Supporting Educators' Development in Skillful Application of Compassion in Schools Through Collaborative Design

• In Event: Justice-Oriented Pedagogies in Teacher Education

Abstract

While schools can be sites of joy, they can also be sites of suffering for students and teachers. We explored how educators in a co-design process reported applying compassion in schools and examined how co-design fostered understanding of compassion and new ideas about responding to suffering. Educators identified multiple opportunities for applying compassion, including to interactions with school members, to themselves, and in the context of envisioning school change. The co-design experience directly informed how educators imagined compassionate action in schools; elements highlighted were contemplative practice, joint inquiry, and reflection. Our analyses provide insight into mechanisms that supported educators to apply compassion and suggest that skillful care can be cultivated through contemplative practice and inquiry into social forms of suffering.

Authors

• Ashley Seidel Potvin, University of Colorado - Boulder

• William R. Penuel, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Sona Dimidjian, University of Colorado - Boulder