The role of the school environment in shaping children’s spirituality

<ns3:p>Spirituality is an important part of parenting, coping with stress and developmental tasks. According to Duff (2003), it can help the creative development of young children by guiding awareness, mentoring, stimulating imagination and developing possibilities. The aim of this study is to show the specifics of children's spiritual development and to signal the role of the school environment in shaping the spirituality of the youngest through appropriate educational influences. The method used was a review of foreign literature on the subject and research results. On this basis, the ways of understanding spirituality, children's spiritual development and its connections with other spheres of development were presented. The role of the non-family environment in shaping the spirituality of the youngest was also presented. The analysis carried out showed, the influence of internal and external factors on the spiritual development of children. The school environment plays an important role in the development of the spirituality of the youngest. The analysis of theories of spiritual development, research on spirituality has shown the important role of developing children's spirituality through observation, communication and modelling. School education can also be a factor supporting the spiritual potential of the youngest, provided that it takes a holistic view of their development. It takes into account the individual capacities, experiences, aesthetic and sensory sensitivity of children and their needs: belonging, meaning, curiosity, exploration. It also seems legitimate to reflect on the profile of the spiritual education programmes of contemporary schools, operating in a dynamic and unpredictable reality.</ns3:p>