moral development | Transformative learning

Today (July 1st, 2026) a new open access book will be launched “Learning for a Just, Peaceful and Sustainable World” edited by Douglas Bourn and Alexis Stones. The book showcases current debates in the field of global education and learning and the importance of the Declaration on Global Education to 2050. It features chapters from academics, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners based in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK who are working in the fields of global citizenship, education for sustainable development and peace and human rights education. The chapters cover a range of topics that span formal, non-formal and informal learning spaces including gender justice, democracy, moral education, climate change policy, decolonizing global learning, PISA, the Sustainable Development Goals and the role of UNESCO. The importance of learning about global issues and sustainable development has never been seen as more important than it is today and this book addresses the big global issues of today, be they climate change, war and conflict, human rights, quality of learning and reducing global poverty.

I was asked to contribute a chapter based on a key note I held at UNESCO for the Academic Network on Global Education and Learning (ANGEL) which partnered with Global Education Network Europe (GENE). Both focus on issues like global citizenship, sustainability, and human rights. When I started converting the keynote into a chapter, back in 2024, I was just bcoming familiar with GenAI and quite unsure about how to use it, if at all. The chapter starts out with, wht I still think, is a remarkeable chat with ChatGPT (an older version that ‘ talked back at me’ and used humour and, even cynicism. The chapter outlines five possible guideposts for learning for peace, justice and sustainability that can be distilled from a re-contextualizing Pope’s eighteenth-century poem with the current Anthropocene as a backdrop. In the final postscript I revsit my engagement with ChatGPT.

You can find the open access chapter here!

Full Reference:

Wals, AEJ (2026). FOOLS RUSH IN WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD: ON THE MORAL RESPONSIBILITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN WORKING TOWARDS MORE PEACEFUL, JUST AND SUSTAINABLE FUTURES In: Bourn, Douglas , and Alexis Stones , ed. Learning for a Just, Peaceful and Sustainable World. London,: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 1 Jul. 2026. http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350517844

One of my PhD’s. Tore van der Leij – jointly supervised with Prof Martin Goedhart and Prof. Lucy Avramidoo, both from Groningnen University here in The Netherlands where Tore hopes to receive his degree sometime this year – just had one of his studies published in the Journal of Biological Education.

The paper, of which Tore is the lead-author, poses that in addressing contemporary socio-ecological challenges it is imperative to engage individuals with the moral dilemmas in the human-nature context. A socioscientific-issues (SSI) approach to secondary biology education can contribute to engaging students in moral dilemmas and reflecting on their values.

Following a design research methodology, the paper aimed to: (1) develop a set of design principles of an intervention in Dutch upper secondary SSI biology education, aimed at supporting secondary biology students’ morality in the human-nature context; (2) concretise the design principles as a module.The practical output of the study is a module, which was refined and improved during the design phase, and then implemented by two biology teachers. In this paper, we present an exemplary example of a lesson from the module. As theoretical output, the paper discusses the role of the design principles: nature of the dilemmas; Four Component Model of morality; group work; and ethical matrix. Based on experiences in classrooms, recommendations are provided for further research and practice.

The paper can be found HERE: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00219266.2023.2174160

Full citation: Leij, T. van der; Goedhart, M.; Avraamidou, L. & Wals, A. (2023) Designing a module for supporting secondary biology students’ morality through socioscientific issues in the human-nature context, Journal of Biological Education, DOI: 10.1080/00219266.2023.2174160

For another paper related to this research see:

Tore Van Der Leij, Lucy Avraamidou, Arjen Wals & Martin Goedhart (2022) Supporting Secondary Students’ Morality Development in Science Education, Studies in Science Education, 58:2, 141-181, DOI: 10.1080/03057267.2021.1944716

KEYWORDS:

Transformative learning

Learning and change within people and society towards a more sustainable world

Category Archives: moral development

Designing a module for supporting secondary biology students’ morality through socioscientific issues in the human-nature context – new research