Location
Preston 2
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
Spirituality impacts learners’ growth and development, including in value formation, problem-solving, critical reflection, interpersonal collaboration, self-efficacy, belongingness, and the search for purposeful and meaningful life and work. Despite increasing scholarly interest, spirituality remains underexplored in higher education, often due to concerns about proselytizing and the fluidity of the concept across multiple framings.
Recent research positions spirituality as a cross-cultural concept encompassing holistic human growth and development. This perspective underscores the need for further investigation into how spirituality, beyond formal religious practices and affiliations, can be integrated into educational practices. Starting from an integrative participatory framing of spirituality as experiences of intra-, inter-, and transpersonal connection beyond the self, we explore how such experiences relate to persistence and joyful learning in higher education and workplace settings.
Given this broad and inclusive understanding of spirituality and that existing research on spiritually informed teaching practices in adult and higher education remains sparse, this presentation explores specific practices educators might use to cultivate relational connection for inspired being and becoming. In offering these spiritual pedagogical practices, we also consider how specific spiritually informed activities can enhance learning processes and their potential applicability across diverse educational contexts within and beyond higher education.
Keywords
Spirituality, Sense of Belonging, Meaning-making, Higher Education, Holistic Learning
Professional Bio
Drs. Shannon Perry, Jieun You, Matthew J. Smith, and Jamie L. Workman are faculty in the Department of Leadership, Technology & Workforce Development at Valdosta State University. Drs. Perry and You teach primarily in Adult and Career Education; Drs. Smith and Workman teach primarily in Higher Education. All faculty work with doctoral student researchers. Through informal conversation, we discovered our research agendas and teaching practices intersect in the areas of meaning making, sense of belonging, holistic learning, and relational spirituality.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Perry, Shannon; You, Jieun; Smith, Matthew J.; and Workman, Jamie L., "Spirituality Informed Teaching Practices for Cultivating Belonging, Meaning-Making, and Relational Being and Becoming" (2026). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 10.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2026/2026/10
Spirituality Informed Teaching Practices for Cultivating Belonging, Meaning-Making, and Relational Being and Becoming
Preston 2
Spirituality impacts learners’ growth and development, including in value formation, problem-solving, critical reflection, interpersonal collaboration, self-efficacy, belongingness, and the search for purposeful and meaningful life and work. Despite increasing scholarly interest, spirituality remains underexplored in higher education, often due to concerns about proselytizing and the fluidity of the concept across multiple framings.
Recent research positions spirituality as a cross-cultural concept encompassing holistic human growth and development. This perspective underscores the need for further investigation into how spirituality, beyond formal religious practices and affiliations, can be integrated into educational practices. Starting from an integrative participatory framing of spirituality as experiences of intra-, inter-, and transpersonal connection beyond the self, we explore how such experiences relate to persistence and joyful learning in higher education and workplace settings.
Given this broad and inclusive understanding of spirituality and that existing research on spiritually informed teaching practices in adult and higher education remains sparse, this presentation explores specific practices educators might use to cultivate relational connection for inspired being and becoming. In offering these spiritual pedagogical practices, we also consider how specific spiritually informed activities can enhance learning processes and their potential applicability across diverse educational contexts within and beyond higher education.
