Caring means regarding the student as a person. When teachers sincerely implement caring techniques and practices, students will feel they are regarded as human beings, not things; as people, not indifferent objects; and as a somebody, and not a nobody (Noddings, 2003). Teachers’ caring intentions entail raising students’ self-awareness, recognizing their individual existence, and awakening their distinguished dignity. Caring teachers facilitate the student’s entire personal development, while indifferent teachers pour information into students like receptive vessels. Teachers who treat students in a caring way will experience students as unique individuals, each with particular difficulties, aptitudes, and circumstances, whereas indifferent teachers will see students as student identification numbers on an attendance sheet. Education is not a mechanized assembly line producing standardized human units, but an organic, communal experience that requires teachers to do more and go beyond merely teaching lessons and grading papers (Ferreira & Bosworth, 2001).
Caring spawns trust. When caring flows from teachers to students, students’
awareness of teachers’ good intentions will naturally arise overtime. This student awareness will allow trust to develop between the student and teacher. This trust is natural but exclusive to the teacher-student setting. Frymier and Houser (2000) have said, “When
a trusting and caring relationship develops between teachers and students, a safe learning environment is created” (p. 217). Within this caring, trusting, and safe environment, students’ motivation, involvement, and teacher-student interaction are extended. Teachers who have artificially confined their professional space to the dissemination and reception of knowledge and skill mastery have limited their own and their students’ potential for success.
Caring and trust create positive affections. Just as caring will foster the development of student trust of the teacher, this caring and trust will create a flow of positive affections from the student to the teacher and the curriculum. The students’
feelings and attitudes, or affection, has been recognized as an important factor in cognitive learning (Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Rodriguez, Plax, & Kearnery, 1996) although the exact relationship between affective and cognitive learning remains uncertain (Zhang
& Oetzel, 2006). Regardless of the internal mechanism by which affection influences cognitive learning, optimizing positive affection is desirable in all classrooms (Wiggan, 2007). For instance, once students feel a sense of trust, whereby increasing their positive affection, they will be more inclined to face the challenges of learning, such as by having the courage to raise their hand and ask a question in class. Students who trust will be less likely to feel hindered by potential embarrassment and being charged as stupid and will be more open to actively access knowledge directly from teachers who were previously unapproachable symbols of authority and hierarchy.
Caring increases students’ academic achievements. The connection between caring and improved learning is demonstrated by several studies showing that caring relationships improve students’ academic achievement (Danielsen, Wiium, Wlhelmsen,
& Wold, 2010; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; McKinney De Royston et al., 2017; Pogue
& AhYun, 2006; Rodriguez et al., 1996; Wiggan, 2007). Students themselves report that a one-on-one relationship with a teacher outside of the class could help the teacher understand them better and enhance their learning (Chen, 2000). Students who understand the teacher-student relationship is based on caring will not only be more willing to engage the teacher and become an active participant in the classroom space, but they will likewise be more motivated to learn. Motivation invites students to become
more involved in their learning; higher motivation levels increase active participation in the classroom, such as volunteering to raise their hands and answer questions or being more willing to interact with teachers and other classmates (Pintrich, 2003). From a more positive engagement in learning, students will enhance their achievement in school.
This achievement makes the students feel rewarded by their efforts, creates a positive feedback cycle, and brings about even more motivation. This additional motivation can launch profound and deep learning experiences, going beyond rote memorization.
Finally, students who are cared for develop trust and increased motivation, resulting in positive affection for their teacher and school, contributing to their recognition of the teacher’s professional status and, from this, increasing the teacher’s effectiveness, furthering academic, affective, and behavioral learning.
Caring improves students’ positive behavior and thinking. In addition to having pragmatic benefits in academic achievement, caring can also bring out the proper behavior and positive thinking among students (Docan-Morgan & Manusov, 2009;
Mihalas, Morse, Allsopp, & McHatton, 2009). Conversely, negative teacher-student relationships are highly predictive of students’ emotional and behavioral problems (Murray & Murray, 2004). Students with a positive inner-self and self-image are more confident, have higher levels of self-esteem, and are more at ease with their surroundings.
If we have caring teachers, students will open their mind and share their problems.
The caring teacher will listen and respond proactively to students’ problems, reducing the chance that students will resort to radical and unpleasant ways to solve their problems.
Caring relationships give students more opportunities to interact with teachers to solve problems immediately and be comforted by teachers. In the end, it will result in healthy, long-term relationships to support students in conquering their frustrations and developing happier lives as learners. This will also have positive effects on students collectively and the classroom environment as a whole; students who are internally content and comforted can more easily attain external harmony. Therefore, caring can improve students’ self-esteem, self-confidence, inner-tranquility, positive thinking, giving them more motivation to engage in deep subject learning and remain in harmony with their peers.
Caring promotes social justice to benefit the disadvantaged. Caring benefits, although numerous and substantial for all students, may be the most marked for minority group students (Soto, 2005; Wiggan, 2007). Many minorities have lower socio-economic status, creating a more stressful working life for parents, affording them less time to
"care" for their children. Additionally, minorities may face open and notorious forms of discrimination and racism from the majority culture. Since many minorities lack caring at home and from the society, it is even more important for the school to compensate for this deficit. This echoes John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice where he mentioned society’s inequalities should be arranged so that the least advantaged members of society receive the greatest benefit (Rawls, 1971/1999).
For minorities, teacher caring may be added to a very small base of caring, while for the majority, teacher caring may be added to a very large reservoir of caring from other sources. Both groups benefit from teacher caring, but minorities will benefit more because the impact of the caring will be much greater relative to the minority students’
small base of caring. Therefore, teachers can adopt a caring approach to benefit the most deprived students the most without using extra resources.
Caring may be especially helpful in special education, too. Murray and Pianta (2007) investigated disabled students and pointed out that positive teacher-relationships are important for all students, but disabled students are particularly vulnerable and need explicit and direct support from a caring adult. In school, teachers are the central and most powerful force in the lives of young people so it should be the teacher’s responsibility to adopt a caring attitude to ensure that these less fortunate students are provided with an equal opportunity to learn and achieve their potential.
B. Johnson (2008) conducted an Australian longitudinal study from 1997 to 2005 and discovered several ways to promote students’ resilience. Resilience is a capacity for students to adapt successfully in challenging and threatening circumstances. The ways Johnson highlighted included teachers respecting everyone as human beings, making themselves available and accessible to students, listening actively to students’ concerns, having empathy with students’ tough circumstances, and providing students with positive strategies for coping with crises. These strategies are similar to the caring approach to
teaching described in this paper.