Educaring from the Heart: How to Nurture Your Wellbeing and Re-Discover Your Purpose in Education

Inviting readers on a journey of self-reflection, Educaring from the Heart offers an approach to education which places care, empathy, and compassion at the core of the educator’s role.

Within the book, the reader is introduced to the principles underpinning educaring from the heart and encouraged to consider their own positionality when reflecting on the role they play in supporting both the learning and wellbeing of their students. Practical exercises are woven throughout to allow the reader to critically engage with how they understand themselves and their values as educators, and how this then shapes their wellbeing and practices in the classroom.

The book is divided into three distinct sections:

• The ＂I＂ as Educator
• The ＂Us＂ as Educator and Student
• The ＂We＂ as Cocreators for Wellbeing

With a focus on nurturing wellbeing and learning within the classroom, as well as the power of co-creativity, this book is an essential read for any educator seeking to re/discover their purpose within education and to foster positive outcomes for their students.

Deirdre McGillicuddy is an Assistant Professor in Education at UCD School of Education, University College Dublin, Ireland. She is a Froebel trained primary school teacher and has 25 years’ experience working in education and contributing to programmes preparing educators to work in early years settings, primary and secondary schools. Deirdre employs wellbeing practices at the heart of her own teaching/pedagogy for which she was awarded a UCD Teaching and Learning award (2020) and was a finalist in the ACEEU Triple E European Awards as Fast Forward Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year (2022).