The book series Quiero querer, promoted by researchers from the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, has reached more than 12,000 young people and parents of 4,000 families in Spain, Chile, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Mexico since its launch in 2015 to date.

This collection is a program of Education of character and affectivity for elementary school students that also offers guides for parents to accompany their children in the process of training of their personality and affectivity. It is a proposal of development of positive habits of life and emotional Education based on the Pedagogy of the Integration of the Human Person.

Throughout the chapters, issues covering all dimensions of the human person are addressed: biological (health, identity, corporeality and growth), psychological (affective literacy and personality development ), spiritual (virtues and skills) and social (family, school and society).

approach and language adapted to each age group

The volumes are coordinated by Carlos Beltramo, doctor in Education and researcher of the project 'Education of affectivity and human sexuality' (EASH) of Institute for Culture and Society. He explains that "the approach and language are adapted to the characteristics and needs of each age group, making it a very useful tool for teachers to touch on classroom these fundamental topics and for children to feel involved in the first person".

The researcher recalls that before launching the collection, in the work of consultancy service that the EASH team develops in different schools, teachers expressed their desire to have an updated material that includes both the training in virtues and the Education emotional.

Taking into account the needs they detected and reviewing the official programs of different countries, they elaborated the collection. "Since it was published," he adds, "many schools of different conditions use them at classroom, applying the materials to the reality of their student body and their profile".

"In different countries, teachers and parents we talk to thank us for the material because it is allowing them to structure a subject that today is of great concern in the field educational", he acknowledges. As an example, he says that hundreds of parents and teachers met with ICS researchers in Guatemala a few weeks ago to discuss these issues.

Thus, he considers that "it is a privilege to be able to submit to theeducational centers a material that unites the Education of virtues, the emotional Education and the social commitment from early childhood".

A less common case: young people with intellectual disabilities

He also alludes to a recent and less common case: a high school in Galicia that relies on Quiero querer for an emotional Education project aimed at young people with intellectual disabilities. "Those in charge have told us that the books are very useful because, by covering all areas of the human being in a global way, it allows them to fill in the human training to these students who need so much support," he explains.

A teacher and a psychologist select the concepts that best suit the topic they are dealing with at a given time and approach them in a playful way, with dynamic techniques of group, role-playing and complementary activities such as theater, stories, painting, images.

The work in this center is an exception that fills us with joy," he says. It is a result that we did not expect but that encourages us to continue working from the University for the benefit of society".