Chapter 1 - Introduction

Summary

This introductory chapter introduces the topics of the book and its main purposes in light of past scholarship. It emphasises how people hold contrasting perspectives and assumptions about the place of emotions in human social life. These contrasting orientations unfold into different approaches to educating emotions, and for how teachers should treat students, in relation to their emotional experiences and expressions. It first examines some possible assumptions that readers may have about the role of emotions in education. These assumptions are examples of contrasting perspectives about emotions and education. These are (1) that education does not particularly involve emotions, and (2) that emotions are a part of education, but this is non-controversial, with a consensus on the topic established. The chapter explores these assumptions and challenges them. The last section of the chapter explains the goals of this book, and gives an overview of the main contents of the chapters that follow.