Introduction (2 of 2)—Children's spirituality, life and religious education: socio-cultural and religious traditions and perspectives

An individual’s spiritual development, as proposed by some scholars (adapted from Benson 2006, 489; Roehlkepartain 2014, 10) and from a socio-ecological perspective (King and Boyatzis 2004, 2015), is influenced by and interacts with culture (including language, norms, customs, etc.) and social contexts such as family, school, religious communities, peers, media and so on as well as shaped by significant life experiences over time, and creating and inheriting narratives, myths and interpretative frameworks about what is good and important, ideal life and person and the reality, all of which echo and address an individual’s meaning and purpose of life, moral duty and personal motivation to realise one’s life values and make contribution to the family, society, nation and the world. Within this framework, there are a range of sociological constructs that could assist us to make sense of changes in spirituality. These constructs include those related to religion and change (e.g., secularisation, world views, religiosity), pertaining to social change (e.g., individualism, pluralism, cultural postmodernity, relativism, intercultural communication), associated with institutional change (e.g., de-institutionalisation), related to social psychological constructs (e.g., identity, meaning and purpose, wellbeing, character and virtues) (Rossiter 2010, 132–134). In addition, there are a spectrum and a variety of models of spiritual development ranging from traditional models that include indigenous models, Western models and Eastern religious models to integrative-philosophical models and psychological models entailing psychology of religion, transpersonal psychology and neurobiological models (Friedman et al. 2012, 210–217). Apart from the well-established Western religious models and research-based Western, psychological models of spirituality, there could be insights drawn from the indigenous models and Eastern religious models. In a review of instruments on indigenous spirituality and resilience in the context of Indigenous/First Nations communities in North America, the components of enculturation maintaining bicultural characteristics and cultural spiritual orientation were identified. This review suggested that Aboriginal spirituality could serve as a resource for life education and for transcendence (Fleming and Ledogar 2008). In addition, a recent document in Canada recommended the development of Indigenous-specific early childhood education training programme taking into account Indigenous worldviews and indigenous languages (Halseth and Greenwood 2019, 53; Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, 2014). There are also discussions on shamanism as one of the examples of indigenous models of spiritual development which is conducive to spiritual healing and therapy (Eliade and Diószegi 2017; Friedman et al. 2012, 210–211; Vadala 2019).

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