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The Pedagogy of Compassion at the Heart of Higher Education pp 49–70Cite as

Creating Conditions for Compassion

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Abstract

The premise of this chapter is that universities are, or ought to be, ‘caregiving organisations,’ because of their role and primary task of helping students to learn. However, a key assumption underpinning this chapter is that universities can also be experienced as turbulent and toxic environments. It takes a critically reflexive stance to illustrate how universities, their leaders and staff can create the conditions for compassion to flourish. Theoretically the chapter draws upon concepts and frameworks from psychoanalysis, group dynamics, organisational culture and the science of mindful compassion. The conditions for creating compassionate university cultures are identified and discussed at individual, group and organisational levels of analysis. The chapter also includes reference to intersectionality to illustrate how different types of discrimination and power interact, bringing fresh perspectives to the ethics of care and compassion in higher education.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Philippa Sully, a colleague and friend with whom I have shared many courageous and compassionate conversations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Westminster, London, UK

    Kathryn Waddington

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  1. Kathryn Waddington
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Correspondence to Kathryn Waddington .

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  1. The Burroughs, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom

    Paul Gibbs

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Waddington, K. (2017). Creating Conditions for Compassion. In: Gibbs, P. (eds) The Pedagogy of Compassion at the Heart of Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57783-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57783-8_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57783-8

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