The topic of this paper is placed in the context of contemporary social changes from the perspective of multiculturality. Political approach to social diversity, interculturalism present the demand for coexistence within the framework of equality, respect for the dignity of each person and dialogue. (Portera, 2011; Rey-von Allmen, 2011; Banks, 2014). The field of education is an important means and method of achieving those goals. Education for religious diversity is increasingly affirmed as an indispensable factor in education. The subject of religious education in public schools is seen as an important part of education for dialogue, a factor for promoting the dignity of each person and coexistence with others. (Keast, 2007; Council of Europe, 2008) Qualified teachers are an essential pre-condition for achieving goals related to intercultural education. (European Commission, 2019)

The theoretical concept of intercultural education and its religious dimensions form the political guidelines and educational documents of the Council of Europe. Although intercultural education has undergone a transformation, the diversity of religions and worldviews was not taken into account up until 2002. (Rey-von Allmen, 2011) Ever since 2002, a year that is closely related to the global event of September 11, there have been revisions of the concept of intercultural education, followed by the introduction of the religious dimension. (Jackson - O'Grady, 2019) The religious dimension of intercultural education is realized in religious education in public schools where the acquisition of knowledge about other religions and non-religious beliefs, the development of intercultural sensitivity and communication, and education for interreligious and ecumenical dialogue are expected. (Council of Europe, 2008; Jackson, 2014; Jackson - O Grady, 2019) The manuals and guidelines for the implementation of religious education based on the recommendations of the Council of Europe (Keast 2007; Jackson 2014) all promote a non-denominational model of religious education in Europe. However, despite the tendency to introduce non-confessional religious education in public schools in Europe, religious education in most European countries is still confessional. (Rothgangel et al. 2014a, 2014b, 2016, 2020)

It can be concluded that at the European level, learning about religions is recognized as crucial for reducing religious inequalities and discrimination at the social level.  Considering that the Republic of Croatia is a member of the Council of Europe and has a specific, confessional form of religious education, we were interested in the extent to which the implementation of the religious dimension of intercultural education was researched. Training teachers for the religious dimension of intercultural education, in addition to knowledge about religions and worldviews, also requires knowledge of adequate teaching methods and competencies. (Korkeakoski – Ubani, 2018; Whitworth, 2020; Sweetman 2021)

This paper explores the issue of the work methods used by religious education teachers in confessional religious education in the Republic of Croatia when transferring knowledge about religious diversity. The aim of this research is to examine the attitudes and opinions of Islamic, Orthodox and Catholic religious education teachers about didactic approaches and the development of intercultural competence in teaching when discussing religious diversity.

The research results, although primarily focused on the Croatian context, will show how they contribute to the European context in relation to the ability of confessional religious education to integrate and implement the guidelines provided by the Council of Europe and recommendations regarding the realization of the religious dimension of intercultural education. The current thesis in the European educational discourse is that learning about religions can only be achieved in a non-denominational environment. The results of the analysis of the attitudes and opinions of religious education teachers with regard to teaching will show the validity of this thesis, which can also be applied to the wider European context.

Quantitative methodology was used for the research and it was carried out using the survey method, for the purpose of which the survey questionnaire “Intercultural competence: attitudes, opinions and specific behaviours of religious education teachers” was created by Jurišić and Razum (2021). The questionnaire was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Catholic Faculty of Theology of the University of Zagreb. The questionnaire consists of 30 questions, 2 of which are open-ended, 28 closed-ended, and the most frequently used form of response is the Likert scale. The quantitative research was conducted in the period from November 2021 to January 2022. The survey was conducted online. The respondents signed the informed consent form before completing the survey, and they were informed about its anonymity clause. At the end of the data collection, the collected data were controlled and prepared for processing, after which they were processed and analysed in the statistical software package for social sciences ( SPSS 28.0). Quantitative analysis was applied while processing the results, and descriptive statistics were used to show absolute and relative frequencies, while inferential statistics was used to determine differences (T-test) at a risk level of 5%, i.e., 95% confidence. 460 respondents participated in the research, of which 103 (22.4%) men and 357 women (77.6%). At the national level, in the public schools of the Republic of Croatia the subject Religious Education is taught in several confessional and religious versions by representatives of individual religious communities. For this purpose, religious education teachers affiliated with the Catholic Church, the Islamic Community, the Orthodox Church and the Heritage Reformed Congregations were asked to participate. A representative sample was not created; therefore the results cannot be applied to the general population of religious education teachers. 375 Catholic religious education teachers (81.5%), 65 religious education teachers affiliated with the Heritage Reformed Congregations (14.1%), 18 Orthodox religious education teachers (3.9%) and 2 Islamic religious education teachers (0.4%) participated in the research.

The paper will focus on the results regarding the teaching methods as well as the intercultural competences that religious education teachers develop in students. The expected results are as follows. At the teaching level, the attitudes and opinions of religious education teachers regarding the methods and forms of work in religious education classes will indicate a certain level of unevenness between theoretical knowledge and practical work. We expect differences in relation to the religious education teachers’ motivation and acquired knowledge about other religions with regard to the methods that contribute to the development of intercultural competence. Previous research has shown that a very small percentage of religious education teachers use adequate didactic and methodological approaches when discussing religious diversity. Also, attitudes and opinions regarding the development of intercultural competences in religious education classes and the use of teaching methods will reveal that religious education teachers focus their teaching less on the development of attitudes and skills in students, and significantly more on the acquisition of knowledge, the cognitive level of intercultural competence.

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