The Religious Education program in schools aims to help students learn the teachings of the Gospel as proclaimed by the Catholic Church.
Students develop a sense of the nature of Christianity and how Christians live their lives as part of their learning. Religious Education is taught to all students.
Religious Education Assessment
The Religious Education Assessment (REA), previously known as the Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment (BRLA), is a system-wide, standardised assessment for students enrolled in Catholic schools across Western Australia. The assessment is developed by the Religious Education Directorate at CEWA. Students in Years 3, 5 and 9 participate in the online assessment which is administered in early Term 3. Support and exemptions do apply.
The purpose of the REA is to measure student learning of the content in the Religious Education curriculum. The faith of students is not assessed. The REA provides a ‘point in time’ snapshot of student achievement in Religious Education across the three year levels. Students’ knowledge and understanding of the content in the Religious Education curriculum is assessed using a combination of multiple-choice and short and extended test items.
The test items are developed specific to each year level and are categories according to four content areas; Jesus, Bible, Sacraments and Prayer and Church. The intended use of the REA is to support and complement school-based assessment programs in Religious Education. Various reports are available to participating schools, including school and class summary reports and individual student reports.