Nurturing the Childrens Spirituality in the Learning Process - Essay Example

Nurturing the Children’s Spirituality in the Learning Process Education is said to be the panacea to both personal and social illnesses. Experts argue that as a number of youths seemed to be confronting such perceived mental illness born out of depression, thus, there appears need to holistically respond to look into the physical, emotional, psychological, social and cultural necessities or well-being of learners to make them become adaptive of resilient measures. De Souza (2004) argued that nurturing the children’s spirituality is a foundation in the learning process because it bridges the relation of spirituality to their social development and ability to empathize meaningfully with others. In such a way they are able to maintain compassionate and balance learning process to make them pro-active in school activities. Through this, they are expected to enjoy social cohesion and harmony within and outside school. De Souza (2004) asserted that Values Education and Clarification have been considered by the state as significant to be integrated in the curriculum to teach learners moral values as an inspirational tool in defining their good relation with the rest of humanity and creation. Since the 1960s, moral values are a significant parcel in the formation of the learners’ affective domains to integrate their emotional, attitudinal, values and beliefs’ constructions (De Souza, 2004). Experts believed that values and moral are derivatives of peoples’ emotive sense and, thus, are not viewed as relevant in their cognitive being (De Souza, 2004). Hence, it’s this dichotomy of human existence that made it confusing and difficult to arrive at a common understanding on values of education (De Souza, 2004). It’s in this context that experts dealt the dualism of educational philosophy: language and practice (De Souza, 2004). They adopted an educational pattern for cognitive development and for values education to develop a standard behaviour and intelligence of learners and to nurture that sense of commitment among individuals based on virtue and values (De Souza, 2004; Lambert, 2003, Noddings, 2010). Some psychologists observed that this has been considered as an effective tool since historical experiences proved that the integration of values in improving learners’ intellectual pursuits made people resilient in times of recession, conflicts, and social upheavals and during wars (Cacioppe & Edwards, 2005; Glendinning, 2005; Gross, 2004). It also served business companies who struggled to survive from economic depression; to adopt principle-centered business management; and to manage the changes required to sustain its business interest (Herrington & Kervin, 2007; Hodgkinson, 1996). Many of these business leaders have integrated values in their relation with their human resources, with customers and with the rest of their business stakeholders (Starratt, 2008). As such, it can be inferred that if values are significantly lived as a model or pattern of behaviour to maintain a credible and integral corporate image (Parens, 2005; Peterson, 2005; & Starratt, 2005). From personal values, transformational leaders could adopt these principles as an organizational value that will govern their relation with the community (Tuana, 2007; Wehlage, Newmann, & Secada, 1996). Some sociologist shared purview that values is a phenomenal attribute of human beings whose education attained has nurtured them to opt for positive attributes instead of those negative attitudes. Therefore, moral education is important so that people can choose to apply positive behaviours toward a value-led life (Yelland, 2006). Teachers therefore must depict the same practices of leadership as model among its learners and must develop an environment where students are allowed full participation, dialogue, inquiry, reflection, and rediscovering the transformational models to revive their sense of purposiveness in this world (Tuana, 2007; Wehlage, Newmann, & Secada, 1996). Everybody has the notion that teachers are there to engage learners to improve their crafts, to make them action and result-oriented, and to inculcate on them their strong sense of being to make people adaptive to changes and to possess such disposition of assuming responsibility to question falsities. It’s also from this notion that those who’d found the need to rise up from challenges brace themselves to respond to perplexed and multidimensional concerns on civilization, poverty, lack of access to quality education, conflicts and war, excessive human rights violations, and about practicing equity (Tuana, 2007; Wehlage, Newmann, & Secada, 1996). As has been sociologically observed, the learner will come to an understanding that persons develop personal schemas using their experiences, beliefs, values, historical influences, and perception