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…

Based on a study of 1689 high school teachers across 132 high schools in 12 countries, this paper discusses their views on spirituality for high school adolescents. In general, they favoured spirituality for adolescents and its inclusion in the curriculum. Specifically teachers from European countries, US, Canada and Australia attested the…

The benefits of sport and physical activity are endorsed by a number of professionals as a means of improving children's health and their sense of well-being, and their unity with the natural world, other people and the Transcendent. For children, sport is a spiritual source of joy and wonder. Using Champagne's "spiritual modes of…

Ninety-three young Australians were interviewed about volunteering as part of a larger three-stage study on youth spirituality and social concern. The results indicate that young people who were older, better educated and had access to networks and mentoring were more likely to be engaged in social-cause service than those without these resources.…

A long-running collaboration between Kaurna people and linguists in South Australia began in 1989 with a songbook. Following annual community workshops and the establishment of teaching programs, the author embarked on a PhD to research historical sources and an emerging modern language based on these sources. In response to numerous requests for…

There is a clear understanding that leaders of faith-based educational institutions shape the school community's culture in ways that assist in faith formation. This implicit and explicit focus on faith formation and an alignment with the broader mission of the Catholic Church is foundational to contemplative leadership (Schuttloffel, 1999, 2008).…

This paper reports the views of 820 teachers from state, Catholic, Christian and other independent schools in Victoria. The purpose of the study was to investigate what factors relate to teachers' views on spiritual well-being (SWB) personally, as well as the perceived help gained by students from school in this aspect of life. Spiritual…

Empirical research exploring the spiritual lives of young children in Australia is a field in which scholarship is beginning to emerge. This article reports on one particular finding that emerged from an Australian study seeking to identify some characteristics of children's spirituality in Catholic primary schools. The characteristic has been…

This paper presents data on the construction of masculinity among 965 boys aged 15-18 years, in six schools, in Melbourne, Australia. The data are part of a much larger research project on teenage boys and spirituality, and this paper presents data within the component of spirituality, which in the research is termed "connectedness with the…

This article brings together some of the literature and research on young people and spirituality from Australia and elsewhere. Using Harris's (1998:109) seven-component approach to defining spirituality, the literature and research about young people and spirituality are grouped and described as such: personal\communal; concerned with justice and…