Religious Education in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic from the Perspective of Religion Teachers of the Silesian Voivodeship

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced all spheres of life. It has an impact on the education of children and youth. The authors' research focused on religious education during the pandemic by the Roman Catholic Church in Poland in the Slaskie Voivodeship. The criterion for choosing the environment was dictated by demographic conditions. The Slaskie Voivodeship has the highest population density per square kilometer, which contributed to the largest number of virus infections. The principal purpose of the research was to gather religion teachers' opinions concerning organization and implementation of the remote teaching of religion in the Silesian Voivodeship (Wojewodztwo Slaskie). So far, there has been no research conducted in the field of the abovementioned issues in the area chosen by the authors. The authors' research, carried out from June to August 2020, covered 700 people, which accounts for 18.7% of the religious education teachers working in the Slaskie Voivodeship. The results of the authors' own research allowed formulating a conclusion that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the development of modern information and communication competencies of all participants of religious education. Entities involved in this type of education recognized and used multiple opportunities offered by information and communication technologies, which can be seen in the respondents' declarations describing various forms of their didactic and educational on-line work. The COVID-19 pandemic has motivated parents to become more involved in the religious education of younger school-age children. The surveyed religion teachers declared that, thanks to the activity and the help of their parents, the children systematically participated in religion lessons and carried out orders and educational tasks without major problems. Thus, indirectly, parents of children of a younger school age were covered by religious education and were subject to pedagogy. Nevertheless, as teachers have pointed out, the virtual world makes it impossible to form authentic interpersonal relationships. The research confirmed the thesis, according to which religious education carried out in distance learning limits the complete implementation of its objectives, since an upbringing in faith calls for community that necessitates direct contact between the pupil and the teacher.