Education Commons^™

Is Christian Schooling Really At Loggerheads With The Ideas Of Diversity And Tolerance? A Rejoinder, Matthew Etherington

Education Papers and Journal Articles

This article builds on the foundations and evaluations laid recently by Symes and Gulson in their 2005 article, Crucifying Education: The rise and rise of new Christian schooling in Australia. It evaluates the warrant of Christian schooling within a liberal democracy and offers a rejoinder for defending the rights of Christian particularism within a secular educational system such as operates in Australia. In similar vein to Pike’s (2004) challenge against the discrediting of Christian schooling in England, this article also questions the fundamental liberal tenet of individual autonomy as the supreme goal of education.

The main thesis of this paper …

Developing Student Leadership Through Service-Learning, Shane D. Lavery

Education Papers and Journal Articles

Adolescents possess enormous potential as leaders. They have the capacity to become leaders in the workplace, in their families, in the community, and in government.

Increasingly, schools have taken on the important responsibility of the developing leadership in young people. Schools are, what van Linden and Fertman call, “hotbeds of leadership development” (1998, p. 224). For instance, Catholic schools have a commendable reputation for preparing, promoting, developing and nurturing elected student leaders. Fair and just elections, leadership camps, leadership reflection days, mixed school leadership programs, and leadership seminars, all form valid and valuable ways of preparing students for the challenges, …

Christian Service Learning In Catholic Schools, Shane D. Lavery, Chris Hackett

Education Papers and Journal Articles

This article sets out a rationale for implementing Christian service-learning in Catholic schools. The article initially explores Jesus' Gospel call to serve. A brief summary of Catholic social doctrine is then presented and the concept of service-learning is discussed.

Four categories of community outreach by Catholic schools are outline, these being community service, Christian service, service-learning within a Christian context, and faith-focused Christian service-learning. Finally, various implications for promoting Christian service-learning in Catholic schools are considered in the light of the principles of charity and service as outlined in the encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est.

The Perceptions Of Recently Assigned Secondary Religious Education Teachers, Chris Hackett

Education Papers and Journal Articles

This article focuses on survey responses from newly appointed secondary Religious Education teachers from the first phase of a longitudinal study. The study was conducted in Catholic schools in three dioceses of Western Australia over two school years, from 1998 to 1999. The study focused on the teachers’ perceptions of implementing the Perth Archdiocesan Religious Education Units of Work. The article outlines briefly the demographic and professional backgrounds of recently appointed RE (RARE) teachers. Next, it reports upon how these teachers perceived their use of the instructional resources and teaching approach in the RE Units. The article then describes what …

E-Learning Pedagogy In The Primary School Classroom: The Mcdonaldization Of Education, Matthew Etherington

Education Papers and Journal Articles



This paper begins as an initial rejoinder to the ideas expressed by Ross (2000) in The Promise and Perils of E-Learning: A critical look at the new technology. In his article, Ross supports the traditional practices of pedagogy at the primary school level—face-to-face pedagogy— and then critiques what he describes as a ‘fetishisation’ of technological pedagogy—a fetishisation seen in the increase of E-learning pedagogy at the primary school level. The ideas expressed in this article gain their structure and momentum from Ross’s (2000) arguments against E-learning and extends a more cautious approach to the widespread belief in the …