Rise of Wisdom Pedagogy Research in Higher Education (1980–2022): A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This paper explores: How has wisdom pedagogy research emerged in higher education during 1980–2022? This study is the first to explore the emergence of wisdom pedagogy research in higher education applying Bipartite network analysis for detecting clusters of 24 wisdom pedagogy articles of 53 authors and 161 keywords. Results are visualized with WoS analytics, word-clouds, and with Bipartite network. Wisdom research in higher education is two decades late compared with other disciplines. In higher education n = 524 wisdom, n = 33 wisdom pedagogy publications were detected in the Web of Science Core Collection database. This paper analyzed n = 24 wisdom pedagogy articles published during the 1980–2022 period. There were only two articles found dealing directly with wisdom pedagogy. Therefore, this study has several further research implications for educational researchers. Firstly, they need to conduct a more comprehensive search for wisdom pedagogy models by extending the scope of this study to other databases, books, book chapters, and to conference papers. Secondly, they need to synthesize and theorize their findings by building a wisdom pedagogy model. Thirdly, researchers need to develop detailed guidelines for educational practitioners on how to apply wisdom pedagogy in practice. This study is only at the beginning of this journey. However, it would be important for educating students with wisdom pedagogy in higher education because it would facilitate students’ thinking, judgements, and actions based on their moral and ethical values in a highly interconnected and complex world.

1. Introduction

We live in an unstable world that is full of crises. According to The Global Risks Report 2024 of the World Economic, the top five risks the world faces over a 2-year period are: (1) misinformation and disinformation; (2) extreme weather events; (3) societal polarization; (4) cyber insecurity; and (5) interstate armed conflict. However, in the long-run, over a 10-year period the top five risks are: (1) extreme weather events; (2) critical change to Earth systems; (3) biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse; (4) natural resources shortages; and (5) misinformation and disinformation [1] (p. 8). This clearly shows a shift towards environmental crises in the long run. Environmental crises will become the main challenge for humanity to survive.

In our uncertain and complex world, the demand for wise people who are capable to address global challenges is increasing. Higher education and universities are in a decisive role in preventing and in solving the problems of the future by educating students with wisdom pedagogy that fosters their capabilities of thinking, making decisions, and acting wisely in this highly interconnected and complex world. Next, the role and responsibility of higher education and universities in times of crises that is highlighted by many authors [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12], will be discussed.

Since the early 2000s, wisdom in higher education has started to receive more attention. However, there are still only “Few modern scholars focus their research efforts on understanding how an individual human comes to apprehend something like wisdom and examining how it can be taught, seeking a solution to the question of whether it is possible to teach the development of wisdom (pedagogy), what might be its constituent parts (curriculum), and if yes, then how to develop wisdom in the current era” [2] (pp. 9–10).

The role of higher education in solving global problems with supporting learners to develop their personal authenticity and strengthen their responsibility for others and for their environment is explored by Jakubik [3]. She argues that it is possible to become both authentic and responsible person and higher education curriculum and pedagogy play a decisive role in it. As future research area she encourages educational researchers to explore wisdom pedagogy “where knowledge-inquiry and wisdom-inquiry can be in harmony and support each other, to study ‘high-risk’ pedagogical options such as ‘disciplinary wonder’ (knowledge field as uncertain and open to change) and ‘human beings as such, (open ontologies for an unknown world), develop ‘wisdom pedagogy’, i.e., a pedagogy that educates people to be happy, to flourish and be able to solve the wicked problems of the world, to move to a better world” [3] (p. 294).

In times of crisis, we need wisdom more than ever before. The need for wisdom and the role of higher education in times of crises such as the world-wide COVID-19 crisis become pivotal. Karami and Parra-Martinez argue that in times of crises we need wisdom because “Wisdom is a situational construct that involves the adequate use of knowledge, intelligence and creativity, self-regulation, openness and tolerance, altruism and moral maturity, and sound judgment to solve critical problems. Wise thinking is in turn translated into wise action to face personal and social challenges” [4] (p. 42). According to them, COVID-19 “is a crucial moment in history. Wise people combine knowledge, self-regulation, creative thinking, sound judgment, openness and tolerance, and moral maturity and altruism into dynamic balance and translate it into the best practice and best solution needed in a given context” [4] (p. 49). Ling [5] focuses on the role of universities and argues that “to take the lead in times of crisis, universities are required to bring to bear theoretical understandings, practical experience, critical thinking, risk taking, creativity and intellect and to take action that publicly demonstrates and exemplifies these characteristics. The key then is to have the wisdom to know how to use that knowledge for good rather than ill” [5] (p. 363).

