Religious Education

Unit overview and content

This unit provides opportunities for students to develop knowledge and understanding of Religious Education in both its conceptual and practical aspects. The theoretical insights from research in general education contexts will be explored for their relevance to prominent theories of Religious Education. The relevance of historical, philosophical and theological insights to current Religious Education practices will also be examined. The unit will ultimately challenge students to relate their knowledge of Religious Education to a particular setting in which Religious Education is taught.

Unit content includes:

• • Religious Education: An Introduction
  • Religious Education in Catholic Schools
  • More Recent Developments in Educational Models of RE: Content and Method
  • Who Is In Class Today?
  • The Educational Model in RE in Action: From Objectives to Outcomes
  • Planning for Classroom RE
  • The Big and the Small – Exploring classroom realities in a “bigger picture”
  • Specific Topics in RE
  • Focus Topics: Using narrative in RE and Godly Play as pedagogical strategies
  • Do We Have To Do That?
  • Assessment and Evaluation in RE
  • The RE Teacher

Assumed Knowledge 

N/A

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.

Lecturer

Prof Richard Rymarz

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.

Unit overview and content

In this unit, students will be exposed to current trends in Religious Education across a variety of educational systems in Australia and internationally.  The aim of the unit is to increase awareness of the many debates and curricula that characterise the field of Religious Education and how these impact on classroom practices. In studying the contemporary classroom, the unit will also consider the current context of religious and cultural pluralism, and the challenges that this presents in Religious Education contexts (in both faith-based schools and non-faith based schools).

Unit content includes:

• • The contemporary context of religious education
  • Australian young people, faith, spirituality and religiosity
  • Towards a theory of religious education for Catholic schools
  • Religious education and the importance of content knowledge
  • Principles of teaching the Bible in Catholic religious education
  • Teaching about Jesus Christ
  • Teaching about what Catholics believe
  • Teaching Church history
  • Teaching the Sacraments
  • Teaching about social justice
  • Teaching about Mary and the women of the Bible
  • Teachers’ commitments in classroom religious education

Assumed Knowledge 

N/A

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.

Lecturer

A/Prof Kath Engebretson

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.

Unit Overview and Content

This unit provides students with the opportunity to review religious education in relationship to the goals of Catholic education. It draws on students’ participation in the National RE symposium as a catalyst for exploring how the practice of religious education is impacted upon, and can be improved, by critical reflection on key issues that impact upon this discipline.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

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.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

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.

Lecturer

Mark Craig

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.

Unit overview and content

In this unit, students will be exposed to updated pedagogical theory and associated practices emanating from a range of disciplinary research, including psychology, sociology, philosophy and neuroscience. The aim of the unit is to challenge students to make links between the pedagogical thinking that is driving educational innovation generally and the particular ramification for religious education.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

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.

Lecturer

Ms Amber Calleja

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.

Unit overview and content

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.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

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.

Lecturer

Prof Richard Rymarz

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.

Unit overview and content

This capstone project provides the opportunity for students to demonstrate their attainment of the requisite course outcomes for the Master of Religious Education course by synthesising the knowledge they have attained throughout their studies with the advanced research and presentation skills that they have developed in a research or research/application project of their own choosing. Furthermore, the capstone project is designed to enable students to make the transition between study and further learning and/or professional practice by providing an opportunity to draw conclusions and make professional decisions as a basis for ongoing investigation as well as intellectual and/or professional development. In this unit, students will work with their unit coordinator to initiate, plan, justify, and complete a substantial project to fulfil these goals.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800, REDU801, REDU900, REDU901 & REDU902

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.

Lecturer

Prof Richard Rymarz

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.

Unit overview and content

In this unit, students will study, at an advanced level, contemporary theories of  leadership in religious education.  A key aspect of the unit is how leadership in religious education are informed by theology and canon law and church governance.  Students will explore in detail the current context for leadership in religious education as well as the realities of religious and cultural pluralism in contemporary culture.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

Study hours

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

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

Lecturer

A/Prof Kath Engebretson

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.

