International and Comparative Education Commons^™

Geopoetics: Expanding The Philosophy Of Teacher Education, Linda M. Craig Dr

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Amidst our accelerating ecological crisis, this essay argues for a fundamental reimagining of teacher education through Kenneth White's theory of geopoetics. Drawing on complexity science and Whitehead's process philosophy, I trace a paradigm shift from mechanistic models of education - characterised by fixed knowledge transmission and neoliberal performativity - toward a relational, orientation grounded in emergence and becoming. Geopoetics offers a transdisciplinary framework that dissolves boundaries between science, poetry, philosophy, and spirituality, positioning education not as content delivery but as participation in the creative unfolding of life. Through an exploration of Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain as geopoetic spiritual practice. …

Poetry As Liminal Inquiry: Illuminating Complexity, Mysticism, And Embodied Knowing, Vicki Boley Dr.

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores poetry as a form of liminal inquiry, positioning poetic practice as an embodied, intuitive, and relational mode of meaning-making within the complexity of teaching and learning. Drawing on a reflective collection of poems written during a doctoral course on Mysticism and Activism in Education, the author revisits this work from a current perspective as an educator and scholar, using complexity theory to understand both the poetic process and classroom learning as nonlinear, emergent, and relational systems. Rather than yielding to linear thinking or single answers, the paper argues that poetic inquiry mirrors how insight develops in complex …

Can One Learn From Dreams?, Anastasia Lavrenyuk

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This reflective essay explores the educational significance of dream-based and intuitive knowledge through the lens of a field experience in the Peruvian Amazon. While participating in a course on sustainability and Indigenous knowledge, I encountered a member of the Ese Eja community who described how medicinal plant wisdom once came through dreams—through spiritual connection with the forest. This moment prompted a personal and scholarly inquiry into how non-rational, subjective ways of knowing have historically shaped both scientific and cultural breakthroughs, from the structure of chemical element benzene to Indigenous learning systems. Drawing on examples from physics, neuroscience, and Indigenous epistemologies, …

In The Problem Lies The Solution: How Digital Mindfulness Can Address The College Students’ Mental Health Crisis And Support Holistic Education, Steve Haberlin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

The mental health of today’s college students remains a serious concern. The alarming trend of greater psychological distress among undergraduates shows no signs of slowing. Excessive smartphone usage, screen time, and social media have been attributed as partial factors. However, what if forms of digital mindfulness and technology-assisted contemplative practices are the key to assisting students with stress, anxiety, depression and other problems? In this article, the author posits that innovations, such as neurofeedback-loop meditation platforms that dramatically increase focus, virtual reality platforms featuring in depth-meditation instruction, and Artificial Intelligence have the potential to address the crisis, establishing a refreshed …

International Students And Spiritual Capital: Meditation As A Tool To Support Student Well-Being, Anna Grigoreva, Anna Lytkina

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In a new academic environment, international students often face more than just academic challenges, as they also navigate cultural adjustment, identity shifts, digital overload and emotional stress. These multidimensional challenges are further intensified by performance pressures and rapidly evolving educational technologies. This article explores the role of meditation as a contemplative practice that may support international students’ adaptation within the American higher education system. The article focuses on how international students draw upon inner strength, purpose, and resilience to navigate and sustain themselves through periods of transition and difficulty. Using autoethnography as a primary methodological approach, the authors analyze their …

Nurturing The Spiritual Core In Teachers Within The Nexus Of Science And Spirituality, Sarina C. Molina

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This reflective essay explores the intersection of science and spirituality in nurturing teachers’ inner lives as a foundation for supporting student well-being. Against the backdrop of a global mental health crisis, it integrates insights from neuroscience, Indigenous wisdom traditions, and values-based education to advocate for a holistic mind–body–nature connection. Emerging research on neuroplasticity, heart–brain coherence, and self-transcendence has shown the physiological and psychological benefits of spiritual cultivation for educators. Drawing on Indigenous epistemologies, this essay highlights contemplative and heart-centered practices that foster self-transformation, resilience, and authentic relationality. Practical applications for teacher education, curriculum design, and community engagement illustrate how spiritual …

