(ANS - Rome) – The preparation for the International Congress of Salesian Pedagogy ends today. The Congress begins tomorrow 19 March at the Salesianum in Rome. In this final reflection the Congress Coordinator, Fr Vito Orlando, focuses on the formation of educators in the Salesian Family.

What must the Salesians and the Salesian Family do to form "educators of young people of our time"?

Educators of young people of our time must discover the giftedness of Don Bosco as an educator and be able to live his spirit and educational practice The Preventive System is "the quintessence of his pedagogical wisdom and constitutes the prophetic message that he left to his followers and the whole Church" (JP 8).

From this wisdom of Don Bosco his art of education developed. It is an art of positive education because it involves practices that lead to enjoying doing good and experimenting. It is the art of helping young people to grow from within. It is not satisfied with mere conformity and it encourages the young person to grow in inner freedom. It is the art of winning the hearts of the young and helping them to share the joy and satisfaction of doing good (JP n. 8).

This wisdom and the art of education need to be constantly renewed. This requires intelligence, courage, and commitment to seek new ways of putting it into practice that respond to the conditions and practical needs of life.

Education is not improvisation. It is not enough to have a natural inclination to become an educator, or even a vocation on its own. Education is a complex vital and social task to be accomplished with an awareness of the situations and problems. It demands self-control and the acquisition and development of skills.

Those who choose education as a way of life need to be supported, not left alone. They need cooperation and need to be helped with adequate preparation to experiment and renew the process of education with creativity and a sense of responsibility. (JP 17).

In 1872 Don Bosco started a series of meetings on educational methodology as part of the pedagogical formation of those who were hoping to become Salesians. In 1874 he asked Fr Barberis to look after the pedagogical formation in a systematic way. Fr Barberis organized his notes in a "Handbook of Sacred Pedagogy," which was valued throughout the Congregation for many years. The style and contents of this manual are amazing.

Like Don Bosco, we need to pay attention nowadays to the formation of the teaching skills of the educator in the spirit of Don Bosco. Formation and skills must be relevant to the needs of our educational ministry of collaboration with God for the salvation of youth.

Published 18/03/2015