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Published in November 2006 by the Australian Council for Educational Research, Camberwell VIC..

Reasons for living: Education and young people’s search

for meaning, identity and spirituality 2

Reasons for Living: Education and young people’s search for meaning,

identity and spirituality

Table of Contents Contents – Summary

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Foreword Professor Brian V Hill

Introduction

Dedication

Contents – summary

Part 1. Education and young people’s search for meaning, identity and spirituality

Chapter 1 Reasons for living – school education and young people’s search for meaning, identity and

spirituality

Part 2. Meaning, Identity and Spirituality: Analysing the constructs for educational purposes

Chapter 2 The nature, psychological function and construction of meaning

Chapter 3 The psychological development of meaning and issues related to change and development in

meaning

Chapter 4 The search for meaning

Chapter 5 The elusive self: Psychological and social functions of identity

Chapter 6 Research perspectives on the nature and development of identity

Chapter 7 Young people’s search for identity: Finding a way through the cultural maze

Chapter 8 From St Ignatius to Obi-Wan Kenobi: An evaluative perspective on spirituality for

educational purposes

Chapter 9 Young people and spirituality: Negotiating the perils of adolescence

Chapter 10 Educating young people in meaning, identity and spirituality

Part 3. Implications for public education: The spiritual and moral dimension to the school

curriculum

Chapter 11 The spiritual and moral dimension to the school curriculum: The evolution in personal

development aims for Australian education

Chapter 12 Expectations of schools for promoting the spiritual and moral development of young people

Chapter 13 Links between education, personal change and personal learning

Chapter 14 From theory to practice: Conceptualising the spiritual and moral dimension to the school

curriculum

Chapter 15 The shaping influence of film and television on young people’s spiritual and moral

development: An educational exploration

Part 4. Implications for religious education in independent schools (with special reference to

Catholic schools)

Chapter 16 Historical perspective on religious education in Catholic schools: Towards a relevant

religious education for the future

Chapter 17 Personalism and relevance in religious education

Chapter 18 The centrality of the concept ‘faith development’ in Catholic school religious education

Chapter 19 Religious education and sponsoring the development of faith in adolescents

Chapter 20 Developing staff spirituality: A key component of the identity of religious schools

Part 5. Implications for state-based Religion Studies courses in Australian schools

Chapter 21 Pedagogical background to the development of religion studies courses in Australia

Chapter 22 Relationships between state-based religion studies courses and denominational religious

education

Bibliography

Index



Contents

Part 1 School education and young people’s search for meaning, identity and

spirituality

Chapter 1 Reasons for living: School education and young people’s search for meaning,

identity and spirituality The spiritual and moral dimension to the school curriculum

Search for meaning

Identity

Spirituality

Interrelationships between meaning, identity and spirituality – and their connection with other personal

development constructs

The socio cultural situation and the contemporary search for meaning, identity and spirituality

Education and ‘reasons for living’

The role for school education in relation to young people’s search for meaning, identity and spirituality

The importance of teachers’ understanding of meaning-identity-spirituality related issues

An education that can promote meaning, identity and spirituality

A spiritual/moral dimension to good teaching

Summary: Characteristics of school education that enhance meaning, identity and spirituality

Part 2 Meaning, Identity and Spirituality: Analysing the constructs for educational

purposes

Chapter 2 The nature, psychological function and construction of meaning Introduction: The search for meaning

Search for meaning as a defining human characteristic: Perspectives from anthropology, religion and psychology

The role of religion

The role of psychology and psychiatry

Reason and meaning – and a basic link with education

Young people and meaning

What is ‘meaning’?

Towards a typology of meaning:

Personal meaning: The nature and psychological function of meaning in the individual

Structure / function

P1 Meaning as personal explanatory theory or interpretation

P2 Meaning as personal motivation

P3 Meaning as the justification of thinking and behaviour

P4 Articulated personal meaning and expressions of meaning

P5 Implied personal meaning

P6 Emotional meaning

P7 Imagination and intuition: Their contribution to meaning

Components

P8 Structural components of meaning

P9 Meaning as a set of values

P10 Meaning as beliefs

P11 Religious beliefs

P12 Ultimate meaning

P13 Meaning through religion

P14 Meaning through prayer

P15 Meaning as life goals

P16 Meaning as a set of ideals and hopes

P17 Narrative structure to meaning; personal meaning as a ‘master story’ and as personal myths

P18 Meaning as the point of intersection between understanding and emotion

Other functions

P19 Meaning as a coping mechanism

P20 The contribution of meaning to wellbeing and resilience

P21 Meaning as ‘psychic moorings’

P22 Meaning as the ‘fall back position’ – inner resources

P23 Meaning as interpretation of the world outside

Other types and expressions of meaning

P24 Meaning through humour



P25 Cool meaning

P26 Meaning articulated in belief/values statements

P27 Meaning and creative expression

Cultural meanings: Social and cultural meanings as reference points for personal meaning

Cultural meaning

C1 Meaning embedded in culture

C2 Communities of meaning

C3 Normative cultural meanings

C4 Popular cultural meaning

C5 Implied cultural meaning

C6 Myth-making as meaning

C7 Meaning referenced to place and location

Contextual influences

C8 Political meaning, ideology and hegemony

C9 Meaning and cultural postmodernity

C10 Crisis of meaning: Diseases of meaning, spiritual pathology and junk meaning

C11 Cultural change and changes in cultural meanings

Meaning and community

C12 Cultural inheritance as ready made meaning

C13 Community and education in meaning

C14 The academic study of meaning

Philosophy, theology, religion studies.

Critical social theory

Hermeneutics

Chapter 3 The psychological development of meaning and issues related to change and

development in meaning The psychological development of meaning

D1 The construction of meaning

D2 Change and development in personal meaning

D3 Assimilating the meanings embedded in role models

D4 When do you know you have meaning?

