Studying Religious Education
Some of our schools offer NCEA RE for years 11-13, while others prefer to keep RE a non-assessed subject. Resources for both NCEA and other units will be gradually added to this page.
Studying Religious Education in senior years offers students the opportunity to explore in depth some of the most important issues in our world today. What motivates people of different religious beliefs to live and act the way they do? What does Christianity have to say about key social and ethical questions?
The Catholic Education network has a wide range of NCEA units which they are often happy for us to use. However, we would like to build up a bank of units ourselves in response to questions and issues raised by our students or pertinent to our school network. On this page you will find links to the first two we have launched for NCEA level 2: A Christian response to human trafficking, and the Christian foundations of Restorative Justice. The first was designed in partnership with Tear Fund; the second in partnership with Victoria University of Wellington.
There are also links to two valuable resources on ethics. The Interchurch Bioethics Council provides papers, articles and study guides on a range of key ethical questions, and EnQuiring Minds can bring workshops to your schools on similar issues.
Ethics workshops for students
enQuiring minds workshops are interactive seminars which provide a space and opportunity for young people to meet, explore different views on a particular issue, and work together to create an inclusive community, focused on the well-being of all. Workshops are for Year 7 to Year 13 students – in appropriate groupings. We utilise a variety of genres, such as drama, art, music, film, literature and dialogue, in order to engage students in meaningful critique of contemporary issues.
Human Trafficking
This resource has been designed to allow students to work towards the above Level 1 Religious Studies Achievement Standard. The demands of this standard necessitate a limited approach to the teaching of Christian Ethics. This resource is not intended to be a comprehensive summary of Christian Ethics but rather to direct students as efficiently as possible to an understanding of key ethical Christian principles that can be applied to the issue of Human Trafficking.
Interchurch Bioethics Council
The Interchurch Bioethics Council offers a range of papers, resources and study guides on key ethical debates: climate change, euthanasia, GM organisms, transgenics and biotechnology to encourage church members and the community to think about and discuss the ethical, theological, spiritual and cultural issues in the use of biotechnology.
Introducing Ethics
The Ethics units of NCEA are often the most popular choices for students. Here is a complete set of powerpoint slides which you can use to lead them through a thorough introduction to ethics in general, and Christian ethics in particular. (With thanks to Dale from when he was chaplain at Rathkeale).
Philosophy of Religion
This unit contains pretty well everything you could want to run a series on the Philosophy of Religion with senior students. There is far more here than you would be able to include, but that means there are riches you can draw on, selecting the particular topics within this broad area which you are interested in.
Restorative Justice
Over weeks 3-7, students will work individually through an online course produced by VUW. There are recorded interviews to watch and weekly readings to complete. At the end of each week there is a quiz for self-assessment (not included in the final assessment).