CLIMATE-SENSITIVE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CURRICULUM IN THE UNIFIED SCHOOLS OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF LIPA (USAL)

Abstract

The Catholic Church recognizes the role of Catholic schools in teaching the faith to students and how it can be applied in their daily life. With the global challenge we face due to climate change, the education sector plays an essential role in promoting awareness, adaptation, and mitigation against climate change. This study tries to describe the possibility of integrating climate sensitivity into the religious education curriculum for the senior high school level, the Unified Schools of the Archdiocese of Lipa (USAL). Through a focus group discussion among religious education teachers of USAL, climate sensitivity is found in the elements of the religious education curriculum through the objectives, contents, learning experience, and assessment. A climate-sensitive religious education curriculum in USAL is evident through the integration of environmental education into religious education subjects by the teachers on selected lessons for the senior high school level that aims to bring out the relationship between the faith being taught and the action that the students must do toward the environment to care and protect it. Thus, climate sensitivity bridges how one must live the faith in favor of God’s creation.