D5 Meaning as the ‘bigger picture’, contextual framework within which experience is understood

Issues related to change and development in meaning

M1 Accessing people’s meanings: a central part of human relationships

M2 Thwarting of meaning and ‘retreat’ from meaning

M3 Range or scope of personal meaning, mental health and propensity to self-harm

M4 Manipulation and power through meaning

M5 Political meaning and social justice

M6 Strengthening the meaning system

M7 Dependence on institutions and authorities for meaning

M8 Bolstering the meaning system through fundamentalism

M9 The different meanings of scripture

M10 Changing theological meanings

M11 Scientific meanings

M12 Clashes between scientific and religious meanings

M13 Young people’s perceptions of relationships between religious and scientific meanings

M14 Meaning systems and religious claims to truth

M15 ‘Earthquake’ in the meaning system

Chapter 4 The search for meaning Introduction

What is the ‘search for meaning’?

Issues related to the search for meaning

S1 Individual and community frames of reference for meaning

S2 Flight from meaning and the avoidance of meaning

S3 Maturity in the development of meaning

S4 Maturity of meaning in the light of postmodern concerns about uncertainty in personal knowledge

Young people’s search for meaning

Healthy meaning

Preliminary list of the characteristics of a healthy personal meaning

Chapter 5 The elusive self: Psychological and social functions of identity What is understood by identity: How the construct is used in contemporary discourse



The emotional substrate to identity

Dimensions to personal identity

Personal and group identities

Projective and defensive functions of identity

Identity issues

I1 Identity and status anxiety

I2 Identity relationships with religion

I3 Identity, conflict and violence in the Australian context and internationally

I4 Identity and terrorism

I5 Identity relationships with the non-human world

I6 Homo economicus: The rise and rise of economic identity

I7 Relationships between media, the state and national identity

Chapter 6 Research perspectives on the nature and development of identity T1 Developmental theories: contributions to self understanding

T2 Psychological theories of identity: From the perspective of ‘identity health’

T3 Personal identity: Interaction between the individual and culture

Social psychological view of identity

Narrative structure to identity

Perspective on identity from critical theory

Relatively fixed psychic reference points for identity

Exaggerated individualism

Identity implied in life structure

Spirituality and identity

Generational identity

T4 Relationships between identity and self esteem

T5 Congenital identity deficiency?

T6 Research on relationships between identity and education

A conceptualisation of identity and identity health for educational purposes

Chapter 7 Young people’s search for identity: Finding a way through the cultural maze General cultural issues

Y1 The changing place for religion as a basic reference point for youth identity and spirituality

Y2 Constant change as the baseline reference point for youth identity and spirituality

Youth identity and consumer culture

Y3 Externals, consumerism and young people's search for identity

Y4 Retail identity and the seduction of individuality

Y5 Logos and the clothing of identity

Y6 Leaping on the brand-wagon: The retail potential of identity needs

Y7 The marketing of ‘cool’ to youth

Y8 The cost of being cool: some examples

Y9 Identity related advertising for glamour: “Be a princess”, “Because you’re worth it.”

Y10 Lifestyle indexed identity: External identity validation, the conditioning influence of advertising

and prolonged adolescence

Y11 Branded: The buying and selling of teenagers

Y12 The retail potential of teenagers’ dreams for self-improvement

Y13 Body image: The marketing strategy of inadequacy and the buying of beauty, sex appeal, and

performance

Y14 Consumer without a cause: The marketing of rebellion to youth and the domestication of

nonconformity

Y15 A spiritual dimension to marketing?

Y16 From James Dean to Clueless: Teenage angst to teenage makeover

The anatomy and psychological function of ‘cool’

Y17 Young people’s search for a ‘cool’ identity

Y18 Being acknowledged as cool: A psychological defence and coping mechanism

Y19 Cool image, relationships and the intensity of experience

Y20 Classic cool: Nike’s successful recipe for cracking the Chinese market

Y21 The quest for cool: The new opiate of the masses?

Y22 Relationship between cool and violence

Advertising and identity

Y23 Overall comment on the relationship between advertising and identity

Masculinity

Y24 Young men and crisis in male identity



Chapter 8 From St Ignatius to Obi-Wan Kenobi: An evaluative perspective on spirituality Developments in the meaning of the word spirituality: An evaluative perspective

Historical notes on religious spirituality in the Australian Catholic Christian tradition since the 1960s

Key aspects of a religious spirituality

Distinctions between the ‘religious’ and the ‘spiritual’: issues for what constitutes spirituality

R1 Secularisation and distinctions between religious and spiritual language

R2 Privatisation of religion

R3 Public rituals and private devotion (external observance and the personal)

R4 Contemporary emphasis on experience (implications for personal autonomy and religious

authority)

R5 Meeting spiritual needs; spirituality as a consumer commodity

R6 Scientific rationalism and modern religious studies

R7 Postmodern views of religion

Further consideration of issues related to the nature of spirituality

B1 Spirituality, belief in god, and belief in a transcendent dimension to human life

B2 Need for a new, non-religious language for addressing spiritual/moral issues in the public domain

B3 Non-religious spiritualities

B4 New spiritual awakening? A resurgence of religion?

