Transpersonal Education: An Evaluation of the Current Context from an International Perspective

The field of transpersonal education was originally discussed in the mid-1970s, aiming to unite the various domains of human experience (i.e. cognitive, affective, psychomotor) through a series of principles and practices (Moore, 1975; Roberts and Clark, 1976). There has been a paucity of research in the area, furthermore the field has become strongly associated with postgraduate courses (e.g. Rowe and Braud, 2013), opposed to investigating how transpersonal education may be applied to the early years and compulsory schooling sector. Recently, there have been attempts to redefine transpersonal education to provide a balanced focus within compulsory schooling (Buckler, 2011; Buckler, 2013), with initial research suggesting that the field has cross-cultural interest. This paper extends research into the concept through analysing current publications in the field, while also deriving international perspectives from participants. To conclude, a discussion of the UK context is provided where an opportunity is highlighted for transpersonal psychologists to lead future development.