Frequently Asked Questions
  

Religious and Values Education (RAVE)

Q. What would be included in a RAVE professional development program?
A. There are no two schools exactly the same. As a result, professional development would be practical, engaging and tailored to meet the needs of the individual school.

Generally, it would involve introducing the school executive to the philosophy and structure of religious and values education, using resources such as the Christian / Religious Studies Progress Map* to work with a representative group to establish a RAVE scope and sequence framework and then working with teaching staff and chaplains to develop inquiry-based units of study and resources for the classroom.

Q. What does it mean to describe RAVE as an ‘academic subject’?
A. RAVE as an academic subject would be:

o  intellectually rigorous
o  outcomes based
o  developmentally appropriate
o  balanced across the strands and year levels
o  supportive of the notion of a spiral curriculum
o  open to integration across the RAVE strands and other subject areas
o  include excursions, incursions, guest speakers, etc.

Q. Is it possible to assess and report on RAVE?
A. Yes …as with other academic subjects, assessment and reporting would target levels of understanding related to the outcomes of the unit. Various tools and strategies including pre and post unit understandings, rubrics, student work samples, observation, checklists, reviews, tests and student portfolios could be used for such assessment and reporting purposes.

Q. Who should be teaching RAVE … specialist or classroom teachers?
A. There is no right or wrong answer to this question. What can be said however is that while specialist teachers have a particularly vital role in the senior secondary years, primary classroom and middle school form or house teachers are particularly well positioned to engage their students in the teaching and learning of RAVE.

Q. Is it possible to integrate RAVE?
A.   Yes … in most cases it is possible to integrate RAVE with different subject areas. It is also possible to integrate topics across the RAVE strands and develop ‘Cluster Units’ at each year level.

Q What is a Cluster Unit?
A. A cluster unit is the grouping of seemingly independent units from the RAVE strands. These units share connecting links and flow sequentially when taught, thus assisting the students to contextualize their learning.

Sample Cluster Unit: Rules and Laws – Moses and the Ten Commandments – Jesus’ Two Great Commandments - The Five Pillars of Islam

A study of Rules and Laws (Ethics and Values strand) could lead to an investigation of the Ten Commandments and the story of Moses (The Bible – Story of the Church strand). Students could then explore the relationship between the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ two Great Commandments (The Bible – Story of the Church strand). From here, the notion of rules, laws and moral codes could be the catalyst to investigate similar frameworks in other world religions including the Five Pillars of Islam (World Religions strand).

Q. “But I don’t have a background in Religious Education … how am I meant to teach it?”
A. The level of expertise among teachers of this subject area can vary greatly and it can be quite challenging for some staff when called upon to teach it.

Professional development will empower staff with a level of understanding that enables them to confidently plan inquiry-based units of study and engage students in a program that is meaningful, engaging and achievable.

If teachers are confident of their abilities and have a positive belief in the program, chances are so too will the students.

*Christian/Religious Studies Progress Map - Working Version, as published by The Anglican Schools Commission WA, 2004.