Spiritual Development on Values Formation in Public Secondary Schools

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Education is geared towards producing socially, morally and mentally developed persons. Students are introduced to the sense of responsibility, ideas of right in relation to the surrounding world and are inculcated with skills necessary for life and service. By so doing, Christianity helps students to attain satisfactory social adjustment, develop a responsible attitude towards life, and understand the relationship of law and freedom and importance of physical work. From a Christian perspective, Christian education help students to develop their God-given abilities, desire to continue the process of education after school, develop physical and mental disciplines, and fashion a biblical life pattern (Anderson, 2009).

METHODS

The mixed methods approach was used in the study. This was a combination of the quantitative and qualitative methods. This design started with the collection and analysis of quantitative data, which has the priority for addressing the questions in the study. Then the qualitative result clarified further the initial quantitative outcome. The researcher used a survey questionnaire to source the data for quantification. Moreover, open-ended questions were made to support the quantitative data.

RESULTS

The study examined the effect of student respondents' profile such as age, sex, residence location, and ethnicity and the relationship of their spiritual views being described in terms of felt family support, observed behavior of peers and learned dogma, on their values formation interms of cognitive, social, and affective development.Using the mixed methods of research with 679 students as respondents of the study, findings revealed that: Majority of the student respondents were 13 years old, female, lived in rural area, and non-Christian. The student respondents' spiritual view as influenced by the family was described as "sometimes”. On the other hand, their spiritual view as influenced by peers was described as "very few of them”. Meanwhile, majority of the student respondents were Islam and Catholic who attended religious services every week. On the other hand, the student respondents' affective and cognitive developments were described as "often”, and their social development was described as "moderately agree.”

DISCUSSIONS

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: The profile characteristics of the student respondents such as age, sex, residence location, and ethnicity have no significant effect on their values formation in terms of cognitive,social, and affective development. There is a significant relationship between spiritual development and values formation on the secondary students in public schools.