The Pastoral Formation Institute is licensed by MFHEA (Licence #: 2013-FHI-023) as a Further and Higher Educational Institute. The Award in Creating and Animating Prayer Spaces is accredited at EQF/MQF Level 5, as a Higher Education Programme.
Students who successfully complete this course may apply for the Get Qualified Scheme which will enable them to benefit from a tax credit of 70% of the costs incurred (i.e. €87.50 will be refunded for this course).
This course is designed to:
Equip participants with the necessary knowledge and skills required to create and run a prayer space in a given setting.
Offer participants the opportunity to grow in their connectedness with their own self, with others, with the world, and with God through the prayer spaces experience.
Enable participants to accompany others and explore their faith, spirituality, and life’s essential questions in a safe, creative, and interactive way.
Lead participants to understand better the shift from living merely to functioning, fulfilling demands and expectations to a more meaningful life.
Invite the participants to become aware that relationships are strengthened when one takes the time to appreciate and reflect upon them.
A prayer space can be set in various places. The setting can be a school, a youth centre, a parish hall, the workplace, an open-plan area, or an outdoor place.
Identify different age groups of children and young people attending the prayer space;
Communicate in different ways with children, young people, or adults according to their age, culture, and language during a prayer space;
Identify suitable interested members of the staff/personnel who are willing to form a team to prepare and animate prayer spaces in their respective schools;
Draw up a plan for planning, preparing, setting up, and running prayer spaces;
Report what educators and students said after they have experienced prayer spaces for themselves;
Evaluate what went well, identify difficulties and challenges in setting a prayer space;
Understand that at the most basic level, prayer spaces give students a way to reflect and develop reflective thinking skills in terms of the four key relationships: the self, others, the world, and God;
Make a connection between prayer spaces and other subjects
Reflect personally on a prayer space;
Plan a prayer space;
Prepare for the setting of prayer spaces;
Create simple and clear instruction cards, and prepare the resources related to the prayer space;
Set up the physical prayer space in any given space and/or venue.
Demonstrate a welcoming attitude to all children and young people of all faith and none who will be experiencing a prayer space;
Lead the children and young people to the safe, hands-on, creative prayer space and, when necessary, animate the prayer spaces;
Show a sense of accompaniment and being there for the person;
Operate with other members of staff who wish to give a helping hand before, during, and after the setting of a prayer space activity;
Recruit and train a prayer space team;
Run a Prayer Space;
Do a follow-up of a prayer spaces session.
This course is targeted at all those who wish to help children, young people, and adults grow in their prayer life, namely:
Educators,
Catechists,
Youth workers,
Youth leaders,
Youth ministers,
Religious counsellors,
Chaplains and lay chaplains,
Priests and religious.
Target Audience Age: 18+
Code
Mode of Delivery
Value
SPR5002
In-Person (Face-to-Face Learning)
2 ECTS
Rev. Paul Chetcuti SJ
The lecturer will introduce the concepts of prayer, spirituality, and religion. Participants will become aware of the superficial vs meaning-making, being, and the development of symbolic language.
Rev. Reuben Gauci
Prayer Spaces stations will be set up for participants to experience them for themselves. A lecture will follow about the values of prayer spaces, and participants will learn that prayer spaces are spiritual, reflective, inclusive, professional, and Christian.
Rev. Reuben Gauci
Prayer Spaces stations will be set up for participants to experience them for themselves. During the lecture about the purpose and theology of prayer spaces, participants will learn that prayer spaces help one reflect and develop reflective thinking skills; and see this in terms of four key relationships: the self, other people, the World, the sacred, and divine. They will also learn that God made everyone spiritual; God has a mission, welcomes, hears, cares, speaks, and acts.
Rev. Reuben Gauci
Prayer Spaces stations will be set up for participants to experience them for themselves. A lecture about preparing for the setting of prayer spaces will follow. Participants will learn how to get started with prayer spaces.
Ms Silvana Cardona:
Prayer Spaces stations will be set up for participants to experience them for themselves. A lecture about creating prayer activities will follow. Participants will learn how to choose and create prayer activities directed to the self, others, the World, and God and create activities that are a mix of learning styles; writing, listening, looking, reading, and doing.
Rev. Reuben Gauci
Prayer space stations will be set up for participants to experience them for themselves. A lecture about how to recruit and train an excellent prayer space team will follow, and participants will learn to recruit people who are prayerful, inclusive, reflective, professional, and safe. Participants will also learn how to set a good prayer space and how it can be welcoming to anyone who wishes to visit. They learn how to gather feedback and write a report as a follow-up.
The course is delivered over 18 contact hours spread over six 3-hour sessions.
Lectures will be held from 17:00 – 20:00
Date
Session Title
Tuesday
21.11,2023
Introduction to Prayer
Thursday
23.11.2023
The Values of Prayer Spaces
Tuesday
28.11.2023
The Purpose of Prayer Spaces and Prayer Spaces Theology
Thursday
30.11.2023
Preparing for the setting of Prayer Spaces
Tuesday
05.12.2023
Creating Prayer Activities
Thursday
07.12.2023
Recruiting and training a prayer space team, running a Prayer Space and follow up
Certification:
This course has three exit certificate options:
Certificate of Attendance
To obtain a Certificate of Attendance, students must attend at least 80% of the course’s contact hours.
2. Certificate of Participation
To obtain a Certificate of Participation, students need to meet the attendance criteria and successfully conclude the course multiple-choice online exam.
3. Certificate of Achievement
To obtain a Certificate of Achievement, students must:
attend at least 80% of the course`s contact hours;
pass the short multiple-choice online exam (40% of global assessment);
and successfully complete an assignment of 500 – 800 words about the steps needed to plan, prepare, set up, and evaluate an actual prayer space, including photos or short videos (up to 3 mins).
The Pastoral Formation Institute is licensed by MFHEA (Licence #: 2013-FHI-023) as a Further and Higher Educational Institute. The Award in Creating and Animating Prayer Spaces is accredited at EQF/MQF Level 5, as a Higher Education Programme.
Funding Students completing the Award in Creating & Animating Prayer Spaces may apply for the Get Qualified Scheme which will enable them to benefit from a tax credit of 70% of the costs incurred (i.e. €87.50 will be refunded for this course).
Teaching and Awarding Institution: Pastoral Formation Institute
Qualifications: Every application will be considered on its individual merits. The Pastoral Formation Institute accepts a wide range of qualifications, and we always try to judge applications on the basis of academic potential. We do consider a very wide range of academic, vocational, and professional qualifications, as well as work and other appropriate experiences and skills.
Language: Primary level understanding of Maltese and English.
Digital: Knows how to access the internet and use a word processor.
For courses offered in face-to-face learning and Blended Learning, it is required that applicants reside in the Maltese Islands and use their Maltese address in their application form.