The role of the universities in world crisis is vastly discussed by the educational philosopher Maxwell [10]. He is a persistent advocate of vital changes in higher education and universities [6]. Since the 1970s, Maxwell has demanded revolutionary changes in higher education and universities [7]. He is convinced that universities have betrayed reason and humanity [11]. He urges for more wisdom in higher education; for replacing knowledge-inquiry with wisdom-inquiry; and for creating a wiser world by moving towards the ‘Wisdom University’ [6]. He strongly believes that having knowledge is not enough. The aim should be using that knowledge wisely for the benefit of all [7,10]. He urges universities to revolutionize themselves and move towards the ‘University of Wisdom’ with the aim “to help humanity make progress towards as good a world as feasible” [6] (p. 123). He believes that human intellectual and welfare can be promoted by wisdom-inquiry [6] (pp. 133–135). He warns us and he concludes that “Research in universities has been devoted, primarily, to acquiring knowledge and technological know-how. But knowledge and technological know-how increase our power to act which, without wisdom, can lead to as much harm as benefit” [6] (p. 137). According to Maxwell, there is an urgent need for academic revolution [7] because the world is in crisis [10]. He is very critical towards the current universities, and he claims that “Humanity is in deep trouble, in part because our institutions of learning, our universities, have long been seriously defective intellectually, and thus dysfunctional” [11] (p. 10). He concludes that “we urgently need to create a high-profile campaign devoted to transforming universities in the way required so that humanity may learn how to make social progress toward a better, wiser, more civilized, enlightened world” [11] (p. 1).

Indeed, we live in a highly interconnected and complex world where data, information, and knowledge are abundant. Therefore, the main question is how we apply that knowledge for the betterment of society, for creating a better world. Russell already in the fifties argued that “the world needs wisdom as it has never needed it before, and if knowledge continues to increase, the world will need wisdom in the future even more than it does now” [12] (p. 177). He strongly believed that wisdom can be taught, and teaching wisdom should be one of the aims of education.

Since the 1980s, wisdom has become the focus of many disciplines. It has been intensively studied in psychology [4,13,14,15,16,17,18,19], in leadership and human resource management [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29], and in educational philosophy [2,6,7,8,9,10,11,30,31,32,33,34,35,36]. However, as many scholars [2,3,4,5,6,7,10,11] noted, there has not been enough attention paid on how wisdom can be cultivated (pedagogy) in persons in higher education. Concurring with Diamond, who argues that “Scholarship about wisdom has recently emerged as a worthwhile research topic, but its study and practices have not” [2] (p. 17, emphasis added), we also believe that wisdom and wisdom pedagogy are still rather unexplored fields in higher education that would need more attention. Therefore, there is an urgent need for paying more attention on wisdom research, wisdom teaching (pedagogy) at universities.

Therefore, this paper asks How has wisdom pedagogy research emerged in higher education during 1980–2022? The aim is first, to explore the emergence of wisdom pedagogy articles in higher education during 1980–2022, and then, to analyze the located wisdom pedagogy articles in depth.

This paper analyzed n = 24 wisdom pedagogy articles published during the 1980–2022 period. There were only two articles found dealing directly with wisdom pedagogy. The main conclusion is that wisdom research in higher education spent 20 years in its ‘No publications’ phase (1980–2003) compared with wisdom research in other disciplines (i.e., psychology, management, leadership, human resources). It started to emerge and grow exponentially in higher education and currently (2018–2022) it is in ‘Intensive growth’ phase.

This paper has four sections. Introduction presented the needs for exploring wisdom research in higher education, the main research question, and the aim of the research. The Method section focuses on the research design, approach, database and sample selection criteria, data collection and analysis methods. The Results and Discussion section presents the findings, their interpretations, and their possible implications. The Conclusion section assesses the research limitations and outlines further research areas.

2. Method

The Introduction section presented arguments of many scholars that wisdom pedagogy has been a long-time ignored topic in higher educational research. The scholars argued that there is a clear need for a better understanding of how the development of wisdom can be fostered in higher education. Based on these arguments we formulated our proposition as ‘Wisdom pedagogy research has been neglected in higher education’. To prove or reject this proposition, this study explored how wisdom and wisdom pedagogy have been researched in higher educational literature. The research question was: How has wisdom pedagogy research emerged in higher education during 1980–2022?

For these purposes first, publications will be located, identified, screened, selected from the World of Science (WoS) Core Collection database. A systematic literature review (SLR) supported by quantitative and qualitative data analyses and synthesis methods will be applied. For visualizing the results WoS analytics, word-clouds, and Bipartite network will be used.

