Planning

When designing a learning and teaching sequence for Unit 3 it is important to focus on the overall intention of the unit with reference to the areas of study. Each of the three areas of study are intended to enable students to investigate how religions assist people to understand existence. The study design lists a series of big questions of life which forms the centerpiece of the unit. In all three areas of study, it is important that teachers and students select religious beliefs from their selected religious tradition or domination that are precise. Such examples would include the belief that God is the lawgiver in the Judaism, the belief in One Triune and Incarnate God in the Christianity, the belief in the oneness of God in the Islam, the belief that Brahma is the creator God in Hinduism, the belief in Samsara the endless cycle of rebirth in Buddhism, and the belief of Ik Onkar the one creator God in Sikhism.

Area of Study 1: Responding to the search for meaning

The general concepts underpinning the first area of study need to be carefully considered as they are the basis of study of the beliefs of one or more specific religious traditions or denominations. Teachers need to ensure that students can talk broadly about the role of all religions without referring to any one particular religion. Teachers must also make sure that they address religious beliefs themselves, their definitions, and their functions, with reference to the big questions of life. When designing a learning sequence for the seven categories of belief listed in the study design it is important to precisely name the belief and to select examples from the religious tradition or denomination that can be connected. It is also important to select these beliefs appropriately as two of them will become the basis of the tradition-specific study in Area of Study 2.

Area of Study 2: Expressing meaning

In the same way that beliefs have a central role in responding to the search for meaning, the remaining eight other aspects of religion also play an important role in responding to the search for meaning. The investigation of how these eight other aspects of religion work with the beliefs of the religion is the focus of this area of study. By selecting two beliefs studied in Area of Study 1, which are expressed in a variety of ways, teachers can prepare students to discuss the ways in which the expressions of these beliefs connect and create meaning. It is important, once again, to ensure that the examples given for the expression of beliefs are specific. Teachers should avoid using broad examples such as ‘the whole religion’ as a social structure and instead name individuals or leaders in the tradition.

Area of Study 3: Significant life experiences, religious beliefs and faith

Teachers should carefully select the individual studied for significant life experience to ensure that the person’s life, experience, and beliefs both before and after the experience are sufficiently documented. The study design requires the person and the information used to study them to be publicly available. To demonstrate the complex interaction between religious beliefs and significant life experiences it would be beneficial to select a person for study for whom there are multiple sources of information and commentary on their life and experience. Selecting an individual for study who has very narrow experience may not allow students to explore the complex interaction of their faith in and adherence to beliefs. Importantly, the person selected for study cannot have a conversion experience. For example, St Paul’s conversion from Judaism to Christianity on the road to Damascus is not acceptable, nor is the conversion of Malcom X from Christianity to Islam while he was in prison. Other events of their life would be appropriate, either before or after their conversion, but not the conversion itself.

When developing a teaching sequence, it is important to ensure that the challenges selected in Unit 4 are representative of different periods of the religious tradition or denomination. The three challenges selected in Area of Study 1 and one challenge selected in Area of Study 2 should allow for students to show a diverse range of stances and responses adopted by the religious tradition or denomination. In addition, these challenges should also allow for students to show how the challenges have caused development or change in the religious tradition or denomination itself. Choosing challenges that are too similar, or from too narrow a time period does not allow students to demonstrate their understanding of the way in which religion and society interact through challenges.

Area of Study 1: Challenge and response

Three challenges need to be studied from the categories of theology, ethics and continued existence, and it would be appropriate to have one challenge focused on each of these three categories. However, it is also important to consider how these challenges can blend across more than one category of challenge. For example, the choice of a primarily theological challenge should also be considered as a challenge to continued existence, since if the beliefs of the religious tradition or denomination are significantly altered, the religious tradition or denomination itself could cease to exist in its current form. For each of the three challenges selected it is important to ensure that the types of stances and responses adopted by the religious tradition or denomination are varied to allow for the comparison of these stances and responses.

Area of Study 2: Interaction of religion and society

When selecting the challenge to study in Area of Study 2, students should choose one that is sufficiently significant to allow them to investigate the ongoing interaction between religion and society. If they choose one that is still in progress or has only recently occurred, they may not be able to consider how the stances and responses of the religious tradition or denomination interact with the challenge. It is important that the challenge has been analysed by commentators both inside and outside of the religious tradition or denomination, so that the ongoing interaction of religion and society can be explored. In addition, the challenge selected should have a variety of stances and responses that have been adopted over time so that a considered study of the way in which these stances and responses have changed over time can been conducted, as well as an exploration of the reasons for these changes.

Semester 1 – Term 1: Unit 3

Semester 1 – Term 2: Unit 3

Semester 2 – Term 3: Unit 4

Semester 2 – Term 4: Unit 4

Definitions of the aspects of religion

Beliefs – articles of faith about or related to the Ultimate Reality that are thought by adherents to be true. Beliefs are said to have been revealed by the Ultimate Reality in some way.

Sacred stories – stories, such as the lives of past heroes, parables and folk tales that convey a moral or religious truth.

Spaces, places, times and artefacts – the organisation and physical presence of a religious tradition, usually comprising places of worship, calendars of important events and objects of holy significance from the past.

Texts – compilations of oral and written literature, written with divine authority in which the essential beliefs and history of the religious tradition are recorded.

Rituals – religious ceremonies that consist of a series of actions and / or words (such as prayers, dances, journeys) that are performed according to a set order.

Symbols – important images or objects that publicly display or help to explain a religious truth. They convey meaning beyond the obvious.

Social structures – the human organisation of a religious tradition to which society should conform, comprising of official and unofficial authority structures, social justice and outreach programs.

Ethics – ideals from which comes all morality, about what adherents ‘ought’ to do and is compiled into specific advice or lists of qualities, values or laws.

Spiritual experiences – a personal encounter with the divine or sacred, most often through prayer, meditation or reflection.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in the VCE
On-demand video recordings, presented with the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc. (VAEAI) and the Department of Education (DE) Koorie Outcomes Division, for VCE teachers and leaders as part of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives in the VCE webinar program held in 2023.

The VCE Religion and Society study provides students with the opportunity to engage in a range of learning activities. In addition to demonstrating their understanding and mastery of the content and skills specific to the study, students may also develop employability skills through their learning activities.

The nationally agreed employability skills* are: Communication; Planning and organising; Teamwork; Problem solving; Self-management; Initiative and enterprise; Technology; and Learning.

*The employability skills are derived from the Employability Skills Framework (Employability Skills for the Future, 2002), developed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of Australia, and published by the (former) Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.