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Wintering Contributions Design Conclude
Introduction
Sandra Abegglen, Annapurna Menon, Kelsea Costin
As the days grow shorter and mornings become frostier, winter’s arrival is felt not only in the world around us but also within the rhythms of academic life and the walls of our classrooms. Against this backdrop, three educators and inclusion advocates came together at the end of 2024 to reflect on a critical disconnection: the divide between the embodied self and the expected working self in the academy. These reflections illuminated a pressing need to reimagine academic practices that honor our humanity, aligning them with both our bodies and the wider socio-natural environment, particularly during the challenges of winter.
This shared inquiry prompted us to ask educators: What are your academic wintering practices? How do you navigate the colder, darker days with your students? What small comforts or creative strategies make teaching, learning, and simply existing in the university more bearable – and even joyful - during this season? We sought to learn from the collective wisdom of others, interested in how educators navigate these seasonal challenges while supporting their own well-being and that of their students.
To explore these questions, we developed a short online survey inviting educators to share their academic wintering practices. What emerged was a rich tapestry of strategies and insights. Many educators already engage in practices aligned with Katherine May’s concept of “wintering” (2020a, 2020b), even if they don’t explicitly name them as such. These acts of care take many forms: steaming cups of tea in classrooms, cozy blankets for virtual teaching, or opportunities for students to share their favorite winter traditions. Others cultivate nurturing environments through reflective rituals, moments of collective pause, or playful activities that bring a sense of seasonal cheer.
Creative pedagogies also thrive during these months. One educator describes hosting “snowball fights” with crumpled paper, a playful activity that fostered connection and respectful participation. These examples remind us of the power of small, intentional actions to transform the learning experience, enriching both teaching and the sense of community within the classroom.
Winter, then, becomes an opportunity – not merely a season to endure but a time to embrace warmth, foster connection, and prioritize well-being – as defined by the person and not by the University. Drawing on May’s concept of seasonal rhythms, this collection explores how “wintering” can inspire joy, renewal, and resilience. Through personal stories and collective wisdom, we invite educators to see the colder days as a time to slow down, reconnect with our humanity, and care for our academic communities. In doing so, we uncover practices that transform the academy into a space that embraces life’s seasons – both literal and metaphorical – with intention and grace.
‘Wintering’ in the Neoliberal University
Sandra Abegglen, Annapurna Menon, Kelsea Costin
As we make sense of our practices and our work, we note the importance of situating them within the neoliberal university. This then enables us to contextualize our work and enable us to analyze the systems we are located in and our own responses to them. Universities increasingly function in a manner akin to corporations, with increased bureaucracy and corporate style governance, with reduced decisionmaking space for academics and students. As the funding for educational institutions has shifted from public to private, this has solely demonstrated how “corporations, the military, and right-wing foundations had seized control of institutions of higher learning” (1995) – and this has only intensified. The goal of education within these institutions has firmly shifted from knowledge exchange and liberation to corporate profit and producing the ideal consumers (Macleod, 1998; Parker, 2011).
This was visualized during the pro-Palestine encampments during 2024 where Universities in the UK, USA, and the Netherlands, to name a few, called the Police and other armed units on their own students. This was mainly done to protect these Universities’ investments in weapons companies. As Olivier (2022) notes the overdependence of US Universities on weapons manufacturers – and, similarly in the case of the UK, military investments within universities, which total at least £1bn (Jinsella, 2023) – is concerning. The response of the Universities during these divestment campaigns clearly demonstrated that our present universities do not, automatically, prioritize the interests of their university community. In fact, the concept of this community has fundamentally shifted; it is now dominated by university CEOs and their business partners, while most educators are relegated to being viewed simply as part of the workforce.
As the interests of business partners have been prioritized, it is unsurprising that our bodies and our relationships are no longer in consideration. The focus is on ‘productivity’ in what is referred to as the “hegemonic work-centric model” (Rosa, 2021) in Universities. She notes that though the impact of this model is felt across genders, women are more likely to experience “work-life conflict” (Ibid). This is because productivity in the neoliberal context is based on disembodiment. The ideal academic worker is a cis-man who is white and is a Professor, the customs and traditions of academia are designed around him and everyone else must try to embody his approach (Hochschild, 2003) rather than the realities of their own bodies. On a daily basis, we are expected to ignore our social, political, biological, economic factors and show up to work to deliver a standardized experience of teaching and learning.
