The problems of the values preferred by teachers merits our attention, especially under the conditions of political, economic, social and cultural transformations in which Polish society has lived recently. From the social point of view, it is interesting to point the issue of the hierarchy of values approved by teachers. This issue has been shown on the basis of empirical research among the teachers in Sandomierz. All the analyses here tended to define the direction of the gradation of values which the teachers of the Sandomierz schools regarded as important. The analyses sought to determine the variables which condition the approved hierarchy of values. Detailed analyses pinpoint such variables as sex, age, and period of teachers' work, and they differentiate the approved hierarchy of values. The findings show that there is an interrelation between the independent variables under consideration and reveal their role in how the teachers under study rank particular values. A general characterization of the population under study has proved that the percentage of the believing teachers is high and reaches almost 85 per cent; it is, however, lower than the percentage from the research of religiosity in Poland (ca. 90 per cent). It is worth noting that almost 12 per cent of the teachers under study are religiously indecisive, but they are attached to Christian tradition. The ratio of teachers' attitudes towards religious practices points to a relatively high selectivity in their approach to religiosity. Only 42 per cent of respondents do practice systematically (in Polish research − 52.4 per cent, in the Włocław diocese 45 per cent), almost 40 per cent are not systematic, 15 per cent rarely practice, and 3.4 per cent do not practice at all. Out of religious truths the existence of God is most generally accepted (91 per cent), and the least the infallibility of the pope (31 per cent), the existence of hell (ca. 54 per cent). As far as the norms of the Decalogue are concerned, the population under study accepts most the norm you shall not kill, and honour your father; the respondents ranked as the third the commandment concerning the cult of God (75.6 per cent). Among the values in question family values were ranked as the last ones (family happiness and work and sacrifice for one's own children); the second place took values related to religious life (everlasting salvation; preservation of the faith in God). It follows from the research that the socio-political background, with the stress laid on the principle of democracy and freedom, has a clear impact on the fact how teachers appreciate of such values as freedom, dignity, one's own beliefs. At the same time, the same context seems to magnify the tendencies to the individualization of the values of religion. In their approved hierarchy of values the teachers rank very highly family, religion and the values of human life. These are the values for which they would lay down their life. Now in Poland a thesis about the devaluation of the value of human life is being put forward, stressing the widespread phenomenon of abortion, propagation of euthanasia, or else various forms of violence and crime shown in the media. It seems that the democratic context with its emphasis on freedom, pluralism and democracy, is conducive to the formation among teachers attitudes towards their own life and the life of the others. One can notice among the respondents a clear tendency to underestimate and ignore such values as solidarity and social equality. This fact may signal disappointment to this social category, or at least a considerable weakening of a hope that these values can be fully realized. Such hopes were awakened in the beginning of the transformations. After ten years of transformation, the respondents who experience various difficulties and are burdened with big costs of those transformations are able to asses the gap between the expectations and reality.
It is a well-known fact that may contemporary pedagogic conceptions ignore the aspect of spiritual life in the formation of man. The underlying idea for such an approach is based on the individualistic and materialistic conception of man, the one that negates or underestimates the spiritual element of the human person. In social life one can notice an axiological chaos, relativism in moral evaluations and attitudes. The Catholic Church in Poland has always been strongly linked with society and has been sensitive to moral and social matters. Under the complex circumstances of socio-cultural transformations, this was manifested by establishing various institutions designed to help people. In this action the Church followed Christian inspiration. The following examples are concrete expressions of the Church's social commitment: the John Paul II Foundation for the Aid to Children and the Youth „Growth” in Jarosław and the Catholic Educational Centre „Oratorium” in Stalowa Wola. Detailed analyses of the curricula and the actual activity of those institutions prove that they provided integral formation. Special care was paid to the development of all basic spheres of human personality, that is, the physical, intellectual, cultural, and religious spheres. Consequently, their educational conceptions accept the rich contribution of the Catholic pedagogic thought. The curricula that were in use takie into consideration the contemporary needs of their students and are based on the approved theories of contemporary pedagogy and psychology. In educational practice an important role is attributed to education and efforts to make up for any negligence in this area. The students are treated as subjects and they are inspired to work on themselves, ie to carry out self-formation in the spirit of Christian values.
