Spiritual development: Learning from pupils in Christian-ethos secondary schools.  Dr Ann Casson Senior Research Fellow ann.casson@Canterbury.ac.uk National Institute for Christian Education Research

Contents The research project How do students understand spiritual development? Developing an environment for inclusive spiritual development Religious diversity Inclusive worship Empowering young Christians Implications

The Research Project Ann Casson, Trevor Cooling, Leslie Francis, Telling the stories of 10 Christian-ethos secondary schools, to stimulate other schools to reflect on, and improve their own work of spiritual development with their students Contributing to the international academic debate on the distinctiveness and effectiveness of Christian-ethos secondary schools

What do students understand by spiritual development? Self: fulfilling one’s potential Belonging to a community Developing knowledge and understanding Making a connection to God

Young people as bricoleurs Bricolage in a fragmented world: The individual’s construction of their own religious identity, from the materials available to them - a ‘playing of the code’ (Hervieu-Léger, 1998, p. 217).

How do we respond to diverse fragmented understandings of spiritual development? God is already at work in our church schools so let’s pay attention to what He’s doing and unlock that.  

Identifying ways for spiritual development to flourish in schools Religious diversity Inclusive worship Young Christian leaders

Diversity and fragmentation I don’t pray 5 times a day, I don’t even pray in a mosque, but I am Muslim, just a different branch, I don’t even have a headscarf, … My immediate family are not particularly religious …we consider ourselves Jewish but more by race than religion…I kind of still know things about my faith. …I kind of know more about Christianity because I went to a church primary school as well I like worship, ..brings God into my day...I like to take the Eucharist because I like to follow their beliefs in school and it just makes me not look the odd one out. I quite like apart from the bread [Hindu student]

Christian atheists and agnostics Half my family is Christian but the other half are non-religious. So I just get kind of Christian morals from one side of my family but other side I feel I’m not actually religious and I don’t believe in God …I do worship here...just out of respect...[y10 student] Actually quite recently I decided I honestly don’t know, … whether God is real or not. I just feel like I don’t know, there is so much I don’t know about the world… So I don’t feel like I can make a decision yes or no and I feel like I am definitely agnostic.[y11 student]

Inclusive Worship It is about having an out of and in school connection to God obviously, for others who don’t believe in God or Christianity, they still get some sort of message out of it, because it still projects out goodness into them. [student] ‘our learners sometimes aren’t as articulate [as other students, and] don’t have the social skills, … the small group [worship] really allows them to have a voice’. [staff] 

Young Christian leaders in school

Schools as a space for spiritual development A narthical learning space is not a stepping stone into the Christian faith, but offers a space ‘to look at [life] from a completely different perspective’ and invites the learner into ‘productive otherness’’ (Roebben, 2009). …It is a safe space to encounter, explore and reflect on religious experience.

Questions Reflecting on the student voices – want challenged you, or concerned you? Thinking Big: How should a church school address the spiritual needs of students from diverse and fragmented faith backgrounds? Starting small; What could you do in the next week/month to address this? Reflect on how you could develop an inclusive climate for spiritual development in your school Sustainable action: How could this be sustained or scaled up for the whole school?