Polish society is quite unusual as far as the cultural identity is concerned. What I mean is first of all the monolithic religious context comparing to the other European societies. Secondly, in the last several years a big economic emigration was noticed, especially to Great Britain and Ireland which forced many Poles to interact with other cultures and religions. My assumption is that symbols and structures shaped by religious beliefs in a great manner influence the structure of the traditional societies. Poland still belongs to this group in spite of rapid changes that occurred after the political shift in 1989 and especially after joining the European Union. I was basically interested in religion teachers and their readiness and ability to shift from one theological position to another – so the research is about the dynamics in the sphere of religious conceptualization and its connection to the present sociopolitical situation in Poland. In the presentation I will focus on the relation between teaching and learning in the processes of religious socialization. These are two out of twelve groups of questions that were asked in the research: 1. What inspires you in your thinking about God? Where do you look for new inspirations? How do they change your picture of God? (The aim of these questions was to identify the readiness for theological change and for the shift from teaching to learning position.) 2. Why are you Catholic (Lutheran, Orthodox, etc.)? Do you identify yourself more as Catholic (Lutheran, Orthodox, etc.) or as Christian? (The aim of these questions was to describe the teachers’ confessional identity and to identify it’s socially construed boundaries.)

The research is based on the phenomenographic approach and was accomplished in June and July 2007 among religion teachers of Gdansk secondary schools (where more than 90% of the students attend religion lessons provided by churches on the public schools ground).

The research was focused on change as the basic concept, especially in relation between teachers and learners, and its aim was to grasp the quality of the influence on society this relation implies (hierarchical or relational). This as well contains the question what is to be thought, what is to be learned and why. The results of the research will be presented in the conference paper (address).