Scottish Catholic Observer

By Michael McGrath, director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service

As young people return to school after the summer holidays, teachers in Scotland’s schools are challenged to deliver learning and teaching which is active, engaging, creative, exciting, purposeful and relevant to the 21st century—what is now known as the Curriculum for Excellence.

Every curriculum area and subject, at every level from P1 to S3, has now been defined in terms of ‘experiences and outcomes,’ which schools are being asked to provide for children and young people. To complete the picture, a new framework of qualifications is being made available for pupils in the senior phase of secondary school—for pupils in S4 to S6.

It is expected that learning and teaching in religious education will also feature many of the same hallmarks of excellence which are found in other curriculum areas. So, pupils will be expected to be active learners who are encouraged to acquire a detailed knowledge of the Catholic Faith, to develop skills of reflection, critical thinking and moral discernment and to assimilate beliefs, practices and values which are at the heart of our tradition.  Of course, you could ask, ‘what’s new about this?  Is this not what religious education in Catholic schools has always been about?’

This Is Our Faith

This Is Our Faith is the title of our new syllabus for religious education in Catholic primary and secondary schools (up to S3).  Its sets out in considerable detail what and when children should learn about our Faith. It will provide teachers with sufficient guidance to enable them to provide an experience of religious education which is thoroughly faithful to Church teaching and meaningful in the lives of young people.

This Is Our Faith will equip teachers with the raw material which they should use to create imaginative programmes of work and topics for learning in Catholic religious education. It will free them from the slavish use of one textbook which had become the main source of teaching in most primary schools. It will promote the reading of scripture and an understanding of Church teaching via research of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other Church documents. It will enable teachers to work together to plan learning and teaching across the various stages from primary through to secondary. It should provide learning which is deeper, more advanced and more consistent across our schools.

This Is Our Faith is highly original in how it structures the key experiences and outcomes for pupils as they develop on their journey of faith and are provided with opportunities to encounter Jesus Christ. It organises these experiences and outcomes under eight ‘Strands of Faith’ which imaginatively express what the Church teaches.

Rooted securely in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, these Strands of Faith express the dynamic, living entity which is the Catholic life of Faith—a life where Faith should not only be believed but should be lived in Christian witness, where human faith in God should be celebrated in Sacramental Liturgy and where our desire for relationship with God should be expressed in prayer.

Strands of Faith

The following sentences provide a very basic outline of each strand of Faith:

n Mystery of God enables us to explore our sense of God’s mysterious presence in our lives, experienced sometimes in wonder and awe at the majesty of God’s Creation, as well as in the mystery, suffering and sinfulness of human existence.

n In the Image of God reflects our understanding of each person being created in God’s image and likeness, endowed with unique talents which we are called to develop in living ‘life to the full.’

n Revealed Truth of God helps us to appreciate how God is revealed in the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and how we are called to relationship with God through our relationships with each other.

n Son of God explores the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who, as Son of God, brings redemption to the world and offers ‘new life’ to all.

n Signs of God involves learning about the Church and the Sacraments as signs of God’s active, continuing and sustaining presence in our lives.

n Word of God enables us to develop our understanding of the forms and the meaning of Sacred Scripture texts as the vehicle of God’s message to all people in all times.

n Hours of God highlights the importance of prayer, devotion, sacred time and spaces in the lives of all who wish to develop their personal relationship with God.

n Reign of God expresses the belief that we are all called to holiness in our lives, to make personal efforts to see the world transformed into God’s kingdom of justice, love and peace.

New challenges

Now, while these particular expressions may be new, in fact the concepts are grounded in the Church’s Tradition.  So the challenge for teachers is to become familiar with these Strands of Faith and to use the detailed ‘core learning,’ which This Is Our Faith provides for each Strand of Faith to organise their lesson plans and teaching programmes. The challenge for the Church is to continue to support teachers to ensure that religious education provided in all classrooms is of the highest quality.

This work has been underway for some time, with CPD courses being offered to ensure that head teachers and teachers are familiar with the new syllabus. Detailed written advice has been provided to ensure that schools in their curriculum planning, and teachers in their lesson planning, are making the best use of This Is Our Faith. Such support will continue to be provided for some years yet to ensure that teachers are properly supported to ensure the most effective teaching of religious education.

In recently granting the decree of recognitio to This Is Our Faith, the Holy See’s Congregation for the Clergy has expressed its confidence that the document will direct religious education in ways which will ensure that the Faith is transmitted comprehensively.  The congregation has also expressed its appreciation of the work of all who contributed to its development. Let us all pray that, with the grace of God, This Is Our Faith will ensure that we will continue to have faith in the curriculum.