Alive to the World helps children learn about family values, says Louise Kirk.
How do you teach marriage and family life to children? This is key to social renewal and was urged at the Synod of the Family in 2015. The bishops specifically asked schools to begin the preparation.
Matrimony is not unvalued in the Catholic Church: it is one of our seven Sacraments. From it flow the family life, children and vocations on which the Church depends. Civil marriage is also critical. Sir Paul Coleridge, president of the Marriage Foundation, is calling for intervention as the gap between those who marry and those who do not widens. Among the parents of newborns in 2021, 71 per cent of high-earners were married compared with only 34 per cent of low-earners, and no more than 18 per cent of the “not classified”. And yet nine in 10 young people aspire to marry, regardless of income.
Education in family values was behind Christine Vollmer’s creation of the Alive to the World programme, of which I am UK coordinator. She was working among the street children and gangs of Caracas, in Venezuela, and longed to intervene before young people got into trouble. She then noticed something common to boys and girls everywhere: their desire to achieve something noble in life, to enjoy lasting love, and to become good mothers and fathers. She decided that, guided by her own faith, she would create an educational programme that would be accessible to children everywhere. “For faith throws a new light on all things and makes known the full ideal which God has set for man, thus guiding the mind towards solutions that are fully human.” (Gaudium et Spes, 11)
She began to organise major international congresses, inviting inspiring speakers. Those who particularly influenced her project included Dr Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and founder of logotherapy, which connects the search for life’s meaning with human motivation; Dr Allan Schore, whose study of the limbic system revolutionised the science of mother-child attachment; Dr Patrick Fagan, an adviser to the American government on family policy; and Dr Thomas Lickona, regarded as the “father” of character education. For 20 years, Vollmer also sat on the Pontifical Council for the Family, where the urgency of providing comprehensive sex education was a first priority.
Alive to the World is now available in the UK from ages five to 13. It builds children up with beautifully presented resources to develop their self-awareness, self-esteem and critical thinking skills. These give kudos to good behaviour and encourage children to develop warm relationships at school and at home. Charts matching Alive to the World to the Department for Education’s statutory guidance for relationships and health education are available on request. To have a wholesome programme which also meets government criteria is invaluable.
Typical and familiar situations are explored in an accessible and approachable manner. This is done through a mix of story, dialogue and general knowledge so that children want to turn the page. Accompanying teacher guides set out the lesson objectives, lesson plans, activities and plenaries, and there are online resources, follow-ups for parents, progress forms, printable worksheets and video links. The books, published by Gracewing, are also available online.
Children’s modesty is sacrosanct: the framework for understanding sexuality is given but the intimacy of sex is left to parents. This follows the Vatican’s guidance for sex education, which explains why parents have a right and also a duty to teach their own children. “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” (St John Paul). My book, Sexuality Explained: a Guide for Parents and Children, assists in this regard. I was particularly pleased when a social worker told me how much her single-mother clients value it.
Alive to the World is designed as a complete relationships programme, but it can also be used by parents to supplement what their children receive at school, and by teachers as school readers, for assembly work or to teach good sportsmanship. As a programme grounded in truth, solidarity, sacrifice and love, it builds up freedom of thought and behaviour.
Alive to the World is now in some 25 countries on four continents and is used extensively in Latin America. A UK teacher said of her recent experience: “It is a fabulous programme, loved by pupils for its realism and optimism. It is unafraid to address the issues that matter most. Its content and style are captivating for every child, whatever their faith or circumstances.”
In 2019, Vollmer was presented with the C-Fam Maximilian Kolbe Award at the UN for her long-time pro-family advocacy. Her guiding star is St John Paul II and his conviction that the wellbeing of society is bound up in the good of the family. Alive to the World helps the young to perceive this. It gives them the human values which support good religious education, and, in the words of Familiaris Consortio, it thus contributes to the renewal of society and to the furtherance of the People of God.
Visit alivetotheworld.co.uk for more details. Alive to the World is offering schools through the Catholic Herald a term’s free subscription to the electronic edition of the programme, running from September to December 2023. To take up this offer, please email [email protected] with the name of your school and quoting “Catholic Herald Education Supplement”.
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