Good Practice Conference
“…collating, disseminating and encouraging
the adoption of good practice…”
'Reign of God'
a practical application of Curriculum
for Excellence
Image from Pixton.com
Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was to come,
he gave them this answer, “The coming of the kingdom does not
admit of observation and there will be no one to say, “Look here!
Look there!” For, you must know, the Kingdom of God is among
you.
Luke 17:20-21
Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God.
Therefore, miss no single opportunity to do His work,
here by a smiling look,
there by a kindly word;
always doing even the smallest things right,
and doing it all for love.
(St. Teresa)
From “Religious Education in Roman Catholic Schools:
Principles and Practice”
“… in keeping with the values, purposes and principles of Curriculum for
Excellence.”
“It is designed to assist children and young people to be increasingly able to
make a mature and informed response to God in faith and to nurture that faith.
It offers opportunities for both evangelisation – proclaiming the Gospel
message to all – and catechesis – the deepening of existing faith
commitments among believers.”
“The curriculum is more than curriculum areas and subjects: it is the totality of
experiences which are planned for children and young people through their
education… contributing to the four aspects of the curriculum: the ethos and
life of the school; interdisciplinary studies; curriculum areas and subjects, and
opportunities for personal achievement.
Reign of God
•reflecting on the Ten Commandments and on Jesus’ New Commandment
•responding to the call to grow in holiness as expressed by Jesus in the
Beatitudes through being compassionate, just and willing to contribute to the
common good
•examining the need to respond to moral issues in the light of Catholic
teaching
•expressing our thoughts and feelings about how the Church’s invitation to
build God’s kingdom of justice, love and peace can affect us and others.
Reign of God
Reign of God – The Practicality
Not only are you already doing it, but you’re doing it
well! It is being able to recognise that you’re doing it,
and recognising that it is now being acknowledged for
what it has always been; central to the social,
educational and spiritual development of our pupils.
And…
You will also be doing:
Enterprise Education
Literacy
Numeracy
Health & Wellbeing
International Education
Interdisciplinary Learning
Reign of God
Practical Examples from St. Ninian's High School
APD
SCOTTISH
SCHOOLS
PARTNERSHIP
Reign of God – APD Scottish Schools Partnership
Started 2004 under auspices of SCIAF “Project Partnership” scheme
Summer 2004: Visit (funded by SCIAF) by staff of interested schools to APD,
Bangalore
November 2004: Visit by disabled pupils of APD to Scottish Partnership schools
2005/2006: fundraising; awareness raising; working to build profile in school
June/July 2006: Visit by one member of staff and two pupils from each school,
funded by SCIAF, to work with APD in integrated school, urban and rural outreach
programmes and horticultural centre
Aug/Sep 2006: Feed back to staff, pupils, parents and parishes about partnership
October 2006: Visit by a number of APD staff, funded by SCIAF, to partnership
schools, LAs, primaries, special schools, disability centres, etc
December 2006: SCIAF funding ends
March 2007: First “India Week”: departments asked to consider putting an explicit
link to the partnership in their curriculum; all assemblies presented by pupils who
made 2006 visit/members of the Justice and Peace Group. Rich Man, Poor Man Lunch
runs with Indian Theme. Repeated March 2008 and 2009
August 2007: School Young Enterprise Group set up business importing saris, etc from
partners in Bangalore
June 2008: Visit by 2 members of staff and 2 pupils to Bangalore
Reign of God
India Week Evaluation – see Handout
http://www.sciafyouth.org.uk
Reign of God – APD Scottish Schools Partnership
Partnership Day: “Disabled for a Day”
My name is _______________
On Partnership Day I spent the day as a blind person.
The main problems I encountered were the fact that people couldn’t accept the fact
that I was disabled and wasn’t able to do the things that I would do normally. Another
problem was that staff and pupils didn’t know how to deal with a person who had a
disability; all they saw was the problem. Also, people made jokes and pushed me
around which I found very frustrating. My experiences have taught me that a
disabled person’s worst problem is other people’s reaction to them. It is very difficult
to cope both mentally and physically.
My name is ______________.
On Partnership Day I spent the day as a blind person.
