Profile of a graduate of the School of Catechists – between theory and practice

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the genuine profile of the graduate of Poznan Archdiocese School of Catechist, in terms of not only the intentional targets, which stem from Church documents, reflection after the Poznan Archdiocese Synod and the adults’ catechism assumptions, but also on the base of the observation sheets conducted by the catechists and their self-evaluation. There are three fields in which the graduate profile is concerned; the vocation and mission of the catechist, the educational status, and his or her abilities. The questions asked in this research are following: “To what extent is the theoretical school concept consistent with the sense of the adults’ catechists mission, and also with the real abilities of the catechists?”, “What is the opinion of the catechists’ abilities given by their observers?”, “What is the opinion of the school formation by the catechists themselves?”, “How far is the school formation useful in getting the further competencies?”. Taking into account the sense of the following research, both the analysis of the documents and the survey research have been accomplished. The vision of the catechist profile has been referred to the results of the following research. The results of the study prove the general validity of the school authors with the practice. However, in some of the fields, the real graduate profile distinguishes from the one presented in the documents mentioned above. The area of permanent formation and evaluation of catecheses needs to be refined.