CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter contains the related studies and literature that may

support this study.

Religious Education
As stated by Rossiter (2010), the secularisation as a result of

sociocultural change and the resultant secularity of young people in Catholic

schools have called for some revision of the basic purposes of Catholic school

religious education. Groome (2011), viewed religious education as

education that points to relationship with God, the transcendent. The focus of

such education should be on empowering students in their quest for the

transcendent. This empowerment points to the agency of the student. Groome

promoted the importance of agency when he stated that students must not be

manipulated or indoctrinated. Rossiter (1982), stated that catholic high school

religious studies teachers address numerous challenges and tensions as they

make decisions about curriculum.

Francis (2013) proposed that societal changes due to globalization

were also a possibility for Catholic curriculum theorists worldwide. They

highlighted two trends. First, they emphasized that efforts for curricular

integration have opened a possibility for developing a comprehensive Catholic

curriculum that moves away from the focus on Religious Education.

Meanwhile, according to Congregation for Catholic Education (2002),

teachers of Catholic religious education should possess sophisticated learning,

 9

communicational and organizational competencies, as important prerequisites

in achieving educational goals and learning objectives. Furthermore, in daily

school work, teachers should implement theologically–based teaching and, in

addition, provide theirstudents with a true Christian and a genuine religious

experience. As told by, Bryk, Lee, and Holland (1993); Groome (2011); United

States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2008) there is a recognized need by

the Catholic educational community that, in order to develop the faith of Catholic

students and to secure the future of the Catholic Church, Catholic high schools

must be focused on transmitting knowledge of the faith and on faith

development. Groome (2011) argued that the attitude of Catholic religious

education should be that of attraction. The Sacred Congregation for Catholic

Education (1988) noted that religious education differed from catechesis.

Catechesis “presupposes that the hearer is receiving the Christian message as

a salvific reality. Moreover, catechesis takes place within a community living out

its faith at a level of space and time not available to a school: a whole lifetime”.

The SCCE went on to say that the “aim of school is knowledge”, in that its

purpose is to provide systematic knowledge of the Catholic faith. The SCCE

acknowledged that some students are not engaged in overt faith development

while others are ready to make a commitment to the faith. Religious education,

as opposed to strict catechesis, addresses the needs of this diverse student

body. Galetto (1996); Holdcroft (2006); Sander (2001), added that religious

education concentrates more on faith development, orthodoxy, knowledge, and

belief.
 10

Church Participation

As perceived by Ranson (2014), religious education among students

have served to awaken the capacity of the human spirit and have had a shaping

influence on the molding of spirituality. Meanwhile, Hardy (1965), argued that

spirituality is an anthropological constant and is intrinsic to being human.

Ranson (2002); Schneiders, (2003); Bowie (2003); Mason Singleton & Webber

(2007); King (2008) added that there are diverse definitions of spirituality that

interpret various ways in which people describe the spiritual dimension to life.

O’Murchu (1997), also supported the notion that spirituality was a natural

human disposition. He considered it to be something that people are born with,

that is dynamic and forever seeks articulation and expression in human living.

Furthermore, Schneiders (2003), grounded her position on the origins of

spirituality in this anthropological perspective, and proposed that the intrinsic

spiritual capacity enabled persons to reach beyond themselves in relationships

to others. This view implied that spirituality therefore has a positive survival

function for human beings in their natural environment.

On another manner, Bryk, Lee, and Holland (1993); Groome (2011),

added that catholic high schools are seen as the primary place where students

continue to learn and practice the faith they first learned from their parents.

Furthermore, Hay (1998), argued that spirituality by definition is

always concerned with self-transcendence, which “requires us to go beyond

egocentricity to take account of our relatedness to other people, the

 11

environment and, for religious believers, God.” However, Tacey (2004),

explained the relationship of religion and spirituality thus face each other as

paradoxical twins. Without religion, we have no organised way of

communicating or expressing truth, no sacred rituals to bind individuals into

living community. Yet without spirituality, we have no truth to celebrate and no

contact with the living and no ongoing nature of divine revelation. We need both

form and substance but each can attack and cancel out the other if the

conditions are not propitious.

