Compassionate pedagogy

Compassion, while being emotionally motivated, is also an action. Jazaieri (2017) identifies four key components in compassion: a cognitive component in the awareness of suffering; an affective component in being moved by suffering; an intentional component in wishing to relieve suffering; and a motivational component in being ready to take action.

Compassion is…

• A response to suffering (which can be emotional, mental, physical or spiritual).
• Distinct from the feeling of empathy. While empathy is experiencing the same emotion as someone else, compassion is your own emotional response to an individual’s suffering.
• A choice and accompanied by an action
• Grounded in the belief of worthiness of all to experience care, well-being, and the alleviation of suffering
• An integral part of Indigenous teachings (e.g., Namegosib Anishinaabeg), which show compassion as vital to mino bimaadiziwin (Agger, 2020). Compassion is an essential to leading a good life and experiencing good health.  

Compassion is not…

• Always saying “yes”
• Sacrificing all one’s energy and resources
• Decreasing or eliminating one’s personal and/or professional boundaries
• Eliminating accountability for oneself or others
• “Fixing” others’ situation or emotions

Compassion can be directed inward (self-compassion) or outward to another/others. There are similarities in how compassion is given to both self and to another, however it is important to note that these are two separate skills that require their own practice.

Self-compassion is treating oneself in the same way you would a loved one or close friend—in essence, extending compassion to yourself when you are suffering. Neff (2021; n.d.) and her collaborators have developed an extensive body of research in this area, with a self-compassion framework emphasizing three elements of practice: common humanity (as opposed to isolation); mindfulness (as opposed to over-identification); and kindness (as opposed to self-judgment).

Why self-compassion is important

Being self-compassionate positively impacts: 

• Physical health
• Mental health and wellbeing 
• Motivation 
• Interpersonal relationships
• Resilience in the face of adversity (Bluth & Neff, 2018)

If you are interested in exploring your current stance towards self-compassion, Neff’s Self-Compassion Test is available online for some additional guidance.

Self-compassion

Some values and approaches for fostering a compassionate culture that you may already emphasize and can continue to grow are:

• Transparency: explaining why in clear language; naming emotions; modeling learning 
• Appreciation: building on strengths; recognizing the learning
• Curiosity: asking questions when confronted with new or unsettling information; reflecting on learning to decide on next steps
• Connection: building belonging and co-constructing meaning through collaboration; developing connected classroom experiences (between students; between student and instructor; between learner and content)
• Inclusion: hearing, making space for, and valuing multiple perspectives, cultures, identities

The self-compassion framework provides one possible access point into organizing a model of compassionate pedagogy. By focusing on the three areas of common humanity, mindfulness, and kindness, instructors can explore teaching and learning approaches that respect the whole person, while focusing on areas of compassionate action that are appropriate to their specific classroom and disciplinary context.

Applying the self-compassion framework to teaching

Questions to ponder:

• Who are my students?
• How can I leave room for co-constructing meaning with students?
• How can transparency transform the learning experience?
• What steps am I taking to work on my understanding of common humanity, and where am I still growing?

Like everyone, students live in a world-at-large where they face a variety of challenges. Recent research on Canadian university students found: 

• 40% experience food insecurity (Sing, 2021)
• ~3.5% experience homelessness (Fraser, 2018)
• 69.6% reported experiencing loneliness the previous year (ACHA, 2019)
• 16.4% seriously considered suicide the previous year (ACHA, 2019)
• 59.5% found academics very difficult to handle the previous year (ACHA, 2019)
• 43.8% found finances very difficult to handle the previous year (ACHA, 2019)
• 41.9% reported sleep difficulties the previous year (ACHA, 2019)
• 47% witnesses or experienced discrimination based on gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation (Burczycka, 2020)

Many of these numbers predate the COVID-19 pandemic which brought additional changes, uncertainty, and complexity into our lives. A mindset grounded in common humanity can remind us that poor academic performance, trouble concentrating, and classroom behaviours that may be labelled as disruptive do not usually stem from an attempt by the student to be difficult, but rather as a symptom of suffering experienced in the course of daily challenges that may at times become overwhelming. Common humanity invites instructors to do what we can about the teaching and learning environment to respect the whole student.

Questions to ponder:

• How am I planning to reduce potential suffering/barriers to learning?
• How am I planning for the unexpected? How will I handle inevitable unplanned challenges that arise for students or for myself?
• How am I preparing myself to react with compassion in difficult moments?
• How can I make time and space to process my own learning and make important changes?

