The Role of Pleasure to Improve Tourism Education

This book discusses how pleasure, as an emotional motivation, can play a leading role in improving the learning of new cognitive skills and abilities. Set in a research center orientated to innovate educative techniques for optimizing the learning process, this case study is focusing on the power of pleasure (joy) as a strategy to better the standard education systems in Argentina and beyond. This editorial project is based on an efficient experiment known as “PANCOE” where pre-graduate students of tourism bachelor at the University of Palermo, Argentina, were subject to different pleasurable experiences mainly marked by eating, tasting dishes and non-alcohol drinks while cooking and kneading bread pieces. PANCOE aims to integrate students' senses with their emotions, academic performance, and digital platforms. PANCOE devotes efforts to transforming negative feelings like fear into positive ones like joy. As an outcome, students who had taken part in PANCOE not only obtained higher degrees but also completed their studies with a bachelor's degree. Therefore, PANCOE situates as a promising and exciting tourism education method to better the academic performance of low-grade students in tourism and to bring creativity to the tourism classroom for all students. Introduction 7 References 10 Contents 11 Chapter 1: Towards a Theory of Education 13 1.1 Introduction 13 1.2 Ancient Philosophy and Education 15 1.3 Medieval Philosophy and Cartesian Dualism 18 1.4 Modern Philosophy and Education 20 1.5 Social Sciences and Education 22 1.6 Constructivism in Perspective 26 1.7 Conclusion 27 References 28 Chapter 2: Problems of Education in the West 31 2.1 Introduction 31 2.2 Education and Leisure Society 32 2.3 The Western University: A Short Companion 34 2.4 Private vs. Public Universities 37 2.5 Current Issues in Higher Education 39 2.6 The COVID-19 Pandemic and Higher Education 41 2.7 Conclusion 43 References 43 Chapter 3: Tourism Education in Perspective 47 3.1 Introduction 47 3.2 The Genesis of Tourism Education 49 3.3 Theories and Traditions in Tourism Education 52 3.3.1 The Epistemological Tradition 53 3.3.2 The Economic-Centred Tradition 55 3.3.3 The Critical Tradition 57 3.4 Teaching vs. Researching 58 3.5 From the Flow Experience to Joy 59 3.6 Research Agenda for Tourism Education 61 3.7 Conclusion 61 References 62 Chapter 4: Marketing Education in Times of COVID-19: Argentina as Main Study Case 66 4.1 Introduction 66 4.2 Tourism Education 67 4.3 Tourism, Technology and Resiliency 69 4.4 The Power of Resiliency in Post Tourism Crisis 71 4.5 Methodological Discussion 72 4.5.1 The Study-Case 72 4.5.2 Risk Perception Theory 74 4.5.3 (Digital) Technology 75 4.5.4 Resilience 76 4.5.5 Tourism Marketing and the Managerial Gaze 76 4.6 Future Research Lines 78 4.7 Conclusion 78 References 79 Chapter 5: PANCOE a Method Applied on Joy Labs, University of Palermo, Argentina 82 5.1 Introduction 82 5.2 Theoretical Discussion 85 5.3 Tourism Education Crisis 86 5.4 The Power of Wellness and Joy 88 5.5 Methodological Discussion 89 5.6 PANCOE and the Joy Labs 89 5.6.1 A New Technique in Tourism Education 89 5.6.2 The Joy Labs in Action! 90 5.6.3 PANCOE in Perspective 94 5.7 Limitations of PANCOE and Future Research 98 5.8 Conclusion 99 References 100 Chapter 6: The Future of Tourism Education Just after the COVID-19 103 6.1 Introduction 103 6.2 The Effects of COVID-19 in the Tourism Industry and Education 105 6.3 Challenges and Opportunities of Joy Labs and PANCOE 111 6.4 Conclusion 114 References 114 Conclusion: Main Guidelines for Tourism Education 118 References 123 EPILOGUE: Something to Teach: An Auto-Ethnography 125 Introduction 125 Ethics in Tourism and Hospitality Bachelors 126 The Professional Paradox: Scientists or Tour Guides? 128 A Study Case-Based with an Auto-Ethnography 131 Conclusion 133 References 134