Public Schools, Spirituality, and Leadership

• In Event: Spirituality in Education: Becoming an Awakened School

Abstract

Objectives & Perspective
This presentation shares research which evaluated how members of my public school community approached spirituality. I approached this research through the lens of a school building leader grounded by Self Awareness Training (Teachers College, n.d.), which argues that only by tapping into the spiritual center of the individual can a school leader most effectively lead.

Modes of Inquiry & Data Sources

The data were collected through interviews with the school’s principal, several teachers, and several students. This data was analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2008).

Findings

The principal incorporates spirituality in two ways. First, when hiring, the principal asks prospective candidates how much they see teaching as a means of helping and how heavily they weigh empathy when making classroom decisions. Secondly, the principal spends school resources on extracurricular opportunities that will reach as many students as possible; he wants to give students many opportunities to build communities of fellowship outside of the classroom.
Teachers incorporate mindfulness practices to respond to challenging student behaviors and to equip students with self-regulatory tools. Additionally, some teachers begin meetings with an acknowledgement of their own values around education in order to ground their priorities. Finally, some teachers dedicate class time for reflective journaling. These practices receive no support or guidance from administrators.
Students practice meditation, use artistic expression, and journal as informal practices throughout their school day. Students also shared some issues that are preventing the school from embracing a more holistic spiritual approach, including: a focus on advanced academic classes rather than on student interests; the inconsistency in handling conflict resolution and restorative practices; and how scripted curriculum prevents authentic exploration and inquiry. All of the students expressed a strong belief that education must be deeper by emphasizing finding one’s passions, offering time to reflect, and connecting to one’s interests.

Conclusions

Through this research, I identified five obstacles to spiritually supportive public school culture. First, a lack of intentional design in creating spiritual spaces; second, an unwillingness to challenge institutional norms; third, misunderstandings of what spirituality is and how it could manifest itself in a purposeful, sustained, and holistic way while simultaneously respecting individual faith/belief traditions; fourth, a constant influx of new practitioners who are not at the developmental level required to be trained in these practices; and finally a lack of training of teachers at the university level in this type of thinking and practice.

Significance

The significance of our research is that it suggests some possible solutions to these obstacles. Schools should intentionally design curriculum with spiritual components. Additionally, schools should offer sustained professional development throughout the year which is integrated into the professional learning communities of the faculty and staff using different inquiry methodologies. Finally, schools should create pilot spiritual programs within all of the different school structures. However, the largest hurdle is creating momentum at the teacher preparation level both undergraduate and graduate level which will require combating decades of institutionalized and bureaucratic training for emerging educators at many different developmental levels.

Author

• David Bellard