of the empirical realities surrounding them as their instrument in coming up with a meaningful reflection (Wehlage, et al., 1996). This could help become their guidance and principles in managing their relations with others. Their reflections will also inspire them to engage in reflective dialogue about the world in varied perspectives. Cohesion and flexibility to many future experiences. Experts argued that professional acquisition of knowledge motivate learners to opt for interactive professional culture for growth and development (Wehlage, et al., 1996). They will be engaged in constructivist learning process for reciprocal and purposeful learning mechanism. This can be obtained by obliging their selves to bring their very selves at the level of purposiveness (Wehlage, et al., 1996). As such, teachers must also sustainably improve their knowledge to increase their knowledge base needed for classroom and experimental instruction. This could also help facilitate critical academic discourse in generating inferences on social realities while at the same time keeping options within the bounds of moral choices (Wehlage, et al., 1996). With wide storage of knowledge, they can offer depth coaching and share leadership skills but at the same time, approaching their learners and colleagues as valued contributor in a sharing, dialogue, critiquing, rethinking, and bridging of professional community (Wehlage, et al., 1996). Experts believed that the wisdom derived from ideation and empirical facts, from information (including disinformation), and images weave the meaning and knowledge to make sense of the world about us. This value-oriented form of education will be put all learners within the positive tract and will motivate them to become pro-active stakeholders in a community that is struggling to remove the vestiges of poverty, illiteracy, social inequities, and ecological-related problems. This can bring about the highest form of commitment and leadership in all endeavours and context. Teachers therefore play a crucial role in nurturing values and principle-centred knowledge for learners to genuinely and authentically live their lives in a deeply meaningful and value-centered sense of purpose. References Cacioppe, R. and Edwards, M. (2005).Seeking the Holy Grail of organisational development: A synthesis of integral theory, spiral dynamics, corporate transformation and action inquir. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 26 (2), pp.86 – 105. De Souza, M. (2001). Teaching for empathy, compassion, meaning and connectness to create communities of greater social harmony and cohesion: Rediscovering the spiritual values of education. Journal of Religious Education, Australian Catholic University, Ballarat, Australia v.49, no.3, 2001, p.31-41. Glendinning, M. (2005). Digging into history: Authentic learning through archaeology. The History Teacher. Vol. 38(2), pp. 209-223. Gross, S. J. (2004). When the State and Feds come marching in. In S. J. Gross (Ed.), Promises Kept: Sustaining school and district leadership in a turbulent era. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA. pp. 126 - 139. Herrington, J. & Kervin, L. (2007). Authentic learning supported by technology: ten suggestions and cases of integration in classrooms. Educational Media International. Vol. 44(3), pp. 219-236. Hodgkinson, C. (1996). Administrative philosophy. Elsevier-Pergamon, Oxford, UK. Starratt, R. J. (2008). Cultivating the moral character of learning and teaching: A neglected dimension of educational leadership. Paper presented at the L TLL Plenary Session, Strathfield, NSW. Lambert, L. (2003). Leadership redefined: an evocative context for teacher leadership. School Leadership & Management. Vol. 23(4), pp.421-430. Noddings, N. (2010). Moral Education in an Age of Globalisation. Educational Philosophy and Theory. Vol. 42, (4). Parens, E. (2005). Authenticity and ambivalence: Towards understanding the enhancement debate. Hastings Centre Report, vol. 35 (3), pp. 34-41. Peterson, R. (2005). In search of authenticity. Journal of management studies. Vol. 42(5), pp. 1083-1098. Starratt, R. (2005). Authentic academic learning as grounded education for democratic community and social justice. Paper presented at the 10th Annual Leadership & Ethics Conference, Authentic leadership, authentic learning. Penn State University, State College, PA Tuana, N. (2007). Conceptualising moral literacy. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(4), p.p. 364-378. Wehlage, G., Newmann, F. & Secada, W. (1996). Standards for authentic achievement and pedagogy. In F. Newmann & Associates, Authentic achievement: restructuring schools for intellectual quality. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, US. pp. 21-48. Yelland, N. (2006). Changing worlds and the new curricula in the knowledge era. Educational Media International. 43(2), 121-131. Read More