In general, there are two types of literature review methods such as SLR and non-SLR. To answer the research question and validate the research proposition, this study selected SLR. Systematic reviews carried out in an organized way using a pre-planned strategy and steps to guide data collection, data analysis, synthesis and interpretations of findings, and reporting the results. This method is transparent, and it allows replication of the research process. Furthermore, SLR will give us a better understanding of the trends and current situation of wisdom and wisdom pedagogy research.

2.1. Research Design

Figure 1 shows the planning, implementing, and reflecting phases of the research process. Each phase requires specific research skills. Figure 1 also indicates the outcomes and activities.

2.2. Research Philosophy and Approach

This study followed a mixture of positivist and interpretivist research philosophies. Wisdom and wisdom pedagogy are socially constructed resarch phenomena. However, the publications are real, they published in scientific databases. How knowledge, data was acquired in this study also has a dualistic character. On the one hand, data were acquired through scientific methods (WoS analysis, CSS methods, Bipartite network analysis) from an existing scientific database (WoS), and they quantitatively screened and analysed. On the other hand, data were also analyzed and interpretated with qualitative SLR with the involvement of the researcher (i.e., value-based interpretations). The research approach to data analyses was an exploratory deductive approach.

2.3. Criteria of Database Selection and Data Screening

When deciding on database, first the following selection criteria were considered: (1) free access; (2) focus on multidisciplinary disciplines; and (3) number of available full-texts publications. Free-access, multidisciplinary, and large databases related to social sciences, higher education publications are for example CORE (207 million), Crossref (11 million), and Google Scholar (390 million). Web of Science (WoS) was also considered. Though, it is accessible only through subscription, this database is probably the oldest database, it has over 170 million full-texts available in multidisciplinary fields. Furthermore, WoS is the most frequently applied database for academic research. For this research the library subscription for WoS allowed us to select this database.

Sample selection criteria were based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Publications and articles included when they were related to higher education, published in the predefined period (1980–2022), published in scientific, peer-reviewed journals in English. Papers not published in the selected time period, conference papers, editorial materials, review papers, and book chapters were excluded.

2.4. Methods of Data Collection and Analysis

This was a mixed-method research. Data were collected and analyzed with both quantitative, i.e., WoS analysis, word clouds, Bipartite network, and qualitative i.e., SLR methods. Data collection and screening process was accomplished in WoS Core Collection database for higher education publications. The slection was based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. There were three main steps in the data collection process: (1) locating and identifying data; (2) screening based on predefined criteria; and (3) eligibility and inclusion for further analyses and synthesis.

Data analyses were conducted with Computational Social Sciences (CSS) methods. According to Nelimarkka [37] (2023), there is a paradigm shift, i.e., new ways of doing research in social sciences, that is called CSS. He defines CSS as “a new research field. It emerges as a mixture of programming skills, social science imagination, and technological imagination” [37] (p. 5). According to him, CSS provides opportunities for increasing the size of samples, speeding up data analyses, exploring things that were not possible before, utilizing new opportunities in exploratory analyses of data, and accessing to digital data sources (e.g., WoS database).

This study applied SLR method for data analysis and synthesis because it fits for exploring the status of wisdom research in HE publications. Lame [38] refers to the eight steps in SLR defined by Egger et al. [39] (2008) as (1) formulating the research question; (2) defining inclusion and exclusion criteria; (3) locating, identifying studies in scientific databases; (4) selecting studies; (5) assessing the quality of the study; (6) extracting data; (7) analyzing and presenting the results; and (8) interpreting the results. When this research was designed (Figure 1), these steps were systematically followed by adding the steps of critical reflection and communicating.

Though a SLR is a powerful method to shape the future of a scientific field, Alexander [40] argues that it has also its challenges in educational research. She categorizes these challenges into four areas according to the steps in systematic review as (1) framing challenges; (2) procedural challenges; (3) consolidating and summarizing challenges; and (4) interpreting and communicating challenges [40] (pp. 7–8). This study has benefitted from her advice on how these challenges could be overcome during the review process. Concurring with Alexander, reviews are capable to influence the future of a specific field of science (in our case it is educational sciences) by directing attention of researchers towards emerging themes (in this paper, these are wisdom research, wisdom pedagogy). However, the reviews need be “undertaken systematically to address a question of critical importance to education, and when they are conducted rigorously, reported in a transparent manner, and communicated in an illuminating but justified way” [40] (p. 22).

This paper addressed an important, critical, and a contemporary problem in higher education, i.e., why wisdom research and wisdom pedagogy have been long-time ignored research topics in higher education. The need for more wisdom research in higher education was theoretically positioned and argued with existing knowledge in the Introduction. This study was conducted with careful research design (Figure 1), with systematic process of data collection for a specific period (1980–2022), with thoughtfully predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the research was systematically executed. The analysis and synthesis applied SLR combined with other analysis methods to achieve objectivity. The results and findings were presented (WoS analysis, word-clouds, Bipartite network), discussed, and interpreted carefully with reflecting on the quality of the research, its limitations, and further steps in research. The findings helped to answer the research question: How has wisdom pedagogy research emerged in higher education during 1980–2022?

