The Role of the Religion Teacher in Catholic Schools

In The religious dimension of education in a Catholic school (1988), CCE identifies the Religion teacher as central to the evangelising mission of the Catholic school and the achievement of its educational goals (CCE, para 96). The dual nature of their role in providing critical RE in tandem with developing the faith of Catholic students places significant demands on Religion teachers. Professionally, they are committed to serving two distinct, however potentially complementary, purposes (Rossiter, 1982; Groome, 2007). The increased emphasis on managerial professionalism in education, exerting the pressures of learning outcomes, accountability and demands for immediate, externally mandated and monitored results, further alienates education from more democratic models that explore human learning and development (Mooney Simmie and Moles, 2011, pp.466-467).

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Within this context one wonders if Religion teachers feel especially conflicted in their endeavour to prepare students for exams, while nurturing faith and spiritual development, itself an educationally immeasurable activity.

Pope Benedict XVI’s address to Catholic Religion teachers makes explicit the Church’s understanding of the interconnectedness between faith and knowledge, along with the image of the Religion teacher as a role model of the faith within Catholic RE:

There is a connection between the scholastic teaching of religion and the existential deepening of faith, as happens in parishes and in the various ecclesial structures. The very person of the Catholic religion teacher constitutes this bond: to you, in fact, in addition to the duty of the human, cultural and didactic competence proper to every teacher, belongs the vocation to make it clear that the God of whom you speak in the classrooms is the essential reference point of your life. (2009)

A personal commitment to the faith and an understanding of their role as vocational is emphasised by the Catholic Church as tenets of what a makes for a “good” Religion teacher. Educational research finds the perception of teacher as a moral agent to be common among understandings of what it means to be a “good” teacher. Estola, Erkilla ̈ and Syrja ̈la (2003) conceptualise the teachers’ vocation as a “moral/ethical” voice (as cited in Kitching, 2009, p.144). However, Kitching (2009, p.143) draws on Jersild (1955) in asserting that the “authentic self”, upon which the “reflective practitioner” is often based, can risk invoking an individual social dualism, should there be much discrepancy regarding the personal and professional life of the teacher. The significant change in perception relating to the moral authority of the Catholic Church in Irish society, and the rise in disaffiliation, have resulted in some teachers who do not identify with the Catholic faith or whose personal lives are divergent from the Church’s social and moral teachings.

2.7.1 Teacher as “Other”

The position of teachers whose personal faith or sexual identity is contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church raises important issues in relation to professional autonomy and the provision of RE. Considering the dominance of Catholic education and the changing faith profile of the population means that inevitably there are teachers working in Irish Catholic schools teaching religion who do not identify as Catholic. Also, there are teachers identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, whose sexual identities are considered “intrinsically disordered” by the Catholic Church. Research involving teachers of Irish Catholic primary schools who belong to the LGB community reveals the conflictual tension experienced between their professional and personal lives (Fahie, 2017). This research finds that while there is disruption to “the long-accepted (co) relationship between teaching at primary level in Ireland and faith formation”, LGB teachers do not reject the value of teaching RE outright (2017, p.20). Instead, they exercise professional autonomy through an “on-my-terms” approach to the

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teaching of RE. In spite of this, the significant demand made upon teachers of religion by the Catholic Church to share in the Christian vision and instil it within the students heightens this incongruity:

They are teachers of the faith; however, like Christ, they must also be teachers of what it means to be human ... A teacher who has a clear vision of the Christian milieu and lives in accord with it will be able to help young people develop a similar vision and will give them the inspiration they need to put it into practice. (Pope Benedict XVI’s address, 96)

The current research investigates how minority faith students experience RE in a Catholic school, and in this regard it explores the experience of the “other”. However, while it includes the teacher voice, none of the participating teachers described themselves as contrary or “other” to the Catholic ethos of the school. Instead, participating Religion teachers designated their role in what can be described as vocational terms.

