Qualifications of religion teachers and permanent education

Abstract

Whether we like it or not, the cultural changes we witness have an impact on our family, professional and social life. Young people are less and less able to make reasonable decisions concerning their future. Inconsistency of important decisions and lack of willingness to develop oneself is a common phenomenon. This lack of consistency and inability to read the signs of the times affect not only family but also professional life. It is a common view that only certain professions require constant learning, e.g. doctors, lawyers, policemen. However, personal and professional development is necessary for all people. The same applies to secular and clerical teachers of religion. Development is raising qualifications and preventing professional burnout, gaining and opening up to new values in life and sharing them with the catechized people. Raising qualifications through permanent education develops the teacher’s humanity and opens them not only to God, but to the whole created world. A human being becomes more human, as St. Pope John Paul II taught. Religious education teachers must develop their humanity, otherwise they will not be able to shape the humanity of the catechized person.