The role of religious education in the moral development of preschoolers
The role of religious education in the moral development of preschoolers

Summary/Abstract: The moral conscience is being formed throughout one’s whole life and it represents the human’s superior inner court, which differentiates and elevates him above the other beings. Regarding the relations with peers, the moral conscience represents the inner judge, God’s voice inside every human, which is always showing him what’s best and helps him to follow the right path in his life. The preschool period is a favorable period when fundamental acquisitions are made for the later development of the person, both regarding the personality and the moral conscience. We conducted a research on a sample of 25 preschoolers in their last year of kindergarten. The results revealed that the religious education plays an essential role in children’s moral development. The religious activities that we organized created situations in which the kids were given the choice to notice and adopt moral behavior patterns, adapted to their age and their individual peculiarities, carefully selected to erase any aspects related to indoctrination. The moral traits and values were discovered by children through stories and tales with a moral message, readings about saints’ lives, fragments of religious parables and traditional proverbs related to morality. Data was gathered through a specially designed questionnaire and we conclude that the religious education represents an effective mean for the moral development for preschoolers.

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