Pedagogy, Culture & Society

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Teachers’ cultural, social and emotional

capabilities: how teacher compassion and humility
is an antecedent to student confidence

Alison S. Willis

To cite this article: Alison S. Willis (2021): Teachers’ cultural, social and emotional capabilities:
how teacher compassion and humility is an antecedent to student confidence, Pedagogy, Culture &
Society, DOI: 10.1080/14681366.2021.1884122

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1884122

Published online: 02 Feb 2021.

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PEDAGOGY, CULTURE & SOCIETY
https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1884122

Teachers’ cultural, social and emotional capabilities: how

teacher compassion and humility is an antecedent to student
confidence
Alison S. Willis
School of Education, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Australia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

A deeper understanding of how teachers bridge cultural differences Received 14 May 2020
in teacher-student relationships provides insights into the cultural, Revised 11 December 2020
social and emotional capabilities needed in teachers. This phenom­ Accepted 12 January 2021
enographic study investigated the experiences and conceptions of KEYWORDS
Anglophonic Western trained teachers who worked in non-Western Cultural differences;
institutions with the aim of understanding how teachers working in international education;
cross-cultural contexts bridge cultural differences to engage stu­ teacher perspectives; cross-
dents in learning. Findings show that teacher humility and compas­ cultural practices; social and
sion were antecedents to confidence in students. Further, findings emotional capabilities;
reveal a need for systems administrators and teacher educators to cultural capabilities
make investments into teachers’ and pre-service teachers’ cultural,
social and emotional capabilities for the sake of student confidence
and engagement in learning. The study further revealed that stu­
dent confidence is often evidence of a teacher’s cultural capability.

Introduction
Teachers are increasingly being called upon to adapt learning experiences for students
from a diverse range of cultural and social backgrounds (e.g., Santoro 2014). A deeper
understanding of how teachers bridge cultural differences in teacher-student relation­
ships provides an opportunity for learning about ways of working between and within
cultures, which is necessary for teacher development and pre-service teacher preparation.
This paper investigates the experiences and conceptions of teachers working in cross-
cultural contexts. The bridging thesis (Crossley 2008) is used in this paper in preference to
terms like managing or overcoming difference, as difference is not something that always
needs surmounting. The idea of managing difference brings with it the risk of othering
(Van Houtum and Van Naerssen 2002); evoking assumptions that one party is normal and
the other is different or not normal, a tension that needs to be managed. Therefore, the
term bridging is preferred as it foregrounds intercultural dialogue, the valuing of differ­
ence, and the learning from ‘elsewhere’ (Crossley 2008, 321).
This study investigated the experiences and conceptions of Anglophonic Western
trained teachers working in non-Western contexts, with the aim of presenting key find­
ings about how international teachers bridge differences in worldviews with both

CONTACT Alison S. Willis [email protected] School of Education, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs
Drive, Sippy Downs 4556, Australia
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 A. S. WILLIS

students and parents, including the challenges of language barriers and gaps in academic
skills. Findings are pertinent for teachers working in culturally diverse contexts, whether
abroad or at home, including those working in contexts where class, gender and/or
religious differences are salient, and those working with refugees and/or immigrants. As
shown below, findings reveal that teacher humility and compassion are antecedents to
student confidence. These findings are significant as although previous research has
established the importance of teacher-student relationships for student learning (as
reviewed below), this research provides insights into the nature of such relationships.
This study shows that teachers’ personal capabilities are key to bridging cultural differ­
ence and thus opening learning opportunities. This excerpt from the data captures this
phenomenon:
I think it’s a challenge because you can’t learn everybody’s language and culture all in the
room . . . you have to have a capacity of compassion. (Participant 8)

These research findings are a result of a phenomenographic study that sought to address
the following research questions:

(1) What have international teachers learned about education from visiting other
cultures?
(2) How to international teachers bridge cultural differences in student-teacher
relationships?

All participants originated from Anglophonic Western contexts – either Australia, the
USA, or the UK – and had worked internationally in Thailand, China, India, Italy and/or the
United Arab Emirates. Teachers’ insights into what is essential for learning and the
pedagogical, professional and personal capabilities that teachers need to bridge cultural
differences are presented below. In this paper pedagogy is the ‘concept used to stress the
interrelated aspects of teaching and learning’ (Lingard, Hayes, and Mills 2003, 400).
Accordingly, teaching fosters learning and teaching is learning.

Literature
We live in an era of increased diversity in societies and schools (Hyde 2017; Santoro 2014),
increased agency and voice due to the uprise of social media platforms where polar voices
compete for dominance, and, ironically, increased control in education systems (Hyde
2017). This milieu of cultures, systems and broadcast media creates unprecedented
conditions for classroom teachers: every day they wade into situations of cultural, ethnic,
ability, socio-economic, political, historical diversity and endeavour to lead their students
towards positive educational outcomes in a systems that are increasingly centralised (and
therefore uniform) (Hyde 2017). This review of literature is organised into two main
sections according to Crossley’s (2008) bridging thesis: difference and dialogue. The
topics within these sections were derived from the context of this research project. The
difference section discusses how cultural differences can impact access to education
opportunities and resources, how societal divisions can be perpetuated by education,
and how this can manifest in school-family relationships. The dialogue section considers
without-prejudice teaching practices, the role of teacher-student relationships in
 PEDAGOGY, CULTURE & SOCIETY 3

culturally diverse contexts, and the criticality of teacher emotional capability. The under­
pinning tenets of trust, respect and compassion to achieve equality feature in both
sections.

