Abstract

This interdisciplinary, qualitative study is the first to map the role of spirituality in contemporary art museum education from the educator’s perspective. The thesis makes an original contribution to a spiritual approach to art museum education by acknowledging an interplay between worldview, core values, educational goals, learning theory, and educational practice. Based on a holistic worldview of the profound interconnectedness of all life, spirituality is proposed as a nonreligious and nonsectarian category concerned with an individual’s experiential journey in search of purpose, meaning, and connectedness with self, others, nature, and the transcendent. The case study that underpins this project focused on three significant groups of educators: art museum educators, high school visual art teachers, and prospective visual art teachers studying at university. Data from qualitative questionnaires and semistructured interviews was triangulated among the groups, to map participants’ views about spirituality in teaching high school groups visiting art museums. My analysis of the qualitative data revealed that all participants made a distinction between spirituality and religion. However, in their teaching some used spirituality as a transcendental concept, others as nontranscendental. Further, visual art emerged as a secular field particularly well suited to engaging students with existential and spiritual questions. For example, art museum educators described art museums as places of slowing down—referring to a state of heightened presence and concentration, fruitful for immersive experiences, and for potentially opening to spiritual questions. Another key finding is that all participants were hesitant to embrace a spiritual dimension to art education. One way to encourage more spiritual dialogue would be to clarify the contemporary, secular interpretation of “spiritual” across art museum education, the visual arts syllabi, and teacher training. Greater clarity may inspire educators to integrate spiritual explorations into art museum education. The study concludes that art museums present a potentially powerful learning environment for young people to engage with reflective and existential questions of self and world. In this context, contemplative pedagogies, including the integration of mindfulness and body–mind practices, may provide novel and meaningful strategies to invite young visitors to explore the spiritual