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30. Belonging through compassion: Supporting hope through the design of a website for educational development and social justice

  • Vikki Hill (author)
  • Liz Bunting (author)
Chapter of: Stories of Hope: Reimagining Education(pp. 363–376)

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Metadata
Title30. Belonging through compassion
SubtitleSupporting hope through the design of a website for educational development and social justice
ContributorVikki Hill (author)
Liz Bunting (author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0462.30
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0462/chapters/10.11647/obp.0462.30
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightVikki Hill; Liz Bunting;
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2025-07-02
Long abstractThis chapter advocates for a more compassionate approach to Higher Education as a pathway to achieving social justice. Central to this vision is the cultivation of belonging through relational learning communities that honour interconnectedness, shared humanity, and equitable power dynamics. Through a case study of a digital educational development platform, the authors demonstrate how compassionately designed, co-produced, dialogic, and person-centred resources can support more inclusive and humane pedagogies. They outline practical strategies for embedding an ecology of compassion within institutions and highlight the necessity of systemic, institutional commitment to challenge inequitable policies and practices in Higher Education.
Page rangepp. 363–376
Print length14 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Contributors

Vikki Hill

(author)
Interim Director of Learning Enhancement and Academic Development at Queen Margaret University

Vikki Hill is Interim Director of Learning Enhancement and Academic Development at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a recipient of the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence in 2020. Vikki has over twenty years’ experience in education and leadership and works with staff and students to support equitable outcomes. Her research focuses on compassionate assessment, practices, and policies to enhance social justice.

Liz Bunting

(author)
Educational Developer in the Academic Enhancement team at University of the Arts London

Liz Bunting is an Educational Developer in the Academic Enhancement team at University of the Arts London, where she supports socially just experiences and outcomes for students. She has an interest in nurturing ecologies of belonging in Higher Education, through relational, compassionate, and trauma-informed education. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and a recipient of an Advance HE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) Award, 2020.

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