B5 Secularisation and spirituality

B6 Spirituality and postmodernity

B7 Consumer spirituality

B8 Dimensions of emotion, imagination and the aesthetic in spirituality

B9 A style spectrum of spiritualities: From organisational/structural religious to DIY (Do It

Yourself) On-the-run psychological

B10 Values in education, values/moral education and the spiritual/moral dimension to education

Healthy spirituality: Criteria for the identification and evaluation of spirituality

Chapter 9 Young people and spirituality: Negotiating the perils of adolescence Issues for youth spirituality (related to philosophical questions raised in chapter 8)

E1 How youth spirituality is structured

E2 Spiritual experience: A self-transcending dimension to youth spirituality

E3 Social justice focus to youth spirituality

E4 Generational differences in the emergence of youth spirituality

E5 Secularisation and secular youth spirituality

E6 Young people and the distinction between the spiritual and the religious

E7 Youth, relativism and the spirituality supermarket

E8 Privatisation of beliefs and subjectivity in youth spirituality

E9 Youth and pentecostal/charismatic spirituality

Aspects of youth wellbeing with some bearing on spirituality

E10 Concern for the wellbeing of young people

E11 Making sense of apparently contradictory research findings

E12 The trauma of living in the twenty first century

E13 The 'Do it yourself' (DIY) generation

E14 Seeking community, making choices, and having lifestyle options

E15 SMS texting, the Internet and ‘instant community’

E16 The potential personal influence of video games

E17 Soundtrack to your life: Contemporary music and its relationship with youth spirituality

E18 Youth spirituality and media images of violence and obscenity

E19 The New Age and youth spirituality

E20 The potential influence of quasi religious and spiritual movements: Sects and cults, heavy metal

music, and the occult

A spiritual profile of today's young people

Chapter 10 Educating young people in meaning, identity and spirituality Underlying value assumptions

The nature of the human person

Access to cultural traditions

Critical evaluative activity

Young people’s responsibility for personal change

Background of the teacher (or facilitator, counsellor etc.) in relation to the educative process

Education in meaning

1. Understanding the nature and psychological functions of meaning

2. Knowledge of traditional cultural meanings about human nature and purpose

3. Some understanding of the contemporary crisis in meaning, especially for youth



4. Evaluation of the many personal meanings available in society

Education in identity

1. Some understanding of the nature and psychological function of identity, and of identity forming

processes

2. What the developmental theories say about personal development

3. The interrelationships between cultural identity resources and the personal construction of identity

4. Evaluative study of identity issues

Education in spirituality

1. Religion and spirituality

2. Spiritual and moral dimensions to life

3. Evaluation of spirituality

Education as the critical interpretation of culture

Conclusion

Part 3 Implications for public education: The spiritual and moral dimension to the

school curriculum

Chapter 11 The spiritual and moral dimension to the school curriculum: The evolution in

personal development aims for Australian education Public discourse about the spiritual/moral dimension to education

A1. Personal development terms used for articulating spiritual/moral purposes to education

A2. Listing of core values for education (both the values underpinning education as well as the values

it is hoped will be developed in pupils)

A3. Particular teaching programs in values, (and in spiritual or value-oriented subjects like ethics,

personal development, religion and philosophy)

A4. Across-the-curriculum strategies for promoting pupil spiritual/moral development

Summary and conclusions: Where to from here?

B1. Complementing and extending the current interest in values education by conceptualising it

within a broader notion of the spiritual and moral dimension to the school curriculum;

B2. Reducing the problematic gap between personal aims for education and classroom practice;

B3. Developing adequate theory and realistic strategies for promoting pupils’ personal development

through across the curriculum studies.

Chapter 12 Expectations of schools for promoting the spiritual and moral development of

young people Parental expectations of the school’s role in promoting young people’s spiritual and moral development

Expectation of schools to ‘teach’ values: Letter by the Commonwealth Minister for Education

Further consideration of public expectations of schools

Contrasting the expectations of parents, pupils and teachers

Community expectations of schools

Parental and Business Expectations of Schooling

Conflict of expectations of the role for schools

Expectations for personal change in pupils: From various educative themes and theories in educational discourse

Issue-related educative themes:

A. Education and the construction of knowledge and meaning

B. Power, political meaning, ideology and cultural hegemony: Education for empowerment.

C. Education for critical consciousness and emancipation (c/f praxis)

D. Critical theory and critical pedagogy

E. Cultural agency

F. Conclusion

Learning and pedagogical theories:

Constructivist learning; multiple intelligences; emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence; brain-

based learning; right brain/left brain learning; de Bono’s six thinking hats; DEEP pedagogical

framework.

Future of schooling themes: Theory about the future of schooling and the needs of 21st century learners.

Spiritual and moral dimension

Construction of meaning

Education and the critical evaluation of cultural meanings

Meaning, identity and spirituality

Personal and social transformation

Conclusion

The need for a workable conceptualisation of the spiritual and moral dimension to the school curriculum

The influence of schooling on young people’s spiritual and moral development:



Chapter 13 Links between education, personal change and personal learning

The notion of education for personal change: Personal learning and the classification of educational aims as

cognitive and affective

The components or building blocks for personal change

Personal change processes: Influences on the various dimensions to personal development

The selection of personal change processes that are considered ethically acceptable for the classroom

Personal change, personal learning and personal teaching

Students’ freedom of inquiry and issue-oriented pedagogy

A rational ‘contextual emphasis’ to personal learning in the classroom

How the imagination is involved in personal change and personal learning in the classroom

Articulating spiritual and moral outcomes for students; and the assessment of such outcomes

Socialisation and education: Contrasting social processes for the development of beliefs/values/attitudes

The place for teachers’ own views and commitments in the teaching/learning process

1. Accountability and safeguards in teaching about controversial issues.

2. Institutional endorsement for teaching about values-related topics.

3. Teacher confidence in handling controversial issues.

4. Pedagogy in teaching about values/beliefs.

5. Debate about value neutrality in public education.

Chapter 14 From theory to practice: Conceptualising the spiritual and moral dimension to the school

curriculum

The problematic gap between personal aims for education and practice

The place for ‘spiritual experience’ in the curriculum

Conceptualising the spiritual and moral dimension to the school curriculum

1. Explicit approach to the spiritual/moral dimension of the school curriculum

1A. Whole subject mode: The need for a school subject for direct study of spiritual/moral

questions

School structures and the ‘psychology of the learning environment’: Subverting the personal

subjects in the curriculum

1B Parts of study units: Studying spiritual and moral questions as parts of units of work

