Waddington, K. and Bonaparte, B. 2024. Compassion in higher education: Fashion or future for relational pedagogies? Higher Education Research and Development. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2024.2406505
| Title | Compassion in higher education: Fashion or future for relational pedagogies? |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Waddington, K. and Bonaparte, B. |
| Abstract | This comment paper offers critical reflections on compassion as a core concern in contemporary higher education, positioned in the context of hybrid and relational pedagogies. The pernicious effects of neoliberal ideology and policy upon academic teaching practices and students’ learning experiences have been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper problematises the concept and role of compassion in higher education in order to highlight the risk of it becoming a ‘buzzword’, or fashionable ‘flavour of the month’ solution that fails to adequately address underlying systemic problems. It challenges the discourse of compassion and associated language of suffering when applied to students and reveals the ‘underside of compassion’ as a mode of power. Conversely, from the perspective of academic staff the paper draws attention to research undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic which shows that staff suffering needs to be acknowledged, voiced, and heard. It advocates against overly simplistic and uncritically positive approaches to addressing the paradoxical nature of compassion in higher education. The paper concludes by arguing that cultivating critically compassionate learning cultures and campuses will: a) enable relational pedagogies to thrive; and b) support the development of a more diverse, equitable and inclusive future for higher education. |
| Keywords | Critical compassion |
| relational pedagogies | |
| hybrid pedagogy | |
| diversity | |
| equity and inclusion | |
| Journal | Higher Education Research and Development |
| Year | 2024 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| Publisher's version | License CC BY 4.0 File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2024.2406505 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 26 Sep 2024 |
| Supplemental file | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |