Kindness of pedagogy and practice

Blog post Part of special issue: Far away from the ivory tower

Kindness of pedagogy and practice

Alison Milner, Programme Lead for the MA Education at Plymouth Marjon University Gil Fewings, Archivist at Plymouth Marjon University 14 Nov 2025

Library archives are strangely exciting places. They sit there, quiet stacks of books and old paper, silently humming with thousands of stories. … To open a box or a book on a page of old handwriting, with its browning ink on yellowing paper, requires a steady nerve. Having been discovered, the ancestors demand attention. (Tesar, 2015, p. 101)

Plymouth Marjon University has a wonderful archive of materials recording the history of the university over 180 years, which is curated and cared for by Gil. Before doing primary research with participants, the Far away from the ivory tower research project team visited the archives, selecting sources that spoke to the team members in relation to notions of disadvantage. These were used in meetings with those who were first-in-family to attend university, some of whom may have experienced disadvantage, to stimulate discussion and story-sharing. Alison was drawn to the concept of kindness, which may be defined as being genuinely concerned about another person’s health and wellbeing (Fox & Aspland, 2024; Mastrantonio, 2023). Magnet at al. (2014, cited in Gorny-Wegrzyn & Perry, 2021) highlight that kindness can ‘promote an educator–student connection that encourages the abilities of learners and is attentive to their interests while also stimulating consideration for the needs and interests of others (p. 70, our emphasis).

Reflecting on the archival materials, Alison’s focus shifted towards a kindness of practice, then expanded to include a pedagogy of kindness, acknowledging the co-constructed role students have in their learning (Denial, 2019), which is person-centred: ‘believing people and believing in people’ (p. 2). Fox and Aspland (2024, p. 4) suggest that ‘a pedagogy of kindness requires academics to recognise positionality, power, and identity and to approach teaching and learning through the lens of compassion and trust’. Actions aligned with honesty and conviction are not limited to being ‘nice’ – sometimes they lead to difficult decision-making based on alternative thoughts and practices. When kindness as a concept is used to inform the interpretation of research data – especially when we are dealing with people’s memories (Tesar, 2015) – sensitivity and ethical care need to be taken from both educational (��ɫ��, 2024) and archival perspectives (ARA, 2024).

‘When kindness as a concept is used to inform the interpretation of research data – especially when we are dealing with people’s memories – sensitivity and ethical care need to be taken from both educational and archival perspectives.’

From listening to the participants’ stories about their experiences and feelings as first-in-family to attend university, the importance of kindness – both informally and pedagogically – became more apparent. Although none of the participants used the words ‘kind’ or ‘kindness’, what they shared demonstrated it in action. The examples from Bob and Cindy^[1]below aptly illustrate the nature of this kindness in action.

Bob’s shyness was a hurdle to overcome

Nervous about presenting in front of his peers and concerned about how this might impact his plans to become a teacher, Bob cites two tutors as supporting him with this. He doesn’t provide detail as to how they did this; however, the way he spoke about them indicated this was a positive experience for him. His experience of tutor support resonates with a pedagogy of kindness (Denial, 2019). Teacher training, like many other people-facing courses, is authentically assessed, enabling students to engage in skills required to do the job they are training for – this includes the ability to speak in class.

Cindy’s feelings of isolation when stepping into the unknown

Participating in higher education (HE) often involves moving from a familiar environment into the unknown. For Cindy, kindness and support provided by her church community enabled her to find the strength to pursue her course and to graduate. Following university, Cindy was drawn by her faith to become a university chaplain. Through her actions, she demonstrates kindness in practice – supporting students in their living away from home for the first time. Many students have complex lives with jobs, caring responsibilities and studies to manage. Being first in the family can be an additional pressure (OfS, 2020). Kindness in practice and pedagogy shown through the actions of staff at university might help to mitigate these pressures.

Ideas that emerged through engaging with archival materials continued to develop through reflection and analysis, with a theme of kindness weaving through participants’ accounts of their experiences as first in the family in HE. Drawing on Tesar (2015), it was ‘the research experience itself that formed [our] understanding of how to consider data’ (p. 101) from a concept of kindness. Testimonies from Bob and Cindy show the transformative impact of compassionate teaching practices on students’ academic and personal development and emphasise the significance of supportive pedagogical approaches.

Given the challenges around teacher and student retention, recruitment and mental health experienced in contemporary education, perhaps kindness should be at the forefront of our practice as educators and educational researchers.

[1] Pseudonyms used throughout to heighten participant anonymity.

References

Archives & Records Association [ARA]. (2020). ARA code of ethics.

British Educational Research Association [��ɫ��]. (2024). Ethical guidelines for educational research (5th ed.). /publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-fifth-edition-2024

Denial, C. (2019). A pedagogy of kindness. Hybrid Pedagogy.

Fox, J. L., & Aspland, T. (2024) Finding a place for Kindness within higher education: A systematic literature review. Journal of Applied & Teaching, 7(SI1).

Gorny-Wegrzyn, E., & Perry, B. (2021). Exemplary educators who embrace a teaching philosophy guided by a pedagogy of kindness. Journal of Advances in Education Research, 6(2).

Mastrantonio, M. (2023). Kindness as the social bond and the education for the future. Net Journal of Social Sciences, 11(3), 111–123.

Office for Students [OfS]. (2020). English higher education 2020: The Office for Students annual review.

Tesar, M. (2015). Sources and interpretations: Ethics and truth in archival research. History of Education, 44(1), 101–114.

Alison Milner, Dr

Programme Lead for the MA Education at Plymouth Marjon University

Dr Alison Milner is a senior lecturer in education at Plymouth Marjon University, where she leads the MA Education programme. Her research explores how college higher education (CHE) lecturers understand and shape their academic identity. In her PhD, she developed a creative bead collage technique that enabled lecturers to visually reflect on their personal and professional journeys. This approach showed how identity in CHE is complex, influenced by past experiences, and enriched by values such as kindness and reflexivity. Using feminist and humanist perspectives, Alison’s work highlights the importance of individual stories in understanding what it means to be an academic in this sector. Alison was the first family member to attend university, achieve a Master’s in Education and a PhD. Alison’s hobbies include crocheting, dancing (she is currently learning to tap dance!), and volunteering as a Ranger Leader with a growing unit of young women.

Gil Fewings, Ms

Archivist at Plymouth Marjon University

Gil Fewings is the archivist for Plymouth Marjon University and is an archaeologist and former occupational therapist. Prior to her role at Plymouth Marjon, she worked with a wide range of archives and museums across the UK, running projects connected to the arts, public and local history for community activism, and social justice. As a ‘first in the family’ university graduate herself, and a person with lived experience of disability and mixed-race heritage, she has a personal commitment to widening participation and equity of opportunity in education. Gil’s projects at Plymouth Marjon have included the ‘Connected Catalogue’, which won a national award for community coproduction; a social prescribing initiative; and collaborations with health and wellbeing, intergenerational, youth and care-leaver organisations to improve cocreation of heritage records for social justice and understanding of the impact of authentic ‘voice’ in the archive.