Emotional Awareness: On the Importance of Including Emotional Aspects in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

Pluralistic approaches to education for sustainable development (ESD) that acknowledge complexity, value conflicts and uncertainty in learning about sustainable development have become popular in recent years. In implementing these, educational researchers have been inspired by deliberative communication models. Deliberative approaches can, however, be criticized for lacking sufficient insight into how emotions influence deliberation and learning. The first aim of this article is thus to review theories and earlier research, mainly in psychology, that demonstrate the importance of taking emotional aspects seriously in ESD. The second aim is to show that since emotions sometimes can be difficult to bear, it is also important to be aware of emotion regulation strategies in order to promote pluralistic learning. The third aim is to discuss practical implications for ESD, with an emphasis on the importance of allowing articulation of emotional reactions and the need to consider emotion regulation strategies at individual, group and cultural levels.