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Religion, Culture and Values

Code: 102017 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Early Childhood Education OT 4
Primary Education OT 4

Contact

Name:
Maria de las Neus Gonzalez Monfort
Email:
neus.gonzalez@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required for this course. Any person who meets the conditions to be enrolled in a fourth-year degree course may be a student. This course is part of a broader training program consisting of four courses, “Theology and its Pedagogy,” which, once completed, qualify graduates to teach Catholic Religion in early childhood and primary education.

All the information can be found on the website of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, https://www.conferenciaepiscopal.es/deca/

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Objectives and Contextualisation

 

The purpose of this course is to enable access to positions as a religion teacher in public, state-subsidized, and private schools.
Currently, demand is very high and there are constantly vacancies to be filled in all Territorial Services.
These are often hard-to-fill positions.
It is part of a group of four subjects, one of which has been taught at the UAB since the founding of our Faculty.
Of the students who have completed it, many are now employed on permanent contracts in public or state-subsidized schools, having completed the full training.
Being a religion teacher is also compatible with teaching any other subject for which one’s degree qualifies.

The course "Religion, Culture and Values" is connected to a block of three other courses that can be taken online to complete the entire module. With two of these passed, it is currently possible to work as a teacher on a provisional basis until the full module is completed.

OBJECTIVES

  1. Present the religious phenomenon from the broadest perspective in relation to culture and values.
  2. Train and prepare future teachers of religious education at the early childhood and primary education levels, ensuring high-quality Catholic religious and moral education offered to students with respect for their individual freedom.
  3. Contextualize the religious phenomenon in the current educational world, taking into account the diversity and plurality of students.
  4. Facilitate access to the reading of major religious texts and the Bible, and to the understanding of their symbolic world: symbols, literary genres, contexts, and religious intent.
  5. Present basic biblical theology based on the major themes of the history of Salvation and help in understanding the progressive revelation of God, which culminates in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word.
  6. Offer an updated synthesis of the essential contents of the Christian faith and the necessary synthesis between faith and culture, faith and science, especially in areas where there may be a greater risk of misunderstanding.
  7. Provide the appropriate articulation of faith with the body of knowledge.
  8. Deepen the moral dimension of the person in the light of the Christian message.

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Competences

    Early Childhood Education
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Maintain a respectful attitude for the environment (natural, social and cultural) to promote values, behaviours and practices that address gender equality, equity and respect for human rights.
  • Reflect in groups on the acceptance of rules and respect for others.
  • Systematically observe learning and coexistence contexts and learn to reflect on them.
    Primary Education
  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Know about religion throughout history and its relationship with culture.
  • Maintain a critical and autonomous relationship with respect to knowledge, values and public, social and private institutions.
  • Maintain a respectful attitude to the natural, social and cultural environment to foster values, behaviours and practices that attend to gender equality, equity and respect for human rights.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Assessing the value of actual social situations that occur in the immediate social environment, and encouraging responses to these situations that promote respect for human rights.
  2. Explain the explicit or implicit code of practice of one's own area of knowledge.
  3. Interpreting systematically the practice of religion in different cultures and its social, ethical and cultural influence, in order to acquire respectful conducts towards other religions and cultures.
  4. Know about religion throughout history and its relationship with culture.
  5. Propose projects and actions that are in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and obligations, diversity and democratic values.

Content

 

In this course, we approach an essential aspect for many people: faith. Faith as a vehicle of culture, which has generated a way of living, understanding the world, the values derived from it, the festivals and events in people’s lives, place names...

How can these concepts be brought into the classroom? How can we reflect given the wide range of options? How can we embrace and deepen our own faith while also valuing respectful and kind coexistence with those who do not share our worldview? From the knowledge of our own roots, we can begin a path of connecting with each person we encounter in school and in life.

The most relevant contents are as follows: Christian religion in the context of the great religions of humanity. The world of faith, the religious sense of life, contemporary atheisms. Proposals for transcendence. Introduction to biblical culture, to the use and reading of the Bible, and to the discovery of its rich religious, human, and social message. The presence of faith in the different areas of our current culture and life. Moments of openness to transcendence: the meaning of life, suffering, death, life beyond life. Purpose and meaning of religious education.

