EREA Liberating Education Research Project Report

The culminating aspiration of the EREA Strategic Directions 2020-24:

In building a better world for all, EREA will raise its collective voice in relation to the nature of learning, the student at the centre of liberating teaching and learning practice, ensuring that wellbeing, safety and  student voice underpin our education vision.

It was determined that the first step in pursuing this aspiration would be an investigation into the nature of holistic learning, teacher pedagogy and catering for individual difference in fifty-four diverse EREA schools across Australia. In the first research of its kind in the story of Christian Brothers/EREA schools, Dr Paul Shannon (Director of Learning, EREA) has provided a platform for all in our network of schools to engage in meaningful discussion and debate about which elements might constitute a liberating education in the Edmund Rice tradition.

This research values the voices of our students, our Principals, our Deputy Principals, our Identity Leaders and our Leaders of Learning. In the context of current research, these voices are at the centre of each finding and recommendation. The proposed frameworks and models which flow from the recommendations will challenge each of us.

Can we make the claim that there are defining characteristics of an Edmund Rice Education in Australia? We are called to engage with this question and further explore the alignment between the Liberating Education Touchstone and our active, explicit practice.

Further resources will be developed to support this important initiative.

For further information contact: Elizabeth Watson (elizabeth.watson@erea.edu.au) – EREA Acting Director of Learning