Re-Enchanting Education and Spiritual Wellbeing

Education is in a constant state of renewal internationally where it responds to a number of pressing social, political and cultural issues. Processes of globalization, a number of conflicts and acts of terror, economic and environmental crises have led to large waves of migration and asylum seekers arriving in countries with the hope of finding safer and more stable places to settle. This, in turn, has led to cultural and religious pluralism being a key characteristic of many societies with corresponding issues of belonging and identity.

As well, for many people, there has been a shifting influence of and allegiance away from traditional religious frameworks with the emergence of new religious movements, both peaceful and violent, and a rise in popularity of spirituality and non-religious worldviews which provide alternate frameworks for living healthy and ethical lives. In order to prepare today’s student for tomorrow’s world, one which is confronted by a range of risks and crises and which is being shaped by rapidly changing technologies, educators and researchers are investigating new ways of equipping students to deal with these challenges and opportunities, including the nurturing of spiritual wellbeing.

This book brings together the voices of many experienced educators to discuss ways to re-enchant education and re-enliven learning programs in response to these 21st century issues in an increasingly global and interconnected world. It examines a range of international contexts, including secular and religious educational settings, and provides an avenue for visionary voices that identify problems and offer solutions to help shape a more promising education system that will prepare children more constructively and beneficially to flourish in their future worlds.

Dr Marian de Souza has spent more than twenty years researching contemporary understandings of spirituality and the implications for education and wellbeing of children and young people. Her recent publications include Spirituality in Education in a Global, Pluralised World (Routledge).

Dr Anna Halafoff is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Religion at Deakin University and a Research Associate of the UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations – Asia Pacific at Monash University. Her most recent publications with Routledge are a co-edited book, Education about Religions and Worldviews: Promoting Intercultural and Interreligious Understanding in Secular Societies (with Elisabeth Arweck and Donald Boisvert), and a co-authored book, Religion and Development in the Asia-Pacific: Sacred Places as Development Spaces (with Matthew Clarke).