Spiritual Development, Moral Development and Citizenship Education

The following topics and issues are covered in this chapter:

• the broad-ranging interpretations of spiritual development;
• moral development and the values that underpin it;
• citizenship education;
• pressure on these areas of the curriculum in a content-laden curriculum;
• a whole-school approach to spiritual and moral development and citizenship;
• classroom activities for promoting spiritual and moral development and citizenship;
• the use of Circle Time;
• citizenship across the curriculum;
• the contribution of school councils; and
• spiritual education and RE.

The central importance of primary school education in relation to a child's development as an individual is underlined in the following assertion from the Norwegian Core Curriculum, which will resonate with the aspirations of teachers in many countries: ‘When children start school they start upon a great ...