Difference
Research shows there is likely increased distance between teachers and students where
ethnic differences exist (McGrath and Van Bergen 2014); which has implications for
equitable student access to learning opportunities (Willis 2019). Feuerstein, Feuerstein,
and Falik (2010) refers to this phenomenon as cultural deprivation: students may have
access to resources but whether they can access resources is dependent upon cultural
prejudices or privileges. An enactment of this concept is the manifestation of racism in
schools where students from non-white backgrounds are being schooled in systems that
have historically sustained patterns of white hegemony (Forrest, Lean, and Dunn 2016).
Yoon (2012, 590) argued that white hegemony, or ‘whiteness-at-work’, is often covert and
manifests in intangible things like lower academic expectations for non-white students or
racial labelling of non-white people (but not overtly labelling or expressly identifying
white people). Racism and white hegemony are, therefore, significant barriers to acces­
sing education opportunities and educational achievement (Forrest, Lean, and Dunn
2016). Whiteness-at-work is often complicated by contradictions between intentions
and actions (Yoon 2012). For example, teachers are often unsure of how to approach
topics of race, and carry with them unconscious assumptions (Yoon 2012).
Moreover, many Western teachers are schooled in secularism, a ‘framework for general
interaction . . . through the protocols of universal reason . . . under terms universally shared
regardless of [religion]’ (Jakobsen 2010, 34). The very idea that reason has universal
protocols and terms denotes (Western) discourses of superiority. However, as with any
ideology secularism has its own biases and leanings, some of which include the margin­
alising of religion and the privileging of liberal materialism and Western elitism (Ager and
Ager 2011). In humanitarian contexts, Ager and Ager (2011) argue that secularism is at risk
of taking on a form of neo-colonialism. This is pertinent in educational contexts where
teachers view their work as humanitarian – a common phenomenon due to the care ethic
of teachers (Gholami 2011) – and although intents may be noble, it is important they do
not give rise to elitism.
Western discourses that promote superior ways of thought (including secularism,
atheism, globalism and individualism) and practices that deem other ways of thought
to be inferior, less developed or in need of civilising or capacity building ought to be
questioned (Ager and Ager 2011; Willis 2017b). The challenges of elitism are compounded
in cross-cultural contexts where language barriers also exist, as language barriers can
affect student-teacher relationships (McGrath and Van Bergen 2014). The importance of
student-teacher relationships are discussed further below.
Research into divided societies shows that divisions, marginalisation and prejudice can
be reinforced by education systems (Davies 2005). Efforts to control or change people
through education systems are dismissed by research, in preference for creating physical,
intellectual and emotional conditions that enable people and environments to develop­
ment in symbiosis (cf. Marshik, Ashton, and Algina 2016; Shoshani and Steinmetz 2013).
Indeed, schools have a role in disrupting racists norms and teachers can be agents of
4 A. S. WILLIS

social justice (Forrest, Lean, and Dunn 2016). Schools in Western contexts continue to
struggle to dissociate from colonial structures of privilege and prejudice. In Australia,
schools are thought to be the most common setting for young people experiencing
racism (Forrest, Lean, and Dunn 2016). Nevertheless, a teacher’s capability to challenge
racism is acknowledged in literature (e.g., Forrest, Lean, and Dunn 2016; Santoro 2014).
Therefore, the quality of relationships between students and teachers is paramount in the
bridging of cultural differences (Brinkworth et al. 2018).
Research shows that school ethos and culture affect individual teachers’ values, which
in turn affect their interaction with parents (Lasky 2000). Parent-teacher interactions are
emotional and shaped by cultural constructs of status and power (Lasky 2000). The
importance of respect and the fragile line of challenging family beliefs in educational
endeavours cannot be understated, as families may perceive an educational opportunity
as a threat to their values (Ager and Ager 2011).
Furthermore, students with lower parental involvement are typically more likely to
distrust others (McGrath and Van Bergen 2014). Hence, the quality of school-family
interactions is essential to developing trust with parent communities (Adams and
Christenson 2000) and subsequently with students. Trust is broken when expected
behaviours are not exhibited (Adams and Christenson 2000). However, as this study
shows below, expectations can be culturally specific, and challenges exist in cross-
cultural relations where parents expect certain behaviours from school and teachers,
but schools and teachers do not share these same expectations, or vice versa.