The Calculus Of Difference: Pluralism And Integration Through Education In India, Deepa Srikantaiah

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper introduces a calculus-based conceptual framework to examine how India sustains pluralistic integration across its extraordinary religious, linguistic, and cultural diversity. Drawing on mathematical principles of integration, continuity, and the Infinity Principle, the analysis demonstrates how social cohesion emerges from sustained attention to the infinitesimal: the localized communities, languages, and practices that constitute India's complex social fabric. The framework positions education as the primary integrative mechanism, functioning analogously to the mathematical process of integration by decomposing social complexity into comprehensible parts and reassembling them into collective understanding.

Through historical analysis spanning from the Indus Valley Civilization to contemporary India, …

Ancient Wisdom & Its Cultural Relevance: Reimagining Deeper Learning In Science Classrooms Through The Lens Of Yoga And Vedānta, Raaghav Pandya

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Contemporary calls to reconceptualize how science is taught and understood have brought deeper learning to the forefront of education at-large for its emphasis on critical perspectives, creativity, and student-centered inquiry. Yet this paper argues that its prevailing framework remains constrained by Cartesian dualism, a materialist foundation that disassociates the individual from self, other, and nature, and falls short of addressing the mental health, environmental, and cultural challenges facing youth today. To address this limitation, this paper proposes a complementary convergence between deeper learning and the contemplative traditions of Yoga and Vedānta, whose ancient paradigms of self-inquiry, interconnectedness, and well-being offer …

When Quantum Physics Meets Laozi, Jing Lin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores the profound convergence between quantum physics and Laozi’s Daoist philosophy, proposing a quantum-Daoist cosmology as a transformative foundation for reimagining education. Drawing on core principles of quantum physics—such as wave-particle duality, entanglement, and the observer effect, and Laozi’s teachings on Dao and De, the paper argues for a cosmology in which reality is energetic, relational, and morally ordered. While quantum science reveals the unseen, interconnected nature of existence, Laozi advances this view by emphasizing the role of virtue as an energetic and ethical force that sustains the universe. The paper proposes that meditative practice and the cultivation …

Bridging The Abyss: Reclaiming Spirituality In Academic Knowledge Production, Neil Boland

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Over recent decades, Western academia has shown a growing interest in spirituality, accompanied by methodological innovations and epistemological expansion. Nevertheless, spiritual inquiry continues to be subtly subordinated to scientific rationalism, with Western science often presiding as gatekeeper over what is considered legitimate knowledge. Drawing on Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ concept of abyssal thinking, this article argues that spiritual and experiential forms of knowing remain largely relegated to the far side of an epistemic divide, valued only insofar as they can be reframed within scientific norms. Despite increasing institutional recognition of spirituality in fields such as education, psychology, and medicine, …

The Thousand Mysteries That Bind Us: The Multiverse As Spiritualverse And The Holism Of Mystery, Giovanni Rossini

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

While we exist historically within evolving worldviews, we live amid the paradoxical necessity of mystery; one shared by scientists and non-scientists, theologians and atheists, and artists and philosophers alike. A thousand mysteries bind us with their imperative presence. While pre modern astronomers pondered the mysterious randomness of the night sky, today our sense of cosmological awe is fuelled not only by its randomness, but by a new scientific theory that says multiple skies inhabit the creation. The multiverse — a thesis emerging from cosmological science, wherein parallel worlds are posited to coexist — augments mystery. In this paper, I explore …

Editors’ Introduction, Kathleen R. Kesson Dr., Susan H. Edgerton, Jing Lin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This is the introduction to the Special Issue

Contradiction And Critical Consciousness: Engaging Canadian University Students In Racial Dialogue On Anti-Chinese Racism, Dan Cui

