Spirituality is understood as an integral part of humanity; residing within every person alongside the other developmental domains. For leaders in Catholic schools in Western Australia (WA), spirituality becomes integrated with religion. However, for many leaders in a Catholic school, spirituality has not been a construct they are familiar with from a professional viewpoint. This paper reports the findings from research embedded within a year-long professional learning project aimed at pedagogical growth. Qualitative data from a pre and post questionnaire ascertained the leaders' pedagogical growth. One component focussed on understanding spirituality and how children's spirituality might be nurtured specifically when taking a holistic approach within the Catholic school context; these findings provide an original contribution to the field and are the focus of this paper. Specifically, findings affirmed the centrality of spirituality within child development and the need to intentionally address teacher (and leader) knowledge and skills in nurturing spirituality.
Details
Title
Pedagogical growth journeys: perspectives of spirituality within holistic approaches to early years education
Authors/Creators
C. Robinson - The University of Notre Dame Australia
D. O'Connor - Murdoch Univ, Sch Humanities Arts & Sci, Murdoch, Australia
S. Wynne - The University of Notre Dame Australia
W. Manners - Australian Catholic University
M. Pietracatella - Australian Catholic University
Publication Details
International journal of children's spirituality
Publisher
Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Number of pages
20
Grant note
Catholic Education Western Australia LTD Catholic Education Western Australia