{"title":"(Re)vision of Religious Education of Children and Youth in Secularized Polish Society","authors":"Anna Zellma","doi":"10.31743/vv.16713","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Rapidly progressing multifaceted secularization processes in Polish society strongly influence the shape of religious education of children and adolescents in the school environment. They determine a number of dimensions of the social and mental activity of young people. Their effects are visible, especially in the attitudes of children and youth to God, the Church, religious lessons, moral norms, and religious practices. This situation raises new challenges for the religious education of the young. Reading this as a “sign of the times,” this article revises religious education in Polish schools. The need to reorganize the model of religious education lessons and to introduce changes in the curricular assumptions of religious education teaching, in student textbooks and methodological guides is pointed out. Pre-evangelization and educational activities, resignation from the mere transfer of religious knowledge, and the development of preconceived skills and attitudes are considered important. The author emphasizes the value of providing opportunities for the construction of knowledge and for the student’s own engagement during religious education lessons. In this context, much attention is paid to the role of the religious education teacher, who is to be first and foremost a companion on a journey, an educator and a witness of faith, open to new challenges, able to communicate effectively with students, creative, and tolerant. The right personality traits of the religious education teacher and their multiple competencies (including communicative and interpersonal ones) play a key role in religious education. They guarantee the effectiveness of communication within a group of religious lesson participants. They foster authentic interpersonal relationships and community-building, thus meeting the natural needs of young people. In practice, they require a paradigm shift in the formation of religious education teachers.","PeriodicalId":37783,"journal":{"name":"Verbum Vitae","volume":"10 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Verbum Vitae","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.31743/vv.16713","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Rapidly progressing multifaceted secularization processes in Polish society strongly influence the shape of religious education of children and adolescents in the school environment. They determine a number of dimensions of the social and mental activity of young people. Their effects are visible, especially in the attitudes of children and youth to God, the Church, religious lessons, moral norms, and religious practices. This situation raises new challenges for the religious education of the young. Reading this as a “sign of the times,” this article revises religious education in Polish schools. The need to reorganize the model of religious education lessons and to introduce changes in the curricular assumptions of religious education teaching, in student textbooks and methodological guides is pointed out. Pre-evangelization and educational activities, resignation from the mere transfer of religious knowledge, and the development of preconceived skills and attitudes are considered important. The author emphasizes the value of providing opportunities for the construction of knowledge and for the student’s own engagement during religious education lessons. In this context, much attention is paid to the role of the religious education teacher, who is to be first and foremost a companion on a journey, an educator and a witness of faith, open to new challenges, able to communicate effectively with students, creative, and tolerant. The right personality traits of the religious education teacher and their multiple competencies (including communicative and interpersonal ones) play a key role in religious education. They guarantee the effectiveness of communication within a group of religious lesson participants. They foster authentic interpersonal relationships and community-building, thus meeting the natural needs of young people. In practice, they require a paradigm shift in the formation of religious education teachers.
期刊介绍:
Published since 2002, "Verbum Vitae" is issued biannually by the Institute of Biblical Studies of the Faculty of Theology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. Each issue of the journal includes scholarly articles dedicated to a specific biblical theme and presented in three sections: (I) Old Testament, (II) New Testament, and (III) Patristics and the Life of the Church. The final "Life of the Church" perspective tries to broaden out each issue''s given topic into its multiple connections and implications, mostly dogmatic, moral, pastoral, liturgical, or sociological. The forth section of the journal always consists of reviews of recently published monographs and collections on biblical themes. Because of the journal''s interdisciplinary character, it seeks to include among the contributors not only biblical scholars but also theologians of various specializations.