Early childhood educators’ perceptions of nurturing spirituality in secular settings

ABSTRACT

In-service early childhood educators (n = 33) completed a survey describing their perceptions towards: (a) how educators draw on personal spirituality to support their role in the classroom, (b) what curricular activities, interactions or experiences educators believe relate to nourishing children’s spirituality, (c) how the classroom environment or schedule may support children’s spirituality, and (d) how school culture may be related to supporting children’s spirituality. Findings suggest that educators believe opportunities for creative expression and free play, engagement with nature, contemplative practices (e.g. mindfulness), relationship building and moral/character development are related to nourishing children’s spirituality. Expressions of personal spirituality for the surveyed educators include treating colleagues and children well, intentionally providing a good example for children, use of contemplative practices and connecting with nature. There was substantial overlap found between developmentally appropriate practice and the activities educators reported as nurturing a child’s spirit. Findings suggest that discussing the spiritual nature of child development may help educators protect and enhance high-quality early learning environments in secular settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood educators
• children’s spirituality
• educator perceptions
• secular settings

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Mata-McMahon – Early childhood educator, researcher, and scholar, working in the field since 1994, with M.A. (1998), Ed.M. (1999), and Ed.D. (2010) in early childhood education and bilingual education, from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is coauthor of Ambiente en Acción (Environment in Action) (Unimet, 2006), author of Spiritual Experiences in Early Childhood Education (Routledge, 2015), and coeditor of Spirituality: An Interdisciplinary View (Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2016), as well as author of several book chapters and journal articles related to children's spirituality.

Michael J. Haslip – Assistant professor of early childhood education at Drexel University in Philadelphia. His research interests include social-emotional learning, effects of Pre-K attendance and systems building. He has worked as a teacher across the early childhood continuum, infancy-2nd grade. For recent publications, see: http://rdcu.be/sOxV and http://rdcu.be/EtFw.

Deborah L. Schein has been an early childhood educator since 1972 and a supporter of play-based philosophy. She has a doctorate in early childhood education with a focus on spiritual development. She is currently working as an instructor for Champlain College's Master in Education program. She is also an educational consultant, researcher, and writer. Her latest books are: Inspiring, Wonder, Awe, and Empathy-Spiritual Development for Children, and Nurturing Spiritual Development in Children by Knowing Our Own Spirituality.

ORCID

Jennifer Mata-McMahon http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9222-0817

Michael J. Haslip http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9241-7994