“Children’s Spiritual Education” Project launched within the scope of the 2025 Family Year

Within the framework of the 2025 Family Year, Üsküdar University’s Institute of Sufi Studies implemented a social responsibility project titled “Children’s Spiritual Education: Training for Parents and Educators.” The project aimed to support children’s religious and spiritual development on a scientific basis by providing parents and educators with comprehensive and up to date training. All courses within the program were designed and delivered by Prof. Tuba Işık, an academician at the Institute of Islamic Theology at Humboldt University of Berlin.

Implemented as part of the Institute of Sufi Studies’ social responsibility mission, the project was offered free of charge over four weeks. A total of 160 participants from various European countries, primarily Türkiye and Germany, took part in the program.

Supporting families and educators with qualified spiritual education

The main objective of the program was to provide parents and educators with current, practical, and scientifically grounded educational content to support children’s religious and spiritual development. Addressing spiritual education from a social responsibility perspective, the project placed the family and child education at its core.

Training prepared by Prof. Tuba Işık

The courses were prepared and delivered by Prof. Tuba Işık, who has been leading the German leg of the “International Masnavi-Child Project: Moral Education Through Selected Masnavi Stories” since 2023, within the scope of academic collaboration between Üsküdar University and Humboldt University of Berlin.

The Türkiye leg of the project is conducted under the coordination of Prof. Emine Yeniterzi, with contributions from Asst. Prof. Cangüzel Güner Zülfikar and Asst. Prof. H. Dilek Güldütuna. The project also includes two master’s theses, one doctoral dissertation, and postdoctoral work carried out by Dr. Esin Tümer.

Prof. Elif Erhan: “Transforming academic work into social benefit is commendable in every respect”

Commenting on the project, Prof. Elif Erhan, Director of the Institute of Sufi Studies, stated: “The Masnavi-Child Project, implemented under the leadership of Prof. Tuba Işık, aims to develop methodological approaches by interpreting Sufi texts in children’s spiritual education. This training program offers content that is rooted in everyday life, adaptable to socio cultural differences, and highly applicable. Beyond academic success, transforming these studies into a social responsibility project that generates social benefit is commendable in every respect.”

Educational content and evaluation process

The target audience of the program consisted of parents and educators who wish to contribute to children’s religious and spiritual development. To assess the impact of the training, participants completed two surveys one before the program and one after its completion. These surveys measured learning outcomes and participant satisfaction.

The course content included:

Week 1: Concepts of God and the Prophet in relation to parent child relationships

Weeks 2 and 3: Developmental psychology-based approaches to religious education, age appropriate teaching of stories, symbols, and worship practices, parental attitudes, and values education

Week 4: Presentation and evaluation of participant practices

The program concluded with a high level of participant satisfaction.

Social responsibility projects to continue

The Institute of Sufi Studies plans to continue and expand its social responsibility projects focusing on children’s spiritual development and family education in the coming period.

About Prof. Tuba Işık

Prof. Tuba Işık’s research areas include religious education and pedagogy, virtue ethics, Muslim women, and comparative theology. She holds a master’s degree in international public law and pedagogy from Göttingen Georg-August University and a PhD from Paderborn University and has also studied Catholic theology in Paderborn and Rome. She has completed graduate level studies in Islamic Education at Osnabrück University and the Faculties of Theology in Bursa and Ankara. Prof. Işık is the coeditor of the first German language textbook on Islamic religious education didactics (2022) and the author of a monograph on character formation published in 2022. Her most recent edited volume, Islamic Aesthetic Education, explores various dimensions of learning through aesthetic experience.