These are specified as follows:

  1. The identity of the area of religion and morals in the school environment. Nature and purpose of religious education in schools. Legitimacy of religious education in schools. Current legislation in Catalonia, Spain, and Europe. The specific character of religious education in schools. Various ways in which the religious phenomenon is present in public and state-subsidized schools.
  2. The religious phenomenon in history and in the structure of the human being. The religious experience: an anthropological reality. The religious phenomenon and its different social, moral, cultural, and artistic manifestations. The religious phenomenon today. Main religious traditions and beliefs present in oursociety: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, other beliefs. The world of non-belief.
  3. The Christian religious phenomenon and culture. Evangelization and inculturation of faith. The Church and culture. The relationship between faith and reason. The human being in search of God. Religion and culture. Christian roots of the culture of our land. The challenges of contemporary culture. The task of religious education: inserting the Gospel into the heart of culture. Influence of Christianity on our cultural heritage. Intercultural and interreligious dialogue in building civic coexistence.
  4. The Gospel and the new evangelization. The search for meaning and the freedom of faith. The Good News in the transmission of culture. Essential contents of the new evangelization applied to the school reality. The humanizing value of religion. Evangelization and personal development. Main difficulties for evangelization in schools.
  5. The human person. Creation, vocation, human condition, ultimate meaning of life.
  6. The message the Bible seeks to convey. Introduction to knowledge of the Bible. Structure and books that make up the Bible. Origin and formation of the Old and New Testaments. Most common literary genres. The concept of history in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Bible as the word of God. The revelation of God in the Bible. The Bible as a human word.
  7. The account of creation in the Bible and Science. God as Creator and provider: Narratives from the book of Genesis about Creation and the origin of the world. The dignity of the human being. Love and self-worth. Education in self-esteem and freedom. Love and respect for all human beings: the other as a sibling. The relationship of humans with nature. Cultivating sensitivity and caring for nature. Revelation of saving truth: God’s plan for humanity. The rupture of humanity: sin. God’s faithfulness: promise and hope of salvation.
  8. God’s Covenant with his people. The revelation of God in history: religious meaning of the history of Israel. The story of salvation in the Old Testament. Major biblical themes and their religious and social significance: Exodus, Covenant, the Prophets. Biblical characters and their significance in the faith experience of Israel and in the Christian experience. Values highlighted in the Covenant. The value of attentive listening. Promises and commitments, their importance in social life. The value of loyalty, responsibility, and faithfulness.

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Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Comentari crític de textos sobre: fe, cičncia, cultura i valors (individual, 30%) 45 1.8 4, 3
Type: Supervised      
Classroom project proposal in one of the three areas (religion, culture, and values) related to volunteering, cooperation with the third world, the reality of the fourth world, among others (group, 50%) 75 3 3, 5, 1
Type: Autonomous      
Evaluative interview (individual, 20%) 30 1.2 2, 3, 1

Classroom presentations, use of audiovisual materials and internet resources, and individual and group assignments.
Work in the classroom is carried out with the presence of teaching staff; group work is done autonomously but assessed individually.
Throughout the course, we have a scheduled and guided visit to the Sagrada Familia, as a synthesis of faith and culture in modernism and contemporary art in Catalonia. There is also a planned visit to the diocesan Caritas of Terrassa or to a parish of the Diocese. Additionally, there will be a session with teachers of Catholic Religion at the school.

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Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Classroom project proposal in one of the three areas (religion, culture, and values) related to volunteering, cooperation with the third world, the reality of the fourth world, among others (group, 50%) 50% 0 0 5, 1
Critical commentary on texts about: faith, science, culture, and values (individual, 30%) 30% 0 0 4, 3
Evaluative interview (individual, 20%) 20% 0 0 2, 3, 1

 

The assessment of the subject will take place throughout the entire academic year through the proposed activities (the syllabus delivered at the beginning of the subject will specify the activities and deadlines).

Attendance
Attendance at the subject’s face-to-face classes is mandatory at 80% in order to be eligible for continuous assessment. Certificates sometimes presented in case of absence serve only to explain the absence; under no circumstances do they exempt from attendance. If someone cannot meet the established attendance percentage, they cannot opt for continuous assessment and must attend the resit.

