A pedagogy of care at UNE: Paternalistic and infantilising or engaging and responsive?

Synopsis

UNE student cohorts have been affected in various ways by COVID-19, bushfires, and floods, and economic uncertainty. We are teaching in a VUCA world marked by Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. Recognising that there are ‘many solutions’ to the problem of engagement, a team have been funded through the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program to develop an Inclusive Pedagogy for Student Well-being’ and a Student Wellbeing Toolkit. This signature pedagogy aims to support inclusion, cultural responsiveness, and well-being, and draws on Universal Design for Learning, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, and Trauma Informed Pedagogy. Scaling up the signature pedagogy in 2022 across all faculties and schools at UNE, the team target engagement through incorporating a Pedagogy of Care. A Pedagogy of Care fosters learning focused relationships. There is an awareness that care practices can support sharing and reciprocity, just as they can be ‘paternalistic and infantilising. In this presentation a UNE approach to a Pedagogy of Care will be illustrated. There will be an outline of practices that foster relationships premised on care, and acknowledge that care can be problematic of not enacted purposefully and deliberately. Consideration will be given to the promotion of connectedness and the maintenance of healthy boundaries in online teaching contexts.

Associate Professor Jennifer Charteris, Dr Joanna Anderson, Dr Genevieve Thraves