Abstract
Focus: Eight educators from five different higher education institutions (HEI) are investigating their application of kindness within teaching. They identify how cultural influences have impacted their understanding of kindness and their integration of kindness pedagogy enabling transformational learning.
Background/context: It is crucial that educators are mindful of unconscious biases they may have when working with students from culturally diverse backgrounds, ensuring they do not unintentionally add to student challenges. By knowing oneself, educators can be mindful of any biases they have (Huang, 2019) and adjust their teaching ensuring kindness is evident in every learning situation enabling transformational learning.
Description: The educators from Australia, England and Ireland are researching their understanding of kindness and the impact of culture. The collective autoethnographical research is identifying educational practices that were effective, demonstrating how mindfulness of cultural influences considers student diversity providing transformational learning.
Method: This collective autoethnography explores cultural influences through the lens of kindness and how these impact educators’ development and application of a PoK using a questionnaire. Retroductive thematic analysis identifies key themes within the data and compares them to current literature, developing strategies that can be implemented into educational practice.
Evidence: The autoethnographies are demonstrating the effectiveness of educators knowing oneself, being mindful of cultural influences and impacts for their teaching and student learning outcomes.
Contribution: Educational strategies will be identified for replication in any HEI enhancing equity, access and inclusion and accommodation of student diversity. This research builds upon extant literature regarding a PoK and cultural influence significance, emphasising why educators should ‘know oneself’ to prevent biases in pedagogy.
Engagement: Reflective questions, provocations and the sharing of stories will engage the audience, encouraging them to explore their own cultural influences and how these impact their understanding of kindness. Is equity, access and inclusion and accommodation of student diversity occurring?
Background/context: It is crucial that educators are mindful of unconscious biases they may have when working with students from culturally diverse backgrounds, ensuring they do not unintentionally add to student challenges. By knowing oneself, educators can be mindful of any biases they have (Huang, 2019) and adjust their teaching ensuring kindness is evident in every learning situation enabling transformational learning.
Description: The educators from Australia, England and Ireland are researching their understanding of kindness and the impact of culture. The collective autoethnographical research is identifying educational practices that were effective, demonstrating how mindfulness of cultural influences considers student diversity providing transformational learning.
Method: This collective autoethnography explores cultural influences through the lens of kindness and how these impact educators’ development and application of a PoK using a questionnaire. Retroductive thematic analysis identifies key themes within the data and compares them to current literature, developing strategies that can be implemented into educational practice.
Evidence: The autoethnographies are demonstrating the effectiveness of educators knowing oneself, being mindful of cultural influences and impacts for their teaching and student learning outcomes.
Contribution: Educational strategies will be identified for replication in any HEI enhancing equity, access and inclusion and accommodation of student diversity. This research builds upon extant literature regarding a PoK and cultural influence significance, emphasising why educators should ‘know oneself’ to prevent biases in pedagogy.
Engagement: Reflective questions, provocations and the sharing of stories will engage the audience, encouraging them to explore their own cultural influences and how these impact their understanding of kindness. Is equity, access and inclusion and accommodation of student diversity occurring?
| Original language | English (Ireland) |
|---|---|
| Pages | 119 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 10 Jul 2025 |
| Event | HERDSA 2025 Annual Conference : Shaping Education Past, Present, Future - Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Perth, Australia Duration: 7 Jul 2025 → 10 Jul 2025 https://conference.herdsa.org.au/2025/ |
Conference
| Conference | HERDSA 2025 Annual Conference |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Australia |
| City | Perth |
| Period | 7/07/25 → 10/07/25 |
| Internet address |