Dialogue
The need for without-prejudice teaching practices is increasingly salient (Willis 2019).
Without-prejudice teaching practices anticipate that dialogue will need to occur to bridge
inevitable differences between students and teachers, and such dialogue ought to occur
without fear of reprisal due to unequal power relations (c.f. Willis 2019; Smith, Tesar, and
Myers 2016). Prejudice is defined as ‘an attitude-in-context’ that ‘results from the mis­
match between beliefs about the attributes’ of social members and ‘beliefs about the
attributes that facilitate success in valued social roles’ (Eagly and Diekman 2005, 19). The
idea that beliefs and attitudes underpin practice is not a new concept (Feuerstein,
Feuerstein, and Falik 2010); however, the need for without-prejudice dialogue is an
increasing need in many educational contexts.
The health of student-teacher relationships affects student behaviour, engagement,
motivation and educational outcomes (Brinkworth et al. 2018). Student-teacher relation­
ships are dynamic, continually adjusting according to dialogic feedback, and both parties
are constantly making judgements about conflict, relatedness, competence, autonomy,
support and control (Brinkworth et al. 2018). Over time, patterns are established and
students and teachers both come to believe certain things to be ‘true’ of each other.
Student-teacher attunement is core to learning as teacher support and appropriate
challenge optimises neuroplasticity for learning (Cozolino 2013). A teacher’s capacity for
attunement is referred to as ‘emotional competence’ by McGrath and Van Bergen (2019),
where the onus is on the teacher to respond maturely and circumspectly to disruptive
behaviour. Emotionally competent teachers are more likely to build trust with their
students (McGrath and Van Bergen 2019), which, according to Cozolino (2013, 18), is
 PEDAGOGY, CULTURE & SOCIETY 5

a pre-requisite for neurological development. Teachers, like parents, can stimulate the
development of neurological processes and structures (Cozolino 2013; Willis 2017).
Therefore, positive teacher-student relationships and supportive environments protect
young people from mental health risks (McMillan and Jarvis 2017).
This study shows that compassion, as a capability that can be developed, is key to
working with difference and building positive relationships. Compassion is characterised by
concern and care, along with a prosocial motivation to improve conditions for others (Singer
and Klimecki 2014). Where empathic stress invokes instincts of withdrawal and self-
protection, compassion courageously moves towards difficult situations (Singer and
Klimecki 2014). According to Kanov et al. (2004) compassion includes the processes of
noticing, feeling and responding. Noticing involves an awareness of another’s pain. McGrath
and Van Bergen (2019) discuss examples of teachers who have an awareness of and
proactively develop relationships with disruptive students, explaining that where some
teachers might read disruptive behaviour as personal attack, others question the motivation
behind the behaviour and seek to understand the dissonance that the student is experien­
cing. All teachers notice the behaviour, but only some notice the pain or distress, and not all
who notice interpret the situation accurately. Feeling, as a subprocess of compassion,
involves a fellowship of suffering – a visceral social-emotional response to another’s pain
(Kanov et al. 2004). Noticing pain and feeling compassion triggers an active response to
alleviate pain. Although the ‘problem’ may not be solved, or the cause of distress cured, acts
of compassion make suffering more bearable (Kanov et al. 2004). Teachers who are
emotionally competent may feel more empowered to do their work and meet student
needs, even when they are working in frustrating situations (McGrath and Van Bergen 2019).
Culture affects the recognition and agency of student voice, where students from some
cultures feel they have a right to be heard and students from other cultures do not
(referred to as cultural deprivation by Feuerstein, Feuerstein, and Falik 2010). This is seen
in the data below, and teachers take seriously the need to teach confidence to students
who come from backgrounds where they have been taught timidity.

Methodology
Using a phenomenographic methodology, this study investigated participants’ cross-
cultural experiences of teaching in international contexts. Phenomenography is the
study of qualitatively different ways in which various phenomena are experienced, con­
ceptualised and perceived (Marton 1994). The defining quality of phenomenography is
the depiction of the categories of description in a mental model, which brings together
and metaphorically illustrates the scope of participants’ experiences.
Employing an interpretivist theoretical paradigm (Punch and Oancea 2014) and draw­
ing upon the bridging thesis (Crossley 2008), this study sought to generate meaning
around Western teachers’ experiences and conceptions of practicing in developing con­
texts to address the research questions outlined in the introduction.

Methods
Phenomenographic interview questions were designed to solicit responses from
Anglophonic Western teachers about their experiences with education and learning in
6 A. S. WILLIS

non-Western contexts to establish: conceptions of learning and education, schools,

teachers, and students; conceptions around belief systems as they pertain to learning
and education; and conceptions around the effects of culture on learning. This project
complies with the Australian National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research
(2007).
Participants responded to open-ended questions in an interview format of their choice:
they could respond in writing in freestyle prose to the interview questions or participate
in a semi-structured interview. Three participants chose to respond in writing, one
participant responded in an online interview using Zoom™ software, and the other
seven participants engaged in face to face interviews. Flexibility was essential due to
international distances and time zone. Face to face interviews were conducted in both
Thailand and Australia, and electronic modes of communication occurred between
England, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.