Powołanie to posiadanie względnie stałych predyspozycji do wykonywania jakiejś roli, zadania, czynności, pracy. W chrześcijaństwie powołanie rozumiane jest jako wezwanie człowieka przez Boga do realizacji określonych zadań i sytuuje się ono w procesie socjalizacji, wychowania i samowychowania. Wychowanie chrześcijańskie oparte jest na ideach i wartościach głoszonych przez Jezusa z Nazaretu, w których na czoło wybija się troska o zbawienie. Przyjmuje personalistyczną i integralną koncepcję człowieka – uznaje, że jednostka ludzka jest osobą, posiadającą wymiar fizyczny oraz duchowy. Człowiek jest osobą zdolną do rozwoju, a w tym procesie ważną rolę odgrywa odczytanie i realizowanie własnego powołania. Bóg każdego człowieka powołuje do życia przeżywanego w miłości. Chrześcijańska moralność podporządkowana jest trzem cnotom ewangelicznym: wierze, nadziei i miłości oraz idei budowania Królestwa Bożego. Wychowanie chrześcijańskie polega na poznaniu siebie i swego powołania oraz świadomym podjęciu pracy nad własnym rozwojem i realizacją wyznaczonej przez Boga misji. Każdy człowiek jest przez Boga powołany do zrealizowania określonych zadań, czyli własnego, osobistego powołania. Można powiedzieć, że odczytanie własnego powołania oraz świadomość konieczności pracy nad własnym rozwojem są istotnymi elementami wychowania chrześcijańskiego.
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A vocation is defined as a relatively stable predisposition to perform a role, a task, an act, or a labour. In Christianity a vocation is understood as a call of man by God for the accomplishment of certain tasks. It is situated in the process of socialization, education and self-education. Christian education is based on the ideas and values proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth where a concern for salvation has moved to the forefront. Personalistic and integral conception of man is assumed – the human individual is recognized as a person who has a physical and spiritual dimension. Man is a person capable of development. In this process the reading and accomplishment of one's vocation plays an important role. God calls each person to a life lived in love. Christian morality is subordinated to the three evangelical virtues: faith, hope and love, and the idea of building the Kingdom of God. Christian education is the knowledge of oneself and one's vocation and conscious work on one's own development and the realization of the mission assigned by God. Every person is called by God to do certain tasks, which means his own personal vocation. We can say that the reading of one's vocation and the awareness of the need to work on their own development are important elements of Christian education.
Religious instruction at school still arouses emotions. There are advocates and firm opponents. Some milieus seek to undermine the reasonableness of catechization at school, search out various arguments to remove this subject from school or lessen its influence. The parties involved in the discussion often use stereotypes and simplifications, therefore there is a need for a reliable knowledge about the attitudes of adolescents towards catechization. The introductory part of the paper shows a historical outline of catechesis, highlighting its Polish context. Teaching religious instruction, as a form of preaching the Good News about salvation, is the basic function of the Church and has always been conducted since the time of Christ. Obviously it took on various forms and embraced various groups, with regard to the times and place. In principle, until Tridentine Council (1545 - 1563) there was mainly religious instruction for adults. The Council issued a recommendation to catechize also adolescents and children. Religious education of the young generation ceased to be the private matter of family, and became an official form of the Church’s activity. Before the war religion was an obligatory subject in Poland, and this matter aroused no greater controversies. After the communists had taken over the power, they started ideologically-motivated secularization of education, and religious was consistently removed from schools until its total removal after 1961. It was as late as 1990, after the breakthrough, that religion returned to school. The main purpose of the studies was to answer the following question: what views adolescents hold on the introduction of religion into school? How do the young people evaluate the current religious classes? How is an ideal religious instruction supposed to look like? What is an ideal catechist to be like? The research embraced 851 secondary school pupils from various milieus (rural, provincial, and urban), representing various profiles of education (c. 20 people). The analysis of the collected empirical material proves that about 95 per cent of adolescents attend religious classes and are satisfied that they are conducted at school. The decisive majority (64 per cent) of pupils are satisfied with the level of classes, and only about 10 per cent expressly disapprove of their catechist. An ideal catechist is he who seriously treated his mission as a preacher of the Good News, who not only teaches the truths of God but is a young man’s friend, who leads him into the sphere of the sacral life. The youth expect an attitude of dialogue marked with an understanding for others, friendship and respect for the pupil. The catechist should enjoy personal authority, be competent, well educated and wise. With such a religious leader, the young people wish to initiate conversations, not only about faith, but also on personal and family matters; such a catechist they hold in high esteem and present as an ideal model for other teachers of religion.
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