ABSTRACT
Since the concept of ‘spiritual development’ was introduced to schooling in England (and Wales) with the 1988 and 1992 Education Acts, there has been much discussion about what is meant by ‘spirituality’ and ‘spiritual development’ in the educational context, and this has been accompanied by a sense of confusion because of ‘a lack of clear terminology-we still don’t know exactly what we are talking about’ (Erricker & Erricker, 1997, p. 3). However, this ‘confusion’ is somewhat
disingenuous and the ‘contemporary debate regarding the “spirituality” of the ‘whole child’ does not take place in a vacuum’ (Wright, 1996, p. 139). In fact, the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) and schools are largely agreed on what is meant by ‘spiritual development’ for schools, so that at the practical level, we do broadly know what we’re talking about. And at the theoretical level, while debate continues on the broader question of what might be meant by a spiritual education, even here educationalists know what they’re talking about, they just don’t agree with one another.
