‘It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge’ –
Albert Einstein
The Art of Loving In The Classroom: A Defence Of Affective Pedagogy
In Patience’s paper on the art of loving in the classroom, he explores, and indeed advocates for a move away from seeing education as a means to an end, in terms of setting students up for the workforce, and in turn aiding the economy from a capitalist perspective, and towards opening up students’ consciousness. These opposing views are a modern take on the classical difference between episteme and techne (namely, theory and practice), (Parry, Richard, 2021).
“Aristotle, for example, was convinced that good techne would always be grounded in sound episteme, resulting in praxis (Aristotle, 1980, Book VI): that is, the practitioners of good techne would possess an educated understanding (episteme) of the principles underlying their various practices. Praxis entails theory and practice continually and dynamically informing each other.” (Patience, S, 2008). He argues further that within practice the teacher is imparting something more than knowledge, this is an ontological distinction. The teacher is imparting a part of themselves.
“Affective pedagogy is as much about feelings and emotions as it is about learning outcomes.” (Patience, S, 2008).
Patience asserts that affective pedagogy is as much about emotions and feelings as it is about learning outcomes. And goes further to say that emotions and feelings are inseparable from the learning outcomes.
Patience is arguing to replace the dominant ideology of ‘new capitalism’ with ‘affective pedagogy’ and he sees teachers who exhibit affective pedagogy as those who “• value a discipline (or disciplines) and their associated practices; • value imparting them to students; • challenge students’ learning achievements while respecting their developing intellects; • assess students’ academic progress transparently and constructively; • encourage students to move beyond their knowledge comfort zones; and • engage students in ‘dramatic friendship’” (Patience, S, 2008).
He breaks the paper down into nine paragraphs, beginning with dramatic friendship:
- Dramatic friendship – here he references Oakeshott’s comprehension of dramatic friendship, that of Agape, namely comradery or selfless love. To hone the ability to love profoundly and altruistically. This alludes to a love which is open and anticipatory rather than closed and time-limited. Agape is (comradery or selfless love), embracing the capacity to love, altruistically and profoundly. “It is more about loving rather than about being loved. It is the very antithesis of narcissism.” (Patience, S, 2008).
- Student-teacher relatings, teachers must have an element of being self-aware, and self-confident, and this enables intimate healthy relationship dynamics with students. Many teachers feel some vulnerability around this due to unhealthy interpretations potentially being made, such as that there is a sexual/romantic intention, which can create barriers to this kind of closeness.
- Intellect and emotion – there is a great disservice to teaching when the intellectual takes away from the emotional.” Good teaching and learning methodologies contribute profoundly to the making of citizenship in this sense. To achieve this, they need to embrace the human experience in all its complexities and possibilities at intellectual and emotional levels. This entails the cultivation of purposeful, mature relatings between teachers and students.” (Patience, S, 2008).
- Utilitarian pedagogy – it can be argued that this is the dominant teaching practice. Teaching which is centred around working alone and less about community and fosters an environment of narcissism. The self is always at the centre.
- Neo-liberal economics and utilitarian pedagogy, this move away from affective teaching to utilitarian pedagogy leads to a narcissistic culture of psycho-economic vulnerability.
- False economies, Utilitarian pedagogy is mistakenly believed to need less interactions between students and teachers therefore achieving lower-costs. However research has demonstrated this not to be the case and that better results are achieved through more student teacher interaction.
- Utilitarian pedagogy and multimedia learning technologies, whilst it is true that the internet effectively aids teaching, there is also a deficit when technology takes the place of human interaction in teaching.
- The friendship deficit in the classroom, modern learning environments are too often inhabited by a ‘friendship deficit’ namely awkward human interactions, emotional distance, repressed feelings, and cynical and defensive attitudes.
Patience concludes by saying that the absence of affective pedagogy results in a workforce of unemotional uninspired individuals and that affective pedagogy is required for a workforce of inspired and authentic people who are able to relate in an emotional and human way.
bibliography
1), Parry, Richard, ( 2021). “Episteme and Techne“, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
2), Patience, A. (2008). The Art Of Loving In The Classroom: A Defense Of Affective Pedagogy.. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 33(2).