The pedagogical potential of classroom ritualization: Or, teaching in the subjunctive

The overall purpose of this article is to bring the notion of ritual to bear on the corporeal, often non-verbal, and sensory gestures and ways of doing things that are deeply woven into the liturgies and choreographies of schools and classrooms, but that are given marginalized attention in educational research. Drawing on interdisciplinary ritual theory that makes a distinction between two different ways of thinking about ritualized action – the modus of the subjunctive and the modus of sincerity (Seligman et al.) – the argument is made that ritual like practices can enact a way of teaching that, in contrast to the commonly held view that rituals repeat and preserve the status quo, invites transformation and change. Methodologically, the article combines theoretical reflection with analysis of empirical data and uses examples from Education for Sustainable Development teaching (ESD) as springboard for its inquiry into the pedagogical potential of classroom ritualization. The article is divided into three parts. The first part offers a background to previous research on ritual in philosophy of education. The second part introduces the empirical material as well as the theoretical perspective, and the third part sketches the contours of what teaching in the modus of subjunctive could imply, particularly in the face of challenging and sometimes polarizing issues like climate change. The article concludes by suggesting that teaching in the modus of the subjunctive asks of teachers and educators to give to the new generation a teaching that not only focuses on facts and figures but that also takes into consideration the imaginative quality of education.