The Significance of Care in a Global Higher Education Institution: An insight from the Periphery

Abstract

This article explores the significance of an ethic of care (Noddings, 2005) in higher education pedagogy, in light of the rapid growth in the undergraduate student population. Drawing on the experience of teaching from the periphery, as both students and staff, four Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) reflect on the issues arising from their respective practices, as they taught on an undergraduate social sciences programme at a London-based Russell Group university.

A resounding concern for providing sufficient care to their students emerged. The continued growth of student cohorts sustained the GTA’s interest in ensuring that students felt supported and included during their learning. This was explored through Noddings’ (2005) seminal scholarship on an ethic of care, which has since inspired the development of more opportunities for relationality and responsiveness in taught sessions.

Notably, the authors considered how participating in a community of GTAs helped to navigate teaching on a rapidly expanding programme. A discussion depicting their journey of professional development is offered, along with reflections detailing their experience of becoming genuine, contributing members of the teaching community. While the benefits of this community were significant, several challenges still arose. These were broadly a result of the lack of clear expectations in the GTA role, the striving for a consistent pedagogical approach across the seminars, and the doubt in expertise encountered by the GTAs.

The discussion aims to promote the GTA voice, and to equip early career teaching staff with the knowledge to help them thrive in the current higher education landscape, which is characterised by large cohorts.