2. Contextual approach: Acknowledging and addressing spiritual/moral issues where they arise in across

the curriculum studies

Some notes on pedagogy for studying spiritual and moral issues

3. General skills and consciousness-raising: The overall contribution of the curriculum to personal

learning skills

Extending the conceptualisation: Locating and interpreting themes concerned with education for personal change

Conclusion

Chapter 15 The shaping influence of film and television on young people’s spiritual and moral

development: An educational exploration Introducing the problem: How to investigate a complex question like the spiritual/moral influence of film and

television

Story: A central concept for contextualising the spiritual/moral influence of film and television

Theorising about the spiritual and moral influence of film and television

1. The intended spiritual/moral influence of propaganda film

2. The educational function of documentary film

Objectivity, impartiality and advocacy in documentaries: The potential of documentaries for bringing

about personal change

Objectivity, impartiality and the making of an advocacy film:

Documentaries, feature films and mythology: The interpretation of history (George Armstrong

Custer: The legend versus the truth)

The ‘voice of god’ documentary: The ‘truth’ from the perspective of hindsight

Cinema verite (Cinema truth) documentary

Documentaries and critical social consciousness: Educational implications

The contrast between propaganda and documentary films

Concluding comment on the educational significance of documentary film

3 &4. Commercial feature films and television: Their potential for influencing the meaning, identity and

spirituality of young people

Sequence: Analysis of possible mechanisms through which film/television may affect spiritual and moral

development

F1. Relationships with documentary and propaganda film

F2. The storytelling role of films and television: Emotional engagement of the viewer

F3. Identifying and evaluating the spiritual dimension to life as portrayed in film and television



F4 Osmosis of values from films and television?

F5. The ‘social reality’ of film and television and ‘reality television’

F.6 Meeting viewer needs and interests

F7. Escapism and idealism through virtual journeys

F8. The film as fable: Communicating moral messages

F9. Television drama/sitcoms as 21st century morality plays

F10. Film/television and the imagination: Learning through imaginative identification and

imaginative rehearsal

F11. Story and imagination: The role of film/television in both enhancing and diminishing the

imagination

F12. Media orchestrated imaginations: How film/ television can affect behaviour and personal

development

F13. Film and television as sources of images, stereotypes and myths

F14. Role modelling: Film heroes and heroines

F15. Sensitivity of children to implicit messages in the media

F16. Action films: ‘Cinematic adrenalin’, and the potential relationship between film violence

and violent behaviour

F17. The ‘evangelising’ purpose of particular film directors

F18. An example film study illustrating issues in spirituality and identity

The culture of television: Its significance for the teaching/learning environment of the school

Cultural agency: Action based on critical reflection on the potential personal influence of media

5. The potential spiritual and moral influence of television advertising

G1. Image and imagination: Retail links with the sub-conscious

G2. Retail seduction: Some perspective on advertising psychology and market research

G3. The culture of advertising

G4. Retail identity

G5. Television commercials and the projection of images of unattainable perfection

G6. The ethics of television advertising

Conclusion

Part 4 Implications for religious education in independent schools (with special

reference to Catholic schools)

Chapter 16 Historical perspective on religious education in Catholic schools: Towards a

relevant religious education for the future Social and intellectual conditions that enable a critical historical interpretation

Historical perspective on Catholic school religious education in Australia

1. The experiential quest for personalism and relevance

2. The centrality of the concept ‘faith development’.

3. The development of diocesan guidelines for Catholic religious education.

4. Student resource materials

5. New state Religion Studies courses and the quest for academic credibility

6. The spirituality of contemporary youth

Other perspectives that should have a bearing on the further development of Catholic school religious education

1. The development of personal meaning and identity

2. Addressing questions raised by cultural postmodernity

3. The hermeneutical task of religious education

4. Other trends in religious education in the United Kingdom and continental Europe

5. Spiritual/moral dimension to the school curriculum

Conclusion

Chapter 17 The quest for personalism and relevance in religious education Personalism and relevance as educational goals

Personalism in content

Personalism in process

Relevance in religious education

Study of issues as a key to personal relevance in the religion curriculum

Examples of issue-oriented content in religious education

The relevance of religious education and the relevance of the Church

Religious language and the perceived relevance of the Church

Religious education and the pursuit of a language of relevance for religion

The prominence of the theme ‘search for meaning and identity’ in Catholic school religious education

Religious education as the critical interpretation of culture

The identification and evaluation of social meanings



Conclusion

Chapter 18 The centrality of the concept ‘faith development’ in Catholic school religious

education Faith development: Coming to prominence in Catholic religious education

Problematic use of the construct ‘faith development’ in religious education

1. Metaphors for spiritual development

2. Faith development as a ‘hope’ for religious education

3. The association of emotionality with faith development

4. Use of the concept ‘faith development’ to differentiate activities in religious education

5. Use of the term ‘Faith Development Coordinator’

6. Religious Education and faith development outcomes

7. Faith formation and religious education

8. Faith development and ‘transformative education’

9. Expansion of the notion of ‘knowing’

Summary

Chapter 19 Religious education and ‘sponsoring’ the development of faith in adolescents Comparing and contrasting religious socialisation and religious education

The faith sponsoring or faith mentoring process

Classroom religious education and the sponsoring of faith in adolescents

Religious education and the development of religious identity

1. Identity resources and the development of a religious identity

2. Exploration of the nature and psychological function of identity

The problematic notion of religious identity

Religious identity and the development of faith

Chapter 20 Developing staff spirituality: A key component of the identity of religious schools Introduction: Clarifying the identity and mission of Catholic schools

Spirituality in practice within the school community

Personal and corporate spirituality

Enhancing corporate staff spirituality

Empathy with and professional support for the stated aims of the school

Periodic staff prayer and liturgies/paraliturgies

When is it appropriate to pray as a staff?

