Safe spaces or a pedagogy of discomfort? Senior high-school teachers’ meta-emotion philosophies and climate change education

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore senior high-school teachers’ beliefs about the role of emotions in climate change education and their perception of how they deal with emotional reactions in the classroom. The theoretical framework consists of meta-emotion philosophies, teachers’ beliefs, and critical emotion theories. Sixteen Swedish teachers were interviewed. Four overarching emotion beliefs were identified: a disapproving view, a danger-oriented view, a partial acceptance view, and a complexity view. Four overarching coaching themes were found: avoidance, action-based and reappraisal-based coaching, strategies to approach negative emotions, and flexibility and adjustment-based coaching. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2020.1845589.

Keywords:

• climate change education
• ESD
• emotions
• teacher’s beliefs
• meta-emotion philosophies
• coping

In recent years researchers have started to argue for the importance of including emotional aspects in education for sustainable development (ESD). Two arguments are often used: The first concerns that the complexity and seriousness of sustainability challenges such as climate change can evoke negative emotions of, for instance, worry and guilt among students. The argument is that this needs to be taken into account in educational efforts in order to prevent feelings of hopelessness and promote hope and agency (Gardiner & Rieckmann, 2015; Hicks, 2014; Jie Li & Monroe, 2019; Kerret et al., 2016; Ojala, 2015; Stevenson & Peterson, 2015) as well as motivating action (Carmi et al., 2015). The second concerns the political dimension of ESD and the importance of utilizing diversity and taking account of different value-laden commitments. In this regard, conflicts will inevitably occur when educating about sustainability issues, and educators need to take these and related emotions into account in order to prevent deadlocks and to promote constructive learning (Håkansson & Östman, 2019; Lundegård & Wickman, 2007; Sund & Öhman, 2014; Wals, 2007). Thus, taking emotions into account in ESD is vital both to avoid hopelessness and to handle conflicts constructively. In addition, some ESD researchers seem to adhere to the idea that emotions and cognition are closely related and that paying attention to emotional reactions can sometimes lead to new important insights into how to deal with sustainability issues (Manni et al., 2017; Ojala, 2019). This is a view that is also supported by basic research in psychology and neuroscience (Pessoa, 2008; Phelps, 2006).

However, what is still largely missing in the literature is an exploration of teachers’ views about the role of emotions in ESD. These views are important to investigate since they may influence how teachers act in the classroom (Ciucci et al., 2015; Ciucci et al., 2018). Therefore, the aim of the present study is to explore a group of Swedish senior high-school teachers’ beliefs about emotions in climate change education and their perception of how they deal with and coach students’ emotions in the classroom, i.e., how they act when students give expression to emotions about climate change. Climate change is perhaps the most urgent and serious of all sustainability challenges, and the need to prepare people for societal transformation in relation to this threat is often emphasized (UN, 2015). The theory of meta-emotion philosophies from psychology and the concept of teacher’s beliefs from education will be used as a theoretical framework. In addition, the results will be discussed in relation to ideas about emotions in the neoliberal society, i.e., how larger cultural and structural emotion norms influence views on emotions in a micro-context.

Teachers, emotions, and emotions coaching in the classroom

Boler (1999) launched the theoretical concept “a pedagogy of discomfort” that explicitly acknowledges that discomforting emotional aspects are part of educating about sensitive and controversial societal issues, and that educators and students need to engage in a critical inquiry of emotional positions toward the issue at hand. This could for instance include an evaluation of emotional investments in different ideological positions (Boler, 1999) or a critical awareness of different ways of coping with emotions evoked (see Ojala, 2019).

Educators are not seldom important role models for their students concerning emotion regulation in the classroom (Ashiabi, 2000; Ojala, 2015; Zembylas et al., 2014). For instance, studies indicate that teachers sometimes influence student’s emotions as well as how students cope with them. Regarding educating about societal problems, Zembylas and colleagues (2014) identified pedagogical strategies with which emotions are schooled that classify certain emotions as ‘appropriate’ and others as ‘inappropriate.’ In addition, a study demonstrated that students who perceived their teachers as not taking seriously their negative emotions concerning societal problems were more inclined to de-emphasize the seriousness of climate change than students who felt that their teachers respected and validated their emotions (Ojala, 2015). What then can explain how teachers act? In this study, the theories of teacher’s beliefs and meta-emotion philosophies and some thoughts about emotions in a neoliberal society will be used to shed light on this question.

