Moral aspects of therapeutic education: a case study of life competence education in Swedish education

Abstract

Educational philosophers and sociologists have pointed out the potential risks of an educational trend of therapy, which seems to have connotations with Western macro-discourses of individualisation, popularised psychology and privatisation of the public room. The overall purpose of this article is to discuss potential risks and possibilities regarding moral aspects of therapeutic approaches in education from a teacher perspective. I will present the non-mandatory Swedish topic Livskunskap, life competence education (LCE), in a case study in the field of therapeutic education. The article is based on a small, qualitative empirical study of teachers' experiences of teaching LCE and observations of LCE lessons. The empirical material is analysed through two theoretical lenses, the first being critical aspects of therapeutic education, the second being an educational theory of the ethics of care, mainly developed by Nel Noddings.

Positive Education: Innovation in Educational Interventions Based on Positive Psychology

“…Regarding the studies that were addressed to teachers and school leaders, we have the research of Waters and Stokes (2015) and Aldenmyr (2012). Waters and Stokes, in a qualitative case study, described the effect of two interventions in the development of the positive attribute of gratitude.…”

“…In the empirical and qualitative study by Aldenmyr (2012), entitled "Moral Aspects of Therapeutic Education", risks and potential possibilities were presented regarding the moral aspects of therapeutic approaches in education from the point of view of secondary school teachers. The discussion was based on Livskunskap, Life Competence Education (LCE), which seeks "socio-emotional training" in order to increase well-being, thereby preventing mental illness, drug abuse, crime, and other social problems.…”

“…The author reports that all the teachers interviewed confirmed LCE as an expression of therapeutic education, which aims to develop self-esteem in students. The authors also discussed the student-teacher relationship, mentioning that it should be warm and close, in order to promote the intellectual and moral growth of the subjects, focusing on the work with self-esteem in education (Aldenmyr, 2012).…”

“…Three were directed at college students (Bridges et al, 2012;Place and Talen, 2013;Duan et al, 2014), only two exclusively meant for teachers (Aldenmyr et al, 2012. ) and school leaders (Waters & Stokes, 2015).…”

“…) and school leaders (Waters & Stokes, 2015). In relation to the outlines, it was observed that five were case studies (Aldenmyr, 2012;Baum et al, 2014;Rhodes & Spiers, 2013;White & Waters, 2015;Waters & Stokes, 2015), three presented other qualitative outlines (Bridges et al, 2012;Niehues et al, 2013;Place & Talen, 2013), three with quasiexperimental outline (Duan et al, 2014;Proctor et al;, Tomyn et al, 2015, two studies presented randomization (Leventhal, 2015;Madden et al, 2011) and a longitudinal study (Shoshani & Steinmetz, 2014).…”