Finding "Pockets of Care" in the Neoliberal University

• In Event: Educational Relationships in Secondary and Higher Education Contexts: Race, Culture, and the Role of Care

Abstract

This paper explores care in higher education. It draws on and extends research carried out for my doctoral thesis; a narrative inquiry with a community of academics, conducted during the Covid pandemic, in a Technological University in Ireland. My research documented educators, who in their collegiality and relational pedagogy, represent an alternative view of third-level education. Eamon, an inquiry participant, suggests that we should “wrap our curriculum” with care; he tells us that we can “infuse” our pedagogy with care, through small moments of relationality and connection in our classrooms and lecture theatres. Kathleen Lynch (2010) contends that there is a culture of carelessness in our universities; arguing that it is indeed a hidden doxa in higher education. Our inquiry offers a counter-narrative to this denigration of care in academia. It is a hopeful story that recognises the agency we have in our practice and pedagogy.

In recent years, it feels like the space for care in academia is slowly diminishing (Hawkins, 2019; Hodgins and Mannix-McNamara, 2021; Motta and Bennett, 2018). Institutional mergers, departmental restructuring, standardised systems; the language and principles of the market are encroaching on our ability to keep caring. I worry if care can continue to survive in an inclement climate. In this symposium, I want to explore how we might sustain educators who care and care-based pedagogies. How can we keep care at the centre of what we do and who we are?

This paper suggests that nurturing collegial relationships, within and outside our institutions, is crucial for sustaining our relational pedagogies. Nora, a lecturer in Social Care and a research participant, describes finding “her pockets of care” in the university, those colleagues and communities of practice that provide the containment and holding that is needed to maintain a relationship-rich practice. These supportive professional relationships provide an essential space for each other and for care. In this symposium I suggest that it is through finding and nurturing our ‘pockets of care’, that we may enable care to survive in increasingly inclement environments. I propose that care needs to be enacted as a collective responsibility in the university. We care with each other and with our students. Care is not an individual pursuit, it is an understanding of the interconnectedness of self and others, and personal and social concerns.

I will explore how ‘a community of care’ (Ahmed, 2017) can enable academics ‘to care well and care with’ (Tronto, 2015). Drawing on Stephen’s Ball’s (2016) work, I contend that care can be viewed as a refusal of the dominant neoliberal values currently impacting on our pedagogy and practices. I will illustrate how the broader policy and social contexts constrict care-based pedagogies and collegiality in our universities. This paper demonstrates that dominant discourses may constrict care but also suggests that we have agency in terms of creating caring universities, through nurturing our ‘pockets of care’. Hope is positioned as a pedagogical asset and a crucial resource for sustaining care.

Author

• Catherine-Ann O'Connell, Technological University of the Shannon