EDRE517 - Liturgy and Prayer in Schools and Other Settings

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

Prayer and liturgy are essential components of every Christian community. This unit explores the nature and purpose of prayer and liturgical participation with particular focus on the relationship to religious education in the Catholic parish and school. The unit presents an introduction to approaches in teaching about prayer and Christian worship in a variety of settings. It provides opportunities to examine and evaluate existing resources and to develop skills in preparation of liturgical celebrations. EDRE517 develops students’ knowledge about the prayer and liturgy in the Catholic tradition and prepares them for professional expertise in the context of religious education in schools and other settings.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Identify the importance of rites, rituals and symbols in human experience and their place in religious education (GA1, GA5; APST 4.1)  

LO2 - Apply the principles governing liturgical celebration and participation outlined in relevant Church documents (GA8; APST 1.5)  

LO3 - Evaluate the place of prayer and liturgy within the religious education curriculum (GA5; APST 2.3)  

LO4 - Critique resources available for liturgy and prayer in a variety of settings (GA5, GA8; APST 4.1)  

LO5  - Design prayer and liturgical celebrations suitable for use in a variety of Catholic school settings and in the Parish context (GA1, GA5, GA8; APST 1.5).  

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS - GRADUATE LEVEL

On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should be able to:

Content

Topics will include: 

• the meaning and purpose of ritual and symbol in the context of religious education 
• application of principles for liturgical preparation and celebration to Catholic schools and other settings 
• a variety of methods, approaches and resources for liturgy and prayer in the Catholic school and other settings 
• liturgical adaptation for cultures and specific groups within the school and parish community 
• a review of resources for use in liturgical celebrations. 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, or the equivalent of 10 hours per week for 15 weeks. The total includes formally structured learning activities such as lectures, tutorials, and online learning. The remaining hours typically involve reading, research, and the preparation and submission of tasks for assessment. 

The unit is normally offered in online mode. Students learn through formally structured and sequenced learning activities that support the achievement of the learning outcomes. Students are asked to critically reflect, analyse, and integrate new information with existing knowledge, draw meaningful new connections, and then apply what they have learned to their school and other professional contexts. Learning activities take a social constructivist approach which recognises the particular relevance, value and need for peer to peer engagement in learning within this discipline 

Teaching Religious Education in parish and school settings requires specific knowledge and skill sets unique to the contemporary Catholic Church. Students in this unit need to acquire knowledge about payer and liturgy in the Catholic tradition and apply that to religious education contexts. Church documents inform teachers about the role of prayer and liturgy from the perspective of the Magisterium, and local curriculum documents inform teachers about their responsibilities from a local diocesan viewpoint. This background information provides a foundation for teachers to construct pedagogically appropriate classroom teaching and learning strategies for Religious Education, including previously acquired theological understandings of the essential precepts of Church teaching. 

The unit is constructed to consider students’ range of knowledge and experience in teaching RE and to build their capacity to do so. The unit is constructively aligned to build knowledge and integrate skills from general principles to specific outcomes that apply to classroom, school-wide and other professional settings of Religious Education.  

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are in order to pass this unit, students are required to demonstrate achievement of all five learning outcomes and achieve an overall mark of 50% or higher  

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to progressively demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.  

Task 1 requires students to engage with initial and core readings for the unit. The task is designed to allow students to display achievement of Learning Outcomes 1 and 2. In this task, students engage with the place of prayer and liturgy in the Catholic tradition before they begin to apply ideas of the tradition to religious education contexts.   

Task 2 requires students to demonstrates learning outcomes 3, 4 and 5. In this task students apply the knowledge demonstrated in assignment 1 to religious education contexts, principally in the school. This task requires knowledge and skills associated with professional competence in school (and other) contexts and develops their expertise as religious educators. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Blythe, T. (2006). Fifty ways to pray. Nashville, Tenn: Abingdon Press. 

Boyer, M. (2004). The liturgical environment: What the documents say. (2nd ed.) Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press. 

Burns, S. (2006). SCM study guide to liturgy. London: SCM Press. 

Cooke, B., & Macy, G. (2005). Christian symbol and ritual: An introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

DeTurris Poust, M. (2011). Catholic prayer and the mass. New York: Alpha Books. 

International Committee on English in Liturgy, Inc. (ICEL) (2010). Become one body one spirit in Christ. Carlton, Vic: Fraynework Multimedia [DVD]. 

Driscoll, M. (Ed.) (2012). The Liturgy documents: Essential documents for parish sacramental rites and other liturgies, Volume 2. (2nd ed.) Chicago, Ill: Liturgy Training Publications. 

BNolen, B. (2008). Prayer strategies: A teacher's manual (2nd ed.). Palmerston, NT: Farrar House Publishing. 

Pecklers, K. (Ed.) (2003). Liturgy in a postmodern world. London: Continuum. 

Phan, P. (Ed.) (2005). Directory on popular piety and the liturgy: Principles and guidelines. Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press. 

Vosko, R.S. (Ed.) (2006). God's house is our house: Re-imagining the environment for worship. Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press. 

Journals 

British Journal of Religious Education 

Journal of Religious Education 

Religious Education 

Religious Education Journal of Australia 

International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 

Journal of Beliefs & Values 

Studies in Religion & Education