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Improving Well-Being in Higher Education: Adopting a Compassionate Approach

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Values of the University in a Time of Uncertainty

Abstract

This chapter directs attention to calls to integrate compassion training in curricula throughout the education system. Following a review of current Higher Education (HE) aims and objectives, and the potential psychological impacts that these can have on staff and students, we outline a case for compassion based initiatives in education. We discuss the nature and functions of compassion, as well as how compassion can heighten prosocial competencies. We then consider how compassion based approaches can be - and have been - implemented in education settings, including HE, to promote the health and well-being of staff and students, as well as academic performance. We argue that elements of compassion should underpin the training of lecturers (and teachers), as well as students, if UK institutes of learning truly embrace the various core values they advertise.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jFVTCuSCOg

  2. 2.

    In this paper the taught and assessed use of the micro skills of compassion for use in group work, are only one example of a burgeoning development of empirically driven, CMT-based, compassion-focused pedagogy that is being developed in some universities.

  3. 3.

    e.g. ‘The big picture’ (Educational Endowment Foundation, https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/school-themes); the Child Outcomes Research Consortium (https://www.corc.uk.net/) and the Mindfulness in Schools Project, University of Southampton (https://mindfulnessinschools.org/research/).

  4. 4.

    Additionally, a further pilot is underway with students in the Life Sciences (i.e. Psychology) department of the University of Derby.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Derby, Derby, UK

    Frances A. Maratos & Paul Gilbert

  2. University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK

    Theo Gilbert

Authors
  1. Frances A. Maratos
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  2. Paul Gilbert
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Correspondence to Frances A. Maratos .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CERS, Middlesex University, London, UK

    Paul Gibbs  & Alex Elwick  & 

  2. University of Greenwich, London, UK

    Jill Jameson

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Maratos, F.A., Gilbert, P., Gilbert, T. (2019). Improving Well-Being in Higher Education: Adopting a Compassionate Approach. In: Gibbs, P., Jameson, J., Elwick, A. (eds) Values of the University in a Time of Uncertainty. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15970-2_18

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