The teacher spiritual development in the reference to the metaphorical understanding of “education as a spiritual journey” by Parker J. Palmer

• Maria Szymańska ^[1]
  1. [1] Ignatianum University in Cracow
• Localización: Multidisciplinary journal of school education, ISSN-e 2543-8409, ISSN 2543-7585, Vol. 25, Nº. 1, 2024 (Ejemplar dedicado a: In search of spirituality and support in educational settings), págs. 29-44
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • Objective of the article: The aim of the article is to elicit and show the correlation between a spiritual teacher’s development and education seen as a spiritual journey in a pedagogical, personalistic perspective. The researchquestion is as follows: How does the relationship between the teacher’s spir-itual development and Palmer’s perception of education in spiritual percep-tion look?Research method: To answer the research question, the method of hermeneu-tic content analysis seems to be appropriate, as it provides a deeper meaningof education rooted in spirituality for the teacher seen as a unity achieved inthe integrative process of formation.

    A short description of the context of the presented issue: The contents ofthe article are rooted in the personalistic perspective and cover the refer-ence to spirituality, to some extent corresponding with human spiritual de-velopment and teacher spiritual development, tightly connected withParker J. Palmer’s concept of education perceived in the spiritual dimension.

    Research findings: The article elicits the meaning of spirituality in the qual-ity of teacher development and the need to provide a space for spiritualityin education, in the care of future generations. The research emphasizesthat students achieving a spiritual identity on a transpersonal level can be-come fruitful for contemporary civilization, and further research in this lightdemands engagement of the broader scientific community, working in thepersonalistic paradigm.Conclusions and recommendations: Education lacking the space for spiri-tuality determined by higher values does not foster the building of thewholeness of a person and can cause many problems with forming one’sidentity, the core of which is a spiritual identity on the autonomous, transper-sonal level. The conclusion is that the more “technical/pragmatic” approachesto education are propagated, the more problems in the functioning of fu-ture generations can appear. That is why the core curriculum in educationneeds changing, which should be followed by changes in teacher higher education and training.