Edmund Rice Education Australia strives to offer a liberating education, based on a Gospel spirituality, within an inclusive community, committed to justice and solidarity. These touchstones provide the foundation on which Edmund Rice schools can educate for justice and peace, and offer hope to a world in which the dignity of humanity and the integrity of creation is often diminished. An holistic approach to justice and peace education includes an integration of head, heart, hands and feet.
Head – Reading the Signs of the Times
Justice and peace education helps young people to:
> develop the skills of critical thinking and analysis, dialogue and community building
> have the expertise and academic understanding of the issues facing our world
> understand the structural causes of injustice
> have a language and literacy of justice and peace
Heart – Nurturing Gospel Compassion
Justice and peace education helps young people to:
> draw on scripture, Catholic Social Teaching and the wisdom of all faith traditions in understanding the world
> nurture a deep sense of the spiritual in their lives and develop a personal relationship with Jesus
> build respectful relationships of solidarity with those who are made poor by society
> cultivate an awareness of their own giftedness
> appreciate and value the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture
> engage in prayer and reflection
Hands – Undertaking Prophetic Action
Justice and peace education helps young people to:
> engage in service and solidarity with those on the margins, both locally and globally
> undertake immersions and partnership programs that connect them with other cultures
> develop the skills and attributes of connecting and collaborating with others in community
> support faith-based advocacy for just causes
> see themselves as being agents of change for a better world
Feet – Moving to Solidarity
Justice and peace education helps young people to:
> move to new places in their thinking and understanding
> spend time in the margins of society, learning with, from and about others
> explore career options and life-choices that benefit all of the global community
> move to a place of hope that a better world is possible