The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
19 October 2003
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Peace
in our hands
Jubilee
week for Pope
Special
guests at Mother Teresa’s beatification
School
insurance hike
Honoured
by university
It’s
truly feminine and truly beautiful
Spiritually
renewed by Lourdes
$1.75m
for Caritas
Catholic
Women’s Network
Board
short bonanza for Vinnies
Advice
to lectors, acolytes
Much
deeper reality
Editorial:
Time for tribute
Letters:
Barrel of a gun
Conversation:
Terry Hanley, lay missionary who has spent nearly 15 years in the field - Happy
to ‘spend rest of my life in Africa’
What
is peace like?
Religion
test upsurge
Malouf
on campus
Ministry
of Jesus to the sick and dying
‘Father,
this is your life’
‘Priest
in residence’ honoured
Bushland
setting for Thurgoona church
Full-on
disciple of Jesus
Active
practice of faith
Requiem
Mass for ‘Bacon Priest’
Religion test upsurge
Student participation in the 2003 Religious Education Test completed by Year 6 students in schools in the Sydney archdiocese and the diocese of Armidale was the highest ever.
More than 5300 students completed the examination this year, up from 4272 in 1998, the first year in which the test was conducted.
Br Kelvin Canavan (pictured), executive director of schools for the Archdiocese of Sydney, said he was pleased that the growing numbers of schools taking part - 140 in all - provided evidence of increasing acceptance by teachers of this important testing procedure.
He said that in the early years there was some teacher resistance, with confusion by some as to whether it was testing ‘faith’ or ‘religious knowledge’.
“We need to conduct this Year 6 exit test to ensure students emerge from their primary education well-versed and literate in religious knowledge,” Br Kelvin said.
“We know that parents also expect this of us.”
“It is the religious dimension that sets Catholic schools apart from others, so it is most important that we know how effective our programs are,” he said.
Seamus O’Grady, director of religious education and curriculum, said he was pleased with this year’s results.
He pointed out that nearly 1500 students out of the 4824 who sat for the test in Sydney schools achieved either a high distinction or distinction.
The nine sections covered in the test were Church, Saints, Beliefs/Symbols, Liturgy, Sacraments, Mass/Eucharist, Scripture, Prayer and Decision Making.
In four of the sections - Church, Saints, Beliefs and Symbols, Sacraments - students improved the average score over previous years and attained an overall test average across all sections of 68 per cent.
The Religious Education Test is devised and marked in consultation with the Educational Testing Centre of the University of NSW and is being continually refined in accordance with student results.
Mr O’Grady said that areas in which students score less highly are identified and teachers have the opportunity to cover these areas more thoroughly with their students in the second half of the year.
“As well, the Catholic Education Office provides additional professional development for teachers to extend their knowledge in different areas of the religious education curriculum.”
This year an additional question was included in the test, which asked students how many years they had attended a Catholic school.
Mr O’Grady said that it was pleasing to note that students who had been in a Catholic school for four years or more performed better than those who had been in a Catholic school for three years or less.
This positive trend supported the value of participation in Catholic education for developing students’ religious knowledge, he said.
The Religious Education Test will be re-designed next year around the revised Religious Education Curriculum to be launched in December.
Mr O’Grady said the revised curriculum will be supported by a set of text books, To Know, Worship and Love, that are being prepared for Sydney Catholic students.
“These texts contain extensive material on the different areas covered in the curriculum which should make it easier for students to study for the 2004 test.”