Teacher’s beliefs and meta-emotion philosophies

The concept of ‘teacher beliefs’ has been used extensively to comprehend teachers’ decision-making and acting in the classroom (Biesta et al., 2015; Calderhead, 1996; Molin et al., 2015; Nespor, 1987; Pajares, 1992). Pajares describes this concept as teachers’ assumptions about every aspect that is of importance for the teaching/learning process (the subject, how to teach, the students, etc.) and that these assumptions can have an impact on how the teachers act in specific learning situations (Pajares, 1992). To take one concrete example, Biesta et al. (2015) explored teachers’ beliefs about their students, the purpose of education, and the role of the teacher. Teachers’ beliefs contain both evaluations from the past, such as a general belief that certain groups of students are “bright,” but also consists of future intentions and expectations about who will succeed and who will not. In the ESD research field, Sund has shown that different teaching traditions can also be identified in teachers’ way of talking about their ESD teaching and in how they interact with their students in the classroom (Sund, 2008; Sund & Wickman, 2011a). Teachers’ beliefs about emotions and their role in ESD have, however, not been in focus before. One exception is a study showing that a group of teachers thought that ESD can frighten students and erode hope and that the teachers therefore sometimes avoided talking about aspects that they thought were too provocative in terms of emotion (Cross, 1998). Thus, the teachers’ views of emotions seemed to influence their didactic choices. This study is small and atheoretical, however.

In order to comprehend teachers’ beliefs about emotions in the learning process and how they act, I will use the theory of meta-emotion philosophies. Meta-emotion philosophy is defined as an organized set of emotions and beliefs regarding one’s own and other people’s emotions (Gottman et al., 1997; Katz et al., 2012). The term was created in relation to parents and their children. It is about awareness of emotions, acceptance of emotions, and handling/coaching of emotions. An important part of this concept is how emotions are described, including metaphors of emotions, for instance, a view of sadness as being a limited resource. The theory of meta-emotion philosophy is built on social learning theory, where parents learn how to value and handle their own emotions from important role models, which influence how they later will perceive their own children’s emotions (Katz et al., 2012). Meta-emotion philosophies have an indirect effect, since they influence how parents interact with their child in emotion-laden situations, which can effect how children cope with emotions (Katz et al., 2012).

Studies on teachers and meta-emotions philosophies are very rare, however, and are more or less non-existent in relation to education about larger societal problems. Exceptions are two quantitative studies about meta-emotion philosophies among early-childhood teachers (Ciucci et al., 2015; 2018) and a masters’ thesis dealing with the association between teachers’ meta-emotions and students’ academic performance and bonding to school (Ming Yan, 2010). In addition, Zembylas (2004) explored one science teacher’s metaphors about her own emotions in the learning situation, and he identified both frustration-based metaphors and excitement-based metaphors. Leaning on empirical support from research about parents’ meta-emotion philosophies, all these studies take their starting point in the assumption that teachers’ meta-emotion philosophies most probably influence how they act and react (coach) in the classroom in emotion-laden situations. This hypothesis has recently been supported in studies with preschool teachers (see Ciucci et al., 2018; Ornaghi et al., 2020). No study, however, has dealt with meta-emotion philosophies in relation to educating about sustainability problems.¹

Emotion norms in the neoliberal society

Teachers’ meta-emotion philosophies and beliefs about emotions in education can be influenced by personal experiences, but also by larger cultural and societal factors and emotion norms. Besides regulation through policy documents, today’s neoliberal society governs by creating new mentalities about, for example, what is important to learn (Davies & Bansel, 2007). One way of governing that is particularly interesting for this study is to steer through emotions (Ecclestone & Hayes, 2008). The sociologist Bauman has argued that there is a fear of negative emotions in the neoliberal society. Emotions such as worry and sadness take time to deal with, make people ponder existential, moral, and societal issues, and thereby disturb the need for constant production and consumption that is so vital for the neoliberal economic order to work (Bauman & Donskis, 2013). Instead, there is a frantic focus on positive and pleasurable emotions that most readily are increased through consumption. These emotions can gloss over societal problems and hinder societal critique.

