Correlation between education for democratic or active citizenship and catholic religious education

S ciljem razvoja demokratske kulture mladih Vijeće Europe pokreće 1997. Projekt o odgoju i obrazovanju za demokratsko građanstvo, a obrazovanje za aktivno građanstvo u istom značenju pokreće Europska unija 2000. Hrvatska se pridružuje tim projektima počevši od 1999. s Nacionalnim program odgoja i obrazovanja za ljudska prava pa do 2014. s Nacrtom nastavnog plana i programa građanskog odgoja i obrazovanja i uvođenjem građanskog odgoja i obrazovanja kao međupredmetne teme te kao izbornog predmeta u osmim razredima, kroz eksperimentalnu provedbu. U širi kontekst građanskog obrazovanja može se smjestiti i religijsko obrazovanje, kako nekonfesionalno koje polazi od vjerskih sloboda, tako i konfesionalno ukoliko se otvara drugim religijama i svjetonazorima. Kako je u Hrvatskoj još 1991. uveden školski vjeronauk kao izborni predmet to nas je potaknulo da istražimo stavove maturanata općih gimnazija u Zagrebu, koji pohađaju katolički vjeronauk, o tome koliko nastava vjeronauka svojim sadržajima, metodama, ozračjem i osobnošću vjeroučitelja pridonosi promicanju demokratskog i aktivnog građanstva. Ujedno smo ispitivali i religioznost ispitanika te njezinu povezanost sa stavovima prema pripadnicima drugih vjera i svjetonazora. Konzultirali smo i brojna sociološka, socioreligijska i pedagogijska, domaća i strana istraživanja, koja potvrđuju da su i u Hrvatskoj prisutni europski trendovi sekularizacije, necrkvene religioznosti, individualizacije, relativizacije vrijednosti te visoko rangiranje demokratskih načela, a vjeronauk ističu kao predmet s najviše demokratskih obilježja nastave. Upitnik konstruiran za istraživanje, u prvom dijelu je ispitivao religioznost (dimenzije po Glocku i Starku i Š.Š.Ćoriću), dok je drugi dio izvorno sastavljen, ispitivao stavove o promicanju demokratskih vrijednosti. U obradi podataka korišteni su postupci deskriptivne statistike (frekvencije, postotci i korelacije) postupci inferencijalne statistike (hi-kvadrat i t-test) te multivarijatni postupak faktorske analize. Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na znatan potencijal vjeronaučne nastave u promicanju demokratskih vrijednosti i doprinosu učenju za demokratsko i aktivno građanstvo, a time i izgradnji građanske kompetencije. Ispitanici su u velikoj mjeri integrirali u vlastiti život one religiozne vrijednosti usmjerene na socijalni aspekt života. Iskazali su također i visoki stupanj otvorenosti prema prihvaćanju različitih vjera i svjetonazora, no još se može poraditi na konkretnijoj zajedničkoj ekumenskoj i međureligijskoj suradnji. U nastavi vjeronauka također još ima prostora za veće povezivanje s demokratskim vrijednostima osobito na području primjene metodičke raznolikosti, povezivanja predmetnih sadržaja s vrijednostima demokratskog društva, osvješćivanju bliskosti kršćanskih i demokratskih vrijednosti, zatim u prihvaćanja pojedinih osjetljivih skupina u društvu, kritičkom razmišljanju te u osvješćivanju potrebe aktivnog zauzimanja svakog kršćanina za dobrobit svih u vlastitoj društveno-političkoj zajednici.With the aim of developing a democratic culture of youth, in the year 1997 The Council of Europe launched the project on Education for Democratic Citizenship. With the similiar goals in mind, in the year 2000, the Education for Active Citizenship was initiated by the European Union. Croatia joined these projects in 1999, with the National Programme of Education for Human Rights. By the year of 2014 it joined with the draft of Curriculum Citizenship Education, as well as the introduction of Citizenship Education as a cross-curricular theme as well as a subject in the eighth grade, as the experimental implementation. In the broader context the Citizenship education may include the Religious Education, both non-confessional, which is based on religious freedom, and confessional if it is open to the other religions and world views. In 1991 Croatia introduced Religious Education in the schools as an optional subject that inspired us to investigate the attitudes of graduates of general high school in Zagreb, attending Catholic Religious Education. Methods, atmosphere and personality of teachers of religion were investigated, and how they all contribute to the promotion of a democratic and active citizenship. We have also examined the religiosity of the respondents and its influence on their views toward different religions and worldviews. We consulted numerous sociological, pedagogical and socio-religious, Croatian and foreign research, which confirmed that european trends of secularization, secular religiosity, individualization, relativization of values and the high ranking of democratic principles are present in Croatia. It was also established that Catholic Religious Education in Croatia has promising potential in promoting the democratic values and active citizenship. The first part of the questionairre designed to conduct the research, examined religiosity (dimensions according Glock and Stark), the second part originally composed, examined the views on the promotion of democracy. Data processing procedures were used in terms of descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages and correlations) procedures, inferential statistics (Chi-square and T-test) and multivariate factor analysis. The research results indicate a significant potential of Religious Education in the promotion of democratic values and the contribution of learning for democratic and active citizenship, and thus the improvement of civic competence. Respondents largely integrated those religious values in their daily life, focused especially on the social aspect of life. They also expressed a high degree of openness to the acceptance of different faiths and world views, but can still improve on more concrete joint ecumenical and interreligious cooperation. There is still room in the religious teaching practises for greater connectivity with democratic values, particularly in the area of application and methodological diversity, connecting the subject content with the values of a democratic society, improving the understanding of the closeness of the Christian and democratic values. There is also room for improvement in terms of acceptance of certain vulnerable groups in society as well as raising awareness of the active participation of every Christian for the benefit of all in their own socio-political community