Teachers in Catholic schools as spiritual leaders

Part 5 Implications for state based Religion Studies courses in Australian schools

Chapter 21 Pedagogical background to the development of religion studies courses in Australia Two formats for studying religion in Australian public schools

The development of religion studies courses in Australian schools

Historical background to the theory for school religion studies in the United Kingdom: The quest for an educational

identity

Phases of development 1944-2000s: From agreed Christian syllabuses to multi-faith studies

P1. Christian religious education syllabuses (1940s and 1950s)

P2. Student Centred, experiential, life themes (1960s -- )

P3. Existential, issue-oriented, experiential (1960s --)

P4. Secular, educational identity: phenomenology, world religions, multi-faith (late 1960s -- )

P5. M. Grimmitt, 1973: Balancing descriptive and student centred approaches

P6. Focus on students’ personal and spiritual development: M. Grimmitt (1978 – )

Enhancing student learning through constructivist theory and pedagogy: M. Grimmitt (1994 – )

P7. The New Education Act, 1988: Reasserting the place of Christian heritage; and the influence of

the outcomes/competencies movement

P8. Pedagogies that emerged from research and development projects, late 1980s –

The Warwick Religious Education Project

The Stapleford Project

The Spiritual Education Project

The Children and World Views Project

General comment about the British research and development projects

P9. Relationship with trends in continental European religious education: Contextual religious education

& religious education as a hermeneutic process.

Contextual religious education

Religious education as a hermeneutic process



Conclusion: Towards a review of Australian school religion studies programs

Chapter 22 Relationships between state based religion studies courses and denominational

religious education Reflections on the emergence of an educational identity for state school religion studies in the United Kingdom and

Australia

The terminology ‘confessional’ vs ‘non-confessional’: Inadequate concepts for analysing the teaching process

Exploring the relationships between state religion studies and denominational religious education

Comparison of purposes between state religion studies and denominational religious education

Non-evaluative and evaluative dimensions to studying religion

Relationships with the academic disciplines: Phenomenological method and academic bias

The contribution of religion studies to the development of personal identity

The implementation of religion studies in denominational schools

The understanding of religion studies from the point of view of different religions

Conclusion

List of Figures and Tables

Figures Figure 14.1 Diagrammatic representation of the conceptualisation of the spiritual and moral dimension to the

school curriculum.

Figure 14.2 Interposing personal development themes as intermediate goals between personal aims and

teaching/learning activities.

Figure 14.3 Linking personal aims with classroom practice by making use of an intermediate personal

development theme like ‘educating in wisdom’.

Tables Table 2.1 A classification of different streams within hermeneutics according to Gallagher

Table 3.1 Distillation of meaning from experience

Table 5.1 Summary of components or dimensions to a personal identity

Table 6.1 Theories of identity from the perspective of identity health

Table 7.1 What do young people in China regard as ‘cool’?

Table 8.1 Key aspects of a religious spirituality

Table 8.2 Summary of stereotypical distinctions and polarities that may apply between the ‘spiritual’ and

the ‘religious’

Table 8.3 Evaluative criteria for the identification and appraisal of spirituality

Table 9.1 A profile of the spirituality of youth

Table 11.1 Emergence of personal development terms in national documents on the goals for Australian

schools

Table 11.2 Nine Values for Australian Schooling

Table 21.1 Analysis of the Minister for Education’s public letter on values education

Table 12. 2 Results from a survey on the role of schools in values education

Table 13.1 A list of personal change processes

Table 14.1 Characteristics of wisdom as intermediate personal development goals

Table 14.2 A Reinterpretation of an iconic aims statement

Table 15.1 Some perceived differences between propaganda and documentary films

Table 15.2 Survey of the community and of school children about role modelling

Table 16.1 Factors that have had a shaping influence on Catholic religious education in Australia since the

1950s

Table 17.1 Examples of issue-oriented topics in secondary school religious education

Table 18.1 Fowler’s theory of faith development compared with other developmental theories.

Figure 18.2 An example scheme illustrating the notion of transformative pedagogy

Table 19.1 Contrasts between Religious Socialisation and Religious Education

Table 21.1 Summary of major contemporary approaches to school religion studies in the United Kingdom

(according to Grimmitt, 2000), together with two categories reflecting current emphases in

continental Europe

Table 22.1 What is Religious Education? (From the South Australian state schools Religious Education

Project, 1978)

Table 22.2 Comparison of purposes: State religion studies and denominational religious education

Bibliography

Index



Preface

Finding meaning in life and achieving some authentic sense of identity are key developmental tasks for

adolescents as they progress towards adulthood. While many young people do not readily use the word

spirituality, it refers to the way they mesh with the spiritual and moral dimensions to life. The

constructs meaning, identity and spirituality have useful credentials for interpreting the psychological

development of young people; they can be used for analysing and giving perspective to their thinking,

emotions and behaviour as they negotiate the maze of contemporary culture and the psychological perils

of adolescence.

The same constructs – meaning, identity and spirituality – are also useful for interpreting and evaluating

culture; and they are relevant to educational theory and practice.

Spiritual and moral purposes have been important for school education – for as long as schools have

sought to promote the personal development of the young. However, there still remains a fundamental,

but natural ambiguity about how to implement spiritual and moral education appropriately. The

reason: precisely because personal change processes in beliefs, attitudes, values and moral behaviour

are more complex than, and at a different level from, educational change in knowledge, understanding

and skills. Links between teaching and the acquisition of values are naturally more complicated and

more tenuous than the links between teaching and the common outcomes for education; we can teach

adolescents proficiency in mathematics – even quantum physics – but we cannot so easily teach them

not to take drugs.

Nevertheless, while acknowledging the limitations of school education in bringing about spiritual and

moral change in pupils, there remain important opportunities within classroom teaching and learning for

progressing their spiritual and moral development. This book is about trying to make sure that the

opportunities for doing this well are not neglected. The idea of exploring ‘reasons for living’ is a short

hand for an education that tries to help young people become well informed about, and think through

issues related to meaning, identity and spirituality; this, in turn, may help them chart their way through

a life world that has become increasingly complex and daunting.