2.7.2 Profession as Vocation

Research conducted by Lewis et al. in 2009, within the Irish context, reveals that participating teachers, from both the primary and post-primary sector, indicated low levels of professional ambition, instead affirming the perception of their role as vocational. Only 16.6% of the 353 teachers surveyed cited “professional career” as an important value, reinforcing the notion of teaching as a vocation and a service to the community, rather than a career pathway in one of the professions (Lewis et al., 2009 p.18). The findings also present a positive profile of Religion teachers who generally feel “supported by school management, energised by their professional contact with students, positive about the status of RE and the allocation of resources to RE in their schools” (2009, p.19).

However, Religion teachers, along with their colleagues, are experiencing increasing professional demands due to the focus of Teaching Council (founded in 2006) on augmenting the professionalisation of teaching. Given the traditional understanding of teaching as vocational and the recent increase in teacher professionalism within the present performance and results-driven educational culture, it is interesting to consider the perceptions which RE teachers have of their role within their school community and the subsequent implications these have for their teaching practice and approach. Roebben (2016) asserts that teacher education must equip teachers with more creative and performative tools so that Religion teachers can understand their role as profession-as-vocation. Teacher education focusing on developing teachers’ personal, and possibly evolving, philosophies of education at different intervals in their career could help with the demanding duality attendant upon the role of the Religion teacher.

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This duality is especially prominent for Religion teachers working within Catholic schools, and whose role requires meeting the Catholic Church’s expectation to foster faith development while, in some cases, simultaneously meeting the educational demands and expectations of preparing students for a State examination. The current research explores how the perceptions of Religion teachers, regarding their role, impact on their professional practice and pedagogical approach. It demonstrates a diminishing of teacher autonomy, relating to catering for religious diversity, when conflicting perceptions and expectations exist regarding the purpose, nature and scope of RE between Religion teachers and their students. This would seem to compromise both the vocational and professional aspects to the Religion teacher’s role.

In contrast, teachers participating in the research by Lewis et al., while exhibiting a strong commitment to confessionalism, were equally committed to the idea that pupils should become acquainted with a range of different religions and with something of “the denominational diversity within Christianity” (2009, p.22). However, their endorsement of the aim of promoting learning in religion does not negate support for the other two areas of learning about religion (95%) and learning from religion (77%) (2009, p.21). This can be interpreted as these teachers exercising greater autonomy in responding to the plurality of religious beliefs and worldviews of the students they teach.

2.7.3 The Changing Role of the Religion Teacher

In Willingly to school (2000), Devitt offers support to Religion teachers on the introduction of the State syllabus for RE at post-primary level. This was a considerable change for some teachers, who were now to teach RE as an exam subject. It involved a new syllabus, along with the external state formative assessment of the subject. It is interesting to note that while providing an overview of the different kinds of Catholic education that exist, Devitt makes the following statement in relation to voluntary schools:

... another very different kind of Catholic education is the general education of people who are Catholics. Here the learners are entirely or nearly exclusively Catholic, the same is usually true of the staff. In Ireland, the private schools run by clergy and Religious and lay Catholics would clearly fit into this category.

(2000, p. 8)

This statement can no longer could be accepted as accurate, given the generational change that has occurred in the interim. The increase in religious diversity and the rapid rise of secularisation means that the traditionally religiously homogenous population of voluntary schools has changed significantly. Devitt’s central concern of, “How can the NCCA syllabuses be integrated into the catechetical work of teaching Religion to Catholic pupils in Irish schools today?” needs further nuance in the current, changed context. Therefore, a more apposite question today might be: “How can Catholic schools maintain the catechetical work of teaching Religion to Catholic students while

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nurturing the spiritual and moral development of students with different religious and secular worldviews?”

It is with this question in mind we now turn to the second key development in the history of RE within the Irish context: the introduction of a State syllabi for RE. The following section explores this syllabi and supporting documents at senior cycle, since this is the primary focus of the current study.