Even in That Silence: Ignatian Retreats in the Transformation of Teacher Spiritual Identity

A teacher continues to navigate and develop one’s personal and professional identity as one interacts with one’s students, peers, mentors, and school. Schools with religious affiliation add another layer of complexity to this interaction as their education paradigm focuses not just on a teacher’s professional identity but one’s spiritual identity as well. Through an in-depth interview of four in-service teachers in a Jesuit school in the Philippines, this study aimed to discover how Ignatian retreats can effect transformation in teacher spiritual identity. The study employed the phenomenological analysis in educational qualitative research. The data were analysed using Castleberry and Nolan’s (2018) five steps for thematic analysis. The data showed that teachers underwent perspectival transformation in terms of discernment (impulsivity to discernment), interior freedom (self-discovery to self-formation), and transcendence (from empathy to love). These results can inform administrators and teacher trainers on crafting formation programs for faculty.