The main problems I encountered were doing my class work (although my friends did
help me), getting to my classes, and people pushing me or making fun of me. I got
really annoyed because people kept talking to me slowly, as if there was something
wrong with my hearing, too.
My experiences taught me that other people often do not understand how hard it is
to be blind. I admire people who live with disabilities and have to put up with this
every day.
Reign of God – Justice and Peace Group
Make Poverty History Campaign
Organising fundraising events
Organising a “Lobby Lunch”: e-mailing Tony Blair to
“drop the debt”
Sending a message to our local Westminster MP
Taking pupil assemblies
Planning a special Mass on the theme of Kingdom of
God
Part of E. Dunbartonshire Council’s bid to make the
authority a Fair Trade Zone
Reign of God – Justice and Peace Group
Make Poverty History
Drop the Debt
Promotion of Fair Trade products
Trade Justice Issues
HIV/AIDS in Africa
Say “No” to Trident
Campaign Against Rape as a Weapon of War
Impact of Credit Crunch on the Young – BBC/G20
Lowering of Voting Age (canvassing opinion – working
with local MSP)
Christmas Card Campaign
Reign of God
Practical Examples from St. Ninian's High School
Other examples within the department:
•The Life Club
•Youth St. Vincent de Paul
•Youth Pastoral Team
Reign of God – connections with other curriculum areas
The onus placed on all disciplines and all teachers to promote the
Values for Excellence – wisdom, justice, integrity and compassion –
and to help young people to grow as Responsible Citizens, living
and working in a global context, places RE very much at the centre
of the learning process. It can be seen that the subject is an ideal
partner for many departments in helping them not only to fulfil their
own curricular area, but to enhance pupils’ learning experiences by
making clear and explicit the links in their learning.
Reign of God – connections with curriculum areas
RE and Home Economics: S4 Food Technology
An RE specialist will visit the class on 2 occasions to teach on:
the social & cultural context of our partners in the integrated
school in Bangalore;
the food laws of the different religions represented in the community
issues surrounding nutrition and food hygiene in that context
Christian concept of stewardship: is this lived out?
views of the various religions represented at APD, and the Indian
cultural view
the need to consider practicality, cost and sustainability in food
packaging
Reign of God –connections with curriculum areas
RE and Art – Gender Stereotyping/Gender Violence
All pupils spend 2 RE blocks looking at the use of gender stereotype images
in advertising, looking at printed media, television and internet, and how
these tie in with broad social ideas of “A Real Man” and “Being Ladylike”.
They will also explore the consequences when people feel pressurised to
conform to a role with which they do not truly identify, looking at education,
career choice and advancement and gender violence. They examine the
importance of respecting the worth and dignity of each individual as a
unique work of God.
Pupils will then spend time in Art & Design producing images for entry into
the East Dunbartonshire Campaign against gender and domestic violence.
Reign of God – Workshop Task 1
Think of one thing you would do in your school that you
would currently consider to be “extra curricular” (e.g.
cake and candy sales; sponsored events; pupils working
in clubs/groups; pupils helping with planning liturgy, etc.)
Using the statement from “Religious Education in Roman
Catholic Schools: Principles and Practice”, see how far
this activity is actually fulfilling the Curriculum for
Excellence guidelines. You can then apply it to the
Outcomes and Experiences given for “Reign of God”
From “Religious Education in Roman Catholic Schools: Principles and
Practice”
Learning through religious education enables children and young people to:
•develop their knowledge and deepen their understanding of the Catholic faith
•investigate and understand the relevance of the Catholic faith to questions about
truth and the meaning of life
•highlight, develop and foster the values, attitudes and practices which are
compatible with a positive response to the invitation to faith
•develop the skills of reflection, discernment, critical thinking, and deciding how to
act in accordance with an informed conscience when making moral decisions
•nurture the prayer life of the individual and of the school community
•understand and appreciate significant aspects of other Christian traditions and
major world religions
•make a positive difference to themselves and the world by putting their beliefs and
values into action.
Reign of God – Workshop Task 2
Choose on common topic/area from your RE
programme that you would see as broadly fitting into the
main ideas of “Reign of God”.
How could you use other departments/curricular areas to
help you in the delivery of this part of your curriculum – or
are there departments/curricular areas you think you
could feed into to help pupils to understand the
universality of the message of the “Reign of God”?