The Role of Creative Competencies and Social Competence in Teaching Catechism

Kompetencija se u kontekstu uloge nastavnika određuje kao profesionalna mjerodavnost visoke stručne razine; kvalitetna pedagoška izobraženost i osposobljenost koje su stečene pedagoškom izobrazbom i stalnim pedagoškim usavršavanjem. Posebno značenje pri izgradnji podržavajućeg odnosa s učenicima i profiliranju uspješnog nastavnika imaju kompetencija kreativnosti i socijalna kompetencija, kao izvori motivacije, pretpostavke razvoja kreativnosti učenika i konstruktivne komunikacije između nastavnika i učenika. Posebno se to odnosi na nastavu vjeronauka, predmeta koji promiče cjelovit odgoj i obrazovanje učenika te ističe osobne, društvene, vjerničke i općeljudske vrednote. Stoga je cilj ovoga rada bio utvrditi razinu samoprocjene socijalne kompetencije i kompetencije kreativnosti srednjoškolskih vjeroučitelja u Republici Hrvatskoj. U istraživanju su 304 vjeroučitelja procijenila svoje kompetencije ispunjavanjem upitnika Pedagoško–kompetencijski profil vjeroučitelja. Utvrđena je značajna razlika u procjeni važnosti socijalne kompetencije između muškaraca i žena, pri čemu žene navedenu kompetenciju procjenjuju važnijom u odnosu na muškarce. Nije pronađena razlika u procjeni važnosti kompetencije kreativnosti s obzirom na spol, kao ni razlika u procjenama kompetencije kreativnosti i socijalne kompetencije s obzirom na vrstu škole, trajanje staža i status sudionika. Dobiveni su rezultati promatrani u svjetlu suvremenih istraživanja pedagoških kompetencija, čimbenika koji ih određuju i implikacija koje ostvaruju.In the context of teaching, competence is defined as a high level of professional expertise gained through quality schooling in the field of pedagogy and training attained at Teachers’ College and through continuing specialization courses. Creative competencies and social competence are of special significance in building supportive relationships with students and in the shaping of an effective teacher. They are wellsprings of motivation and a prerequisite for developing creativity in students and for constructive teacher–student communication. This relates especially to Catechism class, a subject which promotes the students’ integral development and education and also emphasizes personal, social, religious and universal human values. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to establish the level of self–assessment in the categories of social competence and creative competencies shown by secondary school Catechism teachers in the Republic of Croatia. Reasearch has demonstrated that 304 Catechism teachers assessed their aptitude by filling in a questionnaire titled Pedagogical– Competencies Profile of the Catechist. A significant difference between men and women was observed in their assessment of the importance of social competence, whereby women considered the latter to be of greater import than did men. No difference between the genders was found in their evaluation of the importance of creative competencies. The same was noted in regard to creative competencies and social competence concerning the type of school, duration of internship and participants’ status. The results obtained were examined in light of contemporary research on teacher competencies, the factors which determine them and their implications