Invisible Threads of Pedagogic Care

Caroline Walker-Gleaves is Senior Lecturer in Special Education and Inclusion in the School of Education at Durham University, UK. Her research asks whether autobiographical and narrative approaches to teacher education can help to prepare more caring teachers, ones whose practices are characterized by complex reflection and relational fidelity.

Why is it that some university teachers seem to make a life-changing contribution to the education of their students? What motivates some teachers to care about their students and their work, even in the most difficult circumstances? Invisible Threads of Pedagogic Care tackles these questions, and provides a rich insight into the minds and lives of a group of university academics who appear to be compelled to care. This work uses autobiographical and phenomenological methods to examine the origins of caring beliefs about teaching and uses these to provide insights into how caring teachers may enhance students' learning. The study contributes to an under-theorized account of academic work that weaves values, emotions and pedagogic scholarship and examines their effects on students' learning whilst at university. At a time when higher education is in the midst of profound change, this work provides a rich counterpoint of experiences and ethics that might develop as a result of caring teaching.