criticalissuepart1

It is common to hear both teachers and students complaining about Religious Education in Catholic Schools and the Staff and students at Catholic College are no different. It has often been disconcerting for me to see students behaving completely different in RE as compared to English, even when they have the same teacher for each subject. Very clearly, student attitudes to Religious Education and Christianity appear to be predominantly negative at "Catholic College" and the aim of this research project is to discover why this is the case and the resulting implications for the teacher and hi/her role in the Catholic School.

More specifically the AIM of this project is to explore the following questions.

Naturally, research of this type will lead to an exploration of related issues, all of which need addressing to ensure optimal understanding of the implications for Religious Education in the school.

I decided upon the format of this project, (a survey). My 4 years of teaching Religious Education have given me a good feel, so to speak, of what students find interesting or boring with regards to content, and the quality of student attitudes to certain Christian values and morals.

The students surveyed were 55 Year 11 students from 4 different classes. The control group was my Year 11 class for Term 2 consisting of 16 students with whom I had covered particular content, not covered in other classes or in the same manner. Results for both the control group (my class) and the total group (including my class) can be found in this work, with some very interesting results. (Note well. When studying spreadsheets in this project, the BLUE percentages refer to this control group. When studying charts, the GREEN lines refer to the control group.)

A close look at my survey (Appendix item 1) will illustrate my theory regarding Religious Education. On first inspection it appears to mesh together seemingly unrelated questions. However, the following describes the design employed, one effect of which is to attempt to guarantee honest student answers; responses which may reveal a contradiction in their attitudes. It was my desire to achieve this.

QUESTION NUMBER	PURPOSE AND INTENTION
1	to provide students with an opportunity to define 'coolness' in their own way The following standard answers can be gauged from the responses given. 'Coolness' is really a cover for trendy beauty intelligence freedom to do what you like confident popular doing 'bad stuff'
2	to provide students with an opportunity to define 'uncoolness' typical responses were un- trendy lack of freedom of choice peer pressure lack of popularity for majority boring shyness doing good not belonging to social group
3	the focus here is to gauge how students' definition of coolness is applied to ctions/concepts under the following headings. (Please note, the letters alongside each heading, refer to the items in the survey under question 3) The key question here is, "Is there a contradiction between students' definition of 'coolness' and their actual attitudes and values? (See also question 10) trends with little moral implications - a, k, r trends with moral implications - q, u, w 'aloneness' - d belonging to associations - y, z, aa, bb belonging to Church - e, s, t , v belonging to peer group - b, c, l social action (environment and humans)- altruism - g, cc non rewarded altruism - f, I, n authority - x, dd
4	This question is designed to test the reasons for the students' attitudes and values as outlined in question 3. The responses can be grouped under the following headings. Desire to avoid confrontational concepts - b, c, f, f, h, I Desire for fun (as a possible way of detecting differing levels of immaturity) - a, g, m Desire for acceptance into adult world and privileges - c, j, k, l, m, o, p Desire to be challenged - d
5	* This question expands on what students perceive society to claim as being normal. It was hoped in asking this question, to ascertain any relationship between student desire for adult acceptance (indicated in question 5) and the impact this has on their understanding of 'normality' and their values.
6	This question presumes a definite impact of Television on the formation of young minds. It is indisputable, through anecdotal evidence obtained throughout the year, that students are generally non-critical of the media's impact and are often surprised and become defensive when the topic is mentioned. I want to test how critical they indeed are. The key question is, "If students are critical, are they discerning the values portrayed on television and understanding how this impacts on what is seen to be cool or uncool?"
7	This addresses specific student attitudes to the content covered in RE in Upper School under the following categories. Well known concepts - premarital sex and pornography Unpopular or unfamiliar concepts - chastity, modesty, purity, Mass Theological concepts perceived to be lacking in credibility - creation, Heaven, Jesus, sin, hell
8	Again, this requires students to provide a rationale for their attitudes to concepts covered in question 7, in order to ascertain, what is uncool about Christianity and why. (Framework used is similar to question 4) The possible responses are grouped as follows Credibility of teacher - a, b Desire to avoid confrontational concepts - c, f Desire for fun - g Desire for acceptance by peers - j, o Desire for acceptance into adult world and privileges - m Desire to be challenged in their Faith - h, l, n, p, s Struggle with Faith - d, e Influence of family - q, r, t Lack of perceived relevance - I, k
9	This question focuses on what students perceive to be important in life, without making the purpose clear. The responses here clarify student attitudes to Stereotypical Cool concepts - Fun - a Rebellion against Authority - e Egocentrism and Peer association - I, k Stereotypical non-cool and Christian concepts - Altruism - b, c, f, h, p It is important in that it helps us to see whether the student definition of cool is in fact devoid of Christian altruism and life stance.
10	This question contains samples of actions which demonstrate altruism for people and the environment altruism with un-trendy and strong moral implications It is designed to test student perception of the assistance provided in these areas by the Church and other associations. If question 9 is designed to bring across the true definition of 'cool', question 10 seeks to highlight that the Church is in fact relevant to students true nature. It also illustrates much about the influence of the mainstream media as the main source of information AND formation in our society
11	Question 11 portrays student understanding of what makes a good friend and tests whether there is, once again, a contradiction between their perceived values and those held innately. The results could indicate, once again, that Christian values and student values are in fact similar.
12	The responses explore the relationship between peer pressure and individual response to the Church, Authority, individuality.
13	This questions specifically requires students to state who their role models are and those who influence the most.
14	Question 14 asks students to state whom they would most like to be like. The responses can be grouped as follows; Media models Religious Figures Altruistic figures Authority figures - Parents and teachers
15	Question 15 requires students to ask themselves whether the Christian religion is cool. Again, it provides a point of reference for comparing to previous responses. Do their general responses indicate that they do in fact value the Christian Religion? If so, why do they not call Christianity 'cool' when asked directly?
16	Student definition of 'Freedom' completes the survey. It is designed, once again, to highlight any contradiction between the stereotypical definition of freedom and innate altruistic values and attitudes of students.