Wisdom in Early Childhood and Primary School Education - SET

Description

Vol 1: This book explores how wisdom can be cultivated through learning in the early years and primary schooling. It brings together diverse traditions and practices, showing how children’s encounters with nature, stories, and community can nurture curiosity, resilience, and ethical awareness, resonating across cultures and generations. The chapters weave together case studies and approaches... Read more

Vol 1:

This book explores how wisdom can be cultivated through learning in the early years and primary schooling. It brings together diverse traditions and practices, showing how children’s encounters with nature, stories, and community can nurture curiosity, resilience, and ethical awareness, resonating across cultures and generations.

The chapters weave together case studies and approaches that highlight the richness of learning for wisdom. Philosophical inquiry into wisdom can develop a child’s social, imaginative, cogitative, cognitive, intellectual, moral, emotional and spiritual skills – helping to bring their sense (and sensitivity) of wisdom to life in practice. Forest-based education demonstrates how outdoor environments foster imagination and ecological responsibility. Bibliotherapy illustrates the power of stories to support emotional growth and empathy. Social–emotional learning and whole school initiatives show how communities can embed wisdom into everyday practice. Perspectives from Australian Indigenous traditions emphasise relationality and respect, while Chinese approaches highlight continuity, moral formation, and dialogue. Together, these examples span geographical and temporal contexts, offering readers a tapestry of methods that connect ancient insights with contemporary classrooms, and practical strategies like the Wisdom Wheel.

Accessible and inspiring, this collection is designed for educators, researchers, and general readers seeking fresh ways to enrich early years and primary education. By weaving together diverse traditions and practices, it offers groundbreaking insights into how learning can cultivate wisdom — transforming early years and primary education into a foundation for lifelong flourishing.

Its sister volume, Teaching for Wisdom in Early Childhood and Primary School Education: Educators’ Practices and Pedagogies, demonstrates how educators can nurture children's curiosity, ethical reflection, and resilience in the early years and primary schooling.

Vol 2:

Teaching for wisdom in the early years and primary schooling is both a timeless aspiration and a pressing contemporary need. This book brings together international voices to show how educators can nurture children's curiosity, ethical reflection, and resilience, moving beyond narrow measures of achievement toward deeper forms of learning.

Across three parts, the volume explores cultural wisdoms, teacher formation, and curricular traditions. Case studies range from Indigenous rights-based praxis in Australia and Latin America to Japanese teachers’ professional wisdom and Russian strategies for elementary schooling. Teacher formation is examined through emotional intelligence, relational pedagogy, and the role of joy and presence in classrooms, with insights from educators whose work spans the planet. Curricular pathways highlight Daoist approaches to intercultural competence in China, Buddhist pedagogy in Australia, and Samoan communal traditions, alongside chapters on the arts and poetic inquiry. Together, these contributions demonstrate how wisdom teaching is embedded in diverse cultural, philosophical, and pedagogical contexts, offering groundbreaking perspectives on how children can be guided toward empathy, creativity, and intercultural understanding.

This book is an invaluable resource for teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers. It provides practical strategies and theoretical insights that make wisdom teaching accessible, relevant, and transformative in classrooms worldwide.

Its sister volume, Learning for Wisdom in Early Childhood and Primary School Education: Children’s Perspectives and Pathways, explores how wisdom can be cultivated through learning in the early years and primary schooling.

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Part II – Teacher Formation and Pedagogical Pathways
6. Wisdom and Spirit in Transformative Education
Rochelle Fogelgarn
7. The Roles of Teachers’ Transformative Emotional Intelligence on Young Children’s Social-Emotional Learning
Mee Ling Ting, Chorng Yuan Fung
8. Leading for Wisdom through Nurturing Joy and Powerful Presence: A Phenomenological Inquiry
Annette Rome
9. Relational Pedagogy as a Catalyst for Educational Wisdom: Insights from Swedish Lead Teachers
Carin Bäcknäs, Liisa Uusimaki

Part III – Curricular Pathways and Philosophical Traditions
10. Teaching with Daoist Wisdom: Water-like Pedagogical Pathways to Intercultural Competence in Contemporary Chinese Classrooms
Chunyan Zhang
11. The Australian Dharma Curriculum: Shaping Teaching for Wisdom through Buddhist Pedagogy and Experiential Practice
Yasika Liyanage, Tanya Wiggins, Andrea Furness, Emily Wilden, Rachel Taylor
12. Ancient Wisdoms, the Arts, and the Early Years
Catherine Oxworth, Bin Wu
13. Becoming an Enskiled Humanities Pedagogue: A Poetic Inquiry
Tanya Wiggins, Selena Prior, Josh Ambrosy, Alex Prins
14. E tautala aso – The days will speak
Niusila Faamanatu Eteuati

Editor(s)

Biography

Zane M. Diamond, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia, researches wisdom traditions and innovative approaches to early years and primary learning. Her books, such as Leading and Managing Indigenous Education in the Postcolonial World (Routledge, 2015) and numerous journal articles, explore equity, cultural dialogue, and transformative pedagogy.

Peter J. Anderson, Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous at UNE, Australia, researches Indigenous rights-based approaches, ethical AI, and decolonial pedagogies. His book, Higher Degree by Research Factors for Indigenous Student Success (Springer, 2022), and his chapter, 'Enacting Indigenous Wisdom in Education: Beyond Rhetoric to Rights-Based Praxis', alongside numerous journal articles, explore Indigenous self-determination, data sovereignty, and transformative education.

Kristina Turner is a Senior Lecturer in Evidence-Based Pedagogy at La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia. Her research explores positive psychology, wellbeing, emotional intelligence, and wisdom in education, including pioneering work on how teachers’ use of positive psychology practices influences their wellbeing, teaching practice and student learning.

Eri Mountbatten-O’Malley is Senior Lecturer in Education at Bath Spa University, United Kingdom. Eri’s work, such as Human flourishing: A Conceptual Analysis (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024), explores educational issues through a philosophical lens—examining the purposes of education, challenges during the Age of AI, and the practical value of philosophical insight.

Wisdom in Early Childhood and Primary School Education - SET

Description

Table of Contents

Editor(s)

Biography

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