Secular Spiritual Development in Education from International and Global Perspectives

A number of significant international reports and journal articles have begun to refer to the importance of non-sectarian, spiritual values in educational planning (Carr, 1999; Rogers & Dantley, 2001). The writer firstly considers how the notion of secular spirituality might be understood and outlines some possible reasons for its upsurgeance. The potential for secular spiritual development from both global and international perspectives is explored with a particular focus upon cultural implications. The conclusion is drawn that communities need to be cautious about accepting at face value globalised notions of spirituality in educational development and that educators need to adopt an international perspective, characterised by ‘bottom-up’ community based initiatives.