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Journal overview

International Journal of Children’s Spirituality is a peer-reviewed journal that creates a unique interdisciplinary, inter-professional and intercultural forum. Within this forum, researchers, scholars, and reflective practitioners can share and discuss ideas and practices related to the expression and development of spirituality as well as life and values education in children and young people in a range of social and cultural contexts worldwide.

The International Journal of Children's Spirituality defines the concept of spirituality as well as life and values education broadly and inclusively, recognizing that spirituality, life and spiritual values can be understood from religious and non-religious perspectives, and expressed and studied in secular contexts as well as within religious, philosophical, psychological and sociocultural perspectives and traditions. The journal is concerned with the contextual origins of diverse definitions of spirituality as well as life and values education and their practical implications for personal and school development, communal well-being, social policies and organizational practices.

IJCS's commitment to respect all children and young people, as well as each other, means that we reject discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, physical or mental ability or age. We therefore encourage contributions that reflect respectful perspectives and holistic approaches to children's and young people's spirituality and personal development as well as life and values education across a variety of disciplines, professions, traditions, organizations and communities.

Particularly welcome are contributions that:
• Explore epistemological and methodological approaches to the study of children and young people's spirituality
• Give explicit attention to children and young people's voices, experiences and relationships and their implications for life and values education
• Examine critically the values and presuppositions underpinning different forms and practices of children and young people's spirituality under the globalized and transnational contexts
• Investigate sociocultural, philosophical, psychological and/or religious assumptions in ways that respect diverse perspectives of children and young people’s spirituality
• Use critical methodologies (qualitative and/or quantitative) to frame research and reflection
• Offer comparative perspectives drawn from different cultures, traditions, and/or professional practice settings for life and values education
• Identify gaps in current knowledge and offer new agendas for research into children and young people's spirituality as well as life and values education within and across disciplines and contexts

ICJS includes:
• Research papers based on completed studies, substantial work-in-progress, or groundbreaking pilot projects
• Scholarly articles exploring understandings of children and young people's spirituality and the implications of such knowledge for life and values education
• Critically reflective accounts of spiritual nurture practices as well as life and values education within particular settings or across multiple settings
• Editorials and essays designed to highlight current issues in children and young people's spirituality as well as life and values education and generate discussion about and further research on those issues
• Reviews of recent publications and online resources
• Occasional review essays focused on multiple texts or resources on children and young people's spirituality as well as life and values education
• Conference reports and calls for papers for the IACS biennial conference and other relevant events


Peer Review Policy:
All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two anonymous referees.

Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.

Read the Instructions for Authors for information on how to submit your article.

Read full aims and scope

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