The Complex Reasons for Missing Spirituality. A Response to Democratic Foundations for Spiritually Responsive Pedagogy

This article is written in response to Lingley’s (2016) concept of spiritually responsive pedagogy. To begin with, the word spiritual, when applied to education, still attracts varied responses. Therefore, I have begun by examining contemporary understandings of spirituality as reflected in current research and literature, which provides an informed context for my response. I follow up by aligning some of the key features noted by Lingley in democratic education and spiritually responsive pedagogy to other perspectives that deal with the spiritual dimension in education; I do this in order to offer a supportive stance to Lingley’s assertion that, if we are to address the real needs of our students today and prepare them to meet the challenges of the world of tomorrow, we must incorporate spiritually responsive pedagogy into educational policy and practice