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.

In this text, the role of emotions in education and society has been examined from various perspectives, particularly from psychological, philosophical, and other theoretical and political views. To develop more in-depth understanding about emotions in social life, a number of emotional virtues have also been explored at length. These include basic emotions, like happiness, sadness, and fear; emotional virtues often idealised, such as gratitude and compassion; and more complex emotional and cognitive-based dispositions prized in contemporary education and society, like resilience, grit, and mindfulness. A complicated account has been given, based on an interdisciplinary orientation toward emotional virtues and educating emotions in society. As seen here, the means and ends of educating emotional virtues are not simple and straightforward, given diversity in experiences, identities, and norms around emotional expectations in society. While educational implications have been discussed across chapters, thus far such considerations have been specific to particular emotional domains and contexts. This conclusion elaborates further on a more global perspective on educating emotional virtues in schools and society.