Teaching for authenticity: an autoethnographic journey towards a spiritual pedagogy in the church and primary school.

Wills, Ruth (2026) Teaching for authenticity: an autoethnographic journey towards a spiritual pedagogy in the church and primary school. International Journal of Children's Spirituality. ISSN 1364-436X

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Abstract

During my first inspection experience as a primary school music teacher, it was noted that my work contributed to the spiritual nature of the school. Since then, my exploration into what both children’s spirituality and spiritual pedagogy entail has formed the basis of my writing and research. This commentary paper documents my journey from a practitioner perspective to a deeper understanding which has sought to identify a philosophical underpinning for authentic teaching and learning. Exploration through the lenses of Heidegger and Hegel in particular have led to Bildung being adopted as a pedagogical framework, outlined here through examples from practice. The article concludes with an assessment of spirituality in my current field, early childhood education, and considers the importance of spirituality for an authentic pedagogy for and with young children.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	© 2026 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Education
Depositing User:	Ruth Wills
Date Deposited:	14 Jan 2026 11:42
Last Modified:	14 Jan 2026 11:42
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4824

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