3. Results and Discussion

The aim of this paper was first, to explore the emergence of wisdom pedagogy articles in higher education during 1980–2022, and then, to analyze the located wisdom pedagogy articles in depth.

3.1. Data Collection and Screening

Figure 2 was created based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis) principles [41]. The main steps were locating and identifying data in the selected database, screening data (inclusion and exclusion) based on predefined criteria, eligibility and inclusion for further analysis.

Figure 2 presents the systematic data collection and screening process in higher education. The total number of publications in higher education identified in WoS were: 420,778. After delimiting the search for time 1980–2022 (n = 409,551), 524 wisdom, 33 wisdom pedagogy publications were found. After excluding proceeding papers (n = 9), 24 wisdom pedagogy articles left for inclusion to further qualitative analysis.

3.2. Data Analysis of Publications in Higher Education

From the 409,551 publications published during 1980–2022, there were 524 publications related to ‘wisdom’. Figure 3 shows increase in publications since 2011. The top ten categories were related to: education educational research (186); social sciences interdisciplinary (33); management (30); religion (26); computer science and information systems (22); economics (22); education scientific disciplines (21); environmental sciences (17); sociology (17); and computer science interdisciplinary applications (16). The top five document types were: article (369); proceeding paper (138); book chapter (23); review article (17); and editorial material (9).

There were only 33 publications found related to ‘wisdom pedagogy’ in WoS during the 1980–2022 period. Figure 4 shows steady growth since 2018. The top ten categories were related to: education educational research (17); management (3); religion (3); environmental sciences (2); green sustainable science technology (2); social sciences interdisciplinary (2); area studies (1); biology (1); computer science software engineering (1); and education scientific disciplines (1). The top five document types were: article (24); proceeding paper (9); book chapter (4); editorial material (1); and early access (1). Because this paper focuses on wisdom pedagogy articles, 24 journal articles were selected for further analyses with SLR.

3.3. Systematic Literature Review

The general objective of this study was to explore the emergence of wisdom pedagogy research in higher education publications. The specific purpose was to explore the evolution of wisdom pedagogy articles in depth.

3.3.1. Evolution of Wisdom and Wisdom Pedagogy Publications in Higher Education

Figure 5 shows the evolution of wisdom publications during 1980–2022. WoS analysis of 524 wisdom related publications in higher education for the 1980–2022 period resulted the following top categories: 35.5% education educational research; 6.3% social sciences interdisciplinary; 5.7% management; 5% religion; 4.2% computer science information systems; 4.2% economics; 4% education scientific disciplines. The rest of the categories were below 3% or below.

After searching in the WoS Core Collection database for wisdom pedagogy, we found 33 publications. The evolution in time of the publications is presented in Figure 6. Result of WoS analysis of 33 wisdom pedagogy related articles in education for the 1980–2022 period showed the following top categories: 51.5% education educational research; 9% management; 9% religion; 6% environmental sciences; 6% green sustainable science technology; 6% social sciences interdisciplinary. The rest of the categories were 3%.

Comparing the results of data analyses (Figure 5 and Figure 6), we conclude that in higher education wisdom publications started to emerge earlier (1988–1999) than wisdom pedagogy publications (2003–2010). However, both publication types were about two decades late compared with wisdom research in other disciplines. After excluding 9 proceeding papers, 24 wisdom pedagogy articles left for SLR analysis.

3.3.2. Evolution of Wisdom Pedagogy Articles in Higher Education

Figure 7 shows an exponential increase in wisdom pedagogy articles in higher education. However, the number of articles is still very modest. The quantitative WoS analysis indicated the top five categories of the located 24 articles as: 42% education educational research; 12.5% management; 12.5% religion; 8% environmental sciences; and 8% green sustainable science technology.

3.3.3. Keywords and Abstracts Analysis

There were 24 wisdom pedagogy articles in higher education analyzed qualitatively with critical SLR. The SLR had the following steps: locating and identifying the articles through systematic, predefined criteria (Figure 2); collecting and analyzing 24 abstracts, 161 keyword of 24 articles written by 53 authors; color coding the themes; synthesizing the result; and providing interpretations.

Table A1. Keywords (n = 161) of 24 wisdom pedagogy articles (source: author).

