Community empowerment through peer‐project collaborative program to strengthen critical analysis and collective problem-solving skills

Abstract

This community engagement program was designed to empower Catholic Religious Education teachers in Palangkaraya who experienced challenges in facilitating collaborative learning and nurturing students’ critical thinking. Through a Peer-Project Collaborative Learning (PPCL) approach, the program aimed to strengthen teachers’ pedagogical practices and encourage meaningful classroom collaboration. Using a participatory action–based model, the training was carried out through preparation, workshop sessions, peer simulations, classroom mentoring, and reflective evaluation. Teachers actively practiced designing peer-project activities, modeling collaborative problem-solving, and applying questioning strategies that promote critical reasoning. The program resulted in noticeable improvements in teachers’ confidence and ability to guide student collaboration, as reflected in their teaching demonstrations and feedback discussions. Beyond individual capacity-building, the training fostered a supportive learning community among teachers, helping to establish a culture of shared practice and collaborative planning in their schools. This initiative is expected to be sustained through peer mentoring and has the potential for replication in other educational settings seeking to strengthen 21st-century teaching competencies.