Strengthening the Resilience of Pupils through Catholic Religious Education in Poland: From Theory to Practice

Abstract

Many young people find themselves unable to cope with the challenges of today’s world and, as a result, lose their self-confidence and joy in life, suffer from depression, and even attempt suicide. The first community that should offer help in a crisis is, without doubt, the family, but it often needs support. Such support can and should be provided by the school since it has the necessary tools and children and adolescents spend a lot of time there. Undoubtedly, religious education at school should also involve preventive and even therapeutic measures in the face of the above challenges. The research problem of this article is as follows: Does Catholic religious education in Poland seek to strengthen pupils’ resilience, and if so, in what way? This study analysed the curricular assumptions and practical activities implemented within the framework of or inspired by religious education. Its findings show that resilience has already become an important issue for religious education even though, in the face of increasing challenges, it requires improving already-established activities and including new areas of improvement.

Keywords

• resilience
• religious education
• religious education in Poland
• educating adolescents
• developmental psychology