Abstract
In this handbook we will examine the relationship between the concepts of wellbeing, care and spirituality in educational settings and the relationship to the provision of holistic education for young people. We will argue that there are serious consequences for not recognizing the importance of spirituality as a core dimension to a person’s development. Spirituality, here, is conceived as relational, the connectedness that an individual feels to everything that is other than self. Vygotsky recognized the importance of the relational character of teaching when he argued that the first stage in the construction of knowledge and meaning by an individual arises out of an “interpsychological” relationship with others (1978, p. 57). In other words, we come to learn about our world, society, various subjects and issues and most importantly we learn about ourselves through interaction with others.
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© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
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de Souza, M., Francis, L.J., O’Higgins-Norman, J., Scott, D.G. (2009). General Introduction. In: de Souza, M., Francis, L.J., O’Higgins-Norman, J., Scott, D. (eds) International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9018-9_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9018-9_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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