Wisdom Pedagogy Evolution Period	Keywords/Reference
Initiation (2003–2013)	decolonization, globalization, indigenous worldviews, pedagogy, Pacific education, Pacific Islands studies [62]
	religious education, pedagogy, wisdom, friendship, co-creation, dialogue [42]
	anthropology, pedagogy, wisdom, responsibility, authority and determinism, nature and spirit [43]
	higher education, wisdom, early childhood, teacher education, pedagogy, spirituality, immigrant [44]
Slow growth (2014–2017)	embodiment, eroticism, gender, sexuality, university, academic work
	sustainability pedagogy, higher education, ecological problems [63] ecological systems, indigenous teaching, whole self, transformational learning [51]
	catholic higher education, agrarianism, Catholicism, culture [52]
	British values, countering extremism, religious literacy, equalities, multiculturalism, Islamophobia [58]
	higher education, learning design, skill sets, pedagogy, curriculum, key competences, sustainability, university, thinking [53]
	ethical leadership, cultivating practical wisdom, adult education, leading change, academic life, leadership pedagogy [46]
Intensive growth (2018–2022)	wisdom, wisdom curriculum, wisdom pedagogy [14]
	spirituality, wisdom sharing, curriculum development, cross-cultural values, transcendent level, non-religious [49]
	Taoism, Tao Te Ching, self-awareness, individuality, diversity, self-cultivation [59]
	higher education, ecozoic era, justice, sustainability, pluriverse, interdependence, relationality, ecological economics, research agenda, textbooks [54]
	student engagement, higher education, professional development, forward-facing curriculum, peripheral wisdom, collaborative learning [50]
	authoritarian resilience, civil society, cultural governance, educated acquiescence, higher education, intellectuals [55]
	wisdom, pedagogy, university, worldly wisdom, learning and teaching modalities, wisdom pedagogy, domains of knowledge, balance pedagogies [2]
	mindfulness, holistic learning, self-knowledge, self-awareness, well-being, compassion, wisdom, cultural-spiritual perspective, transformative learning, life-long learning, higher education, contemplative pedagogy [45]
	kindergarten teacher quality, scale development, teacher quality, teacher professionalism, cultural existentialism pedagogy, children, empowerment, education, climate, world [56]
	context sensitive curricula, pedagogical strategies, South African curriculum, Western worldview [60]
	soil science, teaching and learning, pedagogical practices, inquiry-based learning, scaffolding in course levels [57]
	character development, character building, character education, online education, practical wisdom, virtue ethics, cultivation of character, cultivation of wisdom [47]
	social class, widening participation, upwards mobility, academic habitus, navigational capital, working-class academics [61]
	character education, phronesis, practical wisdom, eudaemonia, well-being, moral philosophy, applied ethics, sport pedagogy [48]

in Appendix A shows wisdom pedagogy evolution periods, article publication years, 161 keywords of 24 articles written by 53 authors. Figure 8 presents the result of word-cloud analysis with minimum 2 articles. There were 11 out of 161 keywords which fit these criteria, all other keywords were mentioned only one time.

Results, based on analyses of 161 keywords (Table A1 in Appendix A) and 24 abstracts (

Table A2. Systematic Literature Review of 24 wisdom pedagogy articles of 53 authors in higher education 2003–2022 (source: author).