Participants
The eleven participants originated from the United States, the United Kingdom or
Australia and between them had worked in India, Italy, China, Thailand, the United Arab
Emirates and Canada in addition to their countries of origin. Recruitment relied on
snowball sampling techniques where key participants were invited to spread the word
about the study and invite their colleagues to also participate. Snowball sampling is
a common form of purposive sampling, which relies on participants who fit selection
criteria to invite other like participants (Merriam and Tisdell 2015). Participants’ cultural
heritages and ethnic backgrounds were not always known by the researchers; however, it
may be of interest to note that not all participants were of European descent. Therefore,
Anglophonic Western is not synonymous with European heritage. The potential for power
imbalances between cultures is acknowledged; however, it ought to be noted that all of
these teachers were living as foreigners and were therefore less able to leverage the
dominant discourses of their Western cultures (e.g., wealth, class, etc) for their own gain.
The possibility for contradictions between intentions and actions is also acknowledge, as
discussed above in the literature review (Yoon 2012).

Data analysis
Interview transcripts underwent four rounds of coding in the analysis process. The first
round involved uploading transcripts into Leximancer™ software for inductive coding.
This process identified key words and their frequency, and this output was expressed in
concept map format and as a ranked list. The top four words from the initial Leximancer™
analysis were: kids, school, different and parents.
The second round of coding was conducted manually on hard copy transcripts. Codes
were affixed to transcripts and notes were made in their margins (Miles and Huberman
1994). This inductive process generated an inventory of descriptive, in vivo and value
codes (Miles, Huberman, and Saldana 2015). An initial 51 codes were identified in this
manual process.
In the third round of coding, transcripts were uploaded into NVivo™ software for
further digital analysis. In the process of digital coding, some manual codes were
 PEDAGOGY, CULTURE & SOCIETY 7

reassigned, and others created. If a code had less than three sources (participants), then it
was either merged with another code or discarded. The in vivo and value codes were
further populated through word and thematic searches in digital queries. Frequency
checking determined the number of mentions and representativeness of a code across
participants (Miles, Huberman, and Saldana 2015). This process resulted in significant data
consolidation and reduction with 18 codes and sub-codes remaining. At this point the
words identified in the initial Leximancer™ analysis were compared with the codes:
‘different’ and ‘parents’ were found to be meaningful.
Abstraction resulted in codes and sub-codes being organised into three categories of
description: working with differences, teacher humility in relationships with students and
building students’ confidence. As part of the phenomenographic analysis process (Willis
2017), the categories of description were depicted in graphic form to illustrate the
connections between the categories (Figure 1). This process moved data from first-
order concrete descriptions and experiences (etic) to second-order conceptions and
abstractions (emic) (Punch and Oancea 2014).

Findings
In addressing the research questions, three main categories of description emerged from
the data analysis process: ways of working with cultural differences, teacher humility and
compassion in relationships with students, and building students’ confidence (Figure 1).
These three categories are nested in nature: working with cultural differences is all
encompassing; cultivating and fostering humble and compassionate relationships across
cultures is key to bridging differences and an antecedent to students confidence; and

Working with
cultural
differences

Teacher humility
and compassion in
relationships with
students

Building students'
confidence

Figure 1. Teacher humility and compassion as antecedents to building students’ confidence in cross-
cultural contexts.
8 A. S. WILLIS

teaching students how to be confident reciprocates back into positive teacher-student

relationships.
The first two categories closely align with Crossley’s (2008) bridging thesis: difference
and dialogue. The third category, student confidence, was seen to be evidence of
productive cross-cultural student-teacher relationships. To comply with ethical protocols,
data has been deidentified. Further, references to specific places, cultures and religions
have been removed in some instances where there is potential for negative connotations
or stereotyping.
As an introduction to the data, the following excerpts are presented from the in vivo
code ‘I have learned/realised’:
. . . the more I’ve taught in different places the more I’ve realised that kids are alike every­
where. They need love and they need respect to build their confidence. (Teacher 6)

. . . what I have learnt about education is that kids want to be in a safe and secure environment
where they feel free to tell you their opinion and to share with you their ups and their
downs . . . (Teacher 2)

Always be flexible – don’t come with an attitude of ‘my way is better’. Come with ‘we are both
different, how can we learn from one another?’ Relationships are more important than time.
(Teacher 3)

One of the biggest things I learnt was that kids, no matter what their culture was, they had to
feel safe to make mistakes, because otherwise they wouldn’t do anything. (Teacher 11)

Although this paper foregrounds valuing difference, these excerpts show there are also
commonalities across cultures: needs for love, respect, safety, security, and confidence.

