Incorporating care and compassion into the neoliberal academy

Authors

  • Michael Priestley Durham University
  • Sarah Crook Swansea University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi35.1338

Keywords:

compassion, neoliberalism, assessment

Abstract

UK policymakers advocate compassionate pedagogical processes. However, the longstanding commitment to neoliberal higher education principles have produced, and indeed necessitate, inequality, conflict, and a lack of interpersonal care. We argue that compassionate academic processes demand holistic structural and discursive shifts that decentre competitive individualism and foreground care of oneself and others. To do this, we advocate recognition of and resistance to ‘care-less’ neoliberal discourses, with a ‘care-full’ co-production of relational learning environments that are psychologically safe, culturally and emotionally responsive, and structurally accessible.

Author Biographies

Michael Priestley, Durham University

Michael Priestley is a Lecturer in the School of Education at Durham University. Michael was previously a Research Associate in the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Neuroscience at King’s College London. Michael’s research integrates educational philosophy, political sociology, and health psychology to develop recommendations for a whole-university approach to mental health in a neoliberal context.

Sarah Crook, Swansea University

Sarah Crook is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, Heritage, and Classics [Yr Adran Hanes, Treftadaeth a’r Clasuron, Swansea University/Prifysgol Abertawe]. Sarah is currently a Co-Investigator on U-Belong, a multi-million-pound Medical Research Council project that is taking an interdisciplinary approach to understanding student loneliness. Sarah is co-editor of the journal Twentieth Century British History and her research expertise includes women’s history, student histories, and the history of medicine.

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Published

27-03-2025

How to Cite

Priestley, M., & Crook, S. (2025). Incorporating care and compassion into the neoliberal academy . Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (35). https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi35.1338

Issue

No. 35 (2025): Special Edition, Liberating Learning

Section

Mythbusting the modern academy

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