Poor Relation or Honoured Guest? The place of the transcendent in a state education system that seeks to promote spiritual development

I was affected to tears while we stood in the house, the coffin lying before me. There were no near kindred, no children. When we got out of the dark house the sun was shining, and the prospect looked so divinely beautiful as I never saw it. It seemed more sacred than I had ever seen it, and yet more allied to human life. (Dorothy Wordsworth)Footnote 1 1 Wordsworth 1991:47 There is much activity currently in Britain concerning educational policy and the promotion of children's spiritual development. This paper” suggests that policy in this area needs to be informed, amongst other things, by an appreciation of the extent to which transcendent spiritual experiences occur in contemporary society. The first two sections of the paper present brief indications of how spiritual development is being approached in an educational policy framework and some of the research evidence for transcendent spiritual experiences. The third section discusses some of the issues that arise from this, and their implications.