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Institutions

On this page we explore different perspectives on how we think about compassionate institutions, why compassion is important for higher education institutions and what this means for us in practice. We draw on Dr Kathryn Waddington’s work on compassionate universities to consider how an ethics of care can support staff to help students learn and to develop compassionate citizens.

Why are compassionate institutions important?

Compassionate pedagogy doesn’t exist in a vacuum, rather, it is entangled in an ecology of compassionate leadership, policies and practices. In this regard, compassion is a collective not an individual act. It is seen in institutional cultures. Institutional support and commitment from senior leadership to develop compassionate policies and practices for staff is essential to effect structural and cultural change, and to create racially just environments for students and staff. Dr Kathryn Waddington points out that commitment to changing cultures involves all levels – individual, group and organisational. This also supports teaching staff and ensures that the emotional burden of addressing inequity is collectively shared.

To explore further, listen to this interview with Dr Kathryn Waddington on The Real Agenda podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTWqH4bJ6Fc

Leadership

What does compassionate leadership look and feel like? How can we demonstrate that we care and value those around us? Brene Brown reminds us that we need to attend to the feelings of the people we lead. We need to invite multiplicity and difference in how we approach compassionate leadership so that it can be meaningful, authentic and individualised. In fact, a diversity of approaches within an educational community offers a richness that is beneficial to respond to differing needs.

We are drawn to the social philosophy of Ubuntu as a relational and connected form of compassionate leadership. Ubuntu derives from the Bantu Nguni languages of Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, and Ndebele. In her article Ubuntu: A Transformative Leadership Philosophy, Dr Lisa B. Ncube writes that the hallmarks of Ubuntu are harmony and continuity. Forming the essence of many traditional African cultures, Ubuntu nurtures community, hospitality and respect. You can watch this TedX Talk by Shola Richards to find out more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrnhdY0B7Cg

From our work with academics, leaders and policy makers, we have devised these four strategies for developing compassionate leadership: reflect, acknowledge, embody and trust.

Reflect – Prof. Lalit Johri explains that if colleagues share the same belief, then kindness in leadership can be facilitated across the whole leadership team in an organisation. He poses two questions that we have adapted to our context as a starting point for self-reflection:

1. As a leader, do you believe that there is a strategic advantage in an approach that is based on acts of compassion and inclusive communications in the organisational context?

2. Can you describe one or two specific situations in which you exhibited these characteristics of compassion in your role as a leader?

Acknowledge – As leaders, we need to acknowledge the challenges and barriers that both we and our colleagues face as we work for change in higher education.

Embody – To nurture compassionate cultures, Dr Kathryn Waddington urges leaders to embody compassion in their leadership practices and challenge normative power structures that can be oppressive and damaging. This can take courage as preventing harm involves challenging conversations and disrupting the status quo.

Trust – Being trusted signals to people that they matter and are valued. Prof. Marilee Bresciani Ludvik explains that when leaders create trusting relationships in the working environment, we feel a sense of belonging and are more motivated to find meaning in our work.

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Policies

We can face structural barriers to enacting compassion in higher education. Academic and technical staff often share frustration with policies that do not reflect their experiences of teaching, learning and assessment. Prof. Stephen Ball reminds us that policies don’t tell us exactly what to do but instead create the conditions for a more limited set of options or focused outcomes. They can be enacted in different ways in different contexts. Prof. Patrick Bailey’s expanded definition of policy is a helpful way to think about what we mean by compassionate policy. Prof. Bailey states that policy is not just the object (or guidance document) but all the complex relationships involved in production, such as design, making and implementation as well as outcomes such as enactment, influence and practice. When we begin to design and implement compassionate policies it is important to consider how compassion works across the ‘policy staircase’, what the unintended consequences might be and how policy supports the transformation to become and sustain a compassionate organisation.

Image: Ceramic vase with abstract decoration by Joely Clinkard, 3D Design and Product Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL.

How can we understand if our policies are compassionate?

In their book, The Slow Professor, Prof. Maggie Berg and Prof. Barbara Seeber make a compelling case for the need to slow down as an ethical imperative to avoid self-harm and to develop patience and compassionate institutions. Liz Bunting, in her research on Belonging reminds us that the reflexivity needed to enact compassion is dependent on ‘time’ and ‘headspace’.

Taking this as a premise for reflection on policy frameworks, we can consider the following:

  • How does this policy shift institutional values to include an ethics of care? (Dr Kathryn Waddington)
  • In what ways does this policy offer the conditions, expectations and opportunities to develop emotional competence and care? (Prof. Andy Hargreaves)
  • What considerations are developed to build staff capacity to implement a compassionate policy (such as reward & recognition)?
  • How do students and staff experience compassion in the enactment of this policy? (Vikki Hill)

What does compassionate policy look like in practice?

In her forthcoming book chapter, Enacting Compassion in Higher Education: Academic staff experiences of a No Detriment Policy on pass/fail assessment Vikki Hill explores whether a no detriment policies of pass/fail assessment could be considered compassionate. Vikki presents the impact of personal beliefs on policy enactment alongside ways to translate policy into compassionate praxis and the institutional barriers to compassionate enactment.

You can listen to a talk here that expands on the no detriment policy and introduces Belonging through Assessment: Pipelines of Compassion – the QAA Collaborative Enhancement Project 2021, led by University of the Arts London with colleagues at Glasgow School of Art and Leeds Arts university:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVsYMajkcok

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The project aims to:

  • Identify areas of enhancement in assessment policies and practices to promote student sense of belonging and tackle issues of social justice.
  • Link this relational work with attainment gap/awarding differentials agendas in the creative arts.
  • Develop collaborative, dialogic, polyvocal and affective resources for staff development across the HE sector.

In our position paper for Belonging through Assessment: Pipelines of Compassion, we present three research strands pass/ fail grading, trauma-informed policy and compassionate feedback.

https://belongingthroughcompassion.myblog.arts.ac.uk/files/2022/08/QAA-Collaborative-Enhancement-Project-Briefing-Report.pdf

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One of the research strands from the QAA Collaborative Enhancement Project explores assessment policies through the lens of Trauma-informed practice. You can read more about Trauma-informed practice on our theoretical perspectives page here. We offer reflective questions for policy makers to ‘redress the impact of trauma’ by applying Victoria Hummer, Dr Norin Dollard and Prof. Kimberly Crosland’s principles of trauma informed care (Connect, Protect, Respect and Redirect).

  1. Whose interests and needs are being met by the policy?
  2. Does the policy start from a point of trust?
  3. Does the policy strive for equity or prioritise notions of fairness?
  4. Are unequal power relations mitigated, is the policy done with staff/students not to them?
  5. Does the policy start with the premise of proactively supporting all students to pass and build skills (rather than punishing failure)?
  6. How do policies and regulations recognise stressors and mitigate against potential re-traumatisation?
  7. Is the policy clear, transparent and accessible for students and staff to understand (e.g., wording, links to other policies)?
  8. Is the burden of responsibility for understanding and enacting the policy equitably shared between institutions, staff and students?

Image: @Lea L.