Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education         ISSN: 1759-667X 

Special Issue 25: ALDinHE Conference Proceedings and Reflections October 2022 
________________________________________________________________________ 

Empathy and compassion: towards wellbeing in learning 
development 
 

Daniela de Silva 
University of Westminster, UK 
 
Emma Dempsey 
University of Westminster, UK 
 

 

Presentation abstract 
 

Wellbeing, empathy and compassion are increasingly discussed topics in relation to 

teaching, with one key question being the extent to which empathy and compassion in 

teaching can impact on student wellbeing as well as outcomes. Wellbeing encompasses a 

broad spectrum of aspects, including health – physical, mental and emotional – life 

balance, and happiness and fulfilment, and it is not always easy to pin-point which actions 

can make a difference to the students and their learning journey. This workshop aimed to 

address some of these questions by giving attendees key information from a study skills 

professional on how they can integrate a compassionate approach into their teaching, 

which was followed by a facilitated discussion on this topic to enable attendees to form 

their own compassionate teaching plans. Using Mentimeter we exchanged ideas about the 

definitions of empathy and compassion and how they overlap and bring together a 

common goal in producing learning development sessions for a diverse range of 

students. The interactive part of the workshop divided participants into four groups (virtual) 

and gave them a Jamboard link (online pin board application) where the groups were able 

to comment on whether compassion and empathy in the hybrid teaching and learning 

experience in the past academic year contributed to improved wellbeing in their students’ 

journey. The contributions from this activity are displayed in this paper. The groups 

commented on wellbeing in the social experience, learning experience, academic 

performance, and overall improved wellbeing in the student experience. The overall aim of 

the session was to give participants and the facilitators a deeper knowledge of empathy 

and compassion and their role in student wellbeing. 

 

 



de Silva and Dempsey Empathy and compassion: towards wellbeing in learning development 

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 25: October 2022      2 

Community response 

In session Jamboards 

Table 1. Question: How do learning and compassion in the learning developer’s 

teaching impact the wellbeing of students in different areas of their lives? 

Group 1: Wellbeing 
in the social 
experience at 
university 
(interactions with 
other students, 
lecturers, other 
services).  
 

Group 2: Wellbeing 
in the learning 
experience.  
 

Group 3: Wellbeing 
in the social 
experience outside 
the university 
(family, friends, 
work).  
 

Group 4: Wellbeing 
and  
impact on academic 
performance.  
 

Feeling comfortable 
being their true self, 
to share and 
connect with those 
that share interests 
etc., but also the 
enriching 
experience of 
meeting others from 
different 
backgrounds etc.  
 
Advocate for 
students. Working 
with lecturers and 
programme areas to 
understand 
expectations.  
 
If someone's shared 
something with a 
learning developer 
that was difficult but 
got a positive 
experience out of it, 
the student may be 
willing to share that 
with other students, 
lecturers, etc.  
 
Have better 
communications/ 
dialogues between 
staff/students. 

Allows students to 
feel confident and 
comfortable in 
participating in class 
discussions. 
 
May prompt a 
positive change in 
mindset so that 
learning becomes 
more like ‘If you give 
me enough time, I 
can learn this’, 
rather than looking 
for barriers to 
learning. 
  
Developing 
knowledge and 
expertise, skills, etc. 
that are 
emancipatory and 
fulfilling.  
 
Allowing students to 
find their identity 
within their 
institution.  
 
To feel empowered 
and have a voice, to 
contribute 
confidently to 
discussions.  

Opportunity to 
practice social 
communication! 
 
Feeling heard and 
confidence building 
positively affects all 
the groups on every 
question here!  
 
Feeling more 
confident managing 
their university 
experience 
themselves.  
 
I've used strengths-
based reflection 
tools before which 
have led to lightbulb 
moments for 
students where they 
realise how a 
difference in 
perspective is 
affecting personal 
relationships.  
 

Increasing 
confidence and 
willingness to have 
a go – the Imposter 
syndrome feeling 
can be powerful for 
many students –  
allowing them to see 
that these feelings 
are normal can be 
so helpful to them!  
 
