To Örebro University

Research topic/aim: Researchers have started to argue for the importance of including emotions in education for sustainable development (ESD). Two main arguments are used: (1) The seriousness of sustainability challenges such as climate change (CC) can evoke negative emotions and this needs to be taken account of in education to prevent feelings of hopelessness and promote hope and agency. (2) In utilizing diversity and taking account of different value-laden commitments, conflicts will inevitable occur and educators need to take account of emotions related to them to prevent deadlocks and to promote constructive learning. However, what’s largely missing in the literature is an exploration of teachers’ views on the role of emotions in ESD. In the present study the focus is on CC-education. The aim is to explore senior high-school teachers’ meta-emotion philosophies regarding CC-education. What are teachers’ views and feelings about students’ emotions concerning CC and these emotions role in the learning process? What strategies do teachers use to handle students’ emotions?

Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework is meta-emotion philosophies, which is an organized set of emotions and thoughts regarding one’s own feeling and other people’s feelings. It’s about awareness of emotions, acceptance of emotions, handling of emotions, and coaching of emotions. In an educational context meta-emotion philosophies are thought to have an indirect effect since they influence how teachers interact with students in emotional relevant situations, which can have an effect on how students cope with emotions and learn. Meta-emotion philosophies can also be related to the pedagogical concept of teachers’ beliefs, which have been found to influence teachers’ decision-making.

Methodological design: 16 Swedish senior high-school teachers in geography, teaching about climate change, were interviewed. The methodological approach is phenomenological since it is the participants’ subjective experiences and interpretations that is in focus. Stratified purposeful sampling was chosen to select the target group. Gender, age/experience, and teaching subjects besides geography (natural science/social science) were taken account of in the sampling process. Semi-structured interviews were performed. Data analysis was done by using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).

Expected conclusions/findings: Preliminary analysis has identified four meta-emotion philosophies among the teachers: A disapproving or ignoring meta-emotion philosophy – the science oriented teachers. A dismissing/replacement meta-emotion philosophy – the therapy oriented teachers. A partially acceptance based meta-emotion philosophy – the politically oriented teachers. A complexity and acceptance based meta-emotion philosophy – the context sensitive teachers. The presentation will focus on how these four groups relate to and differ on the following dimensions: An awareness, or not, and acceptance, or not, of emotions. Beliefs and metaphors of emotions. Strategies to handle and coach emotions.

Relevance to international educational research: By pinpointing different meta-emotion philosophies this study can work as a starting point for lifting emotional dimensions in CC-education to the surface. It can be a base for critically discussing different views of emotions and thereby promoting critical emotional awareness as an important ESD-competence among teachers. Hence, the study has practical implications for teacher education.