ECCCE History

Functions of ECCCE

8 Key Concerns

The Past 20 Years

People Behind

Past Chairmen

Chairman's Report
— Annual Report
— Report to Rome

The Shape of Religious Education in Philippine Catholic Schools
Appendix B

            A most recent study entitled " The Shape of Religious Education in Philippine Catholic Schools Today” sought to ascertain the present state of Christian formation via 1, 173 member-schools of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines.  The University of Sto. Tomas - Social Research Center was tasked for the purpose. The obtained results will enable the local church in the Philippines to have a representative and empirical information on the subject towards responding to the challenges of the 21^st century in view of renewed evangelization/ catechesis.

Table 1      Regional Distributions of the Sample Schools

            This ‘three-pronged’ study used randomly-selected respondent – schools using stratified and systematic sampling techniques at 95% level of confidence, with a margin of error of ± 3%. The retrieved, encoded and process-analyzed survey – questionnaires constitute 32.31% of the total number of Catholic schools in the Philippines today.

            Findings of the study are reflected in the succeeding pages, but without going into details, and careful to present only important segments of the study.

1. Goals of Religious Education

• "To foster in the students a stronger belief in God"
  obtained Rank #1 with a frequency of 1108
• To cultivate in the students a sense of personal relationship with Christ was second with a frequency of 837
• To nurture in the students a commitment to live their personal lives in accordance with the principles of Christians Morality obtained a frequency of 432 = Rank #3

2. In regard Formal Vision-Mission Statement, 311 or 82.7% say there is a formal statement for the RE programs.

This implies that 4 out of 5 schools have formulated Vision/Mission statements for Religion Education, an improvement when compared to the 1979 survey’s obtained result of 76.81%.

            In terms of formal plan, nine (91.3%) out of 10 respondent schools have one. This usually details the objectives to be pursued, inclusive of the means and resources needed to attain goal and objectives.

Table 2:  Overseer of Religious Education Program

            A little less than ninety percent (89.%) of the respondent - schools have established offices. Yet, most of the offices were treated merely as one of the academic departments, limiting the range of influence RE brings to the formation of an environment that is distinctly Catholic.  In effect, RE consists mainly of classroom instruction that is organized and formally conducted on a compulsory basis.

            In terms of time allotment, most of the primary (90.8), secondary (85.%) , and tertiary (94.4%) schools devote at least two (2) hours of class a week.  In the tertiary level, instruction lasts three (3) hours a week, which is equivalent to a 3 – unit subject.

3. Content of Religious Education

Jesus Christ, His Life and Teachings, the Sacraments and the Bible are believed to be definitely covered with 95% of respondents not willing to skip the subject matter.  Death, Judgement and Eternity plus Original Sin may be sacrificed by around 30% of respondents if they find themselves running out of time.

A total of 88% use the 'Catechism for Filipino Catholics' with 18.8 % adhering to the CFC approach - integration, inculturation and community - formation.

Table 9, below, presents the frequency distribution of the subject matter RE agents may or may not be willing to skip due to time constraints.

Table 9    Frequency Distribution of the Subject Matter RE Agents Willing to Skip

            Respondents perceived and espoused the effectivity of the following complementary or supplementary activity statements and these are ranked according to the total favorable responses:

            When speaking of goals of Religious Education, goal f (to cultivate in the students a Christian disposition to help those in need and to be actively involved in promoting social justice) ranked #6 among 831 or 40.1%. Among those that ranked it #1 (310 or .15%), and the goal is second to the last in frequency and percentage entries of six stated goals.

Among services/activities that were perceived as positively affecting the learners, the following are ranked as most effective, as reflected on the table below:

            Because evaluation and control of any program are very critical to its success, the survey showed that a system is in place in the respondent schools in this regard (One –third or 67.6%).

4. Agents of Religious Education

The survey reveals that the respondents’ baccalaureate degrees are almost equally divided into religion (49.2) and non-religion (50.8%) fields of specialization.  This ratio is far below the 82.14 % registered in the 1979 survey.  However, seven out of ten respondents ( 72.1%) are equipped with graduate degrees ( masterate or doctorate) in  religion or theology, which is a marked improvement from the 21.74% of the earlier survey.

Of these, 92.6% are relatively  satisfied although only 737 out of 1940 or 38% are very satisfied.  1059 or 54.6 % are satisfied. On the other hand, 1116 or 54.7 claim that administration is very supportive of the RE program.  824 or 40.0 perceive  support. Altogether, ninety - five / 95.1 % view their administration as supportive.

5. Perceived Problems and needs vis – a - vis Influence

Survey shows that problem indicators are not truly considered problems, although readily/ relatively observable, judging, by the high frequent in the No category.

6. Perception of School Personnel as Role Models

Table 23   Frequency Distribution of Perceived Importance of Religious Education

7. Influence of the School Environment

Christian /Religious Formation will thrive in a climate conducive to it.  Ninety – nine percent (99.1% ) of elementary respondents say so. Ninety – eight  percent (98.8 % ) of high school respondent s view the same,  while ninety –eight (98 %) of college respondents regard their school environment as of influence.  A close scrutiny reveals that the responses on the college level are relatively lower than the responses of the Basic Education Respondents.

Table 24

            UST’s Social Research Survey, when analyzed alongside the Youth Profile 2001, will reveal valuable data that can assist Religious Education practitioners in making concrete interventions toward integral faith formation in the young of the new century.  The survey results, given depth analysis and interpretation, can reveal the weak points of the current RE Programs in Catholic Schools. And these points can be gleaned from and substantiated by the result of the Youth Study 2001.

Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines

Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education

CBCP Bldg., 470 Gen Luna St., Intramuros, 1002 Manila Philippines
Tel. No. +632 5274161
Fax No. +632 5275417
Email: eccce@cbcpworld.com