Teachers’ conceptions of gratitude and its cultivation in schools in China

ABSTRACT

Gratitude has recently received increasing scholarly attention as a moral value and virtue important for individual and social functioning and therefore worth cultivating in schools. However, previous research has often been based on experiences in western societies, while moral values and moral cultivation are understood in different ways across cultural contexts. This exploratory qualitative study examines teachers’ conceptions of gratitude and their experiences of cultivating gratitude in schools in mainland China. Based on semi-structured interviews, the findings highlight Chinese teachers’ culturally distinctive conceptions of gratitude and its cultivation, namely its role in developing relationships and maintaining social harmony, and the importance of acts of reciprocity. This empirical study develops a more substantive cross-cultural understanding of the nature of gratitude and practices of moral cultivation in schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Gratitude
• teachers
• conceptions
• moral cultivation
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Education University of Hong Kong Dean’s Start-up Research Grant project ‘Gratitude and Humility in Education, East Meets West’ [RG49/2020-2021 R]; Education University of Hong Kong Dean’s Start-up project ‘A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Gratitude in Education’ [04599].

Notes on contributors

Mark Gregory Harrison

Mark Harrison is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counselling and Psychology at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. He previously worked in international schools for many years, where he held several positions of senior leadership.

Ji Ying

Ji Ying is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Educational Policy and Leadership, the Education University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on education in intercultural and comparative contexts.

Fei Yan

Fei Yan is a Senior Research Assistant at the Education University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on citizenship and moral education.

Liz Jackson

Liz Jackson is Professor of Education at the Education University of Hong Kong. She is also Fellow and Past President of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia and former Director of the Comparative Education Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong.