Religion Lessons in the Schools of the Volyn Voivodeship (1921–1939): Legislative Framework and Organization of the Educational Process
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31861/hj2025.62.64-72Keywords:
Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Volyn Voivodeship, Polish legislation, schooling, teacher, lesson, religious education, national minoritiesAbstract
The study is devoted to the problem of shaping the religious worldview of students in the schools of the Volyn Voivodeship. Unlike Western European countries with a secular school system, where religion classes were optional or absent altogether, the Constitution of Poland of 17 March 1921 included a provision introducing mandatory study of religion for students under the age of 18. The state’s fundamental law proclaimed religious tolerance: citizens were guaranteed freedom of religion, and national minorities were granted the right to establish, at their own expense, religious associations and schools with instruction in their native language and the practice of their faith. In the educational process of the Volyn Voivodeship, curricula for all types of schools-primary, secondary, and vocational-included designated hours allocated for religion study («Law of God» lessons), depending on the students’ denomination, and conducted by priests of various confessions.
The introduction of a wide range of sources into scholarly circulation — two Constitutions of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, government decrees, school legislation, textbooks on the Law of God and methodologies for its instruction, periodicals, memoirs, as well as the achievements of Ukrainian and foreign historiography made it possible to analyze the organization of the educational process, the features of religion lessons in schools of various national communities, and to clarify the principles of religious pedagogy and the requirements for the professional training of teachers of religion of the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths.
The study examines the specifics of implementing religious education in the schools of different national minorities, with special attention given to the didactic support of religion lessons for Orthodox students, who constituted the majority. It has been determined that the supervision of religious instruction in schools was carried out by both state educational institutions and church authorities. It is argued that under the assimilation policies of the Polish Catholic state, religion lessons contributed to preserving the national identity of the various folks inhabiting the Volyn Voivodeship.
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