Wisdom Pedagogy Evolution Period	Reference	Topic	Method and Context	Findings and Recommendation
Initiation (2003–2013)	[62]	the impact of colonialism on people’s minds challenge the dominance of western philosophy, content, and pedagogy	Oceania, indigenous people	curricula should include: - indigenous Oceanic knowledge, worldviews, philosophies of teaching and learning - expand the general knowledge base of higher education - make university study more meaningful for many students - enhance collaboration
	[42]	Religious education	Reflections of religious educators in a movie	friendship, the journey, risk-taking, awakening, turning points, and the choice to keep going friendship and co-creating dialogue
	[43]	Molavi’s anthropological pedagogy wisdom responsibility determinism and authority nature spirit	Applied research Interviews high and primary schools’ education in Iran	shift educational settings from external knowledge transfer to knowledge production (creativity).
	[44]	Learning and whole-being	ancient and modern approaches to gaining wisdom and wellness contemplative methods, such as meditation, qigong, yoga, arts, and dance	learning is much more than just accumulating knowledge and skills Learning includes knowing ourselves-mind, body, and spirit compassion, care address students’ individual needs address the society’s needs Higher education must contribute to a better world Wisdom is what guides students to be whole, true to themselves while learning balance in students’ lives and enhance their ability to be reflective and transformative
Slow growth (2014–2017)	[63]	what are we to do with ourselves? erotic, pleasure and love in higher education	feminist theorists Universities have always been environments where a love of learning and pleasure in pedagogy is possible. academic work as embodied practice, involving pleasure and love.	cultural and societal factors have rendered academic life and commodified and sexualized academic life stripped out the opportunities to love and enjoy academic life reclaiming eroticism and the erotic, eros in the academy relationship between bodies and knowledge recognizing love in learning and wisdom; and cultivating the pleasure and nurturance that arise in collegial and pedagogic relations
	[51]	Address cultural and ecological problems Ecological systems	Higher education Teaching and learning sustainability Sustainability pedagogy indigenous teachings about the whole self transformational learning	transformational sustainability learning is thematic and cocreated, critically questions dominant norms and incorporates diverse perspectives, is active, participatory and relational, and is grounded in a specific place
	[52]	Agricultural challenges intergenerational transmission of agricultural knowledge	Catholic pedagogy Agriculture in the United States Catholic colleges and universities	need a new culture new way of understanding and enacting our relationship to the land and the production of food interdisciplinary search for wisdom respect for manual work education of the whole person cultivation of the virtue of humility, and the enrichment of Catholic practice and culture
	[58]	British education Fundamental British values	counter-terrorism and security legislation citizenship education, history teaching, religious education, and spiritual, moral, social, and cultural (SMSC) development	Need for critical, corrective, and restorative work Dialogue greater respect greater trust and cooperation greater attention to Islamic values, wisdom, and pedagogy
	[53]	Need for work-ready graduates Become lifelong learners	Course design industry-linked curriculum learning-focused approaches universities and colleges	framework to capture the ‘lived experience’ and practice wisdom of educational design good practice in curriculum and pedagogy use of this framework will build the confidence in the contemporary world.
	[46]	Ethical Leadership wisdom and failure in leadership	leadership pedagogy Aristotelian framework in cultivating theoretical and practical wisdom among adult learners Advanced Learning and Leadership program at the University of Melbourne Doctoral education	principles and values in achieving ethical leadership envisage more ethical ways of leadership
Intensive growth (2018–2022)	[14]	foster wisdom in students theories of wisdom education	short-term longitudinal quantitative study traditional higher education setting wisdom curriculum 131 students in five courses 176 students in seven courses	this is the first time that a wisdom curriculum has been demonstrated to increase wisdom in a traditional higher education setting
	[49]	need arises for an appreciation and understanding of our common humanity	interreligious approach curriculum development	approach incorporates a pedagogy which explicitly recognizes the transcendent or spiritual aspects of human experience outside of a religious framework critical framework of spirituality, wisdom, and wisdom sharing allows for student growth in cross-cultural values, such as mutuality, compassion, empathy, and justice increased awareness of religious and non-religious wisdom traditions promote individual and communal well-being
	[59]	the future of higher education education model has not attached sufficient importance to individuality Student’s unique talents are mostly neglected personality and creativity are not given due consideration in the teaching process	individualized teaching and learning eastern perspective	Taoist wisdom of individuality, pluralism, and diversity has great philosophical value and practical revelation to the modern education university should not be an industrial factory, but a nurturing garden where students’ nature as humans are understood and their individual differences are respected
	[54]	planet’s socio-ecological crises redirect education toward teaching how to create conditions for all life to thrive	Analysis of university textbooks in economics, law, and natural sciences North American universities students and activists within the academic system co-constructing knowledge and wisdom	propose paradigm shifts, shifts in the ologies: - shift from an ontology of separation to that of interconnectedness - shift from an epistemology of domination to that of egalitarian relationship - shift from an axiology of development to that of plural values for world- and meaning-making new theoretical framework for education, the regenerative ologies of the Ecozoic’, based on: biophysicality embedded relationality, pluralism, sustainable well-being of all
	[50]	business transformation	Case study peripheral wisdom (learning, meaning, and identity undergraduate fashion programme in a UK University Fashion business retail sector higher education sector	engage students to suitably prepare them for future professional practice collaborative, forward-facing pedagogy shift from traditional lectures to collaborative learning practices
	[55]	critical intelligentsia fundamental change to Chinese politics and pedagogy	China university is often regarded as both the bedrock and beneficiary of liberal democracy	the contributions of a cooperative academy to authoritarian durability
	[2]	pedagogical approaches to develop wisdom how teachers across diverse locations throughout history have learned to develop wisdom and how they have educated others to such understandings universities have forgotten how to develop wisdom forgetting the pedagogical pathway to do so	critical, interpretivist, qualitative research methods to examine archival and archaeological evidence and conduct cross-cultural and often comparative and international case studies to study wisdom history of pedagogies modern university	how and if universities might cultivate essential elements of wisdom reconnect to time-honoured pedagogies for teaching and learning wisdom
	[45]	how students experienced and made meaning of a novel academic course in mindfulness	interpretive phenomenological analysis critical reflective journals and semi-structured interviews Moroccan University	foster holistic learning through self-knowledge develop deeper self-awareness, greater well-being, compassion, and wisdom and to experience profound transformation connections with students’ religious and spiritual practices transformative and lifelong learning build contemplative pedagogy into the core curriculum
	[56]	develop and validate quality scale of Chinese Kindergarten Teacher, K-12 Teachers	factor analyses descriptive statistics profile analyses hierarchical regression analyses surveyed 1834 teachers from Shanghai kindergartens	healthy condition, practical wisdom, cultural literacy, empowerment and autonomy, and loyalty and commitment good quality, ranking highly in practical wisdom
	[60]	decolonization of the school curriculum is required pedagogical strategies have not been clearly described	in-depth qualitative study In-depth interviews thematically analyzed interpretivist, multi-site ethnographic, qualitative approach Science education curricula in Africa Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) Zulu cultural group	Focus on African worldview and an integration of the local context and community culturally specific pedagogical model: - touring cultural places - demystifying indigenous practices and perception - utilizing indigenous pedagogies - teaching wisdom behind indigenous practices
	[57]	Pedagogical strategy: - Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) - scaffolding - teams’ competition and gaming - data-information-knowledge-wisdom	online questionnaire peer-assessment interactive problem-based learning environment contest geoscience students final year students majoring in Soil Sciences, a BSc program at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman	Improvements in interpersonal metacognitive skills: self-reported improvements in problem-solving abilities, thinking out of the box, observation, teamwork, capacity to perform under pressure, and communication
	[47]	Character education how to develop students’ character and especially practical wisdom much needed in later professional life	constructivist learning neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics Online higher education E-learning, digital media	Online education must pay more explicit attention to the cultivation of character and wisdom in their teaching cultivate character through online education
	[61]	What are the advantages of being an upwardly mobile academic?	narrative, phenomenological approach 25 narrative interviews biographical narrative interpretive method (BNIM) literature on the cultural mismatch and cleft habitus in the academic context working-class academics	“navigational capital”, “revolutionary potential”, “wisdom” and a distinct “working-class pedagogy” upwardly mobile academic can help make higher education more inclusive and sustainable
	[48]	higher education curriculums remain misunderstood, understudied and underdeveloped urgent need to acknowledge, problematize, interpret and to study the unavoidably philosophical nature of the physical education	neo-Aristotelian interpretation of physical education neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics character education	lack of emphasis on wisdom and eudaemonia cultivation of virtuous skills, agency, and reasoning are foundational to a flourishing society

