The characteristics of a spiritual direction formation program as part of a postgraduate course were compared with a range of standard higher education academic agendas of learning. The formational characteristics included acknowledgment of prior experience, cooperative community approaches to learning, teachers as partners in learning, reflective learning processes, and experiential practice-based curriculum. In contrasting with other academic approaches, this study found the two approaches appeared to complement each other. The potential to develop curricula in religious education contexts that emphasize more holistic approaches incorporating aspects of both academic and formational approaches is worthy of further investigation and application.