Teaching for Wisdom in Early Childhood and Primary School Education

Teaching for wisdom in the early years and primary schooling is both a timeless aspiration and a pressing contemporary need. This book brings together international voices to show how educators can nurture children's curiosity, ethical reflection, and resilience, moving beyond narrow measures of achievement toward deeper forms of learning.

Across three parts, the volume explores cultural wisdoms, teacher formation, and curricular traditions. Case studies range from Indigenous rights-based praxis in Australia and Latin America to Japanese teachers’ professional wisdom and Russian strategies for elementary schooling. Teacher formation is examined through emotional intelligence, relational pedagogy, and the role of joy and presence in classrooms, with insights from educators whose work spans the planet. Curricular pathways highlight Daoist approaches to intercultural competence in China, Buddhist pedagogy in Australia, and Samoan communal traditions, alongside chapters on the arts and poetic inquiry. Together, these contributions demonstrate how wisdom teaching is embedded in diverse cultural, philosophical, and pedagogical contexts, offering groundbreaking perspectives on how children can be guided toward empathy, creativity, and intercultural understanding.

This book is an invaluable resource for teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers. It provides practical strategies and theoretical insights that make wisdom teaching accessible, relevant, and transformative in classrooms worldwide.

Its sister volume, Learning for Wisdom in Early Childhood and Primary School Education: Children’s Perspectives and Pathways, explores how wisdom can be cultivated through learning in the early years and primary schooling.

Zane M. Diamond, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia, researches wisdom traditions and innovative approaches to early years and primary learning. Her books, such as Leading and Managing Indigenous Education in the Postcolonial World (Routledge, 2015) and numerous journal articles, explore equity, cultural dialogue, and transformative pedagogy.

Peter J. Anderson, Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous at UNE, Australia, researches Indigenous rights-based approaches, ethical AI, and decolonial pedagogies. His book, Higher Degree by Research Factors for Indigenous Student Success (Springer, 2022), and his chapter, 'Enacting Indigenous Wisdom in Education: Beyond Rhetoric to Rights-Based Praxis', alongside numerous journal articles, explore Indigenous self-determination, data sovereignty, and transformative education.

Kristina Turner is a Senior Lecturer in Evidence-Based Pedagogy at La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia. Her research explores positive psychology, wellbeing, emotional intelligence, and wisdom in education, including pioneering work on how teachers’ use of positive psychology practices influences their wellbeing, teaching practice and student learning.

Eri Mountbatten-O’Malley is Senior Lecturer in Education at Bath Spa University, United Kingdom. Eri’s work, such as Human flourishing: A Conceptual Analysis (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024), explores educational issues through a philosophical lens—examining the purposes of education, challenges during the Age of AI, and the practical value of philosophical insight.