Others have argued that the neoliberal society steers and governs emotions through privatizing emotions such as hope and worry, turning them into an issue of the individual and not as something influenced by societal factors (Amsler, 2015; Thompson & Zizek, 2013). This goes hand in hand with notions that larger structures are impossible to change, and that the only way people can contribute to society is to act at an individual level, preferably as a consumer. This can promote a sense of powerlessness, as people realize that this is not enough but are unable to identify any alternative options.

Regarding education, Ecclestone and Hayes (2008) argue that the quite common focus on emotional competence as part of the school curriculum in order to promote young people’s wellbeing and positive emotions can be perceived as a political tool to undercut social criticism. This educational approach promotes a therapeutic culture in which emotions are soothed and domesticated in order to keep young people in their place and turn them into obedient consumers. Leaning on Ahmed’s (2010) theories about the cultural politics of emotions, Ideland (2016) has shown how a focus in the ESD classroom on positive emotions such as hope and a promise of happiness if one acts in certain ways in relation to sustainability problems, excludes some students who do not feel and act in the right way. These students are seen as being unable to contribute to a sustainable future.

Aim and research questions

The aim of the present study is to explore two aspects of the meta-emotion concept among a group of Swedish senior high-school teachers and in relation to teaching about climate change. The following questions guided the analyses of the interviews: (1) How do teachers describe the role of different emotions in teaching about climate change? (2) How do teachers talk about their handling/coaching of emotional reaction in the classroom when teaching about climate change?

Method

Procedure

Swedish senior high-school teachers in geography who teach about climate change were interviewed. Senior high school is not mandatory in Sweden and follows a nine-year compulsory school. Most students are in the age-group 16 to 19 years. Geography in senior high school is only mandatory for students who have chosen to study the social science program or the natural science program with a special focus on social science (Skolverket, 2011). Both these are college-preparatory study programs.

The methodological approach in the empirical study is phenomenological in the sense that it is the participants’ subjective experiences and interpretations of the object of study that is in focus (Smith & Osborn, 2003). A stratified purposeful sampling approach was chosen to select the target group (Patton, 2001). The factors of gender, age/experience, and teaching subjects besides geography (natural science/social science) were taken account of in the sampling process.

Semi-structured individual interviews were chosen as a data collection method. The interviews were performed by phone, and the teachers were most often in a home context, sometimes in school, when they answered the questions. A semi-structured interview is based on an interview guide where a number of topics of theoretical interest guide the interviews (see Supplementary material Appendix 1). The interviews are conducted as discussions around these themes and the order of the questions in the interview is not completely fixed but can be changed depending on how the conversation develops (Drever, 1995). The interviews were recorded and written down verbatim to allow analysis of the material.

Participants

In all 16 teachers were interviewed, eight females and eight males. The respondents were in the ages between 39 and 61 years old. They had worked in-between 8 and 27 years as a teacher. Thirteen of the teachers combined geography with social science subjects or history and three combined it with natural science subjects. The teachers interviewed were teaching at all levels of senior high school and in different programs.

Analysis

A thematic coding was performed on the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The coding is descriptive and is aimed at identifying more overarching themes, not in-depth analysis of individual life stories. First, every interview was read through to get a good understanding of them. A first free coding concerning everything that has to do with emotions was performed. A deductive coding phase followed, based on parts of the theory of meta-emotions, with a focus on (1) views of emotions and (2) handling/coaching of emotions (Gottman et al., 1997; Katz et al., 2012). Separate documents were created for these two main themes of meta-emotions. Text were excerpted from each interview and placed under one of these themes. Thereafter, an inductive phase followed where themes and subthemes specific for this material and this setting were identified. The theme was noted in the margin of the transcript along with other comments. Thereafter, blocks of text were ordered under the subthemes. Illustrative quotations, representative for the themes, were chosen. A spreadsheet was constructed for each main theme, and all the identified subthemes for that theme were placed on the left-hand side of the sheet and for each interviewed person it was marked if they had mentioned that theme or not. This was done in order to get a more holistic sense of the results concerning beliefs and views of emotions, but was also intended to try to capture a glimpse of how views of emotion and coaching go together.

Results

In this section the results of the interviews are presented. First, the more holistic coding of beliefs and views of emotions is presented. Here, some teachers fit foremost into one prototype/theme, while others fit into to more than one of the four themes. Second, the themes regarding coaching are presented, and in this case most of the teachers use several of the described coaching strategies. Quotations are used to illustrate themes and subthemes.

