Influences of Religious Education on the Formation Moral Consciousness of Students

Abstract The contemporary paradigm of moral education is based on the combination of moral knowledge and moral action. At the same time, moral education consists in creating an appropriate environment for the interiorization of the components of social morality into the student's personality structure, leading to the implementation of proper moral conduct. Existing relations between the values promoted by moral education and the values of religious education are not overlapping but rather complementary. The efficiency of valorisation of religious education in order to strengthen the moral and morality of the young generations depends largely on the ability of teachers to design educational activities that combine ethical values and principles with those religious in nature. Having as starting point the considerations set out above, the present study investigates, through an opinion questionnaire administered to primary teachers, the extent to which religious education in schools contributes to the internalization of components of social morality into the student's personality structure as well as the transposition into practice of certain moral behaviors in accordance with ethical principles and values. The obtained results indicate a high level of confidence of the teachers in the possibility of the formation of moral behavior and conscience of students through interdisciplinary approaches to religion and morality.