This paper attempts to move beyond a critique of historically dominant ways of thinking about teaching and learning relationships to offer a conceptualization of relational pedagogy from a theological perspective. It offers commentary on the potential of relational pedagogy for Christian faith-based schools informed by the scholarship of German…

All Indigenous communities have a time-tested child-rearing knowledge base that reflects and honors their cultural beliefs and historical experiences. Many of these communities emphasize group harmony and collaboration and respect for the natural environment--competencies that are increasingly important on our crowded and depleted planet.…

The adherence of traditional developmental theories to a linear paradigm is incompatible with the nature of "spirit". Dynamic Systems Theory (DST), a recent contributor to understanding child development, offers an alternative which avoids these paradigmatic limitations. Concepts of agency, "top-down" causality, emergence and…

The "Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century" provides a mandate for discussion of the spiritual within secular state schooling, but this discussion has never occurred. This is a serious omission given what could be called an "undercurrent of concern" for the ways in which young people…

This article reports on Australian research investigating the meaning and function of prayer for children. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 60 primary school participants selected from six different schools in Melbourne, reflecting some of the diverse philosophical and religious traditions found in the Australian society. The three…