Editorial: a pedagogy of love and care in the time of Covid-19

When we called for articles for this special issue of Pastoral Care in Education, we never expected the diversity of response – from all corners of the globe and all levels of the education system. It is heartening to know that so many educators found solace in a pedagogy of love and care to counter the impacts of Covid-19 on themselves, their students and colleagues. As Culshaw and Kurian, in this issue, state, ‘We do not often see the concepts of love and care foregrounded in academic literature … ’ As editors of this special issue, we are therefore grateful to the authors from such a diverse range of settings who clearly articulated their caring practices. We are equally excited that their stories could inspire other educators to step outside traditional expectations and engage in a relational pedagogy that puts love, care and compassion at the centre, not just in response to Covid-19, but as a guiding philosophy now and in the future.

The Parfitt, Read and Bush article sets the scene for this special issue by highlighting the liminal space that all educators currently inhabit between what was before Covid-19 and what might come after. As disabled scholars themselves, the authors set out to provide a safe space for a group of disabled scholars and students to share their experiences of navigating Covid-19 in the neoliberal ableist establishment that is the UK university. They share excerpts of qualitative transcripts to highlight the solidarity that they were able to establish through their dialogic reciprocity. From their findings, they posit the notion that viewing all members of the higher education community as relational beings with their own vulnerabilities, whether abled or disabled, through a lens of compassion can offer a way forward in this ‘unforgiving landscape’.

Poncela et al. also conducted a small-scale qualitative study that gave deep personal insights into educators during Covid-19, this time in Spain. The educators ranged across the education system from early childhood to higher education. The participants were chosen because they exemplified educators whose practice was based on care. Through a feminist lens, the authors highlight the invisible care work of teachers that is often undertaken at great personal, emotional and professional cost. This study resonated with many other studies conducted at this time, noting how Covid-19 both highlighted and exacerbated educational and social inequities. As with the disabled educators in the first article, the participants found comfort in connecting with and learning from their peers as they navigated inflexible expectations from their institutions.

The third article is set in Aotearoa, New Zealand. O’Connor and Estellés explore the development of unique arts-based resources prepared in response to Covid-19 that offered students and communities opportunities for healing, social support and a pathway to begin to process their complex pandemic experiences. Drawing on ‘a pedagogy of love and care’, the authors share the experiences of 15 principals and teachers who engaged with the arts using the on-line Te Rito Toi resources, through narratives and poetry, music, dance, and theatre. The study findings suggest that Te Rito Toi helped foster a focus on wellbeing and creativity, and a safe space from which to pursue further dialogue about creating a caring community in a post Covid-19 landscape.

While also set in Aotearoa, New Zealand, the fifth article uses an Indigenous Philippine virtue ethics as its theoretical framework. Romero’s article combines ethnographic and autoethnographic methods to analyse the transcribed conversations of five family groupings, including the family of the author, while reading and making sense of a child-friendly book about a toy bear in lockdown. Through these data, the author explores the responses to Covid-19 lockdowns of home-educated and traditionally schooled children. The findings show the nuanced ways in which schooled and home-schooled children learnt inverse lessons during lockdowns: for the former, lockdowns strengthened their familial bonds, while the latter developed an understanding of kalayaan (freedom or autonomy) and katarungan (justice) as virtues that can extend beyond the family.

The sixth article is time set in Guatemala. Arriaza-Westendorff and co-authors combine autoethnographic and narrative inquiry methods to provide insights into the higher education context in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic in Guatemala. In this article, the complexity of a country already affected by economic instability, political crisis, conflict and natural disaster, which then has to deal with Covid-19, intertwines with the personal story of an educator who adapts her practice to encompass a pedagogy of care. This pedagogy not only represents a humane response to the unprecedented times but also acts as a form of resistance against inflexible institutional norms and expectations.

Based in and around the Pacific Ocean, Baice, Fonua, Allen and Wright draw our attention to the experiences of students and staff in higher education contexts. Using the Indigenous Moana/Pacific methodology of talanoa, the authors examine the commonalities between their experiences as higher education professionals to advocate for relational approaches to care that go beyond the simple delivery of services. The pandemic has left students and staff alike needing support, but institutions are not always equipped to meet their needs. As the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities, culturally responsive and relational approaches to student services have become paramount. The authors demonstrate the importance of intentionally attending to the va/vā (the relational space that connects all people and non-human others), even when it must be expanded to include the amorphous digital spaces in which our lives are increasingly being lived.

Finally, Kulshaw and Curian argue that notions of love and care in education should not just be seen as a response to Covid-19. They draw from positive sociology and the Buddhist concepts of Love Mode and Power Mode to advocate for a structurally contextualised definition of well-being that recognizes the lived experiences of teachers. The authors recognise that the holistic well-being of teachers in the United Kingdom, who are already subject to inherent stressors associated with their vocation, are compounded by a lack of institutional understanding of their experiences, emotions, and social and structural contexts. Teacher well-being efforts, even prior to the pandemic, thus tended to be of marginal added value. Kulshaw & Curian look to the profound truths embedded in poetry to argue for conditions and initiatives in schools that enable teachers to seek support without fear of judgment or retaliation.

In conclusion, this special issue has highlighted the affective and pastoral dimensions of the educative process in the time of Covid-19. We hope it has given all educators critical hope that we can forge a future where love, care and compassion are no longer invisible or undervalued but become the ‘lifeblood’ of our practice.