Show Me
With the Master of Theological Studies, Master of Religious Education, Graduate Certificate in Religious Education, and Master of Educational Leadership, it is possible to take one or more units focusing on school leadership of enhancing Catholic identity.
Teachers in Catholic schools have as a special responsibility the promotion of the spiritual growth of the young people in their care. In order to meet this responsibility, it is important that teachers are able to reflect deeply, critically and authentically on their own spiritual, moral and intellectual commitments, especially in relation to their school’s Catholic identity. In this unit, participants are invited to reflect on Catholic faith, bringing this knowledge into critical dialogue with their own perspectives, and assessing the implications of that dialogue for their work. Participants are also introduced to the core theoretical principles and methodological practices of the Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity (ECSI) research, which supports whole school communities in clarifying their Catholic identity and confirming their future direction and practices. The aim of this unit is to enable teachers to reflect critically on where they stand in relation to Catholic faith and how they can engage respectfully, productively and creatively in making sense of it with others in a plural context.
In this unit, participants will analyse the history and theories of religious education in Australia, including the magisterial (catechetical) approach, the kerygmatic approach, the life-centred (experiential) approach, the Shared Christian Praxis approach, the social science (typological) approach, and the educational approach. Participants will then examine the Hermeneutic-Communicative Model (HCM) of religious education. The theories will be evaluated utilising findings from the Melbourne Scale typology developed as part of the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) research, that is, as potentially reconfessionalising, secularising, correlational or recontextualising. Participants will then rehearse the practical application of the HCM through developing skills in dialogue and moderation. The knowledge and dispositions considered in the previous units in the course will provide participants with practice in articulating their informed, communicative and critical witness to the Christian tradition.
THCT565 and THRE501 can be taken as part of the Graduate Certificate in Catholic Studies or Graduate Certificate in Religious Education. They complement other units that prioritise reflection on the place of personal identity in relation to Religious Education: THBS562 Introducing the Scripture; and THCT564 Introducing Church Life.
The Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity (ECSI) Project is deployed throughout Victorian Catholic dioceses as a tool for enhancing Catholic identity in schools within an increasingly secular and pluralist environment. It provides a theoretical framework and language that assists staff, students and school communities in clarifying their Catholic identity and beliefs, ascertaining the Catholicity of their school and confirming their future direction and practices. Embedded in Victorian Catholic schools, it is also being adopted by a number of other dioceses across Australia and extended into parishes. In this unit, participants will examine critically the theological foundations, theoretical tools, practical applications, and implications of ECSI, in order to enhance their engagement with it.
The Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity (ECSI) Project from Leuven relies on the capacity of teachers and others to witness authentically to Christian faith while bringing it into rich and open dialogue with persons of all ages and faith perspectives - including atheistic perspectives - in contemporary contexts. This inherently theological task is known as "recontextualisation." In this unit, participants will explore key Christian beliefs and ways in which they have been and can further be recontextualised to promote personal transformation and meaningful dialogue in their Catholic or other Christian contexts.
A Catholic Dialogue School is an inclusive educational community formed to reflect the love of Christ in its authentic concern for the full flourishing of the human person. It is distinctive in foregrounding questions of ultimate meaning within a plural context and is sensitive to the ways in which young people negotiate their developing identities as they address such questions. In a genuinely Catholic Dialogue School, the ongoing formation of teachers is paramount. Such formation includes, especially, skills in leading and moderating dialogue, while being critically attentive to their own presuppositions as well as knowledgeable in matters relating to Catholic faith and practice; sensitivity to the complex processes of meaning-making; and openness regarding the possibility of recognising the presence of God within the cultural moment as well as in Catholic tradition. The aim of this unit is for participants to develop a thorough understanding of the shifts required to enhance Catholic identity and to be able to promote such shifts strategically within their school communities. This will be evidenced by their design, implementation and evaluation of a year-long project focusing on provoking a shift by the staff in their school.
The Australian Catholic Dialogue School Consortium has collaborated with the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) researchers at KU Leuven to produce what the researchers call “Practical Theological Instruments” (PTIs)—professional learning resources—for use by leaders with teachers in those Catholic Schools undertaking an ECSI approach to analysing and developing their Catholic identity. These include -an extensive set of resources on Prayer, a set on the Resurrection, and another on Dialogue. Each resource pack consists of several modules. The PTIs engage the theology of Vatican II and aim to develop skills in hermeneutics, theological recontextualisation and dialogue. It is strongly recommended that leaders proposing to utilise these resources with members of their school staff undertake preparation in order to lead the implementation effectively. The aim of this unit is for participants to develop a clear understanding of the purposes of one of the PTIs (a different PTI will be offered for study each year) and skills in using it to develop specific dispositions and approaches amongst staff members.
The word aggiornamento is Italian for "updating" and came to prominence as one of the aims for the Church of the Second Vatican Council.
The Aggiornamento Series consists of 2-3-hour, individual, online modules that can be offered in bespoke combinations as short courses. The modules can be undertaken as self-paced learning, or (on request) with additional support available for groups meeting in Zoom. They seek to address and promote the expressed professional learning and accreditation needs of the Catholic educational community in Australia.
Modules are offered at three levels: beginner (100); intermediate (200); and advanced (300). They have been developed collaboratively by Professor Robyn Horner and Dr Teresa Brown, of the School of Theology. A certificate of completion is provided for accreditation purposes at the end of the year.
Aggiornamento is offered through the Xavier Centre for Theological Formation at ACU. For more information about Aggiornamento, click here.
We're available 9am–5pm AEDT,
Monday to Friday
If you’ve got a question, our AskACU team has you covered. You can search FAQs, text us, email, live chat, call – whatever works for you.