 21st century, and synthesise their skills and knowledge in religious education and theology to propose creative responses to these.

Assumed Knowledge 

D8120 and D8121

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least one hour per week for online lectures.
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute, we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study, each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

Advanced studies in the areas of Religious Education and Theology require students to have knowledge of, and to be able to apply, a diverse range of research principles and methodologies in order to propose, justify and interpret theoretical propositions, conclusions and professional decisions in their leadership roles. Furthermore, graduates of the Master of Religious Education course need to demonstrate their ability to communicate and implement these disciplines, so the unit will provide an overview of research methodologies used within the disciplines of Religious Education and Theology and provide the opportunity to apply them to selected issues.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• demonstrate advanced understanding and critical evaluation of at least two methodological approaches to research in religious education
• demonstrate a capacity to use at least one methodological approach to plan, propose, and defend a minor research project which will apply advanced skills in religious education and theology to identify a problem or issue in the area of religious education and respond to this creatively, and
• demonstrate skills in research and time management.

Assumed Knowledge 

D8120 & D8121

Study Hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least one hour per week for online lectures.
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This advanced graduate course unit provides an opportunity for students to integrate what they have previously learned in the major area of study, in other course units that formed part of the degree, and in their life experiences beyond the formal course of study. Its integrative nature incorporates reflection (on what they have learned), introspection (on where their understanding is currently) and projection (where the study may lead). It enables students to demonstrate a broad mastery of learning across the curriculum, to consider its application in future life situations, and to plan further learning experiences designed to complement and extend their current levels of understanding. It normally introduces little new content, although it may introduce new methodologies and techniques.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• identify and analyse the core disciplinary assumptions and principles of the range of units in their course Major
• assess the degree of alignment of these assumptions and principles with those of course units beyond their course Major
• formulate a statement of wholistic integration of their core learning across the curriculum
• establish a personal plan for the integration of their studies beyond the period of study, and
• design an approach for leading a specific group of people into the implementation of the major learnings from their studies.

Assumed Knowledge 

D8120, D8121, D9121, D9231 & D9233

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least one hour per week for online lectures.
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; one-to-one supervision.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

In this unit, students will study how the Godly Play approach can influence the development of religious education pedagogy in Catholic schools. The contributions of Maria Montessori, E. M. Standing and Sofia Cavalletti to religious education will be examined, as will the influence of the Montessori Method on Jerome Berryman’s approach to religious education, known as Godly Play. Students will apply key principals of Godly Play to contemporary religious education to create new stories and materials, as well as identify some of the challenges this approach poses for pedagogical practice in Australian Catholic classrooms.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• critically evaluate the work of significant thinkers who have contributed to the development of Godly Play as an approach to religious education
• discern and articulate particular challenges the Godly Play approach may pose for pedagogical practice in contemporary religious education in Australia and suggested creative ways in which these might be addressed, and
• apply key principals of the Godly Play approach to create new materials for religious education which have relevance for their own particular contexts.

Assumed Knowledge 

D8120 & D8121

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of

• At least 1 hour per week for online lectures
• At least 4 hours per week of reading.
• At least 6 hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments. Opportunities for face-to-face offerings also exist.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute, we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study, each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This graduate course unit provides students with demonstrated initiative and creativity an opportunity to focus at an advanced level in a particular area of Religious Education, under the tutelage and guidance of a specialist in the field. The unit is designed to refine the skills of independent study by allowing the student to define their own study, and to set their own goals by means of an extended guided reading program.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit students will be able to:

• develop a focused topic for independent scholarly investigation
• conduct independent research, under supervision, in terms of locating, utilising and referencing a wide range of appropriate primary and secondary sources
• analyse and evaluate with critical empathy a range of disparate scholarly positions
• defend an independent perspective on the topic of the investigation, and
• produce a cogent set of researched findings in an extended piece of academic writing.

Assumed Knowledge 

D8120, D8121 & D9291

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least 10 hour per week of directed study, including reading, research, consultation with tutor and writing up of assessment tasks.

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.