Responding to Laudato Si: Conceptualizing a Professional Development Model With High School and University Faculty

• In Event: 68.038 - Curriculum Innovation, Religious Programs, and Faculty Formation in Catholic Schools

Abstract

In the 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si, Pope Francis called “for a new dialogue” on the grave problem of climate change, the degradation of the natural environment, and the global effects of the ruination of common resources on the poor. A pilot conference called Reflective Innovation for Sustainable Knowledge (RISK) was designed to instantiate the urgent call of Pope Francis to begin with dialogue and to explore the possibilities of a professional development experience that could prepare educators to meet the interdisciplinary, complex, and technologically interwoven environmental challenges ahead. This paper describes the conceptualization of the RISK professional development model and argues that it warrants empirical study and scaling to promote scholarly discourse and responsive, justice-oriented teacher practice.

Authors

• Elizabeth J. Berkes, De La Salle High School

• Elizabeth Guneratne, Santa Clara University