All about...spirituality

SOUL SEARCHING

Ofsted inspections look for evidence of spiritual development, yet little guidance on it is given to early years practitioners

Young children's spiritual development is probably one of the most difficult aspects of a child's life to grasp and promote, and yet, as early years practitioners, we are given little help on how to do it.

There has been almost no study of young children's spiritual development, few insights as to what it comprises and little guidance on how it should be fostered. There are no explicit references to spiritual development in the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage.

Ofsted inspections for maintained, private and voluntary provision require a judgement on spiritual development. However, inspectors are given scant help about what evidence they should look for. They are advised that there are links to spirituality in aspects of the areas of learning that relate to children's self-confidence and self-esteem and understanding of cultures and beliefs.1 Although this might well be the case, this guidance fails to get to the core of spirituality (admittedly a difficult task and one that that I can only claim to touch on).