Reflection on supporting offshore international students during the pandemic

international student agency and the enactment of caring teaching

Abstract

Teaching is usually considered a caring profession, yet care in higher education settings is rarely studied. In this reflective piece, I draw on my experiences supporting offshore international students during the pandemic to highlight that maternal, calculated and neoliberal care are not the only enactments of care possible in higher education setting. I propose that communal forms of caring teaching based on recognition and dialogic relationship with students offer tertiary educators the opportunity to put the heart back to the neoliberal university.