Читать книгу Stories of Caring School Leadership - Mark A. Smylie - Страница 17

We use the word caring to represent qualities of relationships and of actions and interactions that exhibit concern, provide support, nurture, meet students’ needs, and promote their success and well-being. We distinguish between care and caring. Care refers to an action provided on behalf of another. According to occupational sociologists Pamela Abbott and Liz Meerabeau, when associated with particular vocations, such acts are considered professional care or caregiving.¹⁰ Acts of care are very important to address students’ needs and concern. To us, however, caring involves more. Caring is not only what one does but also why and how one does it. Caring involves the matter, manner, and motivation of care as well as its competent provision. It is a particular way of being in relationship with others. Caring involves observing and assessing; identifying with; and responding to the situations, needs, interests, and concerns of others. It involves expressing particular positive virtues such as compassion, empathy, and respect. Caring is driven by motivation to achieve the betterment of others.

¹⁰Abbott and Meerabeau (1998).

Caring is not simply caring about—that is, having concern or sentiment for someone or something. It is important to care about students and their success. However, it is another thing to be caring of them. According to Benner and journalist Suzanne Gordon, caring includes but goes beyond feelings of concern and sentiment to actions and interactions—practices—of being in relationship with others and achieving particular aims on their behalves.¹¹ Psychiatrist Arthur Kleinman observes that caring means both worrying and actively doing something about those worries.¹²

¹¹Benner and Gordon (1996).

¹²Kleinman (2019).

Caring is not defined by specific actions or interactions. Nor is it defined by a particular set of activities that are necessarily different from those in which one regularly engages. Caring is not necessarily another responsibility that adds to one’s job description and workload. All actions and interactions—all activities—can be viewed through a lens of caring. Again, caring, as we define it, is a quality of a relationship—the matter, manner, and motivation of personal and professional action and interaction.