Pandemic Pedagogy and the Labour of Care
“Take care” — it was probably one of the most used phrases of 2020. As we worked through a pandemic, environmental catastrophe, social and political unrest, and economic uncertainty many of us started to think more deeply about the role of care in our classrooms and institutions. Pedagogical care is not a new concept, of course — many pedagogical theories and practices centre care in some way shape or form. Universal Design for Learning, Appreciative Inquiry, not to mention Open, Critical, Anti-Racist, and Decolonial pedagogies all emphasize tenants of care: communication, transparency, empathy, flexibility, and an attention to the unique contexts and power structures that inform student learning are significant principles across the board. But 2020 brought care to the forefront in new ways, and launched ongoing, global discussions about teaching through trauma, inclusion, and what pedagogical care looks like during a pandemic.
What we have perhaps talked less about is the growing labour of care in our classrooms. Care isn’t just a sense of good will, after all; building relationships and working to mitigate systemic barriers is active, daily work. Care is sending check-in emails to students who are struggling; meticulously going through each document, Moodle setting, and image to ensure it is accessible; holding extra office hours to accommodate students who are working or who live in other time zones; or staying up late to mark assignments that had extensions and now need to be returned in a hurry so that students can keep up. It is also listening, looking for resources, problem solving, affirming, advocating, and supporting, sometimes through our own exhaustion, overwhelm, and trauma. We do this work because we know it matters, and not only to our students’ learning and well-being; care is a way to challenge inequity and foster a more just world. It is vital, and within our current context, it might be our most urgent work.
But, care work is also difficult. It is also often unrecognized, under-appreciated, and unequally distributed. We know that it disproportionately falls on women, Black and Indigenous faculty, and faculty of colour. It comes with no awards or prestige, no time-releases, and often no thanks. Worse yet, it is often employed as a band-aid for gaping social and institutional inequities. As Brenna Clark Gray notes, “because individuals care, the institution itself doesn’t have to. Our care and goodwill allows the university to go on. If individuals take on this work, the institution can continue to ignore issues of care, or to present the difficult labour of individuals as the united mission of the institution.” This applies to government and social services as well. Too often we employ extensions, extra office hours, and re-imagined assignments when we really need sustained supports like increased front-line mental health services, language learning resources for international students, a greater numbers of laptops/tablets for students completing online courses on their phones, or more affordable housing. Covid-19 has been stark reminder that pedagogical care is not an appropriate or sustainable fix for systemic inequity.
But, we try. In 2020, care work overtook many of our lives, mine included. It led to some amazing moments of learning, connecting, and innovating, and I have no regrets. But I also often felt exhausted, frustrated, and depleted, and I know I’m not alone. Faculty burnout is real, and it is widespread. As we head into 2021 and our third full semester of pandemic teaching, we all need strategies.
Managing the labour of care is an ongoing challenge for, and I can’t claim any magic solutions. But, there are few things that have helped me that I thought I would share.
Factor Care Work into Your Workload
As noted above, care work is work. Naming it helps us to legitimize it, amplify its importance, and plan for it. Name and factor care work into your course planning by building in time and space to do things like check in with students, ensure materials are accessible, and foster community. That might mean cutting down on content or reducing your workload elsewhere — so be it. All the content and rigour in the world will not matter if your students don’t have the ability to access materials or the support to engage meaningfully.
Be Transparent with Students
Speaking honestly and openly about the uptick in care work can be a way to foster dialogue and build community in classes. Often students think they are the only ones struggling, and they don’t realize what their professors are doing behind the scenes. I’ve found that simple statements such as: “Things are really hard right now, and a lot of students are struggling. I just want you to know I’m providing extensions and privileging extra office hours this week to make sure everyone is supported. That means I wont have your papers graded by Monday” are met with outpourings of support (for each other and for me), and a deep desire to talk about mental health and workload.
Become an Advocate
Name the barriers you are seeing. Whenever it is safe to do so, advocate institutionally, socially, and politically for the things you and your students need. Resist narratives that suggest that care is a replacement for meaningful change.
Develop a Community of Support
Having other faculty to de-brief, problem solve, and re-imagine with has been absolutely essential for me this year. Look for likeminded folks in your department and faculty. The Commons team is also here to support this work — send me or another Educational Consultant an email!
2020 highlighted both the necessity and limits of pedagogical care. In doing so, it invited us to think deeply about what, why, and how we teach, and opened us to new possibilities. The work we are doing now matters, but in order for it to be transformational we have to find ways to make it sustainable. A good starting point is to acknowledge the labour of care and support one another in enacting it.
Jennifer Hardwick
Jen is passionate about ensuring access and supports for learners who face barriers. She has spent the last 15 years teaching diverse students in large lecture halls, small seminars, academic bridging programs, Writing/Learning Centres, online environments, and co-curricular and community programs She loves to problem solve and work collaboratively, and is keen to provide resources and supports to faculty as they adopt and practice Universal Design for Learning (UDL). She also welcomes conversations and consultations about intersecting fields such critical, digital, open, and decolonial pedagogies.
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