Vol 2, No 3 (2020): Family Life Education
Issue Description
Various disciplines approach the concept of family from different directions. A common principle of the definitions may be the general statement that the family is the smallest unit of society, the primary medium of socialization, where the individual learns the most important rules and norms necessary for his or her integration into the given society and adult life.
Preparing for family life is an important cornerstone for the operation of future families. With the decline of traditional family forms, there are fewer and fewer chances to informally transmit roles and patterns related to family life within the family. In an institutionalized form, education for family life appears in smaller parts in the process of education and cultivation (for example, embedded in subject curricula), but at the same time, efforts are made to incorporate them in a more complex way. Efforts to prepare for the family life in education have intensified in Central and Eastern European countries since the change of regime. In addition to institutionalized education, church, civic-, health-, and social organizations also play a significant role.<. . .
Various disciplines approach the concept of family from different directions. A common principle of the definitions may be the general statement that the family is the smallest unit of society, the primary medium of socialization, where the individual learns the most important rules and norms necessary for his or her integration into the given society and adult life.
Preparing for family life is an important cornerstone for the operation of future families. With the decline of traditional family forms, there are fewer and fewer chances to informally transmit roles and patterns related to family life within the family. In an institutionalized form, education for family life appears in smaller parts in the process of education and cultivation (for example, embedded in subject curricula), but at the same time, efforts are made to incorporate them in a more complex way. Efforts to prepare for the family life in education have intensified in Central and Eastern European countries since the change of regime. In addition to institutionalized education, church, civic-, health-, and social organizations also play a significant role.
The thematic issue of CEJER presents facts and trends related to family life quite clearly without the need for completeness. Some of the studies are about relationships and marriage, others are about family functioning, for example about parenting, family values, crisis, health, and illness. The conclusion and common denominator of all writing could be the statement that the more prepared the family members are, the more effective the answers given to the diverse challenges of family life can be. Educating for family life is an essential issue in every society, whether it happens in schools, churches, NGOs or, the most ideally, in the family. The happiness of the family shapes their expectations of a new life, the upbringing and fulfilment of that life, and the passing away of a loved one is also the most dignified here.
This issue provides a special occasion for a final farewell, as we dedicate it to the memory of Giuseppe Mari, our colleague from Milan. Giuseppe arrived with Erasmus mobility, and then we returned his visit. He was an excellent man and professional, an educational-, anthropological-, and theological expert on marriage. He engaged his students with his lectures, and his colleagues bowed their heads before his extremely deep and thorough knowledge. At the time of our meeting, the creation of this journal was still in its infancy, but he was ready to offer to write an article for the thematic issue. He soon sent his manuscript, well before the deadline — and he, too, left the earthly world well before his time. Unexpectedly, the Heavenly Family called for him in the prime of his life. We keep his memory alive.
Agnes Engler