Adolescents' concepts of the family : responding to adolescents' needs through religious education

Abstract

The focus of this research is in the areas of Religious Education with particular reference to Adolescents' concepts of the family. The research adopted in this dissertation includes an extensive overview of literature regarding marriage and the family from a multidisciplinary approach as well as empirical research done with various stakeholders. In particular, a questionnaire was distributed to teachers of R.E., PSD as well as Religious Counsellors and henceforth a number of focus groups were done with a number of students of Form 4 and 5 in schools. The findings from this research provide evidence that for various reasons teachers are having difficulties to present the concept of the family to adolescents. On the other hand, many adolescents are having difficulties to consider the R.E. classroom as being a way of helping them to develop their maturing idea of the family. This dissertation recommends various ideas which could be implemented in the R.E. syllabus on Marriage and the Family as well as other suggestions concerning R.E. in Malta as a whole with the aim of achieving the primary goal of R.E.; that of Religious maturation.