Religious Education as a Platform for Pupils’ Social Development and Prevention of Internet Addiction: The Case of Slovakia

Abstract

The authors present changes in the content and teaching methods of religious education (RE) in the third decade of the 21st century, as proposed by the current curricular reform of compulsory education in Slovakia. First, they analyse the reform documents in terms of social competence development as one of the RE content requirements. Second, they seek a teaching methodology that applies a balanced approach to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) while protecting RE pupils and their building of healthy human relationships from the potential threat of digital addiction. The authors based their teaching ideas on the findings from their research. To explore the relationship between addictive Internet behaviour and social intelligence, they used a questionnaire including the Internet Addiction Test and the TSIS Scale. The Mann–Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis. Data on 386 adolescent respondents revealed a statistically significant difference between males and females in social awareness, with males performing significantly better. A weak positive relationship (ρ = 0.240) was identified between social awareness and addictive Internet behaviour. In the discussion, the authors suggest teaching methods for developing social competence via RE without resisting the opportunities provided by ICT, while also avoiding an increase in the risk of online social media addiction. They suggest that even denominational RE should prioritize cultivating healthy relationships not only with God but also relationships with other people, the outside world, and oneself.