Utilizing Comparative Education as a Platform for Deepening Student Engagement with Catholic Social Teaching: An Exploratory Case Study in Study-Abroad

Central to the mission of Catholic higher education are the themes of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). This contribution to the Education in Practice section recounts a 15-week undergraduate course that deepened student engagement in CST themes through comparative education studies and a study abroad experience to Japan. A detailed description of the course main segments draws on artifacts of student coursework and post-interviews. The contribution of comparative education is that students are provided a platform upon which they can explore deeper, underlying principles to individual CST themes. This contribution further provides practitioners step-by-step guidance in how to develop similar learning experiences for students in their university context. This report of Catholic Education at the classroom-level fits into the existing knowledge of how universities in the United States are engaging undergraduates in CST themes, as an expression of Catholic mission