Reorienting the religion curriculum in Catholic schools to address the needs of contemporary youth spirituality

Rossiter, Graham

doi:10.1080/19422539.2011.540140

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…totally undersells current pedagogy expounded in Australian studies in spirituality. Particular note should be made of de Souza's (2003) and Rossiter's (2010Rossiter's ( , 2011 work in this area. Spirituality education is not just about fluffy, feel good experiences.…”

Section: Describing Spirituality and Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Relating with God for Spiritual Well-Being

Fisher¹

2013

Spirituality: New Reflections on Theory, Praxis and Pedagogy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The importance of relating with God for Spiritual Well-BeingTwenty years of research in spiritual health/well-being culminate in this thesis. My PhD (1998), University of Melbourne, presented a Four Domains Model of Spiritual Health/Well-Being. This formed the theoretical base for several spiritual well-being questionnaires, presented in my EdD ( 2009), University of Ballarat. The main instrument, Spiritual Health And Life-Orientation Measure (SHALOM), proposed a novel method of assessing quality of relationships which are posited as reflecting spiritual well-being.These relationships are of each person with themselves, others, the environment and/or with a Transcendent Other (God). Instead of just investigating lived experiences, SHALOM asks for two responses to each item. Each respondent's lived experience is compared with their stated ideals. Studies presented herein show that this double-response method, comparing ideal with actual, provides a statistically stronger measure of quality of relationships than lived experiences alone, thus spiritual well-being.Eighteen publications included in this thesis relate to studies of spiritual wellbeing in educational, healthcare and general community settings. A total of 52 studies, using SHALOM with 41686 people from 27 countries, have shown that, of the four sets of relationships measured by SHALOM, relating with God explains greatest variance in spiritual well-being, so is therefore most important.An international study with people involved with, as well as some opposed to, spirituality and religious education led to a generic form of SHALOM, in which the theistic words were replaced by 'Transcendent', with 19 alternatives provided from which to select preferred Transcendent, or none. This project revealed that relating with God, as Transcendent, provides greatest support for a person's relating with self and others, in contrast to help provided by non-theistic and non-religious Transcendents and not believing in Transcendents. This research implies that researchers need to investigate relationship with God in any study of spiritual well-being, whether or not it fits their personal worldview.

show abstract

Section: Describing Spirituality and Religionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Relating with God for Spiritual Well-Being

Fisher¹

2013

Spirituality: New Reflections on Theory, Praxis and Pedagogy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…conservative nature of Catholic education and its lack of concern for authentic and critical engagement with the cognitive and experiential world of students. Over the past forty years the conceptual basis for the teaching of religious education in Catholic schools has shifted substantially and there are currently new proposals that extend this development even further (Rossiter 2010;2011). To illustrate this point, let me give just two examples, one major conceptual case and one minor pedagogical case of a very substantial literature which examines the evolving role of Catholic religious education and the type of pedagogy that is consistent with these goals.…”

Section: Much Of This Wider Literature Would Not Recognize the Basis mentioning

confidence: 99%

Faithful dissent and religious education in Canadian Catholic schools: a response to McDonough

Rymarz

2012

International Studies in Catholic Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

McDonough † proposes that one way of invigorating religious education in Canadian Catholic high schools is to present a wider range of views under the ambit of Catholic teaching including those which are currently regarded as dissenting opinions. These are not in keeping with official teaching but enjoy support in the wider Catholic community. In response to this it is argued that a better understanding of the contemporary discourse on religious education in Catholic schools would accommodate a thoughtful engagement with a range of views. This is in keeping with an educative model of religious education which can distinguish between the educative and catechetical goals of RE. A stronger focus on the educative aspects of religious education is proposed as a more direct way of improving the quality of religious education in schools.

