Abstract

With the intent to further expound upon the recent research pertaining to how faith and spirituality cultivates endurance and perseverance through adversities and afflictions, the purpose of this study is to examine how faith and spirituality influences and impacts an educator’s disposition, practice, and philosophy of education during a time of crisis, definitively regarding crises among the students they teach. The overarching question of this qualitative, phenomenological research asks, can the faith or spirituality of a teacher impact students seeking to overcome adverse childhood experience. From there, a former general education classroom teacher, a licensed counselor, and an assistant athletic director of facilities and recreation all employed by a small, private college located within the Greater Boston metropolitan region of New England became participants of this study. Through a series of interviews, the participants’ demographics, personal faith and spirituality, interactions with students, and their knowledge, as well as engagement, with adverse childhood experiences, were surveyed in order to understand what each of their perspectives was relative to their core values of faith when supporting children of abuse. With the contributions from these three participants, it was found that faith elicits a greater appreciation for humanity, informs that the identities of the youth amount to much more than what they do, and leads to a suffering with. Such conclusions not only uncovered how faith and spirituality can incite and prompt a desire to meet students where they are at, but it expounded upon how great of an impression it can leave on the individuals themselves in addition to those surrounding them.

Link To Thesis

"In looking to Jesus and faith, learning to be honest and learning of the need for speaking truth and the need for freedom is profound; there is a need to ensure that students feel that freedom and claim their story and talk about it so that it does not own them."

Participant A

Former General Education Classroom Teacher

and Current Assistant Professor of Education

"Seeing people in the image of God comes with seeing people through a place of compassion, God’s longing for us to be whole, for people to be walking in freedom and in healing."

Participant B

Licensed Counselor

"Whether someone is an atheist, or does not believe in Jesus, whatever one believes in faith-wise, ultimately everyone believes in something."

Participant C

Assistant Athletic Director of Facilities and Recreation