Difference: working with cultural differences

Teachers frequently talked about working with cultural differences, not as something to
confront and overcome but as something to face and walk towards. This code comprised 23
references from eight teachers and the word ‘different’ was also a highly featured word in
the initial Leximancer™ analysis with 93 mentions. The following extract epitomises this code:
. . . every culture and every family that I’ve come into contact with, they all have a different set
of values and I think the core values make up a certain perspective and a certain worldview
that crosses over into the education system. (Teacher 7)

In bridging differences, teachers talked about different cultures valuing different aca­
demic skills:
. . . education for a large percentage of [nationality] students was traditional rote learning
(though there are moves to change this), so critical thinking, problem solving, being able to
independently research, understanding what different information resources were, and
everything outside what was required to pass an exam, was often difficult to convince
students to undertake . . . (Teacher 5)

Nevertheless, one participant warned of not dismissing traditional rote learning, explain­
ing that international experience had challenged her Western perspectives:
I’ve worked with students who went through schooling systems which honed their memor­
ization capacity to surreal lengths. There have been many times in history when the corpus of
 PEDAGOGY, CULTURE & SOCIETY 9

human knowledge would have been lost had it not been stored in human memory and
transmitted orally. The value of memorization [as] a cognitive skill and memorization of
certain content as a learning objective is not as useless as it may have seemed to me
previously . . . (Teacher 1)

Teachers explained that some differentiation and feedback strategies worked everywhere:

I have seen that frequent feedback on performance is always very helpful for novice learners
regardless of background or prior styles of schooling. (Teacher 1)

. . . every kid has a certain learning language that is cross-cultural. (Teacher 11)

Evidently, all actors – students and teachers – bring their cultural backgrounds to the
learning environment (Yoon 2012, would agree). Some Western teachers bring their
inquiry pedagogies and some non-Western students bring their memorisation and repli­
cation strategies. It is vital that teachers seek to understand cultural differences so that
distances are closed rather than widened between students and teachers (Forrest, Lean
and Dunn 2016; McGrath and Van Bergen 2014). The approach of the teacher will either
open opportunities (or pose threats) to student learning and communication (Willis 2019).

Religion, gender, class

Within the cultural differences code, there were specific references to religion, gender and
class that could not be ignored. A sample are provided here:

. . . you always have to think about religion. You always have to think about the traditional
values, the conservatism of the culture. (Teacher 2)

Another issue in education in the [religious] country was the need to adapt any teaching
materials not only to the [generally] low English language level, but also to ensure cultural
appropriateness. This affected both the need to give examples which did not offend (such as
not discussing sex and bodies, drugs, [other religions] - we would generally avoid any
religious discussions/examples - alcohol, amount of clothing worn in images used), but also
to try to give examples that the ladies were likely to know about. (Teacher 5)

In some contexts, religious beliefs intersected with social class structures, which also had
ramifications for teaching and learning:

. . . in [this city] it was [religious] and it was international, and it was a very different mentality.
It was like, I’m better than you. And so I couldn’t do group activities and teamwork because
they wouldn’t because of the mentality that if I have more, if I’ve been given more in life, and
you have been given less, I’m going to ruin your karma if I try to bring you up. So I’ll leave you
down so that you fulfil your life cycle and I fulfil mine. And that was really hard. (Teacher 8)

[Nationality] kids are not empowered to do that [share their ideas] unless they are from social
strata that’s high above everyone else. Then they are very opinionated, have money behind
them, they’re gonna [sic] tell you what they think. [But] the majority of the kids are very
subservient . . . they’re going to sit there and say ‘yes ma’am, no ma’am,’ and it’s like, ‘Hang on
a minute, I’ve just asked you a question. What do you think?’ And they don’t want to tell you
that and you’re like, ‘No it’s fine. I’m not going to judge you. I want your opinion.’ (Teacher 2)

Sensitivity was seen to be important for the sake of student-teacher and parent-teacher
relationships. For example:
10 A. S. WILLIS

It’s not as free and easy as what a [Western] kid would be able to talk to me about . . . You have
to be careful what you are standing up in front of the class and saying because you know
what kids are like . . . they actually take what they want and it becomes something else, and
I’ve been on the other end of that with a father and I was like, ‘I never said that. This is the
context of the lesson. This is what I did.’ But he didn’t want to listen. Because his daughter was
right. So, I’m like, ‘right, I’m gonna [sic] have to tread carefully next time’. (Teacher 2)

Respect for religion and awareness of class and gender was vital to productive relation­
ships with students and parents. Teachers stressed the importance of acting respectfully
towards the religious beliefs of others even when they held different religious beliefs
themselves. This principle of mutual respect where dialogue about difference remains
open is important too for non-religious teachers who prefer secularism. Although secular­
ism aspires to neutrality, if it marginalises religious beliefs or experience so that students
are forced to segregate religion to their private lives for fear of reprisal, it has not achieved
neutrality or impartiality (Ager and Ager 2011). What may be intended as an opportunity
by the teacher, may be perceived as a threat by the student.

