Abstract
If schools are responsible for the spiritual development of all their pupils, how can we make sense of this responsibility given the range of worldviews pupils’ families may belong to and the range of spiritual truths children and young people may hold or reject? Constructing a form of spiritual pedagogy compatible with the broader expectations of education in a liberal democracy is problematic.
This chapter discusses various spiritual pedagogies put forward to develop children and young people’s spirituality in response to this problem. The chapter argues that a spiritual pedagogy promoting holistic learning and wellbeing must balance spiritual truth claims with sensitivity to difference in the spiritual life journeys and choices made by individual children and young people. The chapter suggests an approach to spiritual pedagogy which draws on the principles of inter-faith dialogue and the dialogic epistemology of Mikhail Bakhtin. Such an approach aims both to recognise and respect the reality and diversity of spiritual truth claims and to encourage a form of spiritual development which is compatible with a holistic approach to learning and the promotion of children’s spiritual wellbeing.
Although the discussion in this chapter is very much grounded in the context of the English school system, the problem of how to square positive teaching for spiritual development and wellbeing with the reality of spiritual diversity is very much an international, human problem.
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Watson, J. (2009). Responding to Difference: Spiritual Development and the Search for Truth. 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_44
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