Moreover, Hart (2006) said that “spirituality is often lived out in the

intersection of our lives” and is recognised as love or compassion that begins as

an experience of empathy and can lead to deep understanding. Crawford &

Rossiter (2006), argued one recent definition of spirituality claimed it is the way

in which individuals identify with and relate to the spiritual and moral dimensions

to life, which may include the transcendent. This view also suggests that there

is something beyond individuals, either an ultimate reality or mysterious

presence that animates all of life. However, spirituality was understood by

Macquarie (1972), as being concerned with becoming a person in the fullest

sense. It is a capacity for going out of oneself, beyond oneself in order to

transcend the self. O’Collins (2008), added that christian spirituality is anchored

in the life of Jesus and the primary source documents which give an account of

his life and teachings are the canonical Gospels and the letters of St. Paul.

These projected different portraits of Jesus which reflected the memory and

experiences of the Christian communities of the first century of Christendom.

 12

Furthermore, Mason, Singleton, A., & Webber, R. (2010); Ratican (2004); Smith

& Denton (2005); Smith and Snell (2009), pointed out that most students were

also clearly not involved to any significant degree in distinctively Catholic

religious practice and the majority of students were unaware of the benefits of

sacramental worship. The only students who expressed a growing personal

commitment to church attendance also reflected strong parental modelling with

the majority reporting either a strong or a weak familial pattern. Further, while

private prayer was sometimes practiced, it was not an important feature of their

spiritual lives.

Guinan (1998), stated that all forms of spirituality seem to have a

common thread, “the quest of the human spirit for something that is above us,

that is bigger, deeper, ‘more than’ the ordinary surface reality of life”. Both

Hebrew and Christian Scripture have a concrete meaning of “spirit.” Palmer

(1999) noted that the fear of spirituality has had negative effects on education:

“The price is a school system that alienates and dulls us, that graduates young

people who have had no mentoring in the questions that both enliven and vex

the human spirit”. While the spiritual questions may be associated with God,

they are also the everyday questions that drive the search for meaning in life,

for the gifts and needs, for trust, for understanding suffering and fear, and for

questions about death. Failure to ask these questions may lead to technical

triviality, cultural banality, and a desperate cry for meaning.

Trousdale (2005) suggests that spiritual development can occur

independently of religion but many find religion a path toward developing

 13

spirituality. Ryan (2006) pointed out that “whereas spirituality is a characteristic

of all humans, religious means that the person’s spirituality has been defined by

the language and practices of a particular religion.” Ratcliff & Nye (2006), made

a research into children’s spirituality is an emerging field that “has developed

from two prior streams of thought: the idea of an inherent spirituality, primarily

reflected in research with adults, and religious concept development research.”

Eaude (2009) also suggested that children’s spirituality although “inherently

mysterious. It is not just about extra-ordinary or exotic experience” and

“spirituality is often and most obviously for young children manifested, and

enhanced, within everyday experience.” Coles (1990) whose study conducted

with children themselves, led him to conclude that children are interested in the

meaning of life, understand life as a journey and are able to ask questions of

ultimate meaning. Adams (2009) explained the difference between the social

and spiritual aspects of children’s relationships: whilst the social aspect is

concerned with children’s social skills required to facilitate their friendships, the

spiritual aspect is at a deeper significant level wherein relationships are

“considered in the context of how the child finds their place in the world which in

turn shapes their identity.”

