In our recent Introduction to Religious Education (RE 101) paper Sarah Southen (Marian College), shared her Year 12 Justice and Peace Unit with teachers from four Catholic Secondary Schools. By doing this Sarah empowered these teachers to decide on a topic that they were interested in and how to frame a unit of work in Religious Education. I thought I would share with you Sarah's thoughts on collaboration in Religious Education and her Justice and Peace Unit with three lessons which Sarah believes are pivotal for understanding.
I asked Sarah four questions about teaching Religious Education and why collaboration across our Catholic Schools is important.
What do you enjoy about teaching Religious Education and how long have you been teaching in a Catholic School?
Sarah: I love that we can create a space for young people's lives to be moved and changed. I really enjoy the holistic aspect of Religious Education and the opportunity to explore young people’s spirituality. I have been teaching in a Catholic School for three years.
What do you enjoy about teaching the Justice & Peace topic?
Sarah: I love that the Justice and Peace unit is real and relevant to our young people's lives. It can be so practical and we can walk away from the unit knowing that as a class we can make a difference.
What have you created for Religious Education teachers to use?
Sarah: I have shared a unit plan here and have pulled out three concepts here that I feel are important to this unit.
Why do you think it is important that Religious Education teachers collaborate and work together?
Sarah: I am really keen to learn from others and if we all put our great ideas together we can deliver great programmes. We are all planning and teaching similar things so if we are able to share hopefully this will minimize our workloads and develop consistently in our curriculum area. Within Religious Education there is not a huge amount of resources available to us so this is one way we can begin to build some quality resources.
A piece of Scripture that reinforces my belief in working together in community for Catholic Education is Matthew 25:14 -30 (The Parable of the Talents). I myself have been guilty of burying my talent in the ground, unwilling to receive critique or feedback. As a result at times my teaching practice has stagnated. However, as noted by Hill, Brandeau, Truelove and Lineback in their article "Collective Genius" here we should pool together our talents with others while working towards a shared goal. Each one of us as teachers have skills that others are still developing. By working together we are able to become self aware of our strengths and identify the areas of our teaching craft that we would like to improve.
I would like to thank Sarah for sharing her story with us and her willingness to help other Religious Education teachers.
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