Negotiating spirituality in teacher education

Abstract

Abstract Teachers teach out of who they are (Palmer, 1998), and teaching, or enacting curriculum, is what all teachers do, whether working in teacher education or at some other level of education. When whole teacher is drawn into a relationship with their students, when connections are established, teaching is then a gifting of teacher's self, a relational engagement (Palmer, 2003). If education is about making choices, it needs to address ethical responsibility of recognising wholeness in education and recognition of person as (English, Fenwick, & Parsons, 2003, p. 4). Engaging with spirituality in teacher education is not without its tensions. The then becomes a case of pushing boundaries. The aim of this article is to uncover inherent complexities and challenges of negotiating spirituality in teacher education in order to advance conversations on who is spiritual self that teaches. Introduction Having taught for close to three decades I am convinced that it is increasingly difficult to deny teaching self as teachers relate and connect with students. Personal histories and experiences come into play moment we step into classroom. Heron (1999) argues that when educators evoke spiritual dimension in their teaching, educators are teaching from their spiritual self--their being. Groen (2002) acknowledges that her teaching roles as an adult educator and spiritual person had run on parallel tracks, but these two tracks have begun to intersect and become one track. I am at present travelling on a similar road, grappling with how knowledge and lived experience of my spirituality affect my practice. This search has intensified as I gracefully age into teaching profession and choose to stay for reasons of heart. It is affirming to know that many educators have wondered if other adult educators were experiencing a similar change in their perspective and practice (Groen, 2002, p. 34); that I am not alone as I seek to understand self that teaches. Curriculum Matters Currently, many teacher-educators are interested in possibility of negotiating spirituality in education (Wright, 2000). I share this interest. I have, for a long time, been reflecting on how I can situate myself in a religiously pluralistic environment. Like Groen (2002), I am a spiritual person; spirituality intrigues me. How teacher-educators conceptualise and experience spirituality within workplace excites me. Yet, in reality, as adult educators we often engage our spirituality as we cultivate and promote all levels of critical and creative thinking in each learning event (Carey, Dunston, Kaiser, & Oldmixon, 2005). Indeed, spirituality is everywhere, waiting to be evoked (Tisdell, 2003). At all levels of learning and teaching, teachers bring their spiritual self into classroom as they negotiate prescribed curriculum--the givens. Spirituality is enacted through curriculum. However, spirituality remains a controversial issue. This paper seeks to establish a platform on which other researchers can feed back on, add a voice to, a challenging topic, to critically engage and not avoid spirituality as an ambiguous too-hard area best avoided. It is precisely because there is no public consensus that this topic should warrant our attention, be explored and investigated with vigour to advance understanding and debate of a challenging and contentious topic of research. Celebrating holistic education Holistic education has its roots in philosophical ideas of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Steiner, and Montessori (Gutek, 2004). Miller (1999, p.193), deliberating on key principles that underpin holistic education, affirms that the human being is a complex existential entity made up of many, many layers of meaning. These complex layers wrap around a distinct spiritual core. This prompts Hooks (2003) to challenge educators to go beyond stimulating intellect and to share in emotional and spiritual growth of students. …