Since completing the Certificate in Catechetical Studies in 2011, I have worked in three Catholic girls' colleges in Lower Hutt and Wellington, meeting fantastic people and making connections in the area in which I saw myself working.
One of the strengths of the course is its requirement that you must complete a teaching placement at a Catholic school which gives you a great opportunity to experience teaching Religious Studies and of course, to teach in a Catholic environment where the values and teachings of the Church are warmly felt.
I completed my placement at St Catherine’s College. While on placement, and throughout the year, I attended the night classes offered by the Catechetical Studies course and found them to be quite manageable even with the hectic schedule of the Graduate Diploma of Teaching and juggling part time work. They were almost relaxing in a way as it was an opportunity to catch up with friends who were also on placement and a chance to be taught rather than to teach.
I often found that the information I was taking on board during these classes were directly relatable to the lessons I was teaching on my placement, allowing me to be a lot more confident in my Religious Studies planning. Upon finishing the course in 2012, I received a part-time job teaching four Religious Studies classes at Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt which was a nice way to ease myself into teaching.
I am now in a permanent position at St Mary’s College Wellington and could not be happier with where the Certificate in Catechetical Studies has taken me. I teach Religious Studies to Years 9, 10 and 11 at St Mary’s and while teaching the junior students is very rewarding as they are a lovely bunch of girls, I have enjoyed the challenge of preparing Year 11 Religious Studies students for their NCEA Internal assessments this year.
Throughout the course of this year I have completed the four day professional development programme ‘Understanding Sexuality’ for teachers in Catholic schools. Day three and four of this programme fell just before I was set to begin a Personal Development unit with each of my Year 9, 10 and 11 Religious Studies classes at St Mary’s and it was a great help in preparing me to undertake these units with confidence while the information was still fresh in my head.