Education, Solidarity and Engagement: The Study of Morals and Emotions in Altruistic Educational Experiences

National educational systems have historically been spaces for the production of national citizens, in processes of moral education that tended to the expansion of certain value systems, mobilizing religious or civic "values".

In recent decades, we have witnessed a transformation in educational projects: the formation of "global" citizens, the internationalization of higher education, the emergence of individualizing and merely meritocratic tendencies, the fragmentation of educational systems and their privatization, the expansion of the "social responsibility" of educational institutions, the depoliticization in some contexts and in others the re-politicization of youth, impact -along with other processes- in the ways in which subjects are formed in a perspective of commitment to others.How educational systems, pedagogical projects, teachers and students in the contemporaneity produce "solidarity" subjects and what solidarities is it about? We look for understanding the type of emotional experience and moral/ethical values that are sought to be generated in order to "manufacture" supportive subjects, and what features of the "others" are put into play to achieve that involvement that participation in altruistic educational projects demands. Likewise, it is of interest to analyze what changes are taking place in the education of humanitarian, moral and ethical sentiments, in a context where authoritarian and libertarian inflections acquire greater visibility and legitimacy. Identifying forms, projects, sensitivities and the effects that teaching has on the construction of “solidarity” subjects constitutes a contribution to make visible problems, tensions and contributions that students and institutions make in a global and national order that is increasingly convulsed.