Mindfulness is the practice of being present in each moment. In the context of compassion it is a reminder to be intentional and engaged in preparing to teach, in reactions while teaching, and in reflecting on teaching.

Preparation

• Incorporate what you learned previously into what is coming
• Be intentional in your pedagogical choices
• Rethink longstanding practices and policies
• Prepare for and be open to "the unexpected"
• Practice handling uncomfortable conversations and requests in different ways
• Are your pedagogical values reflected in how you design and teach your course?

Reaction

• Practice working through the following steps to develop a compassionate response: 
  • Settle the mind: develop a routine or a reminder for when you sense a compassionate response may be needed
  • Be present: focus on what is truly happening in the moment
  • Validate the need: “I hear you” and “I believe you” are two powerful statements that can help create understanding and chart a compassionate way forward
  • Be comfortable with discomfort: difficult emotions, suffering, and uncertainty
  • Be open to student-identified solutions
  • Balance students’ needs with your own

Reflection

• Create time for you and your students to pause and reflect on critical learnings (quality over quantity)
• Be non-judgmental when reflecting on past practices, plan for positive change, and build in accountability
• Seek support when processing or knowledge to deepen understanding
• Plan to incorporate reflection to inform future changes

Questions to ponder:

• How can I demonstrate kindness in the language I use?
• How can I build trust with students?
• Where am I setting clear and kind boundaries?
• How can I provide flexibility for learners?

Here are five areas where kindness as a compassionate action can be embedded in teaching and learning:

1. Teaching strategies
   • Get to know students and check in with them during the term (e.g., feedback, email)
   • Help students connect with one another
   • Listen to and draw on students’ experiences, perspectives, and interests
   • Prioritize meaningful and lasting learning (i.e., “unstuff” your course, lectures, etc.)
   • Be responsive to what’s happening in the world
2. Course materials
   • Use inclusive images, language, and diverse sources to help marginalized students feel like they belong
   • Provide materials in various formats
   • Ensure materials are accessible or provide accessible versions
   • Use open educational resources (OER) instead of asking students to purchase a textbook
3. Assessments
   • Assignment options and flexible deadlines
   • Provide opportunities for purposeful and meaningful learning and reflection
   • Lower stakes assignments 
   • Opportunities to resubmit assignments or receive initial feedback on drafts
4. Grading
   • Be mindful about the tone, amount, and balance of feedback provided
   • Personalize and/or add warmth by recording audio or video feedback
   • For work that is an F, give 49% vs. 25% to minimize impact on the final grade
   • Engage students in evaluating themselves (e.g., self-assessment, ungrading)
   • Help students be self-compassionate by encouraging a growth mindset
5. Syllabi and policies
   • Be mindful about the language you use
     • Avoid an adversarial, binary approach (e.g., we vs. them)
     • Compliance vs. collaborative/invitational
     • Use “you” instead of “students”
   • Be transparent about rationale, connections, challenges, and opportunities in the way your course is structured, facilitated, and assessed
   • Look for opportunities to be equitable (e.g., flexibility, removing extra credit)
   • Ensure your institutional policies and resources are up to date

Here are a few other pitfalls and barriers to consider:

• Take the time you need to process new learning, and incorporate changes slowly and sustainably
• Honour your own needs and boundaries
• There can be an increased cost in additional labour, particularly for faculty and instructors who come from historically marginalized backgrounds
• Watch out for empathic distress (a.k.a., “compassion fatigue”)—this is when sharing in the emotionality of suffering experienced by others can lead to feeling helpless or burned out. This is another time when self-compassion and focusing on your own needs, healing, and boundaries is important.
• Recognize that there are many cultural and systemic factors in higher education that may limit elements of compassion—grading, policies, hierarchies, standards and accreditation can be barriers to flexibility and openness to new ways of doing. Pace yourself and focus on the changes possible within your sphere of control are attainable on the timelines available to you.
• Not sure where to start—connect with a mentor in the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.

Take some time to ponder the following questions: 

1. Why are you teaching? What are you trying to achieve as a teacher? 
2. What things are you are doing that help and hinder you in meeting those goals? 
3. How might compassion help you align your approach more with your goals? What is the next small step you can take?