Parents
In accommodating cultural differences, the topic of parents came up frequently. This sub-
code was populated by 18 references from six different sources and was also highly
featured in the original Leximancer™ analysis with 90 total mentions across the dataset.
I’ve worked with lots of different cultures of parents what I’ve learnt is that parents bring the
baggage of their own education system with them . . . (Teacher 2)

It is really important for kids in your class to not feel like they’re being pulled between
a teacher’s viewpoint and their parents. You know, we’re in this culture so we’ve got to be
very respectful of their parents and while they’re at school never make them feel like what
their parents are doing or thinking or saying is wrong. So it’s a fine line sometimes. (Teacher 6)

Interactions with parents are never neutral, rather they are laced with emotion and
shaped by cultural constructs of status and power (Lasky 2000). In addition to cultural
differences between teachers and parents, school culture and ethos also influence tea­
cher-parent interactions (Lasky 2000). As Yoon (2012) explains, race dynamics appear in
every conversation. These data show proactive communication is key to bridging cultural
differences. Teacher 2 talked a lot about taking the initiative to establish school-parent
relationships by hosting parent evenings, inviting parents to school events, and sending
communiques home. There is opportunity for schools to take leadership in this regard to
proactively accommodate cultural differences.

Language barriers
The sub-code language barriers comprised 10 references from seven teachers. As these
extracts show, language barriers were coupled with perception differences.
. . . you think in your native language most of the time and that’s being reinforced at home so
it’s hard because they’re now having to translate what they’re thinking into what they’re
saying and then write it on paper. Sometimes things are just easier in a certain language . . . Or
they’re coming back with a response and I’m thinking, why did they respond that way? . . .
 PEDAGOGY, CULTURE & SOCIETY 11

maybe it was too logical or mystical or something. And I’ll think it’s such an odd response,
then I thought about it or I’d ask my husband . . . they were probably thinking about it too
logically this way and they made that connection instead of this connection. (Teacher 7)

Lots of things would come up because of the language barriers and even amongst the kids
they didn’t understand where someone was coming from because they were [from] a different
culture. . . . you had to find ways to break things down to the core, which kind of was a good
thing because it meant that it was understandable for everybody and then you could build
from that . . . I had to take all the jargon out and it just made such a difference. (Teacher 11)

Two teachers described peer tutoring as an effective strategy to teach language to new
students. Here is a sample:

It works very well because we had a new girl who didn’t speak a lot of Thai because she was
Isan and they put her with a buddy and now she’s very good and that’s only 6 months.
Because they use a buddy system and little children are more likely to keep talking to little
children, and they play together, and they understand the games they play, and they speak
the games they’re playing and they speak about what they’re doing in Thai and the child
picks it up. (Teacher 4)

When we consider that language barriers affect student-teacher closeness, particularly

when relationships are relatively new (McGrath and Van Bergen 2014), it behoves us to
find ways to bridge these gaps early in the formation of a student-teacher relationship.
Teacher 7 describes the need to suspend judgement and find out the motivation behind
student reactions. This aligns with McGrath and Van Bergen (20144) research that shows
the importance of teachers seeking to understand causes and reasons behind student
behaviour. This requires a measure of humility, as professional judgement or opinion is
suspended in an effort to understand.

Dialogue: teacher humility and compassion in relationships with students

The second most populated category of description was the importance of relationships.
This category is nested within the previous category – working with cultural differences –
as it is viewed as key to cross-cultural working. Altogether this category comprised 31
references from eight sources. Relationships were considered core to education and
learning:

That’s what everything came down to – their relationship with me, their relationships with
each other. So how they felt in the school, because if we didn’t have that they wouldn’t do
anything I’d say, nothing would work, everything would go out the window. They weren’t
interested in learning because their heart wasn’t okay. (Teacher 11)

This finding aligns with similar research that suggests the importance of teacher-student
relationships (Brinkworth et al. 2018), and is evidently important in a variety of cultural
contexts. This finding has value as it shows the central role of teacher compassion and
humility in bridging difference between teachers and students. As seen in the themes
below, compassion is a pro-social motivation (Singer and Klimecki 2014) and is manifest in
the actions of noticing, feeling and responding (Kanov et al. 2004).
12 A. S. WILLIS

Listening and being heard

Three teachers in six instances discussed the importance of listening and students being
heard. Here are two excerpts:
. . . kids come to school for about 6–8 hours and what they want is to be listened to, to know
that their voices are heard, is to know that when they are having their crisis, whether they are
11 years old or 16 years old and it’s about boyfriend or a problem at home or whatever – they
know where to go or turn to. (Teacher 2)

Listening, as a function of healthy student-teacher relationships, cannot be understated,

as it opens up equitable access to learning opportunities (Willis 2019). As explained in the
literature review, cultural dynamics of social strata, gender and race may influence
a child’s willingness to speak up; however, the teachers in this study reiterated on
numerous occasions the importance of listening as an act of humility, which (ironically)
leads to opportunities for teaching confidence. Listening is an act of noticing and
responding, which are traits of compassion (Kanov et al. 2004). Confidence is discussed
further below. First, we explore underpinning principles of confidence – trust, respect and
compassion – and how they require humility.

