Who attends religion classes? An empirical analysis of Polish adolescents’ participation in school-based religious education

Declining student participation in religion classes reflects a broader disengagement from institutional religion, particularly when the content taught is not aligned with students’ needs and expectations. This paper aims to determine which sociodemographic and religious factors, including perceptions of the Church, differentiate young people’s participation in religious education classes at school and what factors influence their decisions not to participate in these classes. The study is based on data from a representative nationwide survey of Polish secondary school students (n = 1029) and uses frequency analysis, nonparametric tests, and logistic regression to examine factors related to participation in religious education classes, interpreted through the lens of educational rationality theory (ERT). The results show that participation in religious education not only strongly correlates with traditional indicators of religiosity but is also shaped by school type, urbanisation level, and peer context. Lower religious education attendance in sectoral vocational and non-public schools may reflect pragmatic or emancipatory motivations, while regular attendance among older students may signal religious maturation and a deepening need for reflection. The results challenge the simple division into believers and non-believers, pointing to the need to reshape religious education into a more reflective, dialogical, and student-oriented space.