show abstract

“…Bryk, et al (1995) suggest that, although the Catholic school system is one of the oldest educational institutions, there is little research into this sector. The research that is evident has focused specifically on the religious curriculum such as (Rossiter, 2010a(Rossiter, , 2011, and tends to neglect other facets of Catholic education, particularly adolescents' identity work. The research of Bryk et al (1995) examines contemporary Catholic secondary schooling in the US, particularly in terms of school operation and organisation.…”

Section: Contemporary Catholic Schoolingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This similarly reflects the work of Barna (2001), who describes adolescents as "the Mosaics," meaning that they customise and blend religious ideals to suit their personal preferences. Similarly, Rossiter (2011) defines contemporary spirituality of adolescents as individualistic and eclectic, where spirituality can be considered with or without religion.…”

Section: Spiritualmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An example she used was the importance of "mates" for teenage boys in the building of a sense of community and friendship, rather than religion. Rossiter (2010aRossiter ( , 2010bRossiter ( , 2011 extensively explores the contemporary society and culture that surrounds adolescents' spirituality and religious identity in Catholic schools in Australia. Rossiter (2011) defines contemporary spirituality as individualistic, eclectic, subjective, and secular.…”

Section: Adolescents' Religious Identity and Spiritualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Religious music in everyday life: adolescents’ identity work in Catholic schooling

Fletcher¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study sought to investigate adolescents' lived experiences of religious music in three Australian Catholic schools. Specifically, this study explores how religious music is used within Catholic schools and examines how religious music experiences in Catholic schools shape adolescents' religious and musical identities.As a practising music teacher in a Catholic school, the motivation to undertake this study emerged as I witnessed adolescents' engagement with religious music on a regular basis. I was intrigued to ascertain the ways in which their engagement with religious music was supporting or shaping their identity work.Existing literature revealed the ways in which music in the everyday life of adolescents influences their identity work. However a significant gap existed concerning the ways in which religious music may influence or inform adolescents' identity work. Religious music is a vital part of Catholic schools' identity, whereby students become religious observants to this important tradition.Australian Catholic schools were chosen as sites for this study as these schools provide a unique social context with specific cultural values and a contextualised exposure to music participation. (2001) emphasised how music can be considered as a life philosophy for adolescents. Music is used as a resource to make sense of lifeworlds and as a tool for worldbuilding (DeNora, 2000(DeNora, , 2003. Literature also describes the active role music plays in the construction of an individual's identity (DeNora, 2000). Music can be used as a social dialogue, to express personal meanings, and has the ability to influence behaviour. D. H. Hargreaves and Hargreaves (1967) and Hargreaves and North (1997) argue that social interaction, social institutions, and our social environment shape musical identities. Consideration of those interactions, institutions, and environments unique to Catholic school settings underpins this study.iii A qualitative research design was chosen to gain a deep and rich insight into the meanings, beliefs, and values adolescents hold about religious music experiences. Using an interpretivist paradigm suggests that adolescents' lifeworlds are central to the research process, and acknowledges the subjective position of adolescents' experiences. The study's educational environment consisted of three Australian Catholic schools: one all-girls, one all-boys, and one co-educational. Data was generated over one school term, using a case study design. Data methods included individual interviews, group interviews, and observation. These methods enabled adolescents to share their views, beliefs, and experiences, illuminating their rich and complex identity work. Through narrative inquiry, I created an authentic and detailed account (Kroon, 2009) of each participant's experiences, in order to examine the phenomenon of adolescents' religious and musical identities, and how these identities are shaped by religious music. The narratives were then analysed to draw key themes, as well as similarities t...

show abstract

Reorienting the religion curriculum in Catholic schools to address the needs of contemporary youth spirituality

Cited by 18 publications

References 10 publications

The Importance of Relating with God for Spiritual Well-Being

The Importance of Relating with God for Spiritual Well-Being

Faithful dissent and religious education in Canadian Catholic schools: a response to McDonough

Religious music in everyday life: adolescents’ identity work in Catholic schooling

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About