Trust
Although prima facie trust does not seem like a scholastic concept, three teachers
mentioned it eight times as being key to learning in cross-cultural contexts:
It’s about a relationship where they feel they can trust, they’re secure, and they feel safe to say
what their opinion is, tell you something’s wrong or right, and for them to feel they’re
learning. (Teacher 2)

You can only build trust if you are prepared to work on building a relationship. They will not
listen to you unless they trust you. (Teacher 3)

. . . if they felt safe enough and trusted you enough they would share some things. Like they’d
test you out, you know, see how you react, and if you don’t shame them then they’d be more
willing to come forth with . . . (Teacher 11)

Although difficult to measure, trust is critical to learning (Cozolino 2013). The capability to
build trust is seen as evidence of a teacher’s emotional capability. There is an evident need
for further research into the ways teachers develop emotional capability and build trust
with their students, particularly in the mitigation of behaviours and language that may
unwittingly engender mistrust.

Respect
Three teachers discussed the concept of respect. One teacher expressed the need to
respect others’ beliefs and warned against making binary value judgements:
I think just being accepting of them and others’ view points. Particularly, you don’t want other
kids telling them, no that’s not right, or you shouldn’t think that way, or that’s wrong. So
I think just making it very clear from a teacher’s standpoint that you accept other viewpoints
and you respect them even if they’re not your beliefs. (Teacher 6)
 PEDAGOGY, CULTURE & SOCIETY 13

One teacher had an experience where a primary school aged child held fast to her
mother’s beliefs:
So just reminding her that we respect what your mom says and you need to do what your
mom says, and it’s ok you don’t have to participate, but we’re just showing you or explaining,
this is history, this is actually factual. (Teacher 7)

These findings align with the findings about working with religion, gender and class
differences above. Evidently, respecting difference and differences of perspectives is
critical to forming positive teacher-student relationships. As the data unfolds, a positive
association between positive teacher-student relationships and student confidence is
observed.

Compassion
A capacity for compassion, care and patience was raised by four teachers:
. . . it doesn’t matter what cultures the kids are from it is always about their care – the level of
care we are able to give the students. And when I say the ‘level of care’, it’s about the ability to
listen to their needs. (Teacher 2)

. . . it’s finding when to be patient and hold their hand and when to help them or when to ‘no
you need to do this on your own.’ (Teacher 9)

Sometimes you have to have a lot of patience and compassion and just look at what you’re
saying and then try to present the information in a different way . . . At the end of the day we
really care about the kids and want to them to be successful and succeed in the objectives
that we’re presenting to them. (Teacher 7)

Similar to trust and respect, compassion is a characteristic of emotional competence that

can be developed. Teachers talked about the need to view students and their situations
circumspectly, stopping to consider contributing circumstances, including cultural differ­
ences. Data in this code show that compassion triggers prosocial, proactive responses in
teachers. Such responses require courage (Singer and Klimecki 2014) as an act of compas­
sion may not immediately solve a problem, but it may make the struggle more bearable
(Kanov et al. 2004).
Teachers ought to become cultural difference experts. Although they may not be
able to possess a comprehensive knowledge of all cultural differences, they do need
to be acutely aware of their own cultures and be careful not to consider their
perspective as superior (as discussed in literature: Forrest, Lean, and Dunn 2016;
Yoon 2012).

Building student confidence

This third category of description was not as densely populated with data sources as the
other two categories; nevertheless, it emerged as a distinct category with four sources and
nine reference that could not be ignored or justifiably subsumed into another category.
Teachers viewed confidence as important to learning, and data analysis showed that
student confidence can be a product of teacher humility and compassion. For this reason,
it is located within all other categories in Figure 1.
14 A. S. WILLIS

. . . it has to be modelled and you have to teach them okay this is how you fix it yourself and
just slowly build up that confidence so that they can believe in themselves: ‘Oh, I can do this.
(Teacher 7)

. . . they’re always reliant on the teacher . . . they’re not confident in themselves, they have to
clarify everything, so . . . it’s finding when to be patient and hold their hand and when to help
them or when to [say], ‘no, you need to do this on your own.’ (Teacher 9)

. . . they don’t want to put themselves out there in case they are shamed. Confidence was a big
one with that . . . I had one boy who, he was in Grade 5, he couldn’t present an oral because
he’d just burst into tears because it was just too much pressure. He was just so afraid of
making a mistake. So I got the class involved. As a class we talked about what confidence
looks like in health lessons and then we’d just keep bringing it up. So the more I talked about
it and the more I showed them examples, like ‘Hey, you just showed confidence right there,
you just did xyz.’ (Teacher 11)

Teachers saw student confidence as evidence of healthy student-teacher relationships

where trust was engendered, and reciprocal respect had been established. Teachers
worked hard to overcome the effects of cultural deprivation (Feuerstein, Feuerstein, and
Falik 2010) and build confidence in students who had learned timidity. Additionally, it
would appear the processes of building confidence had the potential to be reciprocal, as
one teacher also discussed how her cross-cultural experience had taken her outside her
comfort zone and bolstered her own confidence. Confidence is seen as evidence of
positive relationships, and evidently, perhaps ironically, student confidence is an outcome
of teacher humility and compassion (as shown in Figure 1).