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This study examines how Canadian university students perceived and engaged with anti-Chinese racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on grounded theory and interviews and written reflections from 28 undergraduates at a predominantly White university, the study analyzes students’ contradictory understandings of racism shaped by media, national narratives, and prior educational experiences. Informed by Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, it conceptualizes these tensions as a contradictory racialized habitus, in which awareness and denial, empathy and distancing, coexist. Three themes emerged: contradictory orientations toward anti-Chinese racism, the transnational influence of U.S. political discourse, and the limited transformative impact of a social justice course. …

Centering As Contemplative Inquiry And Practice: Teaching, Learning, And Living In The Anthropocene, Jennifer L. Schneider

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

The Anthropocene may be an inescapable trap—one unwittingly shaped by human ways of relating to self, others, and the more-than-human world. While dominant discourses surrounding this epoch often evoke fear, apocalypse, or blame, how might it also invite us, as humans, into an opportunity for more holistic and contemplative education. This paper explores “centering,” a contemplative concept and practice introduced by curriculum theorist James Macdonald (1995), as a regenerative way of engaging with the Anthropocene through lived experience. Drawing from research on a graduate-level place-based course and an arts-based, pragmatic inquiry, I explore how centering can foster attunement to place, …

A Poetic Call For And A Reflection And Commentary On Clarity, Understanding, Hope, Courage, And Compassion, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

Finding a published poem I had written as a teenager, titled “The Heavens Weep.” this article uses that poem as the basis for a commentary that reflects on the state of the world today (2026),  As a commentary, the article uses the poetic and metaphoric words in the poem as a relevant "reality check" for what is still going on today.  In essence, the commentary is about a call for Clarity, Understanding, Hope, Courage, and Compassion, or what I call Archetypal Energies, Higher Vibrational Energies that operate deep within our individual and collective psyches to creatively urge us to "see" …

The Long Arc Of Global Citizenship: Historical Foundations, Modern Challenges, And Institutional Innovation At Rollins College, Wenxian Zhang

Faculty Publications

The concept of global citizenship can be traced back to the Greek and Roman periods in Western civilization, as well as to ancient Eastern philosophies. Representing both a prescriptive ideal and an aspirational faith in humanity, the notion is closely linked to the historical development of cosmopolitanism, transnationalism, and transnationality. This study first reviews the rich historical roots and core values of global citizenship, along with the growing need for global citizenship education in the modern era. It then highlights several influential individuals who strongly championed its principles, including theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein and internationalist and …

Exploring Stress And Mindfulness In Central Asia: Perspectives Of English Language Students In Uzbekistan, Laurie A. Wolfe, Rakhmatullo Akhmedov

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

Stress is a growing concern among university students worldwide, yet little is known about how stress is conceptualized and experienced within Central Asia, particularly Uzbekistan. This study explores how Uzbek university students understand and experience stress, identifies the primary sources of stress in their daily lives, and examines their perceptions of mindfulness as a potential stress‑reduction strategy. Participants were 60 students, primarily Muslim women, at a large public university in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Open‑ended questions on a post‑intervention survey were analyzed using a combination of deductive and inductive coding. Students most frequently described stress in emotional terms, including irritability, sadness, and …

The Effectiveness Of School-Based Bullying And Cyberbullying Prevention Programs, Akhwani Akhwani, Lalu Habiburrahman, Nurul Aini, Muhammad Rusli, Raden Roro Nanik Setyowati

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Bullying and cyberbullying are increasingly complex forms of peer violence because they occur simultaneously in school spaces and digital environments. This situation demands the development of school-based prevention programs that not only target conventional bullying but also integrate cyberbullying prevention strategies. This article aims to examine the effectiveness of school-based bullying and cyberbullying prevention programs in the context of a high-performing education system. This study uses a systematic literature review design with reference to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The literature search was conducted through the Scopus database using keywords representing three main concepts: cyberbullying, bullying, and prevention or intervention programs. …

Talk To Me: Exploring The Sociocultural Ecology Of Home Language And Literacy Practices Of Families In India, Surbhi Puri

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Existing research highlights the role of home language and literacy environments (HLLE) in shaping early language and literacy development, yet few studies have examined the practices of multilingual families in India. While home environments offer rich learning opportunities, broader sociocultural and policy contexts influence how families support literacy and language development. Families’ insights into home language use, literacy routines, and cultural practices remain underexplored in early childhood education research.

