Religious Education in Transition: From Content-Centred to Student-Centred

Abstract

Catholic Religious Education as a subject in school curricula is an area in which the need for change is constantly felt. This change is driven by the paradigm shift in anthropology brought about by Vatican Council II, which sought to put the human being at the centre. Notwithstanding this shift proposed more than 50 years ago, we are still struggling to handle and implement this change. In practice, this calls for a re-evaluation of the traditional doctrinal methods, which have been associated with teaching Religious Education in the past and seeking to adopt new methods which are more anthropological and depart from where the human being actually stands and seek to answer the existential questions which contemporary human beings pose. The point of departure for such a vision is the etymological meaning of the term ‘education’ from the Latin root educere. In practical terms, such a shift from a content-centred to a more student-centred approach entails adopting a constructivist approach and putting into practice the principles of what is referred to as ‘Adaptive Religious Education’, which seeks to educate children in all the six dimensions of the human being simultaneously in a holistic way.