Just the power of 
recognising they're 
not alone (so 
compassion from 
fellow learners, not 
only us). 
 
The confidence to 
try and keep trying. 
Being able to work 
with students 
regularly builds trust 
and compassion. 
  
Feeling more 
confident about their 
work and 
understanding that 
learning is a 
process, not 
something that is 
‘finished’.  



de Silva and Dempsey Empathy and compassion: towards wellbeing in learning development 

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 25: October 2022      3 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore, better 
university 
experience for all.  
 
Often LD 
conversations turn 
into self-awareness 
conversations that 
give students 
strategies for 
approaching difficult 
conversations and 
managing 
relationships.  
 
It can give students 
more confidence to 
help other students, 
approach lecturers.  
 
Learning HOW to 
ask questions of 
their lecturers and 
tutors (e.g., not just 
‘What do I do/How 
do I do this 
assignment?’).  
 

Makes them realise 
their opinion matters 
so they are more 
likely to speak up 
and get involved  
 
'Poor' wellbeing - 
not having ability to 
concentrate or focus 
due to stress or 
anxiety, taking a 
more surface 
approach to just 'get 
by’. 
  
Helping them realise 
that nothing is ever 
'perfect the first time 
around’.  
 
More positive 
mindset: 'if you give 
me enough time, I 
can learn this’, 
rather than 
identifying barriers 
to learning.  
 
Feeling like their 
anxiety or lack of 
confidence is 
normal and nothing 
to worry about can 
really release 
students.  
 

Sessions focused 
on academic 
resilience have 
compassion at their 
heart, and really 
help students make 
better use of  
feedback and 
develop a learning 
mindset.  
 
The much-needed 
motivation for 
students to get 
through their 
academic 
challenges; 
wellbeing and 
academic 
performance go 
hand in hand, I 
think.  
 
It's about 
confidence 
primarily, and being 
in a place where 
they can engage 
with self-efficacy, 
and overcome 
procrastination or 
low motivation. 



de Silva and Dempsey Empathy and compassion: towards wellbeing in learning development 

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 25: October 2022      4 

In session word clouds activity findings 

Image 1. Question: What does compassion mean in your teaching?    

 

 

Image 2. Question: What does empathy mean to you in your teaching? 

 

This was a well-paced, sensitively-led workshop, providing plenty of opportunities for us to 

unpack what we understand by, and associate with, terms like ‘empathy’, ‘compassion’ 

and ‘wellbeing’, as well as to discuss how learning development can be a space for more 

consciously and intentionally empathetic and compassionate educational practices. The 

Jamboard questions generated lots of insights and created a helpful resource to return to. 

 

It would be interesting to place work like this – work which pursues, by way of the 

cultivation of empathy and compassion, the goal of student wellbeing – into dialogue with 

critiques of the discourse of wellbeing in higher education. In particular, I am thinking about 

the way institutional emphases on individual wellbeing (together with regular reminders 

that personal wellbeing is something we all should be attending to) risk deflecting attention 

from how HE practices reproduce the very conditions that make an explicit focus on 

wellbeing appear so necessary. We might also wish to question precisely to what ends our 



de Silva and Dempsey Empathy and compassion: towards wellbeing in learning development 

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 25: October 2022      5 

work on wellbeing is directed, especially in the context of a sector in which notions of 

educational value have become so thoroughly subordinated to the imperatives of 

‘employability’ – narrowly-defined as the individual’s development of themselves as 

suitably disciplined, ‘work-ready’ human capital. Sunny Dhillon’s 2018 article, ‘Whose 

wellbeing is it anyway?’, in the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, 

would be an excellent starting point for such a dialogue – a dialogue that could further 

deepen the session leaders’ own reflections on what we mean when we speak of empathy 

and compassion in educational practice. 

 

Image 3. Empathy and compassion – wellbeing in learning development. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editorial comment 
 

This workshop facilitated discussions and communicated literature relating to a growing 

movement within learning development to explore empathy, compassion, and wellbeing. 

