Patience, A. (2008) The Art of Loving in the Classroom: A Defence of Affective Pedagogy. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 33 (2), pp. 55-67
Summary
Allan Patience talks about the current political and cultural inclination to shape education to use utilitarian pedagogy (i.e. prepare students for specific types of jobs for economic and political benefit of the ’elite’) over affective pedagogy (i.e. support students in becoming independent thinkers and therefore functioning participants in democracy).
The article discusses emotional teacher-student relatings that enable an open-minded intellectual connection to fosters creativity and sensitivity to the subject matter without a defined purpose.
An important distinction is made between technical learnings and practical learnings. Technical learnings can be acquired from a book by memorising facts and repeating sequences. Practical learning however requires a teacher that not only relies on the technical knowledge but also uses experience and intuition to instil knowledge without actively ‘teaching’ it.
Affective pedagogy goes hand-in-hand with parenting to create more compassionate, open-minded and inclusive spaces, reduce self-centredness and it is the basis of democratic civilisation.
Reflection on the reading
I overall agree with Patience’s analysis of how utilitarian pedagogy determines job opportunities and how it can be used as a political tool for economic direction. However towards the end of the article it felt to me more like an offence to utilitarian pedagogy rather than a defence of affective pedagogy.
I often find that causes ‘for’ something mainly advocate ‘against’ something else. It is important to understand the differences of course but the language used in the conclusion made me cringe and didn’t seem very affective at all. Having said that I am trying to work on my perception and unintentional ‘tone policing’.
One chapter struck me as particularly relevant right now and that’s the one on ‘Utilitarian pedagogy and multimedia learning technologies’. This article is from 2008 and describes how the move of educational elements online to be accessible from anywhere at anytime deprives the student-teacher relationship of it’s ‘affection’, i.e. reducing opportunities to discuss, converse and interact.
Now that we are living in a pandemic and all the teaching has to be online the aspect of emotion, affection and support has become a central focus. This physical distance is even enhanced by the added ‘time distance’ as many students and teachers are in different time zones.
I agree that online it is so much harder to get those critical discussions off the ground and to make sure even the quieter students get the opportunity to be heard.
Part of this article also made me think of a podcast I recently listened to – an episode of “Unlocking Us”: Brene Brown with President Barack Obama on leadership, family and service. In the conversation Obama describes how it is important to be able to ‘hold the tension of opposites’, to not dismiss an opposing opinion and to incrementally improve on things with that knowledge. Recognising that two opposing opinions can both be true makes us better leaders and I think it also makes us better teachers.
D’Olimpio 2019: Ethics of Care
Care Ethics bases morality on individual interpersonal relationships rather than universal rules.
It is also called Feminist Ethic, but the way I understand it that’s mainly in contrast to existing ethics models which are based on values that are perceived as predominantly male. To me ‘feminist’ equals ‘inclusive’.
In practice this model means to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and see their perspective and self-reflect to contextualise your own behaviours and be aware of your own biases.
Who cares?
The world is extremely divided at the moment as can be seen by symptoms like the narrow Brexit vote and Trumps presidency. I think that the problem is not that women are associated with care, but that a lot of the world cares very selectively.
I have always been very empathic and attuned to the emotional vibes around me. I like the notion that I shouldn’t have to be more pragmatic but the world should be more empathic. The pandemic has brought forth a lot of community spirit and attention for the care system as well as topics like mental health which will hopefully keep people more attuned to the general wellbeing of everyone around them in the future.
With relation to university and teaching I feel an important care responsibility for my students. It becomes tricky when you have to decide what kind of care that means on an individual case basis. I hear D’Olimpio when she says that ‘one’s duty may be greater to those (…) who are powerless rather than powerful’ and I believe teachers have to sensitise their knowledge of potentially invisible impairments or hardships to be able to give that support where necessary. This comes back to Affective pedagogy and knowing your students individually. Another aspect is creating a space of trust so that if there is an imperceptible cause for concern for a student’s studies and well-being those students are confident enough to approach you and confide in you.
But there are are also the ones that are brave thinkers and creative explorers that put themselves forward whenever they can who need to be intellectually challenged. There are those that are shy to speak up in front of other people who might not trust their work who need to be encouraged and engaged in an exchange. Every student is an individual and all one can do as a teacher is try and support each of them in their own personal growth.