Beliefs and views of emotions

Regarding acceptance and beliefs about emotions in the classroom (focus worry, hopelessness, hope, and anger/irritation²) and their role in learning about climate change, four themes are present. The first is that some teachers have a disapproving view and see emotions, both positive, but foremost negative emotions, as mostly negative and they largely disapprove of emotions as part of the learning process, or explicitly state that the teacher should not focus on emotions in the classroom: “…we take our starting point in facts and what science actually says, instead of taking our starting point in emotions …” (Linda³). Climate change is largely seen as a “pure” scientific issue. There is also a tendency toward a non-awareness of emotions, since they are seldom mentioned spontaneously by the respondents.

Emotions are seen as mostly irrational, that is, negative feelings that are not based on facts about reality. They are manipulated by destructive information from the media; they are even totally unnecessary as one teacher claims: “…after all, there is no reason for them to feel that way (Peter).” Negative emotions of worry are to a certain aspect seen as paralyzing people—they make people passive; when people feel worried, nothing will be done. Some also mention that negative emotions are not important: they are just shallow reactions; students don’t really feel that strongly about climate change. For example, one teacher states that he gets surprised when students want to talk about emotions in relation to climate change:

You get a little surprised sometimes when they, someone stops and asks about…, you might not think that they think in such trajectories, for example, what I said about the storm coming, “can it be dangerous or?” (Sebastian)

The second theme concerns a danger-oriented view of negative emotions in relation to climate change and teaching. In contrast to the first theme, the view of negative emotions of worry, guilt, and hopelessness is that they can be well grounded, that is, they are not irrational, but that they are dangerous and not constructive from a learning perspective. Negative emotions of guilt and worry are heavy burdens to bear and can be related to a low sense of wellbeing. However, the teachers sometimes also acknowledge that worry is positive in the sense that it shows that the students care about climate change:

So it’s not good if they’re worried, or it is not good if it, so to speak, affects their mental health…But I think, at the same time, it is a, a justified worry (Hugo).

I think the worry is justified, but worry doesn’t always lead to constructive action (Anne). No. In what way, then, if you were to develop this a little? (Interviewer) Because worry is often very, rather, paralyzing and non-constructive (Anne)

In contrast to the first theme, these teachers seem to focus quite a lot on emotions in the classroom and are aware of emotional reactions among the students. One of the most important things in educating about climate change is to combat negative emotions, foremost hopelessness, and to evoke hope. Hope is seen as something important and more or less purely positive from a learning perspective. It is also seen as something that can replace fear and worry.

Yes, it [hope] is something positive. (Elisabeth) Okay. Are there any negative aspects of hope then? (Interviewer) No, I don’t know. (Elisabeth)

So I try to communicate that there is, that it looks dark, but that there is hope…Worry if it just weighs you down, that I think, then it is something negative, if it makes you do nothing. (Carl)

The third theme concerns a partially accepting view of emotions in relation to climate change education. Here a distinction is made between different negative emotions. The view of worry, guilt, and hopelessness is about the same as in the second theme. What characterizes this theme is instead that the teachers mention anger-related emotional reactions quite frequently. Frustration and irritation are seen as constructive negative emotions that are actively used in the classroom. For instance, one teacher uses role play to get students to experience injustice concretely, which makes them frustrated but also engaged. The view is that they learn more and also can become more pro-social. Anger is seen as an active emotion, a motivational force, and is talked about in relation to concepts such as strength, the opposite of being stupid, critique, and as an exciting feeling. Thus, the core theme is that some negative emotions are passive, like worry, hopelessness, while some are seen as active, like anger.

…anger is after all a good reaction. I think it gives them an opportunity to question things and that they are critical … (Dan)

It’s probably some kind of competition instinct… that feeling I can exploit a little (Andy - talking about frustration).

The fourth, and most uncommon theme, is about a complex view of emotions in the classroom. This concerns a more multifaceted view of emotions, where all kinds of negative emotions and positive emotions can be beneficial in some circumstances, but in other situations they are not. This depends on the characteristics of the situation and/or the specific students. Negative emotions can be active, even worry, but they can also be something less positive, based on false information or leading to a low sense of wellbeing. Hope can also be a positive force, but sometimes it is rather similar to wishful thinking. It is a positive challenge to work with emotional aspects and to adjust to the situation and to the students. The view is that you cannot avoid the dark side of climate change since, for instance, worry is rationally grounded and is understandable.

