摘要:
Over the last few decades wellbeing has occupied a significant space in the educational context due to enduring concerns about the mental health of children and adolescents, both while they are engaged in their schooling and beyond school and into adulthood. Because of this, many schools have adopted a prevention-to-intervention framework for addressing mental health and wellbeing. However, wellbeing is not solely concerned with mental health, and the field of wellbeing in education has continued to be influenced by many different theories and approaches. Holistic education is one particular perspective that goes beyond mental and physical health to frequently highlight the spiritual aspect of the child in relation to their overall wellbeing. In this perspective, spirituality is a dimension of the child that schools have a duty to nurture. Yet, despite its enduring position in theology, religion, philosophy and education, spirituality is an ineffable phenomenon. Whether confined to religion or viewed as an abiding aspect of humanity itself, spirituality remains a nebulous ontological field of inquiry. As schools privilege experiences in children that teachers can observe, the predominantly unseen ontological experiences occurring in the life of the child tend to be unnoticed. Disregarding what is ontologically obscured is an educational problem that this study seeks to address, given the connection between wellbeing and spirituality posited by holistic education. This study, therefore, questions the vague positioning of spirituality in the context of education, particularly as it is situated in relation to wellbeing. The philosophical and methodological frame chosen for this study is hermeneutic phenomenology. By focussing on the lived experiences of parents, teachers, principals and pre-adolescent children this study illuminates the significance of wellbeing and spirituality as ontological phenomena in education. Interviews were conducted in Victoria with participa