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Is There Spirituality? Can It Be Part Of Education?
Author(s) -
Wringe Colin
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of philosophy of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.501
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9752
pISSN - 0309-8249
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9752.00267
Subject(s) - explication , spirituality , subject (documents) , context (archaeology) , multiculturalism , curriculum , epistemology , sociology , spiritual development , philosophy of education , pedagogy , multicultural education , psychology , higher education , law , political science , philosophy , medicine , paleontology , alternative medicine , pathology , library science , computer science , biology
Note is taken of the requirement (expressed in the British Educational Reform Act 1988 and other documents) that the curriculum should contribute to the spiritual development of pupils in the school and of society. Declining to reject the term as vacuous, the paper explores various suggested meanings: induction into a particular religion, consideration of fundamental questions, a sense of self, certain largely inexpressible states of mind, and pupils' non–material well–being. All of these, with the possible exception of the first in the context of a multicultural public educational system, are shown to have some possible validity, subject to the need for further explication. Sincere concern with any profound notion of spiritual development is, however, held to be difficult to reconcile with current officially sanctioned conceptions of education.