Spirituality in education

Quoted from Ofsted Handbook for the Inspection of Schools, 1994

Spiritual development relates to that aspect of inner life through which pupils acquire insights into their personal existence which are of enduring worth. It is characterised by reflection, the attribution of meaning to experience, valuing a non-material dimension to life and intimations of an enduring reality. ‘Spiritual’ is not synonymous with ‘religious’; all areas of the curriculum may contribute to pupils’ spiritual development.

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16 March 2010 – 00:41 | By kyber | Posted in asides | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)
  • http://www.kyber.co.uk kyber

    That probably works better in the original German, but I am struggling to see the relevance of quoting part of an English translation of one of Rainer Maria Rilke's Duineser Elegien lyrical poems.

  • MJBRichards

    Strange, though, alas, the streets of Grief-City,

    where, in the artificiality of a drowned-out false

    stillness, the statue cast from the mould of emptiness bravely

    swaggers: the gilded noise, the flawed memorial.

    O, how an Angel would utterly trample their market of solace,

    bounded by the Church, bought ready for use:

    untouched, disenchanted and shut like the post-office on Sunday.

    Beyond though, the outskirts are always alive with the fair.

    Swings of freedom! Divers and jugglers of zeal!

    And the figures at the shooting range of easy luck,

    targets that shake tinnily whenever some better marksman

    hits one. From applause at his luck

    he staggers on further: as booths for every taste

    are wooing him, drumming, and bawling. Here’s something

    special, only for adults, to view: how money is got, anatomy,

    not just to amuse: the private parts of money,

    all of it, the whole thing, the act, – to instruct and make

    potent…….O, but just beyond

    behind the last hoarding, plastered with adverts for ‘Deathless’,

    that bitter beer that tastes sweet to its drinkers,

    as long as they chew fresh distractions along with it……

    just at the back of the hoardings, just behind them, it’s real.

    Children are playing, lovers are holding each other – to the side,

    sombrely, in the sparse grass, and dogs are following their nature.

    Rilke, Duino Elegies, the Tenth Elegy