Article Review 2 1
Documenting Children's Spiritual Development in a Preschool Program
By: Deena Kuehm
EDUC 501 Advanced Child Development
Author Note
Deena M. Kuehm
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sally S. Sample
Email: Dkuehm@liberty.edu
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Article Summary
In the article, “Documenting Children's Spiritual Development in a Preschool Program”
(2007), Helm discussed the documentation display of what they learned in the study they
conducted and “how it not only communicated how Christian formation occurs in the program
but also significantly changed viewers ideas about the importance of spirituality in the early
years.” This article talks about how educators from a faith-based early childhood program
at Northminister Learning Center who sought to emphasize the importance of adequate
instruction to children at a young age, both intellectually and spiritually. The goal of this article
was to gather compelling evidence which would justify the program's continuance and extension
by demonstrating that Northminister Presbyterian Church is encouraging and nourishing
children's spiritual development. Teachers would be able to illustrate to the church the value of
preschool and how children benefit from it as they develop both intellectually and spiritually by
presenting evidence. According to the article “Seldom do churches do a good job of telling the
story of successful faith building or outreach programs. Yet our experience demonstrates that
evidence is easy to collect and easy to share as well as being enormously powerful.” (Helm, Berg
& Scranton, 2007, p. 277). The documentation served as a tool for not just educating parents, but
also for rallying support for the faith-based early childhood program's continuation and
development.
Northminister Learning Center's purpose is to provide a caring and supportive atmosphere to suit
the requirements of families. The learning center has 200 students for whom the three following
programs are offered: 1) Discovery Preschool-a Reggio-inspired faith-based preschool using the
Project Approach, documentation and authentic assessment, (2) Curiosity Corner-a
developmentally appropriate enrichment program for children 24-36 months, (3) After Care-a
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place where children age 5-11 come after school to socialize and enjoy planned activities, (4)
Summer Camp-weekly themes, outdoor games, sports, arts, crafts and nature programs for ages
6-11, (5) Kindergarten-a Reggio-inspired, faith-based full day kindergarten program that
implements Project Approach, documentation, authentic assessment, and engaged and active
academic learning experiences. Teachers think that each age group has a unique developmental
feature, thus they change the dialogue with the children based on their ages by reducing
terminology and altering the difficulty of topics. Godly Play is used by teachers at the learning
center as part of the preschool, kindergarten, and after-care programs. “A significant part of the
Northminster Learning Center program is the documentation of children's work both for
assessment and to guide instruction. Documentation is defined as "the collection of evidence of
learning"” (Helm, Berg & Scranton, 2007, p. 269). The Northminister learning center collected
data in two different ways: performance documentation and spiritual growth. Photographs,
anecdotal notes, audio and video recordings, collections of work, and stories are used by the staff
to document the learning and growth of the children. Northminster Learning Center's team is
skilled in collecting and utilizing documents. Several books and exhibitions have showcased
their work. Erikson’s theory has different stages for a child’s growth. At ages 1 to 6 the stage
Initiative over Guilt discusses how, “The child attempts to gain the mother’s affection and is
eager for cooperation with age-mates. If parents demand excessive self-control, children become
overcontrolled and lose their identity.” (Bergin& Bergin, 2018). By producing quality
documentation Erikson’s Theory may assist in giving proof of children’s learning and
development throughout all subjects and provide understanding of the complex educational
experiences available to the students, to name a few examples. All these instances fall under
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spiritual documentation, which can capture a picture of the child's spiritual development for the
educator, the parent, the church, and the public.
Informally, documentation is circulated amongst educators on a regular basis.
Furthermore, during "Super Tuesdays," also known as professional teacher education group
sessions, formal debates of documents take place. During one of these sessions, the group raised
many concerns when addressing a portfolio item for spiritual development, they agreed to start a
year-long study of children's spirituality. “The faculty resolved to expand their knowledge of
children's spiritual growth by enhancing the depth and quality of recording of a child's spiritual
growth over the 2005-2006 school year. A Child's "Spirituality Study Group" was founded by a
subset of faculty who researched and analyzed research that has been conducted on children's
spirituality. This study team gathered once a month and started by generating questions
concerning children's spiritual growth. The following are among the questions they recognized:
Is it possible to keep track of a child's spiritual growth? Do spirituality and religious views in
children follow a predictable developmental path? What do we know about children's abilities to
comprehend and benefit from religious teaching as they grow older? Is it possible to utilize
documents to assist people realize the value of spiritual support for children?” (Helm, Berg &
Scaranton, 2007, p. 271). As the main reading material, the group chose "Experiencing God and
Spiritual Growth with Your Child." Other books were also utilized, allowing for further debate
and the generation of new questions and answers. The team created a Venn diagram to clarify
and demonstrate the intersecting notion of spirituality and religion in the materials studied, which
helped the group comprehend the distinction between experiencing God and learning about God.
Five panels, each measuring 20" by 30", were used to form a document display. The first
two panels covered the documentation process as well as the research group's concept of
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spirituality and how it relates to the Northminster Learning Center's curriculum. Every
other panel asked the user a question and afterwards supplied material that allowed the viewer to
respond. The following items were exhibited in the following order on easels at eye level: How
we documented and examined children's spiritual growth? What is the definition of spirituality?
What are the ways in which it is nurtured in our program? Documentation of Awe and
Reverence, Documentation of Prayer, and Documentation of Bible Story Understanding.” (Helm,
Berg & Scranton, 2007, p. 273). Sixty-seven spectators completed both surveys and the results
showed substantial change.
Classroom Perspectives of Spiritual Development
Children in the early childhood grades require a lot of guidance especially in spiritual
development. Spiritual development is a critical part of the holistic child development process.
As discussed by Helm, Berg, and Scranton (2007), children in early childhood grades require
more emphasis to the importance of adequate instruction to children at a young age, both
intellectually and spiritually. As a result, it is critical for educators to concentrate on the positive
in class to foster spiritual growth. Students, for example, should be taught to respect their
teachers and peers because God tells us that he wants all his children to growing up to be decent
people. Furthermore, children need to learn that mistakes are not the same as being sinful, that
God is always listening, and that prayer is sufficient to earn absolution. Children's spiritual
growth will be severely harmed if they are taught that mistakes are wrong and penalized by God.
This is because early childhood education should be encouraged to make errors because it is
a part of growing up and learning from them enables them progress. Finally, I plan to tackle all
the questions I can that the students ask on Religion and spirituality. Early childhood education
provides for a lot of curiosity about these topics but failing to address them completely can leave
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a lot of holes in their spiritual growth. We also educate young children that we are all created
equally. If this is permitted, I would create lessons and activities that correspond to the
educational teachings currently taught in the classroom to prevent evangelizing the students and
help them realize the part that God wants to play in our lives. I will prevent legal implications
among parents and the school by instructing using an existing lesson plan and tying the classes to
spiritual growth. This would allow me to effectively educate the students on the part God wishes
to play in their life.
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References:
Bergin, C., & Bergin, D. (2018). Child and adolescent development in your classroom.
Cengage Learning.
Helm, J. H., Berg, S., & Scranton, P. (2007). Documenting Children's Spiritual Development in a
Preschool Program. Christian Education Journal, 4(2), 268-278.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/073989130700400206
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