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 from 4,000 families in Spain, Chile, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Mexico since it was launched in 2015.

This collection is a character and affectivity education program for elementary school students; it also guides parents in accompanying their children in the process of personality and affectivity formation. It proposes the development of positive habits in life and emotional education based on a pedagogy of human integration.

The series addresses issues that cover all dimensions of the human person, including biology (health, identity, physicality and growth), psychology (literacy in affectivity and personality development), spirituality (virtues and skills) and the social sphere (family, school and society).

Approach and language adapted to each age

Carlos Beltramo coordinates the series; he holds a PhD in Education and is a research fellow at the Education of Human Affectivityand Sexuality (EASH, for its initials in Spanish) project of the Institute for Culture and Society. He explains that, "the series’ focus and language are adapted to the characteristics and needs of each age group, so it is a very useful tool for teachers to touch on these fundamental issues in the classroom and children feel very involved."

Beltramo recalls that before launching the collection, in the consulting work that the EASH team develops at a variety of schools, professors expressed a desire to have access to updated material that includes both virtues and emotional education. 

Taking into account the need that the EASH team noticed and in reviewing official programs available at different countries, they prepared the collection. "Since it has been published,” he adds, “numerous schools at different levels use them in the classroom, applying the materials to the student reality and profile there."

"Teachers and parents from a variety of countries have thanked us for the material because it is allowing them to structure a subject they are currently very worried about in the field of education," he acknowledges. As an example, Beltramo noted that hundreds of parents and teachers in Guatemala met with ICS researchers a few weeks ago to discuss these issues.

Thus, he believes that, "It is a privilege to be able to give these educational centers material that combines education in virtues, emotional education and social commitment starting from early childhood."

Out of the norm: Young people with intellectual disabilities

He also shared a recent and less common case. A school in Galicia reportedly relies on Quiero querer for an emotional education project aimed at young people with intellectual disabilities. "Those responsible for the project have told us that the books are very useful because, by holistically covering all areas of the human being, it allows them to give students who need so much support a complete education," he explains.

A teacher and a psychologist select the concepts that best adapt to the subject they are dealing with at a given moment and approach them in a playful manner, with group dynamic techniques, role-play and complementary activities such as theater, stories, painting, and pictures.

"The work happening at that center is out of the norm and it gives us great joy," Beltramo relates. “It is a result that we did not expect, but it encourages us to continue working from the University for the benefit of society.”