New Book – Education for a Beautiful Life
Last year has seen the publication of my new book, Education for a Beautiful life (see more details here). In this book, I draw on the work colleagues and I have done in the space of the art of living and education over the last eight years or so. It engages with questions around how to develop a beautiful life in our changing world, discussed challenges of ‘wellbeing’ and ‘happiness’ in education, and positions the art of living as a more desirable aim of education. I also link Schmid’s theory to other notions, such as flourishing, and educational theories, such as Biesta’s (2022) World-Centered Education. In Chapter 3, I draw on the work undertaken in collaboration with Dr Maria Nieto on buen vivir and Schmid’s art of living, discussing how the approach proposed in the book not only serves individuals but expands into the ‘good’ of communities and society. We argue that while Schmid’s art of living emerged from a largely Western philosophical tradition, links to indigenous worldviews can be made and bridges built, showing a reciprocal relevance of these often juxtaposed positions for an education for an art of living.
New Research Programme – Reimagining Education for Flourishing
Buliding on the work of the last 15-ish years, laying the theoretical foundations for an education for the art of living, it is time to consider more strongly how such an educational approach can look like in practice. To do this, we are initiating a ‘new’ research programme that will consider how an education system that is focused on the flourishing and art of living of people would look like, exploring various aspects from national system layout, notions of live-long learning, questions around school design, curriculum and pedagogy. The programme will be hosted at the University of Canterbury with local, national and international collaborators. Please feel free to get in contact with Christoph Teschers as programme lead for further details or expressions of interest for collaboration.