Perspectives of Youth on Religious Education in the Philippines

Abstract

The study explores the potential of participative pedagogy as it solicits young people’s perspectives and opens a space for dialogue to clarify how best they can benefit from religious education. Over 300 young students from a Catholic higher education institution in the Philippines have been interviewed to articulate their experiences, expectations, and needs to foster holistic educational engagements among the youth. The data generated from the surveys showed favorable results with some nuances. Informed by these outcomes, religious education curricula may be revised and enhanced for more dynamic, engaging, and challenging faith formation grounded in the students’ lived experiences.

Keywords:

• Participatory pedagogy
• religious studies
• higher education
• youth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fides A. del Castillo

Fides A. del Castillo Lamin Sanneh Research Grant 2022-2024 Awardee of the OMSC, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA and a research fellow of University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran. She is currently an Associate Dean of the School of Innovation and Sustainability at De La Salle University, Philippines. Email: [email protected].

Rebecca Cacho

Rebecca Cacho is currently a professor at the Department of Theology and Religious Education of De La Salle University, Manila. She was part of the Young theologians’ group of the World Council of Churches. She had post-doctoral fellowships as visiting scholar in Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium and in Chinese University of Hongkong.