Unlearning through art: Developing decolonising and empathic pedagogies in climate mobilities education

Kirsi Pauliina Kallio; Vilhelmiina Vainikka; Jouni Häkli

doi:10.1177/09075682251392497

Unlearning through art: Developing decolonising and empathic pedagogies in climate mobilities education

Kirsi Pauliina Kallio
, Vilhelmiina Vainikka
, Jouni Häkli

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

4 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper introduces arts-based participatory research combining decolonising and empathic transformative environmental pedagogies, in the context of climate mobilities education in Finland and Greece. It offers methodological contributions to existing research with emphasis on multimodal arts methods and the role of emotions. We introduce the dimension of empathic unsettlement as a vital element of the transformative unlearning-learning cycle, and child-centred play space as an ethical setting for these challenging educational processes. Our focus on climate mobilities brings together experienced and imagined climate-changed realities, the colonial history of climate change, and its current effects on places and people around the world.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	170-191
Number of pages	22
Journal	Childhood
Volume	33
Issue number	2
Early online date	27 Oct 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/09075682251392497
Publication status	Published - May 2026
Publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Research Council of Finland [SA347374, SA339833].

Funders	Funder number
Research Council of Finland	SA347374, SA339833

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 4 Quality Education
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

climate mobilities
unlearning
decolonising pedagogies
empathic pedagogies
transformative climate change education
arts-based methods
primary school
participatory research

Publication forum classification

Publication forum level 3

Access to Document

10.1177/09075682251392497Licence: CC BY

Unlearning through artFinal published version, 1.32 MBLicence: CC BY

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025110410369Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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KW - empathic pedagogies

KW - transformative climate change education

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Unlearning through art: Developing decolonising and empathic pedagogies in climate mobilities education

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Publication forum classification

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