Session 5: Formation of Staff to Support a Catholic Perspective
QCEC Colloquium 12-13 June 2014
Rev Dr Kevin LenehanCatholic Theological College, University
of Divinity
Professional Learning Conversations:•relevant evidence• inquiry habit of mind•knowledge and skills•relationships of respect and challenge
Teacher Support for Catholic EducationDo you consider yourself to have
STRONG/AVERAGE/NO faith in Christ?
Primary school teachers (n=1473) 48.2% strong faith in Christ 45.4% average faith in Christ 3.3% no faith in Christ
Secondary school teachers (n=917) 37.9 % strong faith in Christ 38.3% average faith in Christ 12.1% no faith in Christ
Source: CECV & KU Leuven, 2010, 2012
Teacher Support for Catholic EducationDo you support the Catholic faith?
Primary StudentsAdults(n=5492) (n=4203)
Full support 42.1% 31.2%Support but critical 38.8% 61.3%Neither positive nornegative 12.4% 5.7%Dislike Catholicfaith 1.6% 0.4%
Teacher Support for Catholic Education Do you support the Catholic faith?
Secondary StudentsAdults(n=5013) (n=1788)
Full support 18.8% 28.5%Support but critical 42.3% 57.8%Neither positive nornegative 27.5% 11.7%
Dislike Catholicfaith 5.3% 0.8%
Teacher Support for Catholic EducationDo you support the Catholic identity
of schools?Primary StudentsAdults(n=5235) (n=4112)
Strong support22.0% 33.6%Support 41.9% 52.5%It’s ok21.7% 9.1%Don’t care5.6% 1.4%
Teacher Support for Catholic Education Do you support the Catholic identity
of schools?Secondary StudentsAdults(n=4908) (n=1711)
Strong support7.7% 29.7%Support 30.7% 48.8%It’s ok30.6% 13.5%Don’t care21.4% 4.2%
Teacher Support for Catholic Education
How should schools respond to the increasing diversity and plurality of their communities?
Responses by adults (teachers, parents, leaders): Institutional secularisation
10% Reconfessionalisation 23% Recontextualisation 40% Christian Values Education 22%
Spirit Matters: How Making Sense of Life Affects Wellbeing. Peter Kaldor, Philip Hughes and Alan Black. Melbourne: Mosaic Press, 2010.
‘Practical secularity’ “For [the mostly secular] religion and
spirituality are not so much rejected as ignored. Life is lived in the present, in the world of the here and now... If religion and spirituality is there at all, it is there in the background...
“What is clear is that few Australians with little religion or spirituality have totally and explicitly rejected it. The major problem is not necessarily a philosophical one…[rather] the day-to-day world does not require that they engage with religion or spirituality. They are ‘practical’ secularists, rather than ideological secular.”
Spirit Matters, 57
Catholic Governance and Staff Formation
Principles of Catholic Social Teaching the dignity of the human person the common good of persons the universal destination of goods the principle of subsidiarity participation solidarity social values: truth, liberty, justice the way of love
The Common Good
the common good
“the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfilment fully and more easily”
GS 26; CCC 1905-1912; CSDC 164.
The Common Good
CSDC 165. .. No expression of social life — from the family to intermediate social groups, associations, enterprises of an economic nature, cities, regions, states, up to the community of peoples and nations — can escape the issue of its own common good, in that this is a constitutive element of its significance and the authentic reason for its very existence.
Participation
participation“a series of activities by means of
which the citizen… contributes to the cultural, economic, political and social life of the community…. Participation is a duty to be fulfilled consciously by all, with responsibility and with a view to the common good.”
CCC 1913-1914; CSDC 189-191; GS 75
Participation
CSDC 191:“The overcoming of cultural, juridical and social obstacles that often constitute real barriers to the shared participation of citizens in the destiny of their communities calls for work in the areas of education and information.”
The Mission of the School “Catholic schools are at
one and the same time places of evangelization, well-rounded education, inculturation and initiation to the dialogue of life among young people of different religions and social backgrounds.”
John Paul II, Ecclesia in Africa, n. 102, cited in Educating to Intercultural Dialogue, n.17.
The Mission of the School “… the prime
responsibility for creating this unique Christian school climate rests with the teachers, as individuals and as a community.”
The Religious Dimension of the Catholic School, n.26
The Mission of the School How do the principles of the common
good and participation relate to the mission of our school?
How can staff formation assist to increase participation of staff in the mission of the school?
Teacher Formation
QCEC Policy, Formation of Staff Members in Catholic Schools in Queensland (2010)
2.5 Continuing professional development includes both professional and religious formation
Professional Dimension of Staff Formation
Effective Profession
al Developm
ent
Student
Learning
Focus Embedded in
Practice
Research
Based
Collaborative
Evidence and Data
Ongoing and Suppo
rt
Individual and Team
Professional Dimension of Staff Formation Professional learning
is informed by principles of adult learning uses research on effective learning and teaching links pedagogy and discipline content content is aligned with actual curriculum
standards is given sufficient time, support and resources to
master new pedagogy and integrate into practice is collaborative, with reflection and feedback is intellectually engaging and recognizes the
complexity of learning
Professional Dimension of Staff Formation professional formation for presenting
the Catholic worldview in a post-critical, inquiry-based, pluralistic learning environment
3-fold approach apologetic in face of
opposition/contradiction hermeneutic in face of
misunderstanding dialogue in face of indifference or other
worldviews
Professional Dimension of Staff Formation
apologetic in face of
opposition/contradiction
EXPLAIN
hermeneutic
in face of misunderstandi
ng
INTERPRET
dialoguein face of
indifference or other
worldviews
ENGAGE
Religious Dimension of Staff Development
1) principles of religious freedomo right to religious liberty based in dignity of
persono truth communicates by its own power, not by
coerciono to seek and assent to truth is an act of
human freedom and consciouso is aided by teaching and dialogue with otherso faith is the free act of the whole human
person
Religious Dimension of Staff Development
2. dimensions of conversion (Lonergan) intellectual moral religious
3. the skills of discernment – personal and communal
The Daily Examen
1. Become aware of God’s presence 2. Review the day with gratitude 3. Pay attention to your emotions 4. Choose one feature of the day and
pray from it. 5. Look toward tomorrow
Promoting visible governance Ron Ritchhart (2002), 8 factors affecting
classroom/school culture expectations time allocation modelling routines opportunities relationships physical environment language and conversation
Promoting visible governance characteristics of effective routines:
explicit instrumental used over and over across a variety of contexts individual and group practices
Roles in support of Catholic perspective in curriculum Roles within the teaching staff
Witness▪ Catholic tradition is ‘confessionally constitutive’
for identity of religious educator Moderator▪ Religious educator, without compromising their
own confessional identity, moderates the interaction of student’s pluralised worldviews
Specialist▪ able to inform learning experiences with expert
knowledge and sound pedagogical approaches to the content of Christian revelation