The Vocational Pedagogy Curriculum aims to train professionals, experts in the field of guidance, animation, and education, vocational training (operators, teachers, researchers) specifically regarding vocational pastoral care, ordained ministry, consecrated vocations, and lay vocations, particularly marital and family vocations.
The curriculum is divided into two tracks:
- Pedagogy for Vocational Training;
- Pedagogy for the Formation of Marital and Family Vocations
Bachelor’s Degree in Educational Sciences: specialization in Pedagogy for Vocational Formation
The first cycle of the Bachelor’s Degree in Educational Sciences, specialization in Pedagogy for Vocational Formation, trains professionals in the field of vocational guidance, animation, and education, suitable for roles such as educator, animator, and vocational trainer, including vocational proposals, collaboration in initial and ongoing training in educational and training institutions in general, and particularly in ecclesiastical structures.
Students will be guided in acquiring theoretical and methodological knowledge, along with operational and planning skills, at various levels of training.
The study program offers basic training for significant roles and functions in guidance, accompaniment, training, and vocational pastoral care; it also aims to respond to the new educational needs presented by the training paths of various vocations, preparing professional educators capable of designing and coordinating vocational actions of educational and/or training institutions in general, and particularly ecclesiastical ones.
The study program ensures the acquisition of theoretical and methodological knowledge, along with operational and planning skills:
- reading the vocational reality and interpreting new needs in a pedagogical and formative key, with particular attention to developmental and youth aspects;
- addressing educational and ecclesiastical situations with an operational and planning approach to establish itineraries, choose general methodologies, and enhance effective strategies in adapting processes to current social and ecclesiastical needs;
- grasping new perspectives and needs of the educational task (animator, accompanist, guide, trainer), to enhance them in the context of their professional activity for the benefit of individuals and the institutions in which they are involved.
The skills offered enable tasks such as:
- guidance in the educational field;
- promotion and animation of vocational pastoral care;
- training of priestly, religious, consecrated, and lay vocations;
- coordination of vocational training teams in various ecclesiastical structures;
- participation in vocational discernment and accompaniment processes in collaboration with specialists.
Licentiate in Educational Sciences: specialization in Vocational Pedagogy
The second cycle of the Licentiate in Educational Sciences with a specialization in Vocational Pedagogy trains expert guides, animators, educators, and specialists in vocational accompaniment and counseling for various priestly, religious, consecrated, and lay vocations. It also prepares teachers in the field of vocational training and experts in designing training processes according to the needs of the times and places, for the different phases of initial and ongoing or continuous training in ecclesiastical educational and training structures.
Students in Pedagogy for Vocational Formation will acquire in-depth theoretical and methodological knowledge to address educational and training situations with an operational and planning approach. They will be able to grasp the training needs and perspectives in the vocational field and thus perform tasks of guidance, training, and vocational counseling, knowing how to design their implementation.
The study program enables practical skills through workshops, seminars, internships, research experiences, and the design of educational and training interventions in the vocational field.
The curriculum envisions the training of a vocational pedagogue, animator, and trainer expert in:
- animation and coordination of educational and ecclesiastical training structures for children, youth, and adults;
- vocational counseling as a privileged tool for discernment, accompaniment, and guidance;
- designing, leading, and animating initial and ongoing or continuous training paths;
- diagnosis and facilitation of vocational resource development;
- accompaniment and support of the vocational journey and crisis situations, also in collaboration with other specialists.