Spiritual development in the classroom: pupils’ and educators’ learning reflections

摘要

The importance of spirituality is reinforced in legislation and policy directives in England and Wales. Nevertheless, it is argued that there is a dearth of studies into the practice and pedagogy of spiritual development in classroom settings. Thus, an investigation was developed capturing the experiences and learning reflections of 52 English primary school pupils (7-9 years) who have participated in a literature-derived spiritual development programme. A 10-week programme, based upon an experiential and relational view of children’s spirituality was implemented in two south London schools. Data were collected in four classrooms with primary school pupils and four classroom teachers and teaching assistants. Through phenomenographic analysis, themes or ‘categories of description’ were developed from the data collected (diaries - text and drawings, discussions and interviews) highlighting variations in pupils’ experiences and learning. This paper will focus upon the learning themes derived from the analysis of the data and it is argued that pupils’ and educators’ reflections on learning may have potential implications for the pedagogy and practice of spiritual development. In summary, the findings reveal that ‘tools’ such as silence, focusing, meaning, questioning, kinaesthetic awareness, use of one’s imagination and communication and sharing may be used in the classroom for spiritual development, allowing a child to relate to self and other/s.View full textDownload full textKeywordsspiritual development, children’s spirituality, classroom practice, phenomenographyRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2012.726609