Lönngren et al. 2022: Emotionally challenging and existential issues in teaching and learning practices

Abstract

Severe and far-reaching sustainability problems can cause strong feelings of worry, anxiety and ecological grief. They can be experienced as existential in the sense of putting our mode of being, attitudes towards life and the meaningfulness of our lives at stake. During the seminar, the discussions related to this theme were based on an understanding of the complex challenges for teaching and learning posed by emotional reactions and existential experiences in environmental and sustainability education (ESE). Before and during the seminar, the following questions served as prompts for reflection:

• How can educators prepare for recognising and coping with such existential experiences?
• How can ESE research succeed in providing guidance for tackling the challenges posed by emotional and existential experiences? Where does ESE research fall short in providing such support?
• To what extent is the growing attention for the emotional dimension of ESE blurring the differences between a psychological/therapeutic and a pedagogical/didactical approach?
• What theoretical and methodological challenges need to be tackled for investigating (how students and educators cope with) emotions and existential experiences in ESE?
• Which theoretical approaches may be useful to progress ESE research on this topic?
• How are these issues perceived and dealt with in different areas of the world?

Access to full text

https://www.cdo.ugent.be/project/invitational-seminar-challenges-environmental-and-sustainability-education-research-times

Reference

Lönngren, J., Östman, L., & Vandenplas, E. (2022). Emotionally challenging and existential issues in teaching and learning practices. In N. Deutzkens, K. Van Poeck, M. Deleye, J. Læssøe, J. Lönngren, H. Lotz-Sisitka, J. Lysgaard, J. Öhman, L. O. Östman, & E. Vandenplas, Challenges for environmental and sustainability education research in times of climate crisis. (pp. 35–38). Ghent University.

Image credit

Cover design: Juliane Höhle in N. Deutzkens, K. Van Poeck, M. Deleye, J. Læssøe, J. Lönngren, H. Lotz-Sisitka, J. Lysgaard, J. Öhman, L. O. Östman, & E. Vandenplas, Challenges for environmental and sustainability education research in times of climate crisis. (pp. 35–38). Ghent University.