Education, Religion and Spirituality
York St John University has a history of
higher education, working for schools, stretching back to
1841. At that time, teacher training here focused on church
schools, as we were founded by the Church of England. The
relationship of education and religion is built in to the
foundations of this institution.
Research on the schools and other educational
institutions, and their relationship to religious and spiritual
issues is therefore vital for us. Whether it is work directly
on religious education and spiritual development in schools, or the
broader issues of how education works in a religiously plural
society, and how religion and spirituality may influence
educational institutions, the interest in this research is central
to the work of the faculty and the university as a whole.
Expertise
Spiritual development
Research has centred around the ‘Spirit of the
School’ project, led by Professor Julian
Stern (with the book
The Spirit of the School published in 2009).
Work has included broad issues of spiritual development in schools,
and how young people use literature in their spiritual development
(Imelda O’Grady). That is
complemented by Dr Sue Yore’s work on
spirituality, creativity and mysticism. The spirit of the
school research methodology has been applied to a number of areas,
including innovative work on assessment and feedback systems in
schools and universities (Anita
Backhouse and Julian Stern), helping describe the ‘spirit of
assessment’. An extension of this work is research on how
schools might be conceived as communities like ‘households’, and
the place of dialogue in higher education. Further than this,
the nature of schooling and how it deals with loneliness, solitude
and dialogue is being researched (Julian Stern), also working on
silence with our visiting fellow
Helen Lees of the University of Stirling). Julian Stern
is also a member of the Centre for Spirituality
Studies, is on the editorial board of the Journal for the Study of
Spirituality, and works on spirituality and school counselling
with our visiting professor, Chris Sink,
from Seattle Pacific University.
Religion, values and schools
After many years of researching religious
education (published in the 2007 book
Schools and Religions: Imagining the Real), Julian
Stern is now also research the influence of religious education
research. This is a significant project, supported by the
Westhill Endowment Trust, and centred on a series of research
seminars that has been running since 2004 (published for example in
Teaching Religious Education: Researchers in the
Classroom, 2006). Staff in the faculty have also
worked on prejudice and religiosity in young people, and religious
identity more broadly (Andy Village,
Dr Adrian Brockett), peace and
reconciliation and faith schools (Pauline
Kollontai), church schools generally (Julian Stern and the
Centre for Church School Education), and research virtues and
values (Professor Jean McNiff and Julian
Stern, with conferences on
Value and Virtue in Practice-Based Research held in 2011 and
2012). Julian Stern is also on the editorial board of the
British Journal of Religious
Education, is General Secretary of ISREV: the International Seminar on
Religious Education and Values, and works with our visiting fellow,
Michael
T Buchanan of the Australian Catholic University and editor of
the Religious Education Journal of Australia.
Faith and ministerial education
There is complementary work on adult Christian
education, continuing ministerial education, and teaching and
learning in the foundation degree in theology and ministry
(John Williams, Lynn Comer, Louise
Redshaw).
Contact
To find out more, please contact Professor Julian Stern.