It is quite natural to feel a certain amount of despair…I probably see it more as a sign that it (climate change) is perceived as important. I probably don’t think it affects learning negatively but rather that it…is part of what makes you actually care about it and want to learn about it and try to understand. (Sarah) Do you think this feeling will change during the course…? (Interviewer) It’s probably differ from individual to individual…You can handle it in different ways. Either you choose to just take this in and then ignore it in your future life or it can even lead to becoming politically involved. (Sarah)

So I can think that a certain form of worry…is something good (Christina)

Handling/coaching of emotional reactions

Four broad themes are present when the teachers describe their handling and coaching of emotional reactions in the classroom. These four themes contain eight subthemes, in all, which are described below.

The first theme is about (1) Avoiding negative emotional reactions, which is a rather common approach among the teachers. The first subtheme concerns (1a) fact-based distraction where the teachers try to avoid and counteract negative emotional reactions by focusing on scientific facts and on the subject content of the course. Another strategy is to show in a social science sense how everything is interconnected (for example, society and nature) in an active attempt to avoid and calm down emotional reactions.

I think that what you should do is to relate it to a scientific basis, because today there’s so much discussion about climate change in the media, and there’s such a lack of knowledge, as I see it…In society today there’s so much apocalyptic talk about the climate issue, it’s about disasters and doom, and this creates a lot of anxiety in young people. For no good reason, really…(Anne)

Well, to counter this, I usually think, this is something there’s a lot of nonsense movies about, on TV and elsewhere, that you can, like: “Well, that’s the sort of thing you can, like, forget about,” but you still try to be factual, based on the, the reports and what research tells us today. (Sebastian)

Yeah, but then I usually look at what it’s for, what are the sources, what do they refer to, so we feel that we’re basing this on facts and what science really tells us, instead of simply relying on how we feel, because it’s really a matter of looking at what is actually happening…(Linda)

The second subtheme is about the (1 b) suppression of negative emotions in the classroom where teachers try to neutralize negative emotions as much as possible through, for instance, ignoring emotions in the classroom. The teachers also think about avoiding giving expression to their own negative emotions of, for instance, worry and hopelessness when teaching about climate change. Some, although not many, mention that they avoid touching upon certain topics such as worst-case scenarios related to climate change.

And then I try, I mean I myself might think these are really tricky problems and…but I do try to conceal my [laughing], my own sort of half-pessimistic outlook…(Hugo)

Yes, but what do you think when students express this sort of thing? (Interviewer) Well, I guess I think I want to try to, to … well, but sort of downplay that feeling a bit. (Andy)

How do you feel when students express this resignation? (Interviewer) I really don’t want them to feel like that, what, I feel…Well, it affects me emotionally, I feel I don’t want to do this, I can’t go on like this, I don’t want to show this movie, if there was a movie or…(Elisabeth)

The third subtheme is about (1c) replacing negative emotions with positive emotions. In this regard, teachers do not see emotions in general as being irrational but perceive negative emotions as not being beneficial in the classroom and as somewhat scary. When students give expression to, for instance, worry, they directly try to promote hope. Another strategy is to use humor to defuse negative emotional reactions. Yet another way to deal with the students’ emotional reactions is to emphasize the positive things that will happen if we succeed in fighting and adapting to climate change, including co-benefits.

Do you usually try to counter student in some way when they express feelings like these? (Interviewer) Yes, I always try to give encouragement and…Things should be positive and cheerful when you socialize in school, sort of. (Peter)

Naw, they usually think it’s, I mean it’s, it’s nothing, it’s sort of, you do it sort of tongue-in-cheek, you don’t do it to, like, blame anybody, so there’s both laughs and jokes about how bad things are…(Elisabeth)

Yeah, it’s to keep their hopes up, that all is not lost. (Maria) Keep their hopes up, that all is not lost? (Interviewer) Yeah, exactly, that it’s not, there shouldn’t be any disaster scenarios…you should try to do it in a such a way that they don’t get discouraged. It’s easier to teach about the climate issue in particular if you’re a little hopeful, not seeing things negatively (Maria)

A second main theme is about (2) Action-based and reappraisal-based coaching, which the teachers mention frequently. Here, the first subtheme is that the teachers either try to handle reactions of worry and helplessness, or evoke hope, by using (2 b) individual problem-solving approaches. This is about showing the students what they can do at an individual level to contribute to the fight against climate change. The focus is on things the students can do at an individual level in everyday life to live in a more climate-friendly way, while referring to collective climate-friendly actions is more or less absent in the teachers’ stories.⁴

