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Published on: September 16, 2015
Children's Covid-19 writing and drawings and the existential imperative to educate for uncertainty
Perpetua Kirby1, Michela Villani2, Rebecca Webb1
1Centre for Innovation and Research in Childhood and Youth University of Sussex Brighton UK.
Abstract:
The Covid-19 pandemic provokes a pedagogic crisis: education is ill-adapted to accommodate multiple uncertainties in students' lives. We examine how pandemic uncertainty is registered in a global collection of writing and drawing from 4 to 17-years-old, during the 2020 lockdowns. The study engages with Biesta's (2021) philosophical work on 'world-centred education', offering empirical examples from the collection that goes beyond the immediacy of everyday lives. We identify educational implications: acknowledging students' present experiences of the world; a slowing of pedagogical tempo; supporting students to navigate desires and fears; a language for expressing uncertainty; and engaging students in ethical and existential difficulty.
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