Discussion of expectations for spiritual and moral education in both public and religious schools has

always been controversial. It is unlikely that this will change; as noted above, much of the difficulty

lies with the natural complexity of links between education and personal change; hence, theory for

education of the ‘whole’ person will always be complex, controversial and somewhat open ended.

Nevertheless, persistence with the development of this theory is important for ongoing attempts to make

the personal dimension to school education as valuable as it can be for young people.

Ongoing discussion of the spiritual and moral dimensions to education is in the national interest – it

should be an educational priority. The Federal and State Governments’ initiatives in values education

have been an important response to this need. But more remains to be done. In times when most

interest in educational outcomes is dominated by concerns about measurable performance and

employment oriented competencies, and even national economic productivity, it is important for all

Australian school students that the spiritual and moral purposes to their education do not remain

nominal, or as rhetoric, where there is little flow through from purposes to practice.

This book tries to address these issues in both theory and practice. It proposes that good use can be

made of the constructs meaning, identity and spirituality for conceptualising and implementing a

spiritual and moral education in schools – both public and independent. Teaching related to these

constructs can contribute to students’ personal education in across-the-curriculum studies as well as in

values education and in particular subjects like Citizenship, Personal Development, Religion Studies,

Philosophy and Ethics. While we consider that the book makes an important contribution to

values/moral education, it was beyond our scope to explore relationships with the extensive literature in

this area.



Of various constructs that might be used in curriculum planning, the trio of meaning, identity and

spirituality, all of which are interrelated, are particularly valuable because of their contemporary

educational relevance and their significance in young people’s personal development.

The argument in the book presumes that little real progress will be possible in any school program of

personal education unless teachers first develop a basic understanding of the content related issues –

hence the importance of the second part of the book in providing a ‘primer’ or introductory typology for

educators on the constructs meaning, identity and spirituality, particularly as they relate to the

psychological, spiritual and moral development of young people. While not attempting to provide a

comprehensive survey of research on these constructs, this will provide a perspective on meaning,

identity and spirituality that will be a good starting point for study by educators. Hopefully, it will also

stimulate further research both sociological and educational. The intention is to enhance the

background that educators bring to their teaching with the hope that this will flow into teaching and

learning processes, as well as into their more informal interactions with students.

Complementing what is written in structural developmental psychology about youth personal

development (E.g. Piaget, Kohlberg, Erikson, Kegan, Fowler and Oser), the focus here is more on the

spiritual and moral development of young people through their negotiation of personal/cultural issues in

meaning, identity and spirituality; hence, it is not a stage theory of development, but (as suggested

above) an interpretation of the ways youth negotiate the ‘cultural maze’ and the ‘psychological perils of

adolescence’.

Too often discourse about spiritual and moral dimensions to school education in Australia remains

context specific – there is not much exchange on these matters between educators in the public and

independent sectors; or, the discussion is skewed towards the question of state financial aid for

religious schools. In this book, we propose implications for three contexts – across-the-curriculum

studies in public schools, religious education in independent (especially religious) schools, and state

based religion studies courses – within the one volume, precisely to promote a wider educational

discussion that could benefit all of the country’s schools. This broad scope has resulted in a volume of

handbook like proportions; but this was considered necessary to be able to say something substantial

about the situation and issues in each of the three contexts, while prompting educators to become more

aware of what is happening in contexts different from their own. For example: Religious schools can

often put too much store on formal religious education and religious ethos for communicating beliefs,

spirituality and values – in other words overrating or ‘over-expecting’ the school’s religious influence.

While in public schools, their role in teaching values can never really be denied, although just what the

word ‘teaching’ means when applied to values can be open to conflicting interpretations; and when

debate stalls on this question, it inhibits practice that may be of benefit for the personal development of

pupils. Each of parts 3-5 begins with a chapter that gives historical perspective; this arrangement may

facilitate dialogue by giving the reader some bearings on the pertinent issues in each context that are

taken up subsequently.

While the book was written specifically for teachers, it should be useful in university education

programs; hopefully too, it will engage education researchers. In addition, the second section

discusses issues that are of wider community and professional concern. This material may be helpful

for all who are interested in the psychological, spiritual and moral development of youth (E.g. For

parents, and for professionals engaged in the care of youth in areas like health services, youth services,

and church ministry.)

While dealing with the Australian situation, the book has relevance for education internationally. It

creates possibilities for interesting comparisons with education in other countries.

Marisa Crawford, Graham Rossiter July 2006



Some endorsements of Reasons for Living

This is a landmark publication for Australian education. More than any previous book, it has provided a helpful

conceptualisation of the spiritual and moral dimension to public education. It makes a substantial and innovative

contribution to values education at both theoretical and practical levels. In addition, it outlines an agenda for

future developments in the study of religion in church-related and other religious schools, as well as in state-

based religion courses. Reasons for living includes a remarkable mixture of sophisticated philosophy, telling

psychological insights and eminently practical pedagogy. It will be an invaluable resource for professionals

engaged in education and the care of youth – truly a book that can enhance the education of all young

Australians.

Dr Louise Welbourne, Editor Journal of Religious Education

These insights into young people’s personal development are a valuable resource not only for educators but for

those working with young people in any of the helping professions.

Hugh Mackay, Mackay Research, Sydney

The authors show how educators can connect with young people and how they can make a positive difference in

the lives of their students. In this book, the spiritual and moral dimensions of education move from the margins

(honoured in mission statements) to the mainstream (comprehensively addressed through the curriculum).

Crawford & Rossiter provide a guide for teachers, one that is detailed and thorough, accessible and clear, and full

of practical wisdom gained from a lifetime of experience in many sectors of education. Their guide equips

teachers, in all types of schools, to offer their students an educational journey that is life-enhancing, holistic and

transformational. Although rooted in the Australian context, this systematic treatment of young people's search

for meaning, identity and spirituality is acutely relevant and applicable in many other countries.

