RT Article
T1 Spiritual development in the classroom: pupils’ and educators’ learning reflections
JF International journal of children's spirituality
VO 17
IS 2
SP 167
OP 185
A1 Ng, Yee-Ling
LA English
PB Taylor & Francis
YR 2012
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1779673256
AB 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.
K1 phenomenography
K1 classroom practice
K1 children’s spirituality
K1 Spiritual Development
DO 10.1080/1364436X.2012.726609