What is Caring in Education and why are we making such a big deal out of it? According to Nel Noddings, (Jacks Professor Emeriti of Child Education at StanfordUniversity); caring in education is essential for learning to take place. In her article “Caring in Education”, Noddings makes many references to the amount of caring, or lack thereof, that goes on in our classrooms and in our schools.
Noddings makes direct reference to the differences in teachers who careand teachers who care-for their students. She points out the misconception that all teachers care. We all know teachers who we think shouldn’t be in the profession at all. Teaching isn’t easy and true caring is something that takes work, on the part of the teachers and the students.
Noddings, however, believes that there is a majority of teachers who think caring is only a clinical term. This type of caring is only concerned with the academic progress of the students, not with the reciprocal relationship the cared-for relationship requires. This is also what the majority of students feel they are getting from their teachers and why the cry of ‘Nobody Cares!’ is heard from them so often. In a cared-for relationship, both parties, in this case teacher and students, have to work at maintaining and expanding on the caring relationship.
Nodding stresses that in a true caring relationship, the cared-for (the student or the teacher), recognizes the caring and responds to the carer. In a school setting, once the guidelines of care have been established, then, and only then, Noddings believes that true learning can occur and both parties will be accepting of the learning. She also goes so far as to suggest that a student with a background in cared-for relationships will extend that to care-about relationships throughout their lives. First a person learns to be cared-for and then the caring moves outward; first to those close to us (teachers); and then ideally to include others we can’t care for directly (ie. the poor of the world).
In her article entitled “The Ethics of
Care andEducation”, Noddings creates a philosophical plan for caring (see Box 1.1). She compares this transfer of caring like energy; ethical energy that is transferred between two human beings. This transfer of energy (care), does not right all of the wrongs in our educational system, but Noddings believes that this may improve the relationship between student and teacher to one not seen as interference but to one of cooperative work. Once the student believes there is a true relationship between themselves and their teacher, they will be more apt to open a dialogue. Then, through this dialogue, the teacher can gain important knowledge from their students, (interests, talents, needs); which will in turn make it easier for the teacher to tailor lesson plans for individual needs. It is awin-win situation for everyone. The students learn better and the teacher becomes more competent.