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the HLLE of preschool-aged children in India and examine how families support early language and literacy development within multilingual home …

An Equity-Based And Culturally Responsive Bill Of Rights For Early Childhood Students Of Color With Exceptionalities, Evette Simmons-Reed, Michelle Frazier Trotman Scott, Gloria Tardash, Mildred Boveda, Donna Y. Ford

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing disparities in early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) services for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) disabled children, exposing critical gaps in access, services and support. systemic inconsistencies in implementation, training, and funding, remain barriers limit opportunities for CLD students to benefit, despite the aims of the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEA). To address these inequities, this manuscript proposes an expanded and updated Culturally Responsive Equity-Based Bill of Rights for EI and ECSE. Building upon Ford and colleagues' (2018) work, this revised document extends protections to children aged zero to five, emphasizing …

Guest Editor's Introduction: Methodological Innovations For Advancing Early Childhood Educational And Psychological Research, Anthony Mangino Ph.D.

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

The goal of this special issue is to provide you, the inquisitive reader and developmental scientist, with some of the methodological tools to aid in augmenting your analytic capacity.

Contemplative Classrooms For Ecological Wisdom: Reimagining K-12 Education In Pakistan, China, And Beyond, Maha Shoaib, Jing Lin, Yueyue Wang

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper explores the transformative potential of contemplative environmental education in addressing the growing disconnection between humans and the natural world, particularly within K-12 education systems shaped by anthropocentric and capitalist paradigms. Modern schooling often frames nature as an object of study, rather than a sacred, living presence, contributing to ecological alienation amid intensifying environmental crises. We propose a radical shift toward contemplative, holistic education that draws on spiritual, Indigenous, and ecological knowledge systems. Grounded in Daoist philosophy, Islamic teachings on stewardship, Hindu ethics, and Indigenous worldviews, we reimagine education as a relational and sacred engagement with the Earth. We …

Reimagining Masculinities Through Australian Indigenous Pedagogies, Ben Campbell, Anna Rumjahn

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In the face of intersecting ecological crises and persistent gender inequality, this paper explores how dominant norms of masculinity—marked by control, detachment, conquest, and other ideals rooted in Western, hegemonic paradigms—contribute to environmental degradation. Drawing on ecofeminist theory, Australian Indigenous pedagogies, and contemplative education, we examine how relational, place-based approaches may offer transformative alternatives for boys in schooling contexts. Central to this inquiry is the Learning from Country framework, which positions land as teacher and emphasizes practices of deep listening, reciprocity, and ethical engagement with the more-than-human world.

We argue that this pedagogical approach challenges dominant masculinities by fostering care …

Challenging Stem Learning Spaces: The Paradigm Of Contemplative Traditions As The Bedrock Of Creativity And Healing, Raaghav Pandya, Christopher Emdin

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

As the post-pandemic classroom and pedagogy evolve to remedy oppressive norms, young people’s mental health and alienation has taken front stage (Rahmani & Zitouni, 2022). Traditional STEM learning spaces often teach inquiry as a linear, non-deviated approach to problems about self and nature (Hrisa & Psillos, 2022). Furthermore, because our classrooms often strip students and educators of their inherent creative abilities through constant assessments, improvement scales, and market-driven expectations, classrooms cease to become places of healing (Pandya, 2021). Eastern wisdom traditions and their associated philosophies provide a unique pedagogical lens that emphasizes a deep inquiry into self, empathy, and creativity …

Journeys Of Two Children From West To East: Notes Of A Teacher-Parent, Katherine E. Khan Dr

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This essay, explores the transformative educational journeys of two children across five countries, viewed through the dual lens of a teacher and parent. Grounded in the principles of Contemplative Education (CE), it draws on over two decades of the author’s experience in global education, weaving personal and professional insights into a narrative that examines how context, culture, and pedagogy intersect in shaping young learners.

