SCHOOLS SHOULD LEAD students in learning to fulfil their many vocations in life. To do this, they must ask, what learning is of most value? The criteria employed to select this rather than that educational experience will reflect the answer given. But what is learned is inextricably linked with how it is learned. Though there are many differing forces at work in shaping contemporary schooling, one perennial factor is a primary commitment to autonomous reason focusing on relatively self-contained subject matters. I believe this is no mere “academic” concern but one of deep spiritual significance. After further contextualising this remark, I will examine prominent theories of moral development, a prime site for understanding our culture's conception of values and value acquisition. I will then propose that an alternative, relational rationality (“narrationality”) will enable schools better to reflect the interdependence of all creatures that Scripture proclaims and students to realise multidimensional value.1
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