Theorizing critical care: Examining communication instructors’ care-based pedagogies

Perceptions of instructors as caring have been connected to numerous positive student outcomes. Yet, limited research has examined care beyond positive student–instructor interpersonal interactions. Using critical communication pedagogy as a framework, this study sought to examine how communication instructors understood and enacted care-based pedagogies in their classrooms. Based on interviews with 18 instructors, we argue that care can function as an instructional ontology that views students as unique individuals operating in specific contexts, develops partnerships with students to create collaborative learning environments, and resists constraining institutional structures toward classroom environments that work for all students. We conclude by rearticulating critical care as a framework that considers care at the intersection of the self, the student, and the context and offers a multifaceted understanding of care.