Comparing religious education in Canadian and Australian Catholic high schools: identifying some key structural issues

Religious education (RE) in Catholic high schools in Australia and Canada is compared by examining some of the underlying structural factors that shape the delivery of RE. It is argued that in Canadian Catholic schools RE is diminished by three factors that distinguish it from the Australian experience. These are: the level and history of government funding which in turn leads to a relative lack of autonomy of Catholic schools to control their own RE curriculum; external political and social influences on the RE curriculum which is apparent in the popular election of Catholic school trustees; and most decisively, the absence of strong, ongoing bureaucratic support of RE.