Abstract

This paper shares key findings of my ongoing CCW Teaching and Learning funded project ‘Empathy in Action’. Bringing together UAL staff, students and external guests to discuss the term ‘empathy since 2022, this project is part of a cluster of activity that I have designed and delivered in the last six years aiming to embed compassionate pedagogies within art and design education in my work across CCW Academic Support.

Session and activities

Engaging with the work of UAL Academic Enhancement’s Vikki Hill and Liz Bunting in relation to compassionate pedagogies and relating their ideas to my own artistic and pedagogic interests, I have found a gap in their work to think further about compassionate relationships: the term ‘empathy’. The examples of practice highlighted throughout my paper will help participants to :1) critically reflect upon how empathy might be related to and is also different to compassionate pedagogy 2) consider how ‘compassionate relationships’ can be widened out to include not just include relationships we have with other people but relationships with materials, objects etc., and 3) (re)consider how they embed a sense of ‘empathy’ in their own work with students and how they can encourage students to embody aspects of empathy in collaborative/group work. During presentation of my paper, I will share a carefully curated repository of resources currently showcased on UAL’s Academic Support Online (ASO): https://academicsupportonline.arts.ac.uk/learning-resources/49251 I will encourage participants to contribute their own (anonymised) responses to questions on the above page as a means of encouraging their reflection of ‘empathy’ post-paper. These questions include: ‘What does the term ‘empathy’ mean to you?’ and ‘How could the term empathy be applied to how you work with materials in your (teaching/artistic) practice?’.