Handholding, Walking With Students. Compassionate—Not Customer—Care in Post-Secondary Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37119/ojs2024.v29i2.734Abstract
Values of independence and self-determination predominate over relations of care and compassion in fast-paced academia and post-secondary institutions, a “malaise” that faculty and students alike experience. Large-scale production rewards the “Invictus” (undefeatable, unconquered), leaving others mostly to their own and allowing little or no space for individual care, for handholding. As a graduate cohort advisor in early childhood education (ECE), I have resisted giving in to such values. Inspired by principles of a feminist ethics of care and pedagogy of listening, in this paper I reflect on a decade of handholding and walking with ECE post-secondary students as an act of resistance.
Keywords: academia, feminist ethics of care, early childhood post-secondary students, pedagogy of listening, post-secondary, resistance
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Copyright (c) 2024 Maria J Pighini
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