…then I felt that the hardest part was this hopelessness, the feeling that, well, it’s all over, it’s all going down the drain, there’s nobody, nothing, no possibility, and then I feel it’s important to explain that there are things we can do. (Michael)

But if the students were to express anxiety in the classroom, what would you do? (Interviewer) I would try to turn it around to seeing that we can have an impact. And consider what choices we ourselves can make and try to think that it, what positive changes we can make, that doing all sorts of little things is better than doing nothing. (Sarah)

Yeah, but then, you can bring up changes, too, how…We have students who, in this group that is, that got it decided, for example, that we would eat vegetarian food once a week, that the lighting in the lavatories could be changed, and what you do makes a difference…(Melinda)

A second subtheme concerns (2b) promoting trust in others and in the possibility that things can change as a way to deal with students’ worry, but foremost to promote a hopeful view of the future. Here the teachers do not try to replace negative emotions with hope but rather to reappraise the situation, which involves a recognition of the negative and dark aspects of climate change. This subtheme concerns promoting trust in technology, trust in the political system, and trust in the business sector by showing good examples from these sectors. It could also involve emphasizing that even though it looks dark, there are also positive trends; for instance, some things have improved lately, such as society’s knowledge about climate change.

Because sometimes they ask things like: “But what do you think? Will we be able to cope with this?” And I say “Yes, I actually think we will,” making it clear that we have the knowledge and the technical and economic capacity to solve these problems…(Patrick)

Yeah, what should I say…you can see politics as being predetermined and that we can’t do anything, but I think the political side is making progress, sort of. Show them the organizations that are working for change, sort of. (Carl)

Yeah, well there are always, I think you can see, like, positive examples anyway…That people are doing something to change the situation, and that’s positive, I think. (Linda)

A much less commonly mentioned main theme is to (3) approach negative emotions in the classroom. A few of the teachers (3a) confront emotions in a therapeutic way. This first subtheme concerns approaching emotion in order to handle and regulate them. It could be a matter of simply talking about the emotions, listening to the students in a humble way, showing in a respectful manner that the teacher cares about the students’ feelings. In this subtheme, the teachers in a way dwell for a while with the students in their emotions or let them express their emotions in a different way, for instance, through art and music.

OK. But did you try to counter the students when they express this…resignation? (Interviewer) Yes, but it’s like important to, yeah, but I acknowledge that they feel that way, so like, it’s important to show that you, you hear and see that feeling… But it’s not like you need to try to brighten things up right away…that seems a bit superficial…(Elisabeth)

But what do you do if the students express anxiety in the classroom? (Interviewer) Well, that’s when we talk about it! (Maria)

They can put on a play about it or start a rock band…(Melinda) But you related that to the fact they’re often get glum, or the message is a bit dreary and that can be hard, how do you tie this all together? (Interviewer) Well, that this is another way to, if you frankly say it right out as you would in a scientific report, then it’ll just be “This is going down the drain,” and the message in the music can also be like that, but that, you’re appealing to another part of the brain, that it can come in a cultural way or something like that. (Melinda)

A second subtheme is about (3b) confronting and using emotions to promote critical thinking. This is not at all a common theme, and when it is present it concerns putting worry and hopelessness into words, trying to analyze what it is based on, and whether it is a rational reaction. However, any more advanced analysis of these emotions from a critical social science perspective is absent among the teachers. In addition, the teachers who have a partial acceptance view of emotions focus a lot on how to deal with anger, frustration, and irritation in the classroom. Since they perceive these emotional reactions as something positive, they use them to promote learning and critical thinking about, for instance, global injustices related to climate change. Sometimes they even actively evoke these feelings in their students in order to enhance the learning process.

