16
@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic Spiritual Literacy – Bridging the Gap AULRE Conference 13 th July 2012, St. Mary’s University College Twickenham E Emma McVittie & Paul Smalley

Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

Paper presented by Emma McVittie and Paul Smalley at the AULRE Conference July 2012

Citation preview

Page 1: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Spiritual Literacy – Bridging the GapAULRE Conference 13th July 2012,

St. Mary’s University College Twickenham

EEmma McVittie & Paul Smalley

Page 2: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Humble Beginnings

Cross curricular Teaching and Learning

Origins of ‘guided imagery’

– Desoille (1938) ‘rêve-éveillé’

Apparent use in TEFL /TESL

Two ‘strands’

Page 3: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

The Theory Behind the Practice

The project draws on a variety of theoretical constructs which were used to structure the project activities and examine the findings

Spirituality and Spiritual Literacy

Visualisation techniques

Psychosynthesis

Physical literacy

Page 4: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Spirituality - multi-dimensional

“An inclusive education for spiritual development would need to begin from the fact that spirituality is inevitably defined in the context of the beliefs and values of the person defining it and that, therefore, spirituality is pluralist.”

(Watson,2006:116)

Wright (2000) gives us a starting point for discussion but not a universal definition.

Crossman (2003) no generalised definition

Page 5: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Spiritual Development v Spiritual Literacy

Belousa (2009) – talks about the “manifestations of a person's inner way” in a “spiral like process that moves according to each person's rhythm.”

“Spiritual literacy helps a person to acknowledge and maintain a relationship with the self, others, environment, natural world and the ultimate.” (Belousa, 2009:225)

“Making meaning at a profound level through personal narrative.......providing these spaces for children to ask 'bigger questions' and enabling them to respond and reflect upon their learning.” (Binder, 2010:22)

Page 6: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Mapping the spiritual experience

Hay and Nye (1996) Categories of spiritual sensitivity for young children

Ingersoll (1996) Spiritual well-being inventory from a counselling perspective - 10 dimensions

Fisher (1998) A model of spiritual well being in relation to health

Elton-Chalcraft (2002) Four dimensions of spirituality

Page 7: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

The ‘whole’ child

Whitehead (2010) Physical Literacy

Psychosynthesis (Assagioli, 1911) – roots in psychology and counselling.

Page 8: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Pilot Structure and Content

Relaxation and preparation exercises

Visualisation with sensory cues

Discussion

Reflective activity

Interviews 5-10 minutes with 6 pupils.

Follow up with the same 6 pupils

Page 9: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Data Snippets....

The data that follows has been tentatively analysed, shows indications of spiritual development and lends support to the theory of psychosynthesis.

The examples show:

Reflective activity after visualisation

Follow-up reflective activity using sensory cues

Page 10: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Page 11: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Ownership of boat

Apprehension to contentedness

Recall of vocabulary

Page 12: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Page 13: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Emergent Findings – Part 1

Self awareness:

Awareness of relationships

Ego-centric or self aware?

Emotional transformation

'Here and now'/inner/lost in the 'flow‘?

Saw own reflection in the water

“Thought someone would be at the end of the garden .”

“Thought like if I’ll meet somebody in the garden.”

“relaxed because there was no-one around me and that was my only chance to get peace”

From anger to calmness

From anger to contentedness

Felt “sad” “cause you’d seen all this stuff and you’ve not been before and you have to leave”

Page 14: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Emergent Findings – Part 2

“The pebble helped me to remember my garden”

“I found my pebble in a hole, I found it straight away”

“The music was the same as the first time I visited the garden”

Page 15: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Tentative Conclusions

Links to dimensions and categories of spirituality

The sensory cues appears to trigger memory (Bone, 2007)

The memory of the imagined journey is able to trigger indications of spirituality as a memory of a physical journey (cf Whitehead 2010)

Page 16: Spiritual literacy bridging the gap

@EmmaMcV @PabloPedantic

Future Plans

Secondary Pilot

Large scale study – October 2012

Primary and secondary schools nationwide

Develop a linked series of visualisations

Expand curricular ‘range’