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ERIC Number: EJ1261935
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Sep
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1082-3301
EISSN: N/A
Connections, Virtues, and Meaning-Making: How Early Childhood Educators Describe Children's Spirituality
Mata-McMahon, Jennifer; Haslip, Michael J.; Schein, Deborah L.
Early Childhood Education Journal, v48 n5 p657-669 Sep 2020
Even though interest in children's spirituality has increased in the past decade, there still remains a lack of consensus among scholars as to how it is defined. Likewise, little is known about how educators understand children's spirituality. This study examines how 33 early childhood educators, working in secular educational settings, understand children's spirituality. Multiple definitions of children's spirituality from existing literature are explored and contrasted with the study findings to explore how wider consensus about this phenomenon can be achieved. Findings show that most early childhood educators surveyed have a multilayered understanding of children's spirituality and most commonly believe children's spirituality includes building connections, practicing virtues, and making meaning. To lessor degrees, educators also mentioned God and religion, self-awareness, mindfulness and presence, humanness and inner feelings. When describing children's spirituality, surveyed educators placed more emphasis on inter-personal character traits related to the heart, as defined in the Circumplex Model of the VIA Classification. The study has important implications for scholars and practitioners who seek to examine or promote young children's spirituality, and by extension, support the important processes of relationship building, virtue development and the ways in which we understand how children construct meaning about their lived experience, their own selves and the world around them.
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A