Driestar Christian University for Teacher Education offers the short course ‘Religious Education: Formation of Christian Character’. In this course theology and education meet each other, in light of your desire to serve the development of the Christian character of pupils.
The short course is part of the Master’s programme on Christian education. As a participant in the short course you will join the international learning community of Master’s students and Professors. The short course is a blended learning programme.
Course Content
Within an international community of students and expert (guest) lecturers you will extend your theoretical and practical understanding of Christian education. In this course theology and education meet each other. You will study anthropological issues relevant for education next to Biblical insights about teaching and learning, the Christian image of God, the Kingdom of God and eschatology. The insights are applied to topics of religious education, character/moral education and citizenship education, in light of your desire to serve the development of the Christian character of pupils.
By studying theory and reflection on their own practices, this course helps participants to enrich their practice (or the practices they serve) with insights into the development of organisations and people in Christian Education.
For Dutch participants, this short course is extra interesting because Christian education and religious education sometimes seem self-evident in our context, but in this course you look at what you do with new eyes.
The course objectives of the short course ‘Religious Education: Formation of Christian Character’ are as follows.
Knowing
At the end of the course the participant:
Knows the levels of Religious Education.
Knows effective methods of Religious Education.
Knows the main aspects of character education.
Knows the role of the Bible in Religious Education.
Knows theological considerations for Religious Education.
Understanding
At the end of the course the participant:
Understands the impact of the teacher as Educator and Spiritual Leader on religious identity formation.
Understands how the practice of Religious Education can be related to the vision/mission of the school.
Understands what kind of Religious Education is needed in the given school situation and context.
Understands how moral education and Religious Education are related.
Understands how character education and personhood formation can be understood from a Christian perspective.
Understands how the Christian identity of the teacher is related to Religious Education.
Application
At the end of the course the participant:
Can apply the course in how to set up and implement a method for Religious Education in your own cultural and religious context, for your target group.
Can apply the course in how to renew/reconstruct Religious Education in the direction of becoming an integral part of the curriculum.
Can apply the course in how to use non-formal ways of education to help shape the students to be responsible disciples in the kingdom of God.
Tuition fee: approx. € 2.000,-
The on campus week will incur additional costs. Please contact the International Office for more information.
The course is offered to experienced teachers, principals, school leaders and people who work in educational aid organisations.
Admission requirements:
You require a bachelor’s degree in the field of Education to be admitted to the short course. If you work in education and you have obtained a bachelor's degree in a different field, you can still apply and you can gain access to the programme on the basis of a positive outcome of the admission interview.
You work in education or a related workplace.
All students must prove that they have good writing and conversation skills in English.
The course will be taught by:
Prof. Bram Kunz (the Netherlands)
Prof. Pavel Hanes (guest lecturer; Slovakia);
Prof. Dana Hanesová (guest lecturer; Slovakia)
We offer credits for the course according to the Bologna system (the European Credits Transfer System, ECTS). After completing the short course, you will receive a Driestar Christian University Certificate, indicating that you have completed the 5 ECTS credit course (on average, one credit requires 28 hours of study).
The short course programme consists of regular online meetings on Tuesdays, independent learning tasks, group assignments and online lessons. You should expect 140 hours of study for the short course, spread over the full duration of this course. That means that you will need to spend around 8 hours a week on individual study or online meetings.
This short course is scheduled from 4 September 2025 – 6 February 2026, with the on-campus week of this short course scheduled in 2 February - 6 February 2026.
As soos as enough participants have been accepted to the programme, we will inform you if the course will take place in September 2025! The latest we will inform you about this, is 2 months before the course.
Short courses help to deepen your understanding of themes concerning education improvement from a Christian perspective. These courses will help you look at your own educational practice in a different way. We offer four different short courses: Christian Education: a Practices Approach (semester 1); Developing organisations and people: The intersection of leadership, ethos, and curriculum (semester 2); Religious Education: Formation of Christian Committed Character (semester 3); and Transforming Society: Education for Justice and Shalom (semester 4). For these courses, you will join the modules of the content strand in the Master's Programme. If you pass the module(s), you can get exemptions if you register for the complete Master's Programme at a later time (subject to the conditions).
The courses involve regular online meetings on Tuesdays, independent learning tasks, group assignments, online lessons and one week on-campus seminar in Gouda, The Netherlands. During this on-campus seminar you will have meetings with your fellow students and the Professor(s), and you will have the opportunity to visit schools and, if possible, gain teaching practice in Dutch schools.
