Compassionate Teaching Resource

Target Audience: Graduate Teaching Assistants
Compiled by Katherine Braught

August 18, 2025

Compassion

Compassion can be define as a four stage process:

1. Noticing the suffering is present
2. Making meaning of the suffering in order to create the desire to alleviate it
3. Feeling empathic concern for those who are experiencing the suffering
4. Acting to alleviate the suffering to some extent at least

(Worline & Dutton, 2017) (Parattukudi, 2019)

Compassionate Pedagogy

Compassionate pedagogy requires the following four actions:

1. A noticing of suffering, distress, or disadvantage
2. A commitment to address or mitigate the suffering, distress, or disadvantage
3. The promotion of wellbeing and flourishing
4. A concern for the whole student as a person

(Killingback et al., 2025)

What is pedagogy? Pedagogy is “the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept.”

You may notice that I switch between the words pedagogy and teaching. When I first proposed this topic, I was only thinking about what we can do as TAs when teaching. However, as I reserached, I discovered that this is more a pedagogical approach, which is different from teaching in that pedagogy is the theory and practice of teaching (including methods, approaches, etc) and teaching is just the act of teaching.

Strategies:

Below, I have shared a list of compassionate teaching strategies that may be useful to a TA. These come from the review paper, “Compassionate pedagogy in higher education: A scoping review” by Dr Clare Killingbacka, Amy Tomlinsona, and Professor Julian Sternb (2024). This review paper compiled information from most peer-reviewed papers on compassionate pedagogy to create this list. While there are many ways to practice compassionate pedagogy at an institution or program level, the lists below are strategies that may be helpful as a TA/instructor. I have first highlighted several that may be most useful to TAs with a limited role in course policy/set up.

Selected Strategies:

In Many Situations

• Engage in sustained critical self-reflection to consider their values, assumptions, and beliefs.
• View students as people who are trying their best to balance a multitude of responsibilities and expectations.
• Put humanity on display by sharing stories of struggle and pain and encouragement to respond to suffering.
• Respond empathetically to requests for clarification.
• Show genuine care and concern for students.
• Use of humour to connect students with content.
• Demonstrating respect for students by using their preferred personal pronouns.
• Acknowledge students’ humanity before their academic achievements.
• Recognise the unique experiences of individuals, especially of those in marginalised groups.

Interacting with students

• Establish boundaries with students by informing and reminding students of wellbeing resources and help them access as needed.
• Regularly highlight the relevance of module content to learning outcomes.
• Support the transference of learning to the real world.
• Ask students for suggestions about improvements. Where feasible, implement their suggestions and when not, acknowledge the feedback and provide rationale.
• Use a variety of modes of communication, including synchronous and asynchronous.
• Ensure that the online content is written in a friendly and supportive tone.
• Where non-literal language, such as metaphor is used then provide alternative ways for students to access meaning.
• Encourage and motivate students to support their relational and personal development.

Grading/Feedback

• Use rubrics for feedback where appropriate and provide prompt, meaningful, regular feedback to promote self-improvement.
• Ensure high-quality formative feedback.

Leading a discussion

• Agree a class contract at the start of the class.
• Develop opportunities for students to create knowledge in collaboration.
• Use prompts and activities to enable interpersonal knowing and psychological safety in small group interactions to promote relationship building including learning names.
• Show interest in students and build trust by promoting small talk before class.

Full List:

More stragties are listed in Killingback et al., 2025, but these are only strategies that seem useful for TAs interacting with students, grading, or leading discussions. Other strategies are effective at the course or institution level.

Active listening and empathy

• Actively listen to (neurodivergent) students and be curious and empathetic in response.
• Noticing distress in students in a classroom.
• Respond empathetically to requests for clarification.
• Actively check in with students on their wellbeing.
• Show genuine care and concern for students.

Student-lecturer relationships and trust building

• Seek relational student-lecturer engagement to create trusting relationships and relate to the student as a person.
• Show interest in students and build trust by promoting small talk before class.
• View students as people who are trying their best to balance a multitude of responsibilities and expectations.
• Put humanity on display by sharing stories of struggle and pain and encouragement to respond to suffering.
• Use of humour to connect students with content.

Recognition of student humanity and individuality

• Acknowledge students’ humanity before their academic achievements.
• Recognise the unique experiences of individuals, especially of those in marginalised groups.
• Be sensitive to addressing inequalities among students.
• Be intentional and strategic about reminding students of their inherent worth as individuals rising to the challenge of learning while balancing complex life experiences.
• Embrace histories as resources by valuing student stories.

Encouraging student growth and development

• Provide friendly support and communications as appropriate.
• Encourage and motivate students to support their relational and personal development.

Lecturer self-reflection and professional growth

• Embody humanised qualities of creativity, commitment, compassion, consistency, and character.
• As a lecturer, engage in sustained critical self-reflection to consider their values, assumptions, and beliefs.
• Ensure ongoing lecturer engagement with content to remain informed of the latest trends

Inclusive and accessible teaching approaches

• Select course texts, activities, and assignments to help students engage with varying perspectives.
• Use multimodal / blended approaches including synchronous and asynchronous platforms.
• Ensure materials are available in advance and use exemplars where appropriate.
• Inclusive material design for students with disabilities.
• Ensure online tools respond to a range of viewing devices.
• Ensure that the online content is written in a friendly and supportive tone.
• Where non-literal language such as metaphor is used then provide alternative ways for students to access meaning.
• Use trigger warnings.
• Make sure learning resources are freely available.
• Have pre-recordings of learning materials.

Communication and interaction

• Use a variety of modes of communication, including synchronous and asynchronous.
• Define roles to also include expectations regarding respectful interactions as part of program participation.
• Demonstrating respect for students by using their preferred personal pronouns.

Student engagement and collaboration

• Develop opportunities for students to create knowledge in collaboration.
• Use prompts and activities to enable interpersonal knowing and psychological safety in small group interactions to promote relationship building including learning names.
• Create a wisdom wall where at the end of the course students reflect on their experience, identify a piece of advice for future students.
• Provide students with the option to create small study groups to promote peer support.
• Use a survey in week one with information such as first in their family to university, being the main carer for someone etc. to support students who would benefit from more regular communications.
• Ask students for suggestions about improvements. Where feasible, implement their suggestions and when not, acknowledge the feedback and provide rationale.

Feedback, reflection, and improvement

• Teach students to set small goals, evaluate, and self-correct.
• Use rubrics for feedback where appropriate and provide prompt, meaningful, regular feedback to promote self-improvement.
• Ensure high-quality formative feedback.
• Regularly highlight the relevance of module content to learning outcomes.
• Support the transference of learning to the real world.
• Champion accountability by asking students to notify about absence or extension requests.

Care and wellbeing

• Integrate self-care strategies into modules.
• Find opportunities for movement where possible and build in regular breaks.
• Establish boundaries with students by informing and reminding students of wellbeing resources and help them access as needed.

Module design and communication

• Have a visually appealing and homepage with welcome video and clearly signpost to access content.
• Agree a class contract at the start of the module.
• Training in compassion-based micro communication skills for group work.
• Draw on Socratic methods of teaching and learning through ongoing intellectual dialogues.