WELLBEING
understanding . So their definition of teaching holds that teaching necessarily involves attempting to elicit independent thought from students , from which we could derive the claim that developing independent thinking skills is a necessary epistemic feature of teaching .
4 . Learning
The authors define learning as a process where ‘ students ’ potentials are evoked , to come to understanding in agential ways of being and acting ’. By this they mean that students ’ potentials need to be ‘ evoked in the quest to gain understanding [ and ] insight ’ ( 5 ).
This involves epistemic features : understanding , insight and independent thinking skills . Learning also involves students becoming able to make sense of the knowledge they acquire from stimuli such as texts and experiences (‘ make sense of the knowledge they are taught to read and / or the experiences they gain ’) ( 5 ).
5 . Flourishing and education
The authors hold that flourishing and education are mutually beneficial : ( i ) education enables flourishing and ( ii ) flourishing enhances education . Of ( i ), teaching and learning introduce us ‘ into the social , cultural and natural world ’, by helping us to ‘ make sense of [ our ] world … to be able to live well as human beings ’. They take this to show that ‘ flourishing can be regarded as an aim of education ’ ( 6 ). Here they define flourishing as ‘ an aim ’ whereas earlier they defined it as education ’ s ‘ central purpose ’ ( 1 ). I ’ ll interpret their view as the latter .
On ( ii ) they write ,
when teachers and students flourish in their teaching and learning , in other words when they can develop their potential and live well and when teaching and learning are meaningful to them , … the teaching and learning will have a higher quality ( 6 ).
Evidence shows that increasing well-being enhances learning . Evidence from positive psychology shows that enhancing psychological well-being enhances learning ( Seligman 2011 , 80 ). Activities that improve physical health , such as exercise , improve cognitive performance ( Hillman et al . 2008 & Mandolesi et al . 2018 ). By enhancing learning , increasing well-being can support the fulfilment of education ’ s epistemic aims . Since flourishing is defined in terms of well-being in some of the most influential contemporary accounts of flourishing , such as positive psychology and the account endorsed by the Harvard Human Flourishing Program ( VanderWeele 2017 ), flourishing can support the fulfilment of education ’ s aims . However , the same degree of evidence has not been put forward for wellbeing enhancing teaching as it has been for learning .
6 . The relation between education ’ s epistemic aims and its aim of supporting flourishing
UNESCO ’ s account holds that education has one overarching aim , which is to support flourishing , which is supported by fulfilling education ’ s epistemic aims . We can identify three reasons for this :
( i ) Education ’ s ‘ central purpose ’ is human flourishing ( 1 ).
( ii ) Fulfilment of education ’ s epistemic aims can support that purpose : ‘ teaching and learning can contribute to realising education ’ s purpose ’ ( 1 ).
( iii ) Epistemic aims need to be met for human beings to reach their potential and a state of ‘ optimal continuing development ’, which , on UNESCO ’ s account , are necessary for flourishing ( 2 ).
7 . What UNESCO ’ s position means in practical terms
UNESCO ’ s research brief discussed above ( de Ruyter , Oades & Waghid 2020 ) seeks to articulate the meanings of human flourishing and education and the relationship between them , and adumbrates some of the ways in which ‘ teaching and learning can contribute to realising education ’ s purpose ’ ( 1 ). The brief is for UNESCO ’ s International Science and Evidence-based Education Assessment ( ISEEA ), a major project launched in September 2019 which provides the science and evidence to support UNESCO ’ s Futures of Education report . The ISEEA aims to provide the first ever largescale assessment of knowledge on education which can be used as a resource to inform education policymaking at all levels and scales ( 9 ). Human flourishing is one of the three research groups constituting the work for the ISEEA . The brief is a summary of a chapter of the ISEEA ’ s Report , due for publication this year ( 7 ). While this account of the relation between flourishing and education ’ s aims is very recent , it may exert a significant influence on education worldwide in the coming years , given its place in this report .
The view that education ’ s overarching purpose is to support human flourishing is becoming increasingly widespread . It is endorsed by movements such as positive psychology ( Seligman 2011 , 97 ), research centres such as the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues ( Jubilee Centre 2017 , 1 ), philosophers of education such as Harry Brighouse ( Brighouse 2008 , 60 ), educationalists such as Ken Robinson ( Robinson 2010 ), institutions such as the Church of England ( Church of England 2016 , 2 & 2018 , 1 ), and politicians such as Nicky Morgan ( Morgan 2017 ; Wright & Watkin , 1 ). On all these views , flourishing is held to be either the aim of education or at least among its central aims . UNESCO ’ s article offers a new perspective on this which may be influential and subject to critical assessment in the coming years .
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