Spirituality across Disciplines: Research and Practice: (PDF)

theoretical approach her research contributes to wider understandings about the significance of early childhood education in terms of wellbeing and social justice. She is currently exploring the connections of children with animals and the environment. Her PhD supervision reflects these interests and she is involved in a range of projects in Australia and internationally about spiritual practices in everyday life, holistic approaches to leadership, play and movement, the wellbeing of young children and the challenges of diversity and spiritual and religious belief in Australia and elsewhere.Jane is currently a Senior Lecturer at Monash University, Victoria, Australia. She is a member of the CRN (Collaborative Research Network), a project with Queensland University of Technology, Charles Sturt University and Monash.
BIOGRAPHY JACQUELINE WATSON
My key area of research is spirituality in education, including connections between spirituality and religious education (RE), and the inclusion of Humanism in Religious Education in the UK. Until recently, I was a researcher and lecturer at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and, from 2012-2014, I was Director of the Centre for Spirituality and Religion in Education at UEA. My interest in spirituality in education began over 20 years ago when I was privileged to be taught by Jack Priestley and Terence Copley during my PGCE at the University of Exeter. After teaching RE in Devon, I studied part-time for an MEd and then a PhD at UEA while continuing to teach in secondary schools. My research enabled me to explore what spirituality meant in adults' and young people's lives, and to examine understandings and definitions of spirituality in education among teachers, educationalists and policy makers.I retired from the University of East Anglia in 2014 and now live in Devon where I continue my academic interests and have a new career as a as a Humanist funeral and wedding celebrant with the British Humanist Association. I am an Honorary University Fellow with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of Exeter, and a Visiting Fellow with the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia. I am managing editor of the International Journal of Children's Spirituality. I am a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Children's Spirituality and a member of the British Association for the Study of Spirituality.