Unit overview and content

In this unit, students will be exposed to a range of key theoretical positions that inform practise in contemporary religious education. The aim of the unit is to challenge students to make links between their own thinking and major conceptual thinking in the discipline.

Unit content includes:

• • Review of different curriculum/teaching orientations in Religious Education: Understanding the range of issues that influence pedagogy and content
  • A big picture perspective on the historical development and evolution of Australian Catholic school religious education: An essential requirement for the critical evaluation of contemporary theory and practice
  • Perspective on Catholic Church writings that have had a bearing on religious education: From the Second Vatican Council to Evangelii gaudium
  • Issues with the language for religious education in normative Catholic writings and in the writings of theorists
  • The ‘critical’ dimension to Religious Education: RE as the critical interpretation and evaluation of culture
  • International perspective on religious education (Part A): RE in state schools in the United Kingdom and RE in Europe
  • International perspective on religious education (Part B): Religious education in the USA and Canada
  • International perspective on religious education (Part C): School religious education in Australia and New Zealand
  • Religious education in a media-saturated world: Studying the potential spiritual/moral influence of film/TV/Advertising/Social Media
  • How the personal beliefs and professional commitments of the religion teacher have a bearing on classroom religious education

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

Study hours

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

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

Lecturer

A/Prof Kath Engebretson

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.

Unit overview and content

This unit is an advanced study into the relationship between religion and young people in Australia. It begins by exploring empirical research studies of youth and religion internationally, and turns to focus on studies in the Australian context. The unit enables students to develop a critical understanding of how various religious organisations such as churches and educational institutions, approach the intellectual and spiritual development of young people.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

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.

Lecturer

Dr Tracy McEwan

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.

Unit overview and content

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.

Unit content includes:

• • Montessori, the Montessorians and Religious Education
  • Sofia Cavalletti and The Catechesis of The Good Shepherd – Work versus Play
  • A Theology of Play
  • Towards a Theology of Childhood
  • Theological Play
  • Play, Imagination and the Creative Process
  • Godly Play in School and Parish Contexts
  • Challenges for the Future

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

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.

Lecturer

A/Prof Brendan Hyde

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.

Unit overview and content

This unit focuses on issues of theological concern for religious educators. It enables students to critically analyse theological conceptions of Religious Education; develop skills for articulating the relationship between Theology and Religious Education; and explore issues of practice which arise out of their study in this area..

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800, REDU801 & THEO800

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.

Lecturer

Mr Mark Craig

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.

Unit overview and content

This unit provides students with critical insights into early childhood theory and practice and how that relates to and informs effective early years religious education. Students have the opportunity to explore and understand the notion of childhood, the image of the child in contemporary times, and how these assist early years religious educators to respond to students in the religion classroom. Students will also investigate young children’s spiritual promotion, religiosity, and religious education. Finally, specific teaching and learning practices that enable access to key early years religious education topics, such as children’s literature and biblical storytelling, will be evaluated.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

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.

Lecturer

Dr Jan Grajczonek

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.

Unit overview and content

Travelling Inwards, Travelling Outwards is intended to help nurture the interior lives of teachers and thus assist them in meeting the complex challenges of their profession. The unit explores contemporary discourse on topics such as vulnerability and wholeheartedness and considers ways in which this discourse connects with and is extended by the Christian mystical tradition. Contemporary perspectives on the process of interior flourishing are discussed alongside the wisdom for flourishing contained within classical images such as the dark night and the interior castle. Moreover, practices for cultivating interior growth are presented and explored, and the consequences of developing one’s inner life for areas such as leadership and social consciousness and action are considered. Throughout the unit, daily life in the classroom and beyond is regarded as not peripheral to, but rather at the very heart of, interior growth.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800 & REDU801

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.

Lecturer

Dr Michelle Jones

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.

Unit overview and content

This unit provides the opportunity for specialised study in a particular discipline under the tutelage and guidance of a specialist in the field. It seeks to further the learning experience of the student by engaging in issues aligned with a particular area within Religious Education in a specialised area of interest to the student.

Assumed Knowledge 

REDU800, REDU801 & REDU900

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.