Pilot Project Subject "World Religions"

LusoGlobe Research in Charge

LusoGlobe Research in Charge: Jorge Botelho Moniz and Paulo Mendes Pinto

End

Abstract

The pilot project "RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD: Values, Spirituality and Religions" was an initiative developed by the Science of Religions Area of the Lusófona University of Humanities and Technologies (ULHT) in 2015, aimed at 5th and 6th grade students and applied at the "Os Aprendizes" School, located in Cascais, Portugal during the academic years 2015/2016 and 2016-2017 and, which today is part of a larger project entitled "REC XXI (RELIGION, EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP), whose objective is to integrate other projects, such as the one we presented here. The proposal for the project that we share here was born and developed from the observation of the need for a school subject that was complementary to, but not competitive with, the subject of "Moral and Religious Education". This need has been observed and confirmed over time in the context of both education and religion. This leads us to reflect on the results we were able to obtain with this application of the project, at first, at the "Os aprendizes" School. The multidisciplinary team of researchers that shaped this project was moved by the hypothesis that a discipline of Values, Spirituality and Religions could promote citizenship, enable the formation of civic and more conscious and more participatory values and structure the thinking and action of children and young people. In this sense, the scientific area of Science of Religions, inserted in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Education and Administration (FCSEA), as one of the organic units of the Lusófona University of Humanities and Technologies, advocates the teaching of the religious phenomenon, in a non-confessional way, in an impartial, rigorous and equidistant way.The promotion of dialogue between research and religions is done in a neutral but active way, without giving up the values of participation and citizenship, as well as scientific and critical knowledge. What you can find here, in the first place, albeit briefly, after the presentation of the team in the area of Science of Religions, which participated in this project, are the historical, social and legal issues that accompany the processes in the context of religion and its dynamics present in Portugal, as a secular country. In a second moment, we addressed the structure of the project and its assumptions, as well as its methodology and methods, which were applied in the School "Os Aprendizes" that accepted the challenge of putting them into practice. The characteristics of this school, its Vision, Mission and Values contributed to the purposes of the pilot project presented here, making it possible to carry out a Cooperation Protocol between the area of studies of Science of Religions and the School "Os Aprendizes". To conclude, we present a brief questionnaire distributed to parents, which includes the parents of some of the students who participated in the project, in order to understand their Expectations and Realities on the topics covered in class and, finally, the Brief Considerations and Bibliographic References.

Researchers

• Paulo Mendes Pinto
• Fernando Catarino
• Solange Martinho
• Rui Lomelino Freitas
• Joaquim Franco
• Alexandre Honrado
• António Faria
• Jorge Botelho Moniz
• Sofia Sousa Claro

Associated Missions

Outputs

Pilot Project Discipline "World Religions" a project integrated in the REC XXI Project (Religion, Education and Citizenship) www.religioesdomundo.ulusofona.pt. Report of the Project applied in the school "Os Aprendizes" (Evaluation of the 5th and 6th year of the 2nd Cycle of Basic Education in the academic years 2015/2016 and 2016/2017), (Expectations and Realities. Result of a Survey of Parents/Guardians).

References