Leading learning for a recontextualising approach in religious education

ABSTRACT A recontextualising approach in religious education has been adopted in the newly revised religious education curricula of the four dioceses in Victoria: the dioceses of Melbourne, Ballarat, Sandhurst and Sale. This approach requires a radical change to the teacher’s role from knowledge transmission to one which supports students to grapple with their own identity formation in dialogue with the Catholic tradition. This article describes a collaborative research project undertaken by Catholic Education Office leaders of the four Victorian dioceses seeking to understand learning conditions and processes for leading teacher professional learning around a recontextualising approach. This study illuminates the description of recontextualisation in five criteria as proposed by Leuven Professor Pollefeyt (2017) by situating them in the practical context of teacher professional learning in Catholic schools. Using an Action Research methodology, the project engaged system leaders and teachers in Catholic schools in cycles of collegial dialogue and reflection on practice and theory to develop and refine understandings and classroom practices of recontextualisation. The findings challenge a system to consider how it intentionally positions itself in relation to the schools it serves.