Vulnerability, often, has a connotation of weakness. If one looks it up in the dictionary, one’s focus will usually be on parts that highlight words like exposed and the possibility of being attacked on an emotional or physical level. For me, our perception of vulnerability and more importantly, others view of vulnerability is as Brown (2019) refers to often comes down to shame. As an educator in a school that has an open-door policy for any teacher or administrator to walk in the classroom at any time, was initially very intimidating, again from a fear of shame or not living up to expectations.
However, with an attitude of compassion and respect, our school has made giant strides in “normalizing discomfort” (Brown 2019). By this, I mean that faculty and administrators are willing to converse on difficult topics if the focus/motivation is to benefit students and naturally to improve teaching practice. Over the past four years, we have also established an incredible mentorship or critical friend system. This system is, in essence, having teachers connect with someone they are comfortable with and then having them provide essential feedback on any area agreed upon.
In my own experience, this has been very effective in alleviating a sense of embarrassment. Because these observations and chats happen very frequently, it has helped me to be much more authentic/real. For my students, several factors contribute to not wanting to show vulnerability; these include stigma, lack of knowledge, denial, and stress. Regardless of the barriers to being vulnerable, it is resilience that is the goal, both personally and something as a school we want to facilitate in our students. The key is to focus on strengths rather than deficits and understanding that resilience is both content and context-specific (Fergus & Zimmerman, 2005) and being conscious that resilience is an ever-on-going journey through change and development. Not being vulnerable robs people of the opportunity of growth through challenges and crisis.
Adopting this mindset in the classroom and as an international teacher living abroad for two decades, has helped tremendously develop my intercultural understanding. As a diverse international faculty, pedagogical approaches are varied, and priorities are different in some respects and styles of communication are distinct. With these factors in mind, one must feel vulnerable or allow one to be vulnerable and exposed. It is near-sighted to take a stance of ‘one-size fits all’ and the sooner we as educators are willing to face things that do not necessarily fit our ‘cultural’ programming, the easier it will be for that approach to filter through to our students (Kim, 1988, p.52).
“Vulnerability is not only a condition to be endured, but also to be acknowledged, cherished and embraced” (Kelcthermans, 2005, p.999). I have found over the years that humility shown in front of students has had remarkable impacts on their attitude towards learning. As teachers, we all have our own ‘tricks’ or anecdotes to engage students, but showing humility has in many ways lead the way for my students to be risk-takers and truly step out of their shells.
We do need to show our intellectual prowess but should endeavour to create instead an atmosphere of curiosity and inquiry, where we clearly show students that we too are learners, continuously learning and challenging ourselves. It is our responsibility to facilitate situations in the classroom that welcome vulnerability and compel us (teachers and students) to reach beyond ourselves and act on our own initiatives. It is through this embracing of vulnerability that we can have better self-efficacy and ultimately have our students recover quicker from failures and or setbacks.
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References
Ahern, N., R,. Kiehl., E., M., Sole, M., L., & Byers, J., 2006. A review of instruments measuring resilience. In Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, 29: 103-125, 2006
Brown, B. (2019). Daring greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead.
Fergus, S., & Zimmerman, M., 2005. Adolescent Resilience: A Framework for Understanding Healthy Development in the Face of Risk. In Annual Review Public Health (2005) 26: 399-419
Kelchtermans, G. (2005). Teachers’ emotions in educational reforms: Self-understanding, vulnerable commitment and micropolitical literacy. Teaching and TeacherEducation, 21,995-1006.
Kim, Y., Y., 1988. Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation: An Integrative Theory. Multilingual Matters, Philadelphia