Nurturing MEANING in Education
- Kristijan Musek Lešnik
- Nov 12, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
School can be a place where purpose, connection, and contribution take root. When learning feels relevant and valuable, children feel motivated, engaged, and part of something bigger. And when teachers feel inspired and autonomous, they naturally pass that sense of meaning on to their students.
Meaning as a Safeguard
Many psychologists believe that the modern rise in depression is closely tied to a loss of meaning. But when we speak of meaning as a foundation of well-being, it’s important to remember that it does not require us to search endlessly for one grand, all-defining life purpose. Nor does it imply that people who haven’t yet discovered a clear sense of meaning are unable to live full or joyful lives.
What matters most is the feeling that what we do carries purpose — that we understand why we do it, for whom we do it, and what difference our actions make to ourselves and to others.
When our actions feel meaningful, life feels coherent, connected, and worth living. When meaning is missing, even achievement or comfort can feel strangely empty. meaning is missing, even success or comfort can feel empty.
Meaning in Preschools and Schools
To nurture a sense of meaning, both adults and children need time for activities that feel valuable and purposeful. When students say, “School is pointless,” they’re not being lazy — they’re expressing a loss of meaning.
For children, the more they perceive their activities as meaningful, the more motivation, engagement, and sense of belonging they experience. That’s why it’s so important that schoolwork — lessons, projects, even small tasks — feels important and connected to real life.
Teachers play a central role in this. They can bring meaning to learning by linking knowledge to experience, curiosity, and relevance. But this is only possible when teachers themselves experience their work as meaningful. A teacher who feels inspired and valued will naturally inspire meaning in their students.
And a key part of that sense of meaning lies in freedom and professional autonomy — the ability for teachers to plan, create, and bring their authentic selves into their teaching.
The Need to Do Meaningful Things
We need the sense that our actions matter. When we devote time and energy to things we find important, we feel inner satisfaction and vitality. Children need it, too.
The opposite is also true: If we spend our days on tasks that lack meaning for us, we eventually feel drained, bored, or disconnected. Children also experience this the same way adults do. When they’re forced to do things that seem pointless, they lose motivation, curiosity, and joy.
The Importance of School
Meaning gives direction to our lives and roots to our happiness. It connects effort with purpose and transforms routine into fulfillment. For both adults and children, the path to well-being begins when we can look at what we do — and know why it matters.
A meaningful life is something we build — moment by moment, through purpose and connection. School can offer children valuable guided steps on that path.
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