The session was well received and planned, with the majority of the findings from the 

workshop showcased through the Jamboards attached. It highlights the importance of 

empathising with learners, as opposed to teaching, developing and assessing, as 

empowering to both the staff member and the student. This paper begins a conversation, 

 



de Silva and Dempsey Empathy and compassion: towards wellbeing in learning development 

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 25: October 2022      6 

where further exploration could be undertaken by the learning development community 

and an interesting topic for further discussion might be whether the ‘imperatives of 

employability’ represent an issue or an opportunity for greater integration of wellbeing 

across employability and academic skills development (Peila-Shuster, 2016).     

 

 

Authors’ reflection 
 

The authors feel that looking at empathy and compassion in the way it was presented at 

the AldInHE June 2022 Conference made these concepts more tangible and academically 

framed. Learning development sessions can give students more confidence to help 

other students and approach lecturers. Learning development conversations have the 

capacity to turn into self-awareness conversations. Working with students regularly builds 

trust and compassion and gives students strategies for maintaining their wellbeing. Our 

main insight is that empathy and compassion contribute enormously to students’ wellbeing 

and that learning developers have a crucial role in building students’ confidence, 

motivation, and resilience throughout their university journey.   

 

 

Acknowledgments 
 

Thank you to the contributors who shared their reflections and enhanced our insights into 

this conference presentation. In particular, thank you to Steve Rooney, Aston University, 

for his contribution to this piece, and special thanks to Jacqui Bartram, University of Hull. 

 

We would like to thank the Academic Engagement and Learning Development (AELD) 

team at the University of Westminster for being the first participants of the Empathy and 

Compassion in Teaching workshop and who contributed valuable insights to our work.  

We would also like to thank the Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation (CETI) at 

the University of Westminster for inviting us to deliver the Empathy and Compassion in 

Teaching session, at the CETI Learning and Teaching Symposium which enabled us to 

open constructive discussions on the topic with our academic colleagues. 

 

 

 



de Silva and Dempsey Empathy and compassion: towards wellbeing in learning development 

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Issue 25: October 2022      7 

References 
 

Dhillon, S. (2018) ‘Whose wellbeing is it anyway?’, Journal of Learning Development in 

Higher Education, Special Issue, October, pp.1-16. 

https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.v0i0.460.  

 

Peila-Shuster, J. J. (2016) ‘Supporting student transitions: integrating life design, career 

construction, happenstance, and hope’, South African Journal of Higher Education, 

30(3). Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC197301 (Accessed: 24 August 

2022). 

 

 

Author details 
 

Daniela de Silva is an Academic Engagement and Development Manager (Accessibility) in 

the Library and Archive Services at the University of Westminster. Daniela is an 

experienced higher education practitioner with expertise and longstanding experience in 

supporting students with neurodiverse conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, and 

ASC. She also works as an Academic Professional Development Fellow with CETI (Centre 

for Education and Teaching Innovation) at the University of Westminster and co-creates 

academic professional development sessions on innovative learning and teaching, 

inclusive course design, and digital accessibility. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher 

Education Academy (SFHEA).  

 

Emma Dempsey is Academic Engagement and Learning Developer at the University of 

Westminster. She started her career teaching English as a Second Language to 

international students in London and she enjoyed bringing together an international class 

of students. The importance of building rapport and making classrooms fun, informal, and 

secure places where each student feels comfortable to share and feels valued has always 

been the focus of Emma’ s work. Since then, she has worked in a variety of educational 

settings in the UK and abroad, in secondary schools, further education colleges, and 

universities, focussing on academic English, personal development and academic skills 

subjects.  

 

https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.v0i0.460
https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC197301

	Empathy and compassion: towards wellbeing in learning development
	Presentation abstract
	Community response
	In session Jamboards
	In session word clouds activity findings


	Editorial comment
	Authors’ reflection
	Acknowledgments
	References
	Author details