Can You Teach Compassion?

This is the question posed following the GTCS National Debate
Are Compassion and Philanthropy Working in Harmony to Produce Truly Global Citizens? which formed part of the Festival of Politics programme in Edinburgh.

There was a lot of discussion about giving to charity and mention of charity needing to help solve issues of poverty rather than just giving.  The tools to improve lives rather than short term solutions are far more important to addressing poverty and I believe that our children are aware of this fact.

From a very early age children demonstrate compassion in their actions but they also demonstrate talking and listening skills, this does not mean we cannot develop these skills in education.  It was mentioned, by Isabelle Boyd CBE, that compassion is an intrinsic human trait and I would agree with this.  With many traits they can simply exist without being capitalised upon and compassion is something, like talking and listening skills, that should be developed in schools.  Mrs Boyd also commented that compassion is a skill that can be developed by staff modelling behaviour.  In Scotland there are many aspects of the curriculum that develop compassion in students and this has long been the case.

It was argued by more than one panel member that it is the nature of Scottish people to be reluctant in raising their head above the parapet and that schools often have excellent work ongoing that nobody is aware of unless they go looking for it.  This may be true but does that not also demonstrate a humble nation who do not do for recognition but rather for the sake of doing?  Schools that I have been lucky enough to spend time in have all had excellent programmes that they do not shout about, instead they put efforts into improving further.  The stories that surface in mass media far too often have a negative thread about life in our schools, perhaps due to this practice.

"We value what we measure, we should measure what we value" - Isabelle Boyd

The question of awarding pupils for academic achievement prompted this statement and it is a statement with which I both agree and disagree: I agree as the common belief is pupils are rewarded on academic merit but I disagree as teachers reward pupils for much more than this on a daily basis therefore we already measure what we value in this sense.

Rt Hon Jack McConnell raised the point that schools during the eighties and nineties rewarded pupils "for merely showing up" rather than for academic achievement and as educators we should be wary of returning to this.  As a maths teacher during this time he was speaking from his experience.   As a pupil through these decades I had a different experience.  Perhaps this is more to do with living in Belfast and the education system being different or perhaps this shows pupil perception is different when it comes to rewards.  Academic achievement was a high priority in the schools I attended with a great deal of emphasis placed on doing well in the 11+ in primary 7.   This then continued throughout high school with formal testing at Christmas and Easter and awards based on this.  We also participated in fund-raising activities and organised assemblies and presentations based on global issues for which we received recognition, recognition that we worked hard for.  So based on my experience I would disagree that "pupils were rewarded for just showing up" yet I appreciate that my experience may be considerably different from Scottish pupils at that time.


Returning to the question - 'Can you teach compassion?'

Today as a society we have more opportunity than ever before to learn about the needs of others, both locally and globally.  The use of technology has removed barriers that have long prevented the wider public from gaining direct knowledge of the happenings around the world.  We no longer need to rely on the media to bring us the news: people bring us the news.  Sites such as twitter have reported tragedies and disasters before the news has been able to and without editing restrictions.  If we want to connect with a class in Peru we can and directly rather than through an aid agency.  People have stories to tell and now they have the medium to share their tales.  My 10 year old daughter said to me today that she finds it comforting to know that somewhere in the world someone will try and understand the reasons why you have done something wrong, no matter how bad it is.  That is compassion through the eyes of a child.  That is what we can teach our pupils to harness and understand.  Children are compassionate, teachers need to help them realise it.  Compassion is more than helping those desperately in need, sometimes we don't like true compassion.

Mr Finn remarked on the case of Abdul Bassett al Megrahi saying that you may not agree with the decision but the decision was made using compassion.  (Mr McConnell argued this point but that is a political matter.) Referring to the example given by Mr Finn, without referring to the details of the case and the politics of the decision, demonstrates my example that there are times compassion can be hard to understand.  It can appear ugly and to share that understanding with pupils can only develop their empathy skills.  Human nature sometimes makes it difficult to see the person behind the story and I feel it is important that children have the skill to realise not everything should be taken at face value.  Returning to my daughter's statement, will you be the person who tries to understand the action of others no matter how bad their actions have been?