A passion for religious education

During the past 20 years, Katie Wilson has experienced ACU from multiple perspectives: as a student, graduate, primary school teacher and staff member. But one thing has remained constant – she has always felt at home.

“Growing up in a Catholic household and as an adult, everything comes back to human dignity, the common good, and respect for everyone,” said Katie. “ACU just feels like home. It encompasses everything I stand for.”

And the School of Education Queensland recruit is on a mission to ensure her teaching students feel the same way.

“I want my students to feel supported to be the best teachers they can be,” she said. “I am committed to making sure they know that we are all in this together and that we have each other’s backs.”

Lifelong learner

As a child, Katie was inspired by stories of Mary MacKillop travelling by horse to schools to teach children far and wide, well before she became Australia’s first saint in 2010.

“That really meant there was only one university for me,” she said.

But as time would show, it didn’t mean there was only one course.

In 2004, Katie enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts at ACU’s Brisbane Campus. It was both her first taste of university life and her first interaction with a stand-out drama teacher who would become another lifelong inspiration to her – now ACU State Head of the School of Education in Queensland, Dr Tracey Sanders.

Soon after graduating, Katie went on to complete a teaching degree, before then following it with a Graduate Certificate in Religious Education at ACU.

As if that was not enough, she graduated last month with a Master of Religious Education, celebrating the achievement with Dr Sanders and her proud family. 

But her learning journey is far from finished. Katie has applied to complete a PhD focusing on the purpose and impact of technology tools in initial teacher education, and she plans to have it finished before her fortieth birthday in December 2025.

“I like to keep learning and stay up to date with what is happening,” she said. “I am forever a lifelong learner – just as we want our students and teachers to be.”

Her academic achievements are made even more impressive by the fact that she didn’t learn to read until she was in Year 3.

 “I had a lot of learning challenges. I’m a testament to the idea that all the popcorn pops in its own time – we just need to meet students where they are,” she said. “This was a message I passed on to parents when I was teaching to help put them at ease. Students need a little bit of TLC and they’re set.”

The importance of knowing why

The other thing Katie believes students need to succeed are teachers who know their purpose.

Katie, who taught in Catholic primary schools across Brisbane for 13 years, said her strong faith supported her to cope with the demands of the profession and help her students to connect with their spirituality.

She incorporated this commitment to her faith into her classroom through song, dance, yoga, mindfulness, and other forms of creative expression.

“This is how we can get our students to connect to their spirituality. It’s good for children to see they can be connected to God in different ways,” she said. “Teaching religion is like teaching history. We are teaching the history of our faith and other world religions. It all comes back to how to be a good person and how to love one another.”

Ensuring preservice teachers are grounded in the reasons behind wanting to teach is a key aim for the passionate full-time lecturer, who previously worked at ACU as a sessional academic and Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA) marker.

“I’ve seen too many teachers burn out or lose their purpose. They need to know why they want to teach and be set on the why.

“We need to know what gets us out of bed on a hard day. We need faith that what we are doing is for the benefit of someone else and for the common good.

“If you’re able to look at your students and know they were all made in the image and likeness of God, and they deserve your respect, it changes the way you approach things. It helps us to connect.”

Katie was excited about using her experience and knowledge to continue to teach and support the next generations of ACU teachers.

“I’m so confident that what I’m doing is for all the right reasons. I’m making a positive impact. I’m in my own skin and it’s a wonderful feeling,” she said.

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