Connections, Virtues, and Meaning-Making: How Early Childhood Educators Describe Children's Spirituality

Autor/inn/en	Mata-McMahon, Jennifer; Haslip, Michael J.; Schein, Deborah L.
Titel	Connections, Virtues, and Meaning-Making: How Early Childhood Educators Describe Children's Spirituality
Quelle	In: Early Childhood Education Journal, 48 (2020) 5, S.657-669 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Mata-McMahon, Jennifer)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1082-3301
DOI	10.1007/s10643-020-01026-8
Schlagwörter	Child Development; Spiritual Development; Early Childhood Teachers; Young Children; Early Childhood Education; Religion; Metacognition; Moral Values; Interpersonal Relationship; Self Concept; Student Characteristics; Altruism + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kindesentwicklung; Early childhood; Early childhood education; Teacher; Teachers; Frühe Kindheit; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Education; Meta cognitive ability; Meta-cognition; Metakognitive Fähigkeit; Metakognition; Moral value; Ethischer Wert; Interpersonal relation; Interpersonal relations; Interpersonelle Beziehung; Zwischenmenschliche Beziehung; Selbstkonzept; Altruistic behavior; Altruismus
Abstract	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. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01