Professor John Sullivan, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Liverpool Hope University, UK.

A valuable handbook on the meaning, identity and spirituality of young people. The book is ambitious in scope

but very well organized in exploring what education is for. The book is focused on Australian history, issues and

educational institutions while having universal implications.

Professor Gabriel Moran, Director of the Program of Philosophy of Education, New York University

Youth of today have an enormously complicated task facing them – to bring some sense of meaning and purpose

to the complexity of issues surrounding their lives in a conflicted and morally ambiguous culture. The search for

meaning in life and the need to explore an authentic sense of identity are critical areas for scholarly and

professional inquiry and are key, timely concerns of this book. This book provides that exploration and does so

in an expansive and compelling way.

Professor Peter Sheehan AO, Vice Chancellor, Australian Catholic University

As a society, we tend, quite mistakenly, to privilege the material over the spiritual, the objective over the

subjective. Reasons for Living argues, compellingly and comprehensively, for greater attention to be given to the

qualities of meaning, identity and spirituality, especially in young people's lives. It rightly acknowledges there is

only so much education can achieve in this area; other sectors must play their part. The importance of this book

reaches beyond education. It should become a key reference for all of us concerned with young people.

Richard Eckersley, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University

Reasons for Living is a timely handbook for all teachers committed to the development of the whole person and

so to the spiritual and moral dimensions of education – whether they work in religious schools or the public

sector. This is a valuable resource for teachers and educational leaders who are concerned to assist students in

the key developmental tasks of finding meaning and achieving an authentic sense of identity in order to live

genuinely happy and fruitful lives. Each chapter opens up a new perspective on this challenging, but most

important enterprise.

Dr Michael Bezzina, Director of Curriculum and Religious Education,

Catholic Education Office, Parramatta.

Reasons for Living will be a welcome addition to the literature charting the search for meaning of young people

today. Although the text comes out of the Australian context it will be of immediate relevance and usefulness to

teachers throughout the Western World who are facing common challenges in finding the language and contexts

in which to engage in dialogue with contemporary global youth culture in a post-secular age.

Dr Andrew McGrady, Registrar Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin City University, Ireland



It is rare to find in one volume such a rich combination of rigorous research and practical savvy. The authors

familiarity with contemporary culture and its impact on adolescence is remarkable.

Professor Gloria Durka, Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, Fordham University New York

Reasons for Living provides a systematically-constructed foundation for teachers across the curriculum who wish

to support the quest of youth to make sense out of their lives and to form a constellation of values by which to

live. They demonstrate that it is possible to deliver values-related curricula that are fully respectful of the

diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds of schools in multicultural societies.

Lorna Bowman, Professor of Religious Studies & Academic Dean, Brescia University College, Canada.

These are times characterized by a dramatic re-evaluation of the role of the teacher and the school in general but,

within that context, an especial re-evaluation of the role of religion, spirituality and morality as features of the

schooling experience. Reasons for Living is a book for our times.

Professor Terence Lovat, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education and Arts) The University of Newcastle

Most democratic societies are facing cultural challenges due to galloping social change and value pluralisation.

Religious diversity is only one of several reasons why it is urgent that disparate groups be encouraged to work

together to renegotiate and make explicit the core values of democratic community life. Not only is social

cohesion at stake, but a sickness at the personal level must be addressed. Amidst the confusion of values,

individuals are struggling to find personal meaning and identity, even to the point of questioning whether they

actually matter to anyone other than themselves. These are the challenges addressed by Crawford and Rossiter.

Emeritus Professor Brian Hill, Murdoch University

Reasons for Living is comprehensive in its scope and compass while being incisive and detailed in its treatment

of key issues, concepts and developments in the cognate fields of spiritual, moral and religious education. It is

rooted in an informed understanding of the historical development of these fields both globally and in Australia

while transcending the particularities of time and space and seeking to be prophetic and visionary about their

futures. It is driven by a passionate concern to realise the educational capacity of schools to enhance young

people’s critically reflective response to the changing demands of their life experiences.

Dr Michael Grimmitt, Faculty of Education, the University of Birmingham

Reasons for Living will be a significant addition to the field of research in Religious Education. It has concisely

and provocatively summarised the major influences upon Religious Education. It would be an essential resource

for all Religious Education professionals and a basic textbook for all students in the field.

Dr Dan White, Director Catholic Education Office, Archdiocese of Hobart;

National Catholic Education Commission’s Religious Education Committee.

Reasons for Living, by focusing upon the key concepts of meaning, identity and spirituality for young people will

help educators parents and youth workers to resist the corrosive efforts of a materialist, hedonistic and ‘shop till

you drop’ contemporary culture.

Professor Gerald Grace, Centre for Research and Development in Catholic Education,

Institute of Education, the University of London.

Spirituality, meaning and identity are concepts that are often used in education settings without a lot of clarity of

meaning. Crawford and Rossiter ground these concepts in both the research and the lived experience of young

people, taking note of the reality of the classroom. The writers provide a way forward for all Australian

educators to be effective in engaging young people in values / meaning / identity / reflection. They do not

overestimate what schools can achieve in this important area, providing both a reality check and a way forward.

Dr Adrienne Jericho, Executive Director, Lutheran Education Australia

This is a groundbreaking and very valuable book. It gathers under one cover research findings and practical

experience from a number of fields e.g. education, psychology, sociology, and religious education, and

demonstrates how schools can use such findings to assist young people in their development.

Mr Gary Finlay, Director National Centre for Religious Studies, New Zealand.



Reasons for Living is both important for the concrete development of moral and spiritual education in the

Australian school system (both public and private schools), and for the theoretical reflection on this important

issue on a national and international level.

