Adopting a Pedagogy of Education of the
Heart
First Year Forum
Flinders University November 15th 2013
Ms Tania Leiman
Flinders Law School
Flinders University
Ms Elizabeth Abery
School of Medicine,
Flinders University
Associate Professor Eileen Willis
School of Medicine,
Flinders University
• Phenomenology – lived experience
• Sociology
• Education
• Philosophy
• Phenomenology
– The lived experience
– Practical pedagogy
• Tutorial reflexive dwelling with the
experience
• Evocative portrayal of the experience
• Emotional portrayal provides insight into
the heart
•
•
•
•
MacDonald (1981) mythopoeisis
Jack Mezirow (1991) ideas around transformative learning
Herron and Peter ReasonJamie Bradbeer- imaginal knowledge
•
1
FACTS OR EVIDENCE: THE SCIENTIFIC OR RATIONAL
•
2
CRITIQUE AND ANALYSIS: THE EMANCIPATORY FORM OF
KNOWLEDGE
•
3
THE PRACTICAL; SKILLS,
•
4
THE IMAGINAL/THE MYTHOPOETIC,
TRANSFORMATIVE OR EDUCATION OF THE HEART
What do we do??
• Becoming a health professional encompasses but is
not simply:
– Getting the facts
– Having a point of view
– Having an informed opinion
– Developing clinical skills
Health professionals need an orientation to
care and nurture, and understand “the
lived experience”
What is it, what does it do???
– Evocative knowledge
•
•
•
•
•
Stirs emotions
Evokes a response
Imaginal
Generates new knowledge and understanding
May challenge existing knowledge and understanding
– Reflective: what is the‘lived experience’
• What is it like?
• How does this feel?
• What can I do?
Guidelines
• Choose one of the population health issues covered
• Create a piece of work using any artistic medium you
choose that evokes the sociological themes and lived
experiences explored in the lectures, readings, tutorial
presentations and tutorial discussions for that issue
Guidelines
• Explain:
• why you chose the population group/issue
• what concepts or themes you are trying to portray
• why you chose the medium and to create the work
in this way
• Link your evocative piece to the key sociological
themes you wish to convey such as institutionalisation,
stigma, stereotyping, prejudice.
• What do you see??
• What do you see now??
• Have you changed your initial
response??
Can such transformative
learning even be assessed
at all?
2011
• Student representatives met with the Topic Coordinator and a senior tutor on three occasions
across the semester
– Informal
– General
• At the end of the semester an independent focus
group was conducted
– Specifically related to the evocative assessment
Strengths:
• Students reported gaining an insight into the
‘lived experience’ of the population groups
and sociological themes explored
• Existing knowledge and beliefs were challenged and
in some cases changed
• New knowledge, understanding and compassion
• Greater understanding of professional identity and
connection to future practice
Challenges:
• Formal assessment pieces such as academic writing
were perceived by students as having more value
and acceptance than the evocative assignments
• Students enjoyed being able to express their own
emotions through the artistic production HOWEVER
• Worried about the interpretation by the marker
• Grades more important
• High achievers
Student responses identified the importance of:
• The student teacher relationship
• The responsibility of the teacher in setting clear
guidelines in assignment criteria
• Enabling students to feel
comfortable in expressing their
observation of evocative
knowledge
• Being confident that assessment
has a high degree of rigour
2012
• Prior to semester start tutor training session
– Theory behind the pedagogy
– In-depth discussion on assessment
• At the end of the semester an independent focus
group was conducted
– Effectiveness of the assessment
– Strengths
– Weaknesses
– Barriers
Strengths:
• Successful in engaging students in exploring the lived
experience
• Good method of incorporating theory and practice
• Impressed with quality of work and enthusiasm
shown by students
• Pleasant change from other traditional forms of
assessment
• Training session prior to semester start re-enforced
pedagogy
Challenges:
• Difficulty differentiating own values and experiences
• Awareness of student anxiety around grades
• Need for clear guidance with assignment criteria and
marking guides
• The artistic piece and written reflection needed to be
considered collectively
• Self disclosure
Can such transformative
learning even be assessed
at all?
Education of the Heart
More information about our approach :
• Willis, E., Abery, E., & Leiman,T. (2013)
Interrogating Education of the Heart. The
International Journal of the First Year in Higher
Education 4(1). 21-32. doi:10.5204/intjfyhe.v4i1.143
• Eileen Willis & Tania Leiman (2013): In defence
of a pedagogy of the heart: theory and
practice in the use of imaginal knowledge,
Higher Education Research & Development
DOI:10.1080/07294360.2012.706747
References
Cranton, P. & Taylor, E. (2012). Transformative learning theory: seeking a more unified theory. In, E. Taylor & P. Cranton
(Eds.) The Handbook of Transformative Learning: Theory, Research and Practice, (pp. 3-20), San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of the heart. (D. Macedo & A. Oliveira, Trans.) New York: The Continuum International
Publishing Group.
Holland, P. & Garman, N. (2008). Watching with two eyes: the place of the mythopoetic in curriculum inquiry. In, T.
Leonard & P. Willis (Eds.), Pedagogies of the imagination: mythopoetic curriculum in educational practice. (pp.11 - 29)
Dordrecht: Springer, Netherlands.
Heron, J. (2007). Participatory fruits of spiritual inquiry. ReVision, 29(3), 16-17.
Heron, J. & Reason, P. (2008). Extending epistemology within a co-operative inquiry. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury. (Eds.),
Handbook of Action Research. (pp.336-380). London, UK: Sage Publications.
MacDonald, J. (1981). Theory, practice and the hermeneutic cycle. Journal of curriculum theorising, 3, 130-138
Mezirow, J. (1978). Education for perspective transformation: Women’s re-entry programs in community colleges. New
York: Columbia University Press.
Mezirow, J. (1981). A critical theory of adult learning and education. Adult Education Quarterly, 32(1), 3-24.
Mezirow, J. & Associates. (2000). Learning as transformation: critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Willis, E. (2010). Expressive phenomenology and critical approaches in the classroom: Process and risks for students of
health sciences ERGO 1(3), 45-52
Eileen Willis & Tania Leiman (2013): In defence of a pedagogy of the heart: theory and practice in the use of imaginal
knowledge, Higher Education Research & Development
Willis, P. (2002) Poetry and Poetics in Phenomenological Research. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology 3 (April) 119