Spiritual competence, contemplative education and mindfulness in schools

espanolLa deteccion de las competencias basicas necesarias para afrontar los grandes retos que la sociedad actual presenta ha sido siempre un elemento central en la investigacion educativa. La educacion contemplativa es un reciente campo de investigacion, basado en el desarrollo de la competencia espiritual en contextos educativos, que nace con el proposito de fomentar habilidades sociales y personales utiles para un promover una futura sociedad mas consciente, armoniosa y sostenible. En el presente articulo se realiza una aproximacion conceptual a la espiritualidad y a la competencia espiritual, desde el ambito de la psicologia educativa, apostando por una propuesta concreta de sus componentes principales y su definicion. Se relaciona la educacion contemplativa con una particular forma de entender la relacion entre sujeto y objeto de conocimiento. Se revisan criticamente las evidencias cientificas sobre la efectividad de los programas de entrenamiento basados en una de sus manifestaciones laicas mas extendidas (el mindfulness o atencion plena) y, se aborda brevemente la relacion entre educacion contemplativa y tradicion espiritual. Finalmente, los autores comentan algunos aspectos interesantes a tener en cuenta en el diseno de futuras investigaciones. EnglishIdentification of the basic competencies needed to address the challenges that today’s society presents has always been central to educational research. Contemplative education is a recent field of research that is based on the development of spiritual competence in educational contexts. Its purpose is to promote useful social and personal skills to foster a more aware, harmonious and sustainable future society. This article outlines a conceptual approach to spirituality and spiritual competence based on the field of educational psychology, and describes their main components and their definition. Contemplative education is associated with a particular way of understanding the relationship between subject and object of knowledge. The scientific evidence available on the effectiveness of training programmes based on one of its most widespread secular manifestations (mindfulness) is critically reviewed, and the relationship between contemplative education and spiritual tradition is briefly addressed. Finally, the authors comment on some interesting aspects to consider for the design of future research.