…you have to appeal to their feelings a little, but you can’t just, you can’t just leave students with their feeling…you also need to make sure you work through it and come out on the other end, hopefully a bit wiser…, with a few more alternatives other than feeling that all is lost, sort of. (Andy)

Yeah, but some form of frustration comes out of this game situation, that they, they sort of feel… “Our group here, we’re not getting anywhere with this,” and then, but I always round off this kind of exercise with some form of discussion where I try to establish concretely “what have we now achieved?” What does this reflect, does it reflect a situation in the world…Yeah, how did you experience this situation of maybe not achieving what you wanted, what made the situation turn out in this way? (Hugo)

Yes, talk about it, what they’re worried about, what do you think the reason is, what can we do about it? “Don’t you think that somebody’s doing something about this?” and “I know that this is how it is and that people are doing research about it” or…(Victoria)

Finally, there exists a seed to a very uncommon theme related to (4) flexibility and adjustment to the situation when dealing with emotional reactions in the classroom. It consists of an active adjustment to the situation and students when it comes to dealing with emotions in the climate-change classroom. The core of this theme is that you cannot say how you react when emotions are present in the classroom since you need to be flexible and sensitive to the specific situation and the specific students involved. Each situation is unique and requires its own blend of disparate approaches.

What do you guys do then? (Interviewer) Well, that’s depends entirely on the situation, so you can’t say what you would normally do, you have to take people as individuals. (Linda)

So the students, like, their outlook on climate change can vary a lot, so you have to strike a balance there somehow. (Christina)

Discussion

This study took its starting point in theories about teacher’s beliefs and meta-emotion philosophies in order to explore senior high-school teachers’ views and beliefs about students’ emotions when educating about climate change and how they perceive they deal with, and coach, these emotional reactions. The analysis revealed four overarching themes regarding beliefs about emotions, which is one important part of the meta-emotion philosophy concept: Some teachers disapprove of emotions in the classroom, foremost negative emotions, and see them as irrational. Some have a danger-oriented view of negative emotions, where emotions such as worry and hopelessness are seen as rational, i.e., based on a correct view of reality, but as dangerous for the learning process and young people’s wellbeing. It is also common to perceive hope in a very positive manner. Others have a partially acceptance-based view of negative emotions where worry-related emotions are perceived as in theme two, but negative emotions of anger, irritation, and frustration are looked upon as positive for the learning process. Finally, a highly uncommon theme concerns a complexity-based view of emotions in the learning process. In addition, four different overarching ways of dealing with emotions, another vital aspect of the meta-emotion philosophy concept, were identified: avoiding negative emotional reactions, action-based and reappraisal-based coaching, strategies to approach negative emotions, and an uncommon flexibility and adjustment coaching strategy.

The reason that teachers’ beliefs and views about emotions in the climate-change learning process are important to explore is that research in other education subfields indicates that they can most probably influence how teachers deal with emotions in the learning process, creating an overarching meta-emotion philosophy (Ciucci et al., 2018; Ornaghi et al., 2020). There were some indication in the material that certain ways of perceiving emotions in the learning process were related to how the teachers said they dealt with emotional reactions in the classroom, the most obvious being that the teachers who embraced a disapproving view of emotions also used coaching strategies where they avoided emotions in the classroom to a larger extent. However, the material is too small to establish any conclusive results regarding this aspect. This need to be further investigated in studies with larger samples, for instance, through cluster analysis in quantitative studies. Nonetheless, the present study contributes interesting results to build such a study on.

Some specific results are interesting to discuss in more detail. A quite common coaching strategy among the teachers is to quickly turn from negative emotions of worry and hopelessness to instead promote hope and other positive emotions among the students. At first glance, this can be perceived as a rather unproblematic approach; few people would like to promote hopelessness in young people. However, psychological research about emotion coaching and emotion regulation shows that it is important to not shy away from the negative emotions, but to rather show that these are OK, that you respect them, and that you take the young person seriously (see Ciucci et al., 2015; Fivush, 2007; Fivush et al., 2009; Gottman et al., 1997; Habermas, 2019). Another important thing in this regard is to help young people put words on their worries so that they get a sense of control over it and that they get a sense of the problem so they can deal with it in an active way. Furthermore, young people are experts in revealing when adults gloss over things, as is demonstrated in the famous statement by Greta Thunberg about that “we don’t want your hope.” Shallow hope risks leading to an increase in young people’s cynical view of the adult world in relation to climate change; a view that is quite common among young people (see Ojala, 2010).

In addition, concerning worry about societal problems, it is somewhat problematic to try to assuage feelings of worry without facing the problems and values related to this worry. This can be seen as a way to sweep the societal problems that cause the unrest under the rug, thereby rendering societal change harder to achieve (see Bauman & Donskis, 2013). If we want to create the conditions for both psychological wellbeing and active social engagement among young people, it could be argued that it is rather important to show students how to face their worries, learn something from this emotion, and finally use it for constructive action. An important first step in doing this is to acknowledge worry and other negative emotions, to help young people put word on this feeling, and to have them discuss this feeling before going into what one can do about the problem causing the emotion (Ojala, 2019).

