| CODE | EPE3020 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Primary Spiritual, Moral and Religious Education | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 6 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Early Childhood and Primary Education | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Through this study-unit, participants will engage with notions of religions, world-view, spirituality, secularism, secularity and secularisation and how these concepts influence, facilitate and/or hinder one’s relationship with pupils and their families. Students will acquire basic religious literacy that will allow them to address the requirements of children from diverse backgrounds. They will analyze and critique the emergent issues, pedagogies and models of Religious Education in contemporary local, as well as in the International scenario. The study-unit will also present the current theories on children's spirituality and children's religious and moral development. It will equip students with the skills and attitudes to facilitate and foster children's spiritual, moral and religious dimensions. Study-unit Aims: The study-unit aims to equip students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary in the Maltese multi-religious context while also teaching Catholic Religious Education. It intends to help students: - respond to the needs of persons holding different world views; and - acquire the basic principles for an effective teaching of religion at primary school level. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: i. discuss the implications of different definitions of religion,secular and spirituality for practice; ii. critique the role of religion and spirituality in the context of education; iii. research and appraise practices of religious accommodation, and etiquette; iv. outline the beliefs, celebrations and practices of the Catholic faith and other major faith communities present in Malta; v. explain the principles of teaching Religion at primary school level; vi. outline the main elements of children’s spiritual; and vii. identify the relevance of all these issues for the planning, designing and creating of lesson plans and learning activities. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: i. adopt practices of religious accommodation and etiquette; ii. plan and develop suitable interventions to respond to the spiritual, religious and moral dimensions of children; iii. adopt and apply mindfulness techniques; iv. use different story telling methods including Godly play and the Good Shepherd method; v. deal with religious/belief differences in the classroom; vi. plan, design and create suitable methods for assessing children in Religious Education. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main texts - Buchanan, M. T., & Gellel, A. M. (Eds.). (2015). Global perspectives on Catholic religious education in schools. Dordrecht, Netherlands/New York: Springer. - Buchanan, M. T., & Gellel, A. M. (Eds.). (2019). Global Perspectives on Catholic Religious Education in Schools: Volume II: Learning and Leading in a Pluralist World. Springer. - Roehlkepartain, E., Ebstyne, P. Wagener, L. & Benson, P., (Eds.) (2006). The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence, Sage. - de Souza, M., Durka, G., Engebretson, K., Jackson, R. & McGrady, A. (Eds.) (2007). International Handbook of the Religious, Spiritual and Moral Dimensions of Education, Springer. Supplimentary texts - Borkataky‐Varma, S. (2014). Introduction to World Religions . General Editor, edited by Christopher Partridge. revised by Tim Dowley. Fortress. (BL80.3 .I58 2014) - Magida, A. J., & Matlins, S. M. (Eds.). (2015). How to be a perfect stranger: a guide to etiquette in other people's religious ceremonies. Jewish Lights Publishing. (BJ2010 .H68 2015). |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | |||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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