Every week, the word of God reaches one hundred and fifty thousand children and young people nationally through Reformed religious education. The religious education mission is seed sowing, the purpose of which is to develop and strengthen the relationship with God, in addition to imparting Bible knowledge. With László Bruckner, the general director of the Hungarian Reformed Church's Educational Service, he gave an interview to reformatus.hu, we will take a look at it.
The general director said: Due to the rapid increase in the number of Reformed kindergartens, more and more kindergarten teachers are needed who provide religious life activities in kindergartens. Although many are committed, they do not have a professional qualification in faith life and religious pedagogy. In the months behind us, we trained twenty-three employees for this task in 2×30 hours. It is extremely important to appreciate the religious class at school as an opportunity for spiritual care. In the post-Covid era, one hundred and ten professionals participated in mental health protection and burnout prevention training. In our Reformed schools, from elementary schools to vocational schools to secondary schools, half of the religious teachers are pastors who teach a high number of hours, and because of this they cannot fully fulfill their church duties. This year, we organized sixty-hour teacher training four times, and sixty-five people took part in the courses. The trainings alleviated the problem to some extent, but the real solution may be the introduction of the attractive religious teacher career model and the differentiated religious teacher salary scale in the next school year.
Religious education work communities are untapped resources. In some regions, the cooperation is already exemplary, but typically the system of professional cooperation has not yet developed. The catechetical cooperation of the Dunamellek Church District was started as a model, which can set a good example. Regular forums, exchanges of experience, and joint programs can provide opportunities for further professional training and mental health protection. The leaders of the parish and diocesan religious education work communities will play a significant role in the organization of the regional cooperation.
We have made great progress with the teaching materials developed for students with special educational needs and disabled students. Due to the different learning characteristics of the AZ and alpha generations, digital interfaces must be used much more intensively. Children require personal dialogue and education based on stories. In addition to professional further training, two thousand up-to-date teaching materials, a renewed library of games and music, useful aids, downloadable workbooks and continuously updated teaching materials for the new religious apprenticeship requirements system are available on the website of the Reformed Pedagogical Institute (refpedi.hu).
"Teach me to believe, Lord!" - The year of religious education, 2022, the catechetical conference entitled Faith-Life-Community was organized in the middle of November in the Ráday Ház in Budapest. At the event in the Carpathian Basin, Reformed religious teachers, religious teachers, pastors, school chaplains, diocesan and church district catechetical lecturers shared their professional experiences. The meeting discussed the spirituality of secondary schools, playful religious education, the experiences of religious education competitions, the religious life of kindergarten students, the spirituality of schools and the importance of singing together.
Source: full article and image: reformatus.hu
