This article begins with two nonfiction narratives that are used throughout the article to defend and nuance the rationale for educational leaders to create dialogical spaces in schools for students to explore their spiritualities. The reasons for the inclusion of spirituality in schools are clustered into four categories for the sake of coherence: (1) moral vision, (2) linked aims and purposes, (3) meaning system, and (4) presence. It is argued that spirituality for some is inextricably connected to religion, which can pose a problem for educators and educational leaders, especially if the religion, such as Islam, is incorrectly associated with violence and terrorism. Finally misconceptions of Islam are addressed and ways are suggested that educational leaders can engage both Muslim and non-Muslim students in a meaningful dialogue about a spirituality rooted in Islam.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
KhanAgaIV. (1994, December 15). His Highness Aga Khan interview with Paris Match. Paris Match, 82–87.
BakhtinM. (1973). Problems of Dostoevsky's poetics.Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis.
4.
BhabhaH. K. (1994). The location of culture.London: Routledge.
5.
BuberM. (1970). I and thou.New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
6.
CaineR. N., & CaineG. (1997). Education on the edge of possibility.Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
7.
CapperC. A., KeyesM. W., & HamerM. M. (2002). The role of community in spiritually centered leadership for justice. In FurmanG. (Ed.), School as community: From promise to practice (pp. 77–94). Albany: State University of New York Press.
8.
CapperC. A., KeyesM. W., & TheoharisG. T. (2000). Spirituality in leadership: Implications for inclusive schooling. In ThousandJ., and VillaR. (Eds.), Restructuring for caring and effective education: Piecing the puzzle together (pp. 513–530). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
9.
DelpitL. (2003). Educators as “seed people” growing a new future. Educational Researcher, 7(32), 14–21.
10.
EdwardsM. (2005). The spirituality of others: A school administrator's vision. In ShieldsC., EdwardsM., & SayaniA. (Eds.), Inspiring practices: Spirituality and educational leadership (pp. 201–223). New York: ProActive.
11.
EmmonsR. A. (2000). Is spirituality an intelligence? Motivation, cognition and the psychology of ultimate concern. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 10(1), 3–26.
12.
EsmailA. (1992, July). The Institute of Ismaili Studies: The intellectual issues of the decade. The Ismaili United Kingdom (Suppl. 1), pp. 1–8. Retrieved July 12, 2004, from http://www.iis.ac.uk/learmng/learning_12.htm
13.
EsmailA. (1998). The poetics of religious experience: The Islamic context.London: I. B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies (Occasional Papers).
14.
FairholmG. (1988). Perspectives on leadership: From the science of management to its spiritual heart.Westport, CT: Quorum.
15.
EraserD. (2005a). Spirituality in schools: Teachers and teacher education. In ShieldsC., EdwardsM., & SayaniA. (Eds.), Inspiring practices: Spirituality and educational leadership (pp. 165–179). New York: ProActive.
16.
EraserD. (2005b). Historical and legal contexts defining spirituality in schooling. In ShieldsC., EdwardsM., & SayaniA. (Eds.), Inspiring practices: Spirituality and educational leadership (pp. 51–66). New York: ProActive.
17.
FreireP. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed.New York: Continuum.
McCarthyM. M., Cambron-McCabeN. H., & ThomasS. B. (2004). Legal rights of teachers and students.Boston: Pearson
23.
NoddingsN. (1992). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education.New York: Teachers College Press.
24.
O'SullivanE. (2002). Transformative learning: Educational vision for the 21st century.Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press
25.
PalmerP. J. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
26.
RogersC. R. (1961). On becoming a person.Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
27.
SayaniA. (2005). Allah-consciousness: A meta-meaning system to understand Muslim spirituality in an educational context. In ShieldsC., EdwardsM., & SayaniA. (Eds.), Inspiring practices: Spirituality and educational leadership (pp. 101–115). New York: ProActive.
28.
ShieldsC. (2005). Taking account of spirituality: Should educational leaders care? In ShieldsC., EdwardsM., & SayaniA. (Eds.), Inspiring practices: Spirituality and educational leadership (pp. 3–16). New York: ProActive.
29.
ShieldsC. M., BishopR., & MazawiA. E. (2005). Pathologizing practices: The impact of deficit thinking on education.New York: Peter Lang.
ShieldsC. M., & SayaniA. (2004). Leading in the midst of diversity: The challenge of our times. In EnglishF. W. (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of educational leadership: Advances in theory, research, and practice (pp. 380–402). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
32.
SidorkinA. M. (1996). An ontological understanding of dialogue. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Washington. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from http://www.sidorkin.net/pdf/dis.pdf
SolomonJ., & HunterJ. (2002). A psychological view of spirituality and leadership. The School Administrator, 8(59), 38–41.
36.
StarrattJ. R. (2002, November). Spirituality of educational leadership. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the University Council of Educational Administration, Pittsburg, PA.
37.
StarrattJ. R. (2005). The spirituality of presence for educational leaders. In ShieldsC., EdwardsM., & SayaniA. (Eds.), Inspiring practices: Spirituality and educational leadership (pp. 67–84). New York: ProActive.
38.
ThobaniS. (2004, March). Between anxiety and hope: Education in troubled times. The Ismaili Canada, 4–9.
39.
ThompsonC. M., & JohnsonR. A. (2000). The congruent life: Following the inward path to fulfilling work and inspired leadership.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
40.
VokeyD. (2001). Moral discourse in a pluralistic world.Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
41.
VokeyD. (2005). Spirituality and educational leadership: A Shambhala Buddhist view In ShieldsC., EdwardsM., & SayaniA. (Eds.), Inspiring practices: Spirituality and educational leadership (pp. 87–99). New York: ProActive.
42.
WheatleyM. (1992). Leadership and the new science.San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