in Appendix A), are the followings:

Surprisingly, there were only 2 articles [2,14] mentioning the ‘wisdom pedagogy’ keyword. However, ‘wisdom’ [2,14,42,43,44,45], ‘practical wisdom’, ‘phronesis’ [46,47,48], ‘wisdom sharing’ [49], ‘peripheral wisdom’ [50], and ‘worldly wisdom’ [2] were named most frequently after ‘higher education’ [44,45,50,51,52,53,54,55].

• It was interesting to find different types of ‘pedagogies’ in the articles such as ‘sustainability pedagogy’ [51], ‘leadership pedagogy’ [46], ‘contemplative pedagogy’ [45], ‘cultural existentialism pedagogy’ [56], and ‘sport pedagogy’ [48].
• The themes ‘sustainability’ and ecological thinking were mentioned in several articles [43,51,53,54,56,57]. ‘Spirituality’ and ‘religious education’ were emerging themes too [42,45,49,52,58,59]. Themes of ‘whole self’, ‘self-cultivation’, ‘self-knowledge’, ‘character building’, ‘character development’, ‘professional development’, ‘key competences’, and ‘well-being’ emerged from seven articles [45,47,48,50,51,53,59].

3.3.4. Bipartite Network Analysis

To present the relationships of authors and keywords of 24 articles, CSS method i.e., Bipartite Network analysis was applied in creating the Figure 9 with RStudio. “Because this kind of network has two distinct types of nodes, it is called a bipartite network. This allows identifying which authors use similar words: they are connected OKwith the same word nodes” [37] (p. 76, emphasis original). For creating the Bipartite network with RStudio, data collected in Appendix A Table A1 were used in Figure 9.

Figure 9 shows the links between two types of nods i.e., authors and keywords. The interesting finding is that in the network there were seven articles [46,52,56,57,58,60,61] which were not directly connected to others with any of their keywords. However, 17 articles [2,14,42,43,44,45,47,48,49,50,51,53,54,55,59,62,63] were directly connected with keywords such as character education, practical wisdom, self-awareness, well-being, sustainability, higher education, pedagogy, wisdom pedagogy, immigrant, spirituality, and university.