Continuous Assessment
In this subject, three assessment activities must be completed. These will be explained and justified on the first day of class. The activities that can be retaken are the critical commentary on texts and the project proposal. The maximum grade that can be obtained in the resit is 5 out of 10.
The deadlines for the teaching staff to return, provide feedback, or grade the assessment activities will be those established by the regulations.

Assessment activities: submission, type, percentage, and date

  • Critical commentary on texts about: faith, science, culture, and values (individual, 30%): April 5.

  • Classroom project proposal in one of the three areas (religion, culture, and values) related to volunteering, cooperation with the third world, the reality of the fourth world, among others (group, 50%): June 11.

  • Evaluative interview (individual, 20%): June 18.

Single Assessment
Single assessment must be requested within the deadlines and according to the mechanisms established by the Faculty of Education Sciences (see the faculty website).
The criteria for single assessment are the same as for continuous assessment, except that the submission date for all activities will be: June 18.

Resit
The resit date (for both continuous and single assessment) is: July 2.
To participate in the resit process for the activities, a minimum grade of 3.5 out of 10 is required.
This subject does not include a "synthesis test". Students may opt either for continuous assessment or single assessment.

Gender Perspective
A gender perspective will be incorporated into teaching, which involves reviewing androcentric biases in the disciplines, questioning gender stereotypes, including knowledge produced by women and other marginalized groups, and critical perspectives that expose androcentric conceptualizations and highlight the social and cultural causes and mechanisms that sustain gender inequalities. This also involves identifying teaching methodologies and the distribution of educational spaces that reproduce inequalities, and the use of non-sexist language.

Ethical Commitment and Attitude
To pass this subject, it is essential to demonstrate an attitude compatible with the educational profession (active listening, respect, participation, cooperation, empathy, kindness, punctuality, not judging, reasoning, appropriate use of electronic devices, etc.). It is also necessary to demonstrate responsibility and thoroughness in autonomous work, active participation in classes, critical thinking, and behaviors that foster a friendly and positive, democratic environment where diversity is respected.

Communication Skills
To pass this subject, students must demonstrate good general communication skills, both orally and in writing, and a good command of the language(s) of instruction as stated in the course guide. In all activities (individual and group), linguistic accuracy, writing, and formal aspects of presentation will be taken into account. Students must be able to express themselves fluently and correctly and must show ahigh level of comprehension of academic texts. An activity may be returned (not assessed) or failed if the teacher considers that it does not meet these requirements.

Copying and Plagiarism
Copying and plagiarism are intellectual theft and, therefore, constitute an offense that will be penalized with a grade of “zero.” In the case of copying between two students, if it is not possible to determine who copied whom, the penalty will apply to both students. Fraudulent use of artificial intelligence will result in the assessment activity being considered failed with a 0.

Use of Artificial Intelligence
In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted as an integral part of the development of the work, provided that the final result reflects a significant contribution from the student in analysis and personal reflection. The student must clearly identify which parts have been generated with this technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. Lack of transparency in the use of AI will be considered academic dishonesty and may result in a penalty in the grade for the activity, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.

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Bibliography

Associació de Mestres Rosa Sensat. (2023). Religió Catòlica de l’Educació Primària: Guia per a docents [Document PDF]. AMRC. Disponible a: https://amrc.cat/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/reli_primaria2022.pdf

Barriocanal Gómez (2020). ¿Es el hombre un ser religioso? Religión, cultura y valores. Monte Carmelo.

De Andrés Zabaleta, P. (2019). Pedagogía y didáctica de la religión católica. Monte Carmelo.

García Vilardell, M.R.,  (2018). Martínez-Carbonell López, A.,  Vilarroig Martín, J. (2018). Religión, cultura y valores. CEU ediciones. 

Guerra Gómez, M. (2002). Historia de las Religiones. Biblioteca de autores cristianos.

Josa, I., Marqués, M., Noguera, M., Piñeiro, F. (2012). Les grans religions. Claret.

Monfort, L. i Toledo, R. (2017). Diccionari de les RELIGIONS per a noies i nois de 10 a 14 anys. Associació UNESCO per al Diàleg Interreligiós.

Sayés, J.A. (1995). Teología para nuestro tiempo. San Pablo.  

Others ressources 

Websites of associations of religion teachers in Catalonia:

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Software

none

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Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TE) Theory 20 Catalan second semester afternoon