Secondary Education and Teaching Commons^™

Historical Inquiry Into The Construction Of Religion As A School Subject For Catholic Schools In Australia, Thomas A. O'Donoghue, David Byrne

eJournal of Catholic Education in Australasia

One of the most distinctive features of Catholic schools, both past and present, is their religious character. In Australia, as in many other parts of the world, the Catholic community invested significant energy developing and preserving this character. Central to this has been the teaching of Religion. Yet, from a historical perspective, there has been little effort undertaken to understand how Religion as a subject in Catholic schools has been constructed. This paper takes its lead from the latter observation. It is in three parts. First, the general historical background is outlined. Second, the importance of producing historical analyses of …