The idea of introducing the elements of spiritual and moral guidance into the system of extracurricular education was discussed at the meeting of Community Council

The regular meeting of the Community Council concerning the issue of collaboration with Churches and religious organizations under the Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sport of Ukraine took place on the 13^th of June, and was chaired by the People’s Deputy of Ukraine- Volodymyr Marushchenko. Among those issues that were discussed at this meeting were: the issue of introduction of the elements of spiritual and moral guidance into the system of extracurricular education, the issue of conducting the classes of spiritual and moral guidance at the institutions of Vocational and Higher Education as well as the issue of provision of trainings, re-trainings and improvement of teachers’ (of spiritual and moral guidance) techniques; moreover, the information about the preparation of  the teaching kits for the “Principles of Christian Ethics”  lesson, for the 1 till 11 grades of secondary schools,  was presented at the meeting. Following the results of this meeting, the decision was taken to: first, examine the experience of collaboration of institutions (that are providing extracurricular education) with the Churches and religious organizations in the process of spiritual and moral education; then, to refer to the Ministry in order to emphasize the importance of promoting the spiritual and moral education among the students of Vocational and Higher Education institutions, as well as, training of lecturers of those spiritual and moral guidance courses. Furthermore, the suggestion was put forward to establish a working group that will be responsible for the development of Concept of Spiritual and moral education at the Institute of Innovative Technology and Education, as well as, to hold a round-table discussion in November 2012 with the participation of the representatives from the Department of Theology in the system of Higher Educational institutions, devoted to the topical issue of teaching Theology in universities. Among those participating in the meeting were those representatives of Churches and religious organizations, who are the members of the Community Council, experts from the Ministry, particularly- from the Institute of Innovative Technology and Education, as well as, the representatives of a range of institutions of higher education and institutions of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine. The next meeting of the Community Council, devoted to the issues of issues of introduction of teaching the spiritual and moral guidance lessons into secondary schools, was decided to be conducted on the 19^th of September with the participation of Methodists of regional institutions of teaching postgraduate education  

Reported Oksana Senchuk