Enacting ‘Pedagogies of Kindness’ through attitudes of ‘Positive Regard’

Educators have embraced a new literature on ‘Pedagogies of Kindness’ rooted in feminist scholarly practices. However, determining how to enact nebulous Pedagogies of Kindness requires careful precision, especially in learning environments that examine contested themes, such as Higher Education Social Sciences. Indeed, there is a danger that kindness, or compassion, could be reduced to ‘buzzwords’ rather than tackling systemic challenges. Resultantly, the enactment of Pedagogies of Kindness is an individual process, aided by reflecting on one’s own scholarly voyages and positionalities. In this Comment, we propose that Pedagogies of Kindness can be supported by adopting attitudes of ‘Positive Regard’, which we draw from long-standing research in psychotherapy. We reflect on our experiences of enacting Pedagogies of Kindness by adopting attitudes of Positive Regard. In doing so, we identify curiosity and support for ‘second order change’ as opportunities, but challenges when faced with extreme opinions in the classroom, or deciding how ‘unconditional’ Positive Regard should be. We conclude by proposing new avenues of research, and encourage other educators to embrace interdisciplinary methods for enacting Pedagogies of Kindness.