engleski

Religious Education in Croatia: A case to be opened

The aim of the present research is to investigate and explore the nature and reasons behind the role and position of Catholic RE in Croatian elementary education. In order to achieve this aim, the present study is conceptualised as a case study, with Catholic Religious Education defined as the case. The foundational framework of the present study is the discrepancy between teacher’ s negative attitudes, established through the statistical analysis of a 2003 study on 15 per cent of Croatia’ s teaching body, and an official supportive policy towards Catholic Religious Education in Croatian schools, established through a documentary analysis of the legislature. Added to this framework is a personal research journey, in which I encountered problems in gaining access to participants, which further served to inform and influence the present project. The present research effort draws upon multiple sources of evidence, but most importantly on interviews conducted with important stakeholders from political, academic and media circles in Croatia. Furthermore, the present study is located within a conceptual framework envisaged as an equilateral triangle between the Ministry of Education, the Catholic Church and Religious Education teachers, with the subject of Catholic Religious Education at its centre. Analysis of the data suggests that Catholic RE enjoys a special position in the network of subjects in Croatian elementary education. Furthermore, interview results suggest that there exists heterogenous perspectives on the function of the subject itself. Finally, through a complex analysis of the multiple data sources, a gradual transformation of the initial conceptual framework will be demonstrated. All of the above served to fulfil the ultimate purpose of the present study, which is to establish a new framework for dialogue that will move problems connected with RE from the spheres of silence to the forums of open and scholarly educational discussion.

Religious education; compulsory education; Croatia

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