Myers (1997) places emphasis on children’s relationships with

significant adults in their lives claiming that children’s development as whole

human beings is dependent upon their relationships with people who love,

listen, respond to and guide them. Bradford (1999) proposes by nurturing and

satisfying children’s fundamental needs that is nurturing the “human spirituality”

 14

can lead to the development of a more “religious spirituality”. Baumgartner and

Buchanan’s (2010) understanding of, and approach to, spirituality includes three

elements: i. A sense of belonging - nurtured when children are given

opportunities to contribute and given important things to do or thanked when

they have shared, helped, cooperated so that they experience their value as

members of the classroom community. ii. Respect for self and others – nurtured

when children are encouraged to manage conflict peacefully; when their

opinions, likes and dislikes are asked for; setting open-ended art projects. iii. An

awareness and appreciation of the unknown nurtured when curiosity is

encouraged, organising mini spiritual retreats, noticing and appreciating the

beauty and mystery of nature, allowing children to question, not

overemphasising facts.

Abelson (1979) describes a cultural dimension of beliefs; that if all

members of some type of group have a specific belief, then they might not label

it as a belief but as knowledge. This cultural dimension corresponds to what

Op't Eynde, De Corte, Verschaffel (2002) other authors describe as a social

property of knowledge that is something to be seen as knowledge it has to

satisfy some type of truth condition – a condition that is negotiated and agreed

upon within a community of practice. Van Pelt, Allison and Allison, (2007) stated

that demographics characteristics of parents such as, the parents level of

education becomes the reasons they select the private school for their children.

They believed that sending their child on catholic school will help their child to

become a well-oriented individuals. All parents naturally aspire the best for their
 15

children in term of education. Apart from that, another study prepared by Beavis

(2004) reported the findings related to family background factors to be

associated with parents who chose private. Parents who had dissatisfaction

with the public schools usually sent their children to private school. Moreover,

there were few reasons which assisted the parents in the selection of private

school such as parents’ education, their profession, educational environment,

teacher student ratio, as well as smaller size of classes at private schools.

Dronkers and Peter (2003) stated the differences between private schools and

public school is mainly because of the school environment.

Moreover, the factors influencing parents’ decision in choosing private

schools for their children according to Catsambis (1998), the indicators of social

background include a socioeconomic status composition of parents’ education,

occupation, income, a selection of family possessions and race or ethnicity.

Moreover, it also indicates the importance of parents’ occupational status. As

stated by Rehman, Khan, Triq, and Tasleem, (2010), the higher status of

parents’ occupational prestige involves, hence, the higher choice of selecting

private school over public for their children. This circumstance leads into the

parents’ satisfaction with their preferences of choosing school for their children.

Furthermore, other major factors are also considered by the parents for

instance, the size of the family, parents’ education level, parents’ income level

and the qualification of staffs as well as the academic performances of the

school. In addition, ethnic and racial income disparities contribute to the large

differences in private school attendance rates (Fairlie, 2006).

 16

Beliefs are seen as being related to uncertainty in some way. From

some observer’s perspective a statement can be labeled as a belief for different

reasons, but all related to some degree of uncertainty, as described in the

following examples. The first example is that if a statement cannot be included

in, or directly related to, some (traditional) existing (scientific) content domains,

such as mathematics or pedagogy, it can be labeled as a belief. The Beliefs and

Values of Catholic High School Teachers (Benson & Guerra, 1985) that focused

on the demographics and attitudes of high school teachers in general.

Moreover, Tacey (2000), said that religion and spirituality thus face

each other as paradoxical twins. Without religion, we have no organised way of

communicating or expressing truth, no sacred rituals to bind individuals into

living community. Yet without spirituality, we have no truth to celebrate and no

contact with the living and no ongoing nature of divine revelation. We need both

form and substance but each can attack and cancel out the other if the

conditions are not propitious. However, Holdcroft (2006), posited that religiosity

is a particularly difficult term to define. Religiosity can be used to refer to piety,

faith, religious practice, devotion, and religiousness. Yet academic explorations

of religiosity would more precisely identify these concepts as dimensions of

religiosity rather than a definition. Defining religiosity is made more onerous by

the fact that multiple academic disciplines have focused on differing facets of

religiosity.