Our Faith-Based Pedagogies Reading Group sessions have been continuing. In the past few months two meetings were held.
On August 3, 2021, the group was hosted at the Australian Islamic College (AIC), a reception to Year 12 independent school in Adelaide. Ms. Silma Ihram, AIC Principal, provided an overview of the vision of AIC at the start of the session. The session then focused on two innovative initiatives being led by members of the group. Rev. Rob MacPherson (Pembrooke School) spoke about the school’s non-denominational identity and fostering faith through ‘secular liturgies.’ Dr. Tracy Price (Tabor College) then shared the Pedagogies enabling Redemptive Learning (PeRL) project that offers an educational framework for fostering faith in Christian schools.
On September 22, 2021, the group was hosted at Our Lady of Sacred Hearts (OLSH), an all-girls Catholic secondary school in Adelaide. Anthony Lindblom, Assistant Principal Religious identity and Mission, took our group on a tour of OLSH and spoke to the school’s hermeneutic approach to fostering faith. Anthony spoke about not wanting to be simply a monologue school (a school that only focuses on themselves) or falling into a relativistic approach where everything goes. The school’s approach is one of wanting teachers to be ‘witnesses of faith’ who teach from the faith and not solely aboutthe faith.
The group is open and welcomes new members at any time to join online or in-person. To join or for more information, contact Nadeem Memon at Nadeem.memon@unisa.edu.au