Select journal articles 

• Denial, C. (2019, August 15). A pedagogy of kindness. Hybrid Pedagogy. https://hybridpedagogy.org/pedagogy-of-kindness/  
• Gorny-Wegrzyn, E., & Perry, B. (2021). Inspiring educators and pedagogy of kindness: A reflective essay. Creative Education, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2021.121017  
• Howansky, K., Maimon, M., & Sanchez, D. (2022). Identity safety cues predict instructor impressions, belonging, and absences in the psychology classroom. Teaching of Psychology, 49(3), 212-217. doi:10.1177/0098628321990362 

Select articles, blog posts, presentations, podcasts, etc.  

• "Designing for Care" presentation given by Jesse Stommel  
• “Kindness as push-back and designing for care” by Charlotte Overgaard and Jacqueline Mackaway (2021) 
• “A Pedagogy of Kindness: The Cornerstone for Student Learning and Wellness” by Fiona Rawle (2021) 
• “Pedagogy of Healing: Bearing Witness to Trauma and Resilience” by Mays Imad (2021) 
• “Pedagogy of Care – Caring for Teachers” by Maha Bali (2021) 
  • “Profs teaching online need to focus on increasing their compassion toward students” by A. Langille and V. Kannen (2020). University Affairs.

Mindfulness practices:  

• Downloadable guided practices for compassion provided by Kristin Neff (practices range from 5 to 24 minutes in length) 
• Breathing Meditation for beginners provided by Jack Kornfield (8 min, 29 seconds) 

ACHA [American College Health Association]. (2019). American College Health Association-National College Health assessment II: Canadian reference group data report spring 2019. American College Health Association. https://www.cacuss.ca/files/Research/NCHA-II%20SPRING%202019%20CANADIAN%20REFERENCE%20GROUP%20DATA%20REPORT.pdf  

Agger, L. O.. (2020). Namegosibiing Anishinaabe compassion: A cure for modern day ills [Master’s thesis, University of Manitoba, Master of Arts]. mSpace. https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/xmlui/handle/1993/34659  

Bluth, K., & Neff, K. (2018). New frontiers in understanding the benefits of self-compassion. Self and Identity. http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/15298868.2018.1508494  

Burczycka, M. (2020). Students’ experiences of discrimination based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation at postsecondary schools in the Canadian provinces, 2019. Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/85-005-x/2020001/article/00001-eng.pdf?st=1AS0Htd_  

Dickson, L., & Summerville, T. (2018). 'The truth about stories': Coming to compassionate pedagogy in a first-year program. Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 6(3), 24-29. https://jpaap.ac.uk/JPAAP/article/view/378/505  

Fraser, E. (2018, November 19). Homelessness among university students bigger than people realize. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/student-homelessness-university-of-new-brunswick-1.4911095  

Imad, M. (2021, July 8). Pedagogy of healing: Bearing witness to trauma and resilience. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2021/07/08/how-faculty-can-support-college-students%E2%80%99-mental-health-fall-opinion  

Janowick, J. (2020, May 13). Pedagogy of kindness [Video]. https://cte.openlcc.net/learningtogether/2020/05/04/pedagogy-of-kindness/  

Jazaieri, H. (2018). Compassionate education from preschool to graduate school: Bringing a culture of compassion into the classroom. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, 11(1), 22-66. doi:10.1108/JRIT-08-2017-0017 

Neff, K. (n.d.). Definition of self-compassion. Retrieved July 21, 2022 from https://self-compassion.org/the-three-elements-of-self-compassion-2/  

Neff, K. (2021).  Fierce self-compassion: How women can harness kindness to speak up, claim their power, and thrive. Harper Wave. 

Overgaard, C., & Mackaway, J. (2021, March 4). Kindness as push-back and designing for care. Teche. Macquarie University. https://teche.mq.edu.au/2021/03/kindness-as-push-back-and-designing-for-care/  

Rawle, F. (2021, August 20). A pedagogy of kindness: The cornerstone for student learning and wellness. The Times Higher Education. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/pedagogy-kindness-cornerstone-student-learning-and-wellness  

Sing, N. (2021, October 7). The fight to end hunger on Canadian university campuses. Maclean’s. https://www.macleans.ca/education/the-fight-to-end-hunger-on-canadian-university-campuses/  

Stommel, J. (2021, October 1). Start by trusting students start by trusting teachers [Presentation slides]. Presentation given to The Hub for Teaching and Learning, University of Michigan – Dearborn. https://dearbornhub.net/?p=1147  

Trust, T. (n.d.). Humanizing online/remote classes [infographic]. Retrieved August 4, 2022 from https://www.torreytrust.com/design-projects