The journey begins in the inquiry-rich, nature-based kindergartens of Germany and the nurturing early primary years of the United Kingdom, moves through the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary and Middle Years Programmes, and Big Picture education in …

Wisdom And Contemplative Effort In Ikeda Daisaku's Philosophy Of Human Education, Jason Goulah, Riya Kartha

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This article introduces and examines Japanese philosopher Ikeda Daisaku's (1928–2023) perspectives on wisdom and contemplative effort, what Ikeda calls “human revolution,” at the heart of his practice of “human education.” Using bilingual and critical discourse analyses of the Ikeda corpus, the authors summarize Ikeda’s philosophy of human education, highlighting the role of human revolution as a contemplative practice in the cultivation of wisdom. Thereafter they outline the multiple ways Ikeda articulates wisdom in his philosophy, analyzing the various Sino-Japanese character compounds used to convey the concept and the respective meaning of each. As the original language reflects a depth and …

Teachers As Wisdom Workers Of Love: A Radical Reconceptualization Of Teacher Education Centering Wholeness, Compassion, And Interbeing In A Fractured World, Yueyue Wang, Jing Lin, Maha Shoaib, Anna Lytkina

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Amid global crises and rising teacher burnout, current teacher education often prioritizes technical skills and standardized competencies while neglecting the inner life, relational presence, and spiritual vitality essential for sustaining educators. This article reconceptualizes teacher preparation by envisioning teachers as “wisdom workers of love” -- healers, guides, and community nurturers grounded in wholeness, compassion, and interbeing. Drawing from Daoism, Ubuntu, contemplative pedagogy, and Indigenous epistemologies, this study employs collaborative autoethnography as contemplative inquiry, weaving narratives from educators in China, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States. Through mutual witnessing and collective reflection, we identify five interrelated dimensions for cultivating love-based education: …

Walking Towards Wisdom And Wholeness: Contemplative Education And Punjabi Gang Narratives, Nevan S. Sidhu

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

In this article, I examine how contemplative approaches to education can address the fragmenting nature of the Eurocentric British Columbia (B.C.) K-12 education system and allow for the cultivation of wise and whole human beings. More specifically, I draw upon the experiences of B.C. Punjabi male students who have been subjected to deeply harmful and oppressive gang narratives that have been left unaddressed by current educational approaches. Bringing attention to this issue can allow for alternate paradigms to flourish through contemplative approaches to education that would not only support Punjabi males but also support other marginalized students who find themselves …

Beyond Coping In High School: An Emergent Mindfulness Practice Towards Embodied Wisdom, Mel A.V. Voulgaris

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Mindfulness practice is trending in schools. Within secondary education, it is oftentimes introduced as meditation for present-moment awareness of the self to support academic concerns. However, mindfulness practice in its original conception is a holistic way of cultivating human well-being towards flourishing. It is a practice that aims for awareness to the entirety of human subjective and intersubjective experiencing as it is emerging. In doing so, mindfulness evolves from a coping tool into a rich contemplative practice. This paper will make the case that mindulness as a contemplative practice facilitates the cultivation of embodied wisdom and that such a practice …

The Wisdom-Centered Classroom: Contemplative Pathways To Healing, Interbeing, And Peace In K–12 Education, Hyeyoung Bang, Jing Lin, Heesoon Bai, Deepa Srikantaiah, Charles Scott, Denise L. Mchugh

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

While contemporary educational goals often prioritize economic advancement and labor-market readiness, a profound need exists to re-center schools as environments that nurture the human spirit. Education should move beyond standardization, cultivating schools where students embrace their inherent worth, relate with empathy and kindness, and develop as compassionate citizens regardless of their background. At the Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education (JCHE), we contend that the cultivation of wisdom must be a primary educational aim. This special issue explores contemplative K–12 pedagogies, inviting experts to examine the realities, possibilities, and systemic challenges of Contemplative Education (CE) from diverse global and Indigenous …