Discussion
In addressing the research questions: What have international teachers learned about
education from visiting other cultures? and How do international teachers bridge cultural
differences in student-teacher relationships? this study shows that teacher humility and
compassion are antecedents to student confidence. Where teachers and students have
different belief systems or worldviews there will be challenges in bridging difference and
bringing teacher-student relationships close. For this reason, more is needed than an
acknowledgement of difference; students and teachers need to engage in respectful
dialogue that will lead them to understand each other. As the adults in this exchange,
teachers also need to remember the power differences between them and their students,
seeking to understand resistant behaviours rather than being quick to judge them as
rebellious (McGrath and Van Bergen 2019). Therefore, teachers need to lead with compas­
sion and humility. This is evident in the findings of this study when teachers discuss the
importance of listening as a bridging activity. Listening engenders trust and respect and
leads towards a culture of compassion.
Further, this study reiterates the need to actively consider and reconsider the effects of
cultural beliefs upon learning. Particularly, students’ willingness and confidence to access
and engage in learning opportunities (Willis 2019). What may be considered best peda­
gogical practice in one culture may be obtuse in another: curriculum and pedagogy are
never neutral as they are embedded within and interpreted by worldviews. For example,
as described above, collaborative learning may be rejected by a student who has strong
beliefs about interrupting karma. As one teacher aptly explained, ‘You always have to
 PEDAGOGY, CULTURE & SOCIETY 15

think about religion’ (Teacher 2). In practice students might preclude themselves from
learning opportunities due to cultural, religious or social hesitations. Feuerstein,
Feuerstein, and Falik (2010) referred to this as cultural deprivation. For Anglophone
Western teachers who have been educated in largely secular and science-based educa­
tion systems, students’ unwillingness to access educational opportunities may be at odds
with Western worldviews that promote individual achievement (similar to Ager and Ager
2011 discoveries). However, findings show that in situations where education is consid­
ered a threat to family or cultural values, trust and relationships need to be built
individually. Although school ethos and culture may inform community values (Lasky
2000), the work to build compassionate relationships between teachers and students
happens at an individual level.
In addition, this study showed that teachers need to be conscious of the cultural
underpinnings of pedagogy (e.g., not assuming all rote learning is bad) and social
practices in classrooms (e.g., cooperative or collaborative learning), never taking for
granted that ‘best practice’ will be readily received. ‘Whiteness at work’ (Yoon 2012,
590) may also serve to widen cultural divides if teachers default to generalising or
essentialising difference (Yoon 2012). Teachers are well positioned to challenge racism
(Forrest, Lean, and Dunn 2016) and ought to use their positions to bridge differences
rather than manage, change or suppress difference.
Beliefs about social status may also affect a student’s willingness to engage in learning
activities. Again, this may be culturally obtuse to an Anglophone Western teacher who has
been educated in a merit-based system that promotes equitable access for all. However,
as this study shows some students may limit their engagement in learning activities due
to their beliefs about their social status, including gender, wealth or ethnic background.
Teachers in this study leveraged compassion and humility to build relationship with these
students and encourage confident participation in learning activities.

Conclusions
Human interactions are never neutral. There are always cultural expectations, constructs
of power, and personal emotions. There is an evident opportunity for systems adminis­
trators, school leaders and teacher educators to take proactive leadership in this space
and equip teachers with cultural awareness and personal, professional and pedagogical
capabilities to bridge differences between themselves, students and parents. This is
particularly so for teachers working in culturally diverse contexts where class, gender
and/or religious differences are salient, and those working with refugees and/or immi­
grants. This study investigates teacher working abroad, but acknowledges that similar
difference dynamics also exist in home countries. Although it is not possible to be an
expert in every culture, being aware of one’s own culture and its leanings and quirks may
help teachers identify differences between them and their students. In this way, teachers
mitigate the risk of viewing one culture as superior to another, and important step
towards building trustful and respectful relationships.
Cultural awareness will bring teachers and students closer together, and subsequently
assist in overcoming language barriers and addressing identified gaps in academic skills. It
is vital that teacher practices create safe and supportive environments where students are
confident to take risks, voice their opinions and make mistakes. In this way, students can
16 A. S. WILLIS

equitably access the learning opportunities being provided, reducing the risk of students
perceiving opportunities as threats to their identities or values.
A capacity for compassion – where teachers notice, feel and respond to student
concerns with humility – builds trust and respect between teachers and students. This
study shows that trust, respect and compassion are not only values but also capabilities
that need to be built. There is a present need to show teachers and pre-service teachers
how to leverage humility and compassion to build trust and respect with their students
and parents. Furthermore, this study considers student confidence as evidence of positive
teacher-student relationships. Confidence can be proactively taught in environments
where trust and respect are engendered. There is a distinct need for systems adminis­
trators, education leaders and teacher educators to put strategy around the building of
relationships to create harmonious and egalitarian learning cultures.

Acknowledgments
The author wishes to extend gratitude to the School of Education at the University of the Sunshine
Coast for support to assist travel for this project.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID
Alison S. Willis http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8650-4570

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