How might we put humanity at the centre stage of education?

This week on The Learning Future Podcast, we speak with Sarah Mercer, Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria, where she is Head of ELT methodology. We discuss how we might extend the cognitive component of empathy to develop critical thinking and critical reflection, how structures create inequitable contexts, and how self-efficacy and agency within education may lead to a richer human ecosystem.

Professor Sarah Mercer's research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience and the purpose of education, and the role of social-emotional learning, wellbeing and compassion. In short, how we make our education systems more human. She is the author of many books, most recently Teacher wellbeing and Engaging language learners in contemporary classrooms. Sarah has also been a principal investigator on various funded research projects and serves on numerous editorial boards.

Greg Berman and Julian Adler, “Start Here: A Roadmap to Reducing Mass Incarceration” (The New Press, 2018)