Review article
https://doi.org/10.34075/cs.61.2.3
Contribution of Primary School Religious Education Textbooks to Cross-Curricular Theme of Sustainable Development
Tomislav Šegina
orcid.org/0000-0002-3932-0410
; Karlovac High School, Karlovac, Croatia
Abstract
This article examines the contribution of Catholic Religious Education textbooks for primary schools to the achievement of the learning outcomes of the cross-curricular theme Sustainable Development. The study is grounded in the theoretical framework of education for sustainable development and the concept of ecological spirituality. The research was conducted using a qualitative content analysis of all primary school Catholic Religious Education textbooks, focusing on the presence of outcomes across the three domains of the Sustainable Development curriculum: Connectedness, Action, and Well-being. The findings indicate that sustainable development outcomes are well represented in the textbooks, particularly in the lower grades of primary education. The most significant contribution is evident in the domain of Well-being, while the outcomes related to the domains of Action and Connectedness are also present, especially in the early educational cycles. In higher grades, however, their presence gradually decreases. Despite these findings, the curriculum for the cross-curricular theme Sustainable Development does not explicitly include Catholic Religious Education among the subjects contributing to the achievement of these outcomes. The study concludes that Catholic Religious Education textbooks possess significant and distinctive potential for fostering students’ values, ethical awareness, and spiritual formation in support of sustainable development.
Keywords
sustainable development; Catholic Religious Education; religious education textbooks; ecological spirituality
Hrčak ID:
348420
URI
Publication date:
29.6.2026.
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