Associate Professor Bert Roebben, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies,

Tilburg University, Netherlands

Dedicated teachers of young people sometimes struggle to understand the world of the adolescent. Reasons for

Living offers teachers and administrators an excellent resource to understand both this life stage and the cultural

issues facing youth. It looks at what is at the heart of the human and religious quest, and it explores how

Education can be a means in this search, making it relevant in serving young people’s needs. Reasons for Living

looks at what is at the heart of the human and religious quest, particularly among young people, and it explores

how Education can be a means in this search, making it relevant in serving young people’s needs.

Mrs Anne Baker, Deputy Director Catholic Institute of Education, Johannesburg, South Africa

In a time when warring sides summon differing religions as justification of their violence, proficient teaching of

religious issues in public and Church schools is urgently needed.

Rev Ted Witham, Former Executive Director of The Churches’ Commission on Education in WA,

and consultant to the Curriculum Council of WA (Religion and Life course).

There has been a great need for a book which addresses, in a comprehensive and contemporary manner, the major

issues relating to young people’s search for meaning, identity and spirituality. It is a most helpful book and

deserves to be read widely by professional educators in both Government and Non-Government schools.

Rev Dr Tom Wallace AM, Educational Adviser to the Bishop of Tasmania

More than most of us ever were, today’s young people are confronted by uncertainty. The anthropologist

Clifford Geertz once described human beings as ‘meaning-seeking animals’. Young people are indeed just so,

seeking meaning amid uncertainty. Further, it is one thing to find everyday meaning, but there is also ultimate

meaning. And in the twenty-first century how should such young people be educated so as to tackle that

uncertainty and to find meaning, everyday and ultimate? Importantly, how can a school curriculum promote the

spiritual and moral development of students who seek meaning? That is what the Rossiter/Crawford book is

about. The end result is a comprehensive and powerful text that should be read not only by those involved in RE

but by all those responsible for the development of young people in our society today.

Professor Robert Crotty, Emeritus Professor of Religion and Education,

University of South Australia

********************************

The authors:

Marisa Crawford teaches English and Religion at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, Kensington,

Sydney.

Graham Rossiter is Professor of Moral and Religious Education and Director of the Centre for

Research in the Spiritual, Moral, Religious and Pastoral Dimensions of Education at Australian Catholic

University, Sydney.

Over a long period, they have co-authored a number of books and articles in moral and religious

education and have conducted inservice professional development programs for teachers around

Australia as well as in New Zealand, the Pacific, Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland,

Norway and Hong Kong.

********************************

Foreword By Professor Brian V Hill

When the social institution of compulsory schooling came under strong attack in the 1960s, one of the

sharpest criticisms was its alleged domesticating effect on students. They were being treated, it was



said, as entirely malleable creatures, capable of being manipulated to become the labour force for the

industrial machine and the avid consumers of its products.

One wonders if we have come very far since then. Even the commendable desire, fostered by

“Outcomes-Based Education”, to focus on what each student learns rather than simply on whether the

teacher goes through the motions of teaching, is often being implemented in a way which reduces the

whole person to a repository of marketable “skills.”

At the same time, ironically, an increasing sense of unease in the community about value hiatus in the

public domain is giving rise to calls for more effective values education in schools. But valuing is a

whole person response to the reality they inhabit. At the least, this requires closer attention to how the

individual student is personally “getting it all together” – an outcome not readily amenable to the

itemising assessment techniques of OBE. Nor is this task something that can be simply dumped on the

school, while other social agencies such as the home and the media devote themselves to satisfying

consumerist goals.

An older strategy for achieving the ends of morality and citizenship through schooling was to

complement the general curriculum with religious instruction. Again, other social agencies often saw

this as relieving them of responsibility for these things, on the assumption that formal instruction in the

dominant faith tradition would naturally flow on into moral conduct. Not only do we now know better,

but a pluralistic society resists a policy which is commonly viewed as partisan indoctrination. Yet

studying a religion did at least highlight the fact that people’s values are ultimately justified and

motivated by each individual’s view of the world and their place in it. A rose by any other name may

smell as sweet, but these are essentially religious concerns.

Marisa Crawford and Graham Rossiter seek out to break this deadlock. Their strategy is to nominate

the concepts of meaning, identity, and spirituality as lynch-pins of personal education. They show that

these concepts not only enable us to re-map the traditional terrains of religious and moral education, but

also have implications for many other curriculum areas. One of the highlights of their analysis, for me,

is chapter 15 on media and film, which not only contains insightful contextual analysis, but has some

specific implications for classroom teaching.

Professor Rossiter has been a leader in the field of religious education for many years, researching and

writing prolifically and being involved in teacher development in many places. Marisa Crawford has

been a highly effective classroom practitioner in Government, Catholic and independent schools, also

for many years. The two have collaborated on several occasions in publications promoting best

practice. In the present handbook, they provide a comprehensive review both of general theory and

research, and of the particular situation on the ground in Australia.

And none too soon. Most democratic societies are facing cultural challenges due to galloping social

change and value pluralisation. Religious diversity is only one of several reasons why it is urgent that

disparate groups be encouraged to work together to renegotiate and make explicit the core values of

democratic community life. Not only is social cohesion at stake, but a sickness at the personal level

must be addressed. Amidst the confusion of values, individuals are struggling to find personal meaning

and identity, even to the point of questioning whether they actually matter to anyone other than

themselves.

These are the challenges addressed by Crawford and Rossiter. The way to read this book will be first

to commit oneself to a reflective reading of the whole, and then to keep the book handy for constant

reference in relation to specific needs and topics, particularly using the indexes. I commend it as a

useful tool for research workers, and classroom teachers engaged in what, in the end, is the real business

of education. The book has utility beyond the domain of education. The analyses in part 2 will be

useful for various professionals engaged in the care of youth.

Brian V. Hill

Murdoch University, May 2006

Documents

Published in November 2006 by the Australian Council for ...€¦ · P17 Narrative structure to meaning; ... Critical social theory Hermeneutics Chapter 3 The psychological development