Malin Ideland also argues that focusing on positive emotions and hope only, as a number of teachers do in this study, can lead to some young people being excluded from ESD, namely, those who have the wrong spirit and feel the wrong emotions (Ideland, 2016). Often worry and other darker emotions are seen as the opposite of hope. However, empirical research has shown that this view is not correct, since young people can be both worried and hopeful at the same time (Ojala, 2007). In addition, theoreticians such as Bloch and Freire perceived critical hope as rooted in an acknowledgment and a critical understanding of the current situation (Freire, 1992; see also Levitas, 1990). This understanding makes people start to hope for something else, which, together with a view of the future as open and “Not-Yet,” can energize active engagement.

Perhaps the most common way among the teachers to react to emotions was to focus on what the students can do at an individual level. Psychological research shows that one of the best ways to turn negative emotions of fear and worry into a constructive force and prevent a low sense of wellbeing is to show how you can deal with the problem causing the emotion (Eisenberg et al., 1998; Maloney et al., 2011; Witte & Allen, 2000). However, to only deal with climate change emotions in an individualized problem-focused way has been found to be related to low psychological wellbeing among young people (for a review see Ojala, 2019). You cannot solve climate change on your own, and dealing in a problem-focused way with stressors that are more or less out of your control can lead to increased distress (see Clarke, 2006; Hallis & Slone, 1999). In addition, it is important to trust other actors in society, such as politicians and technological development (Ojala, 2015). Fortunately, the teachers also quite commonly use a strategy where they show the students things that other actors do and point at progress. One can also speculate that teachers today, after the starting of the Fridays for Future movement, perhaps show students how they can act at a collective level also, something that can increase feelings of wellbeing. This, however, remains to be find out in future studies.

It is also interesting to notice that some teachers’ meta-emotion philosophies include perceiving emotions as more or less irrational and as something that has no place in learning about climate change. This seems to be a somewhat outdated view of emotions, since basic research in the broader emotion field shows that emotions sometimes are a necessary foundation for practical decision-making (Damasio, 1994; Roeser & Pesch, 2016). Still, in the popular media debate emotions quite often are seen as the causes behind believing in alternative facts and leading to fact resistance, which of course also can influence teachers’ views.

It is also interesting that most of the teachers do not see worry as a positive force in the learning process, but instead foremost relate it to hopelessness, inactivity and even low wellbeing, while some teachers mention anger as something that is positive for both learning and active engagement and as an emotion that they actively use and sometimes even promote in the classroom. This dichotomy, where some emotions are seen as bad and some as good, can be problematic from a gender perspective. Studies show that girls/women are more inclined to express worry about different things than boys/men (Barahmand, 2008; Ekholm, 2019; Robichaud et al., 2003), while the opposite often is true for anger (McDuff et al., 2017). Research also indicates that women’s worries are seen as signs of a low sense of wellbeing and passivity more often than if men express this emotion (see Conway et al., 2003). However, concerning global environmental problems, worry has constantly been found to be positively associated with engagement and high self-efficacy (Briscoe et al., 2019; Hornsey & Fielding, 2016; Ogunbode et al., 2019; Ojala, 2007; Taber & Taylor, 2009) and it is not necessarily tantamount to low wellbeing (see Ojala, 2007).

The results of this study have practical implications for teacher education. Theoretically, meta-emotion philosophies are more or less implicit and habitual, and one can argue that critical emotional awareness is important in order for educators to respond professionally to emotions in ESD (Ojala, 2019). By concretely pinpointing different meta-emotion philosophies, this study, and other similar studies, can work as a starting point for lifting these dimensions to the surface, and could be a base for critically discussing different views of emotions, preferably in relation to scientific theories and studies about emotions.

Notes

1 Hermans (2016) looked at how teachers themselves cope with their own emotion regarding climate change.

2 These were the most common emotions in relation to climate change mentioned by the teachers in the interviews performed for this study. The teachers, however, also touched upon interest and disinterest as common responses among the students. Since these are more general states of educational feeling, not specifically related to sustainability issues, they fall outside the focus of this study and are not analyzed.

3 The names of the respondents have been made up by the author.

4 The interviews were conducted before the Friday’s for Future movement started.