3.4. Summary

The key findings are:

• Since the 1980s wisdom research gained momentum in psychology, leadership, human resource, management but there has not been enough attention paid on how wisdom can be cultivated (pedagogy) in persons in higher education [2].
• The data collection and screening (Figure 2) of total 420,778 publications in higher education detected 409,551 for the period of 1980–2022. Further screening resulted in 524 wisdom, 33 wisdom pedagogy publications (among them only 24 articles) in WoS database. The identified 24 articles were analyzed with SLR.
• This study identified five evolutionary phases of wisdom (Figure 5), wisdom pedagogy publications (Figure 6), and articles (Figure 7) in higher education during the 1980–2022 period such as ‘No publication’, ‘Initiation’, Slow growth’, ‘Steady growth’, and ‘Intensive growth’. Though wisdom research in higher education is about two decades late compared to other disciplines, it is gaining a momentum, and it shows an exponential growth since 2003.
• Wisdom pedagogy in higher education is still in its very early development phase as the findings in WoS indicated, only 524 wisdom publications (Figure 5), 33 wisdom pedagogy publications (Figure 6), including 24 articles (Figure 7) in this research field.
• Data analyses used different methods: WoS analyses (Figure 3 and Figure 4); word cloud analyses (Figure 8), and Network analysis (Figure 9).
• The SLR of 24 wisdom pedagogy articles during the 2003–2022 period (Table A1 and Table A2 in Appendix A) surprisingly resulted only 2 articles [2,14] directly discussing ‘wisdom pedagogy’. This finding indicates that, while wisdom research is rising in higher education, there are not enough articles published in wisdom pedagogy.

4. Conclusions

To our best knowledge, this study is the first systematic study (Figure 1 and Figure 2) to explore the rise of wisdom pedagogy research in higher education with mixed methods in WoS during 1980–2022. The need for wisdom research in education was argued and it was theoretically established in the Introduction. The proposition that ‘wisdom pedagogy research has been neglected in higher education’ was formulated based on the arguments of many authors [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12].

This study has been conducted with (1) careful research design (Figure 1); (2) systematic implementation of data screening process (Figure 2) based on predefined criteria; and with (3) systematic data analyses for 1980–2002, 2003–2013, 2014–2017, and 2018–2022, to detect emerging trends and patterns, the evolution of wisdom research in higher education. To validate this proposition, this study asked: How has wisdom pedagogy research emerged in higher education during 1980–2022? The aim of his study was first, to explore the emergence of wisdom pedagogy articles in higher education during 1980–2022, and then, to analyze the located wisdom pedagogy articles in depth with SLR. Based on the research results, the proposition was validated. The main conclusion is that wisdom research in higher education spent 20 years in its ‘No publications’ phase (1980–2003) compared with wisdom research in other disciplines (i.e., psychology, management, leadership, human resources). It started to emerge and grow exponentially in higher education and currently (2018–2022) it is in ‘Intensive growth’ phase.

This study has several further research implications for educational researchers. Firstly, they need to conduct a more comprehensive search for wisdom pedagogy models by extending the scope of this study to other databases, books, book chapters, and to conference papers. Secondly, they need to synthesize and theorize their findings by building a wisdom pedagogy model. Thirdly, researchers need to develop detailed guidelines for educational practitioners on how to apply wisdom pedagogy in practice. This study is only at the beginning of this journey. However, it would be important for educating students with wisdom pedagogy in higher education because it would facilitate students’ thinking, judgements, and actions based on their moral and ethical values in a highly interconnected and complex world.

The limitations of this study provide opportunities for educational researchers. This research was limited only to WoS Core Collection database publications and used only two keywords for search ‘wisdom’ and ‘wisdom pedagogy’. Educational researchers encouraged to conduct similar studies for different databases (e.g., Google Scholar, ERIC, CORE, Crossref) with other search words (e.g., emancipatory education, ethical education, moral education, value-based education, religious education) to confirm the results of this research in the WoS Core Collection database. Additionally, focusing only on journal articles and excluding books and book chapters from the analysis is another limitation of this study. As further research, the author suggests including books published in this topic. Example, an influential book written by Teasdale and Ma Rhea [64] about local knowledge and wisdom in higher education should be included in research.

Wisdom is a guiding virtue of humanity. As this study showed, it would need more attention in education and in educational research. Especially now, where we face an abundancy of data and information, and global crises. We believe that wisdom pedagogy would help students to become good citizens of the society, to realize what is of importance in their life, it would help them judge what is fake and what is real information, it would help them act based on ethical and moral values, it would help them to take responsibility of their action by considering future impacts of their actions on the society and on the environment.