Impact
515 students have engaged in courses within the BSocSc (Counselling) programme that integrated compassionate communications in teaching and learning activities. Among these students, 30 have also taken Compassionate Mind Training in one of the courses.
In the pilot phase, the project team conducted focus groups and secondary data analysis of a self-reported survey to examine the understanding and meaning about compassion among students, and the effects of compassion-based pedagogy on students’ social and emotional competence, well-being, and academic confidence.
How does incorporating compassion into teaching and learning practices benefit individual students?
From the focus group discussion with 12 students and the qualitative responses in a self-reported survey from 26 students, we identified that after engaging in compassion-based learning and practices, students:
1. Became more aware and accepting of their own and others’ emotions and distress.
2. Developed a less self-critical attitude and practiced greater self-acknowledgment.
3. Enhanced trust and bonding with group members.
4. Gained a sense of wisdom about difficulty and handling distress.
“Indeed, I felt like I became more perceptive and appreciative to the compassion I received from my teammates. Besides, as the bonding between me and my groupmate grew stronger, I naturally became more aware of their distress and showed more understanding and reassurance to their feelings. That said, at times I wanted to be more than just showing sympathy and offer more concrete and helpful advice like they did for me.”
—— Response from a student in the self-reported survey
To understand student change throughout the semester, we compared quantitative responses of 187 students who participated in self-reported surveys at the beginning and end of the semester. Our findings revealed that fostering compassion in teaching and learning practices may broadly benefit students’ social and emotional competence as well as academic confidence. Specifically, we found:
Areas of improvements: Student reported significant increases in self-compassion, compassion towards others, and compassion received from others. Also, they experienced improved peer relationships in class and increased confidence in their ability to perform assigned learning activities.
Connections between these improvements: Increases in one flow of compassion (e.g., self-compassion) tended to accompany increases in the others over the semester (e.g., compassion towards and from others). Positive changes in any of these compassion dimensions were also linked with enhancements in peer relationships, mental health, and academic confidence.
How does incorporating compassion-based pedagogy into group-based learning benefit students collectively?
Group-based learning is one major learning modality (e.g., tutorials, group presentations). When compassion flows within a small learning group (i.e., a compassionate peer learning climate), what potential benefits can we observe? Based on a sample of 35 small learning groups (comprising a total of 167 students who participated in the self-reported survey toward the end of the semester), we had the following observations:
Learning groups where members collectively expressed high compassion toward their own selves tend to exhibit greater confidence in their ability to perform the assigned learning tasks as a whole.
Similarly, for learning groups that collectively reported greater experiences of compassion from one another among group members, members of these groups also tended to be better off in their well-being as a whole.
In summary……
Our project underscores the transformative power of compassion-based pedagogy at individual and group levels in higher education. Our findings reinforce the value of compassion as a cornerstone for fostering a supportive, enriching, and effective educational environment.