Ollilainen demonstrates how the requirement of disembodiment resulted in women in academia refusing to or delaying announcing their pregnancies and how the opportunities offered to them changed drastically (often reducing) after pregnancy (2018). In line with this, ‘women’s jobs’ continue to be deeply undervalued leading to increased risks to health and of stress (Hellerstedt, 2022). Furthermore, studies note that 70% of academics are not comfortable with expressing their queer identities at work (Freeman, 2020) and in the UK, 50% of trans and non-binary students have considered withdrawing from their University courses (as compared to 20% in the complete student population) (Freeman and Stephenson, 2024). Similarly, due to the pervasive ableism in the University, academics and students with a disability are more likely to try and invisibilize their disability and are often expected to provide additional labor when applying for promotions (Dolan, 2023). The University would have us believe that all the above is down to individual capacity; however we note that work related stress and health issues signify a failure of the University to accommodate and provide for the staff and students that make it a ‘University’.
In recent times, Universities have introduced a range of ‘wellness’ measures to address some of the issues raised above. Though the discussion around wellness as a means to discipline workers bodies has a long history (Foucault, 1980), it is relevant here to note that the emphasis of wellness programs on ‘individual improvement’ is often responded to with enthusiasm. However, within the University, wellness programs work to absolve the University of responsibility for the health of their workers and students despite being severely underfunded (BACP, 2022). For Annapurna, this has been magnified in recent months as the institution she works for, the University of Sheffield, is going through a financial mismanagement crisis along with restructuring. This has resulted in compulsory redundancies and there have been mornings when she has received emails notifying her colleagues and her of redundancies and the next email consisting of tips to practice Desk Yoga for stress management. This becomes even more ironic as staff are aware that the Mental Health Services within the University have a waiting period of around three years. Then, practices of care within the University, both individual and collective, are not just about enhancing productivity, they are about restoring our bodies as relational to the people we work with, the environment we work in, and the values we hold close. Many of the contributions to our initial prompt touched upon this such as taking extra steps to encourage students to come into the University –feeling acknowledged and valued - and providing opportunities, such as informal hot chocolate hangouts, to connect with peers and educators.
In the next section, we reflect on our positionalities and our own take on winter-ing in Academia because, as situated educators, we want to acknowledge our own positionalities.
Positionalities
Annapurna: On a very cold, wet winter evening and dealing with severe menstrual cramps, I found myself prepping my lesson plan while in bed. This got me thinking about how it wasn’t great to work from bed but also the implications for my health. This got me thinking about how often and regularly we prioritize our work over our own selves. As an Indian scholar in the UK, on precarious visas and as an early career scholar, taking care of my health is often a luxury that I simply cannot afford. While I got lucky enough to find a job in the University right after completion of my doctoral studies, this involved moving to another city where I did not know a single person. This meant my support circle was largely online and, for a long time, I did do the academic bit of theorizing and gaslighting my struggles (being thankful I had a job); it became even more difficult to find support as I moved away from my usual networks. During this time, the institutional context shifted significantly, going from a secure position to one facing redundancies and harassment due to my transparent politics and critiques of the University. I found myself reaching out to my former collaborators more, shifting my energies to political organizing and prioritizing my students over my institution. This shift in my approach towards the University has not given me a promotion or a secure job, but it has enabled me to continue doing the work I do and build relationships built on care, accountability and reciprocity, a source of warmth during our cold winters.
Sandra: Over the years, I have studied and taught at various universities, in different locations and roles. My workload has always been heavy, and despite my dedication, I was never offered a permanent position with opportunities for promotion. Currently, I am juggling two jobs: a research position where I am responsible for securing my own projects and funding, and an Academic Aide role. Although I may not visually represent what some perceive as a diverse educator, my background tells a different story. Coming from a working-class family and being the first (and only one) in my family to attend university and earn a PhD, I have had to navigate a system often indifferent to those from nontraditional academic backgrounds. Finding my ‘tribe’ in academia - those who understand and resist the persistent dominant norms and cultures - has been essential to my journey. Despite these challenges, I am passionate about what I do because I deeply value the transformative power of education for individuals and society. While efforts toward inclusion and well-being have been made, I firmly believe we are still far from achieving true inclusivity. In fact, it sometimes feels like we are regressing, with people increasingly judged by their appearance, their background and their ideas. Yet, I remain hopeful. There is so much potential for education to break down barriers and foster a more equitable world – if we can challenge these entrenched systems and work together to create meaningful connections, we can change things for the better - for everyone.
Kelsea: For me, getting through the winter season in London involves slowing down, wrapping up in cozy clothing, and embracing feelings of warmth through interactions with my communities (academic and non-academic), creative practices and nature. I have been a university student for nearly five years now, in which winter-ing routines have become the standard. Beginning the day with a jasmine green tea, grabbing a hot chocolate on my way to campus, and taking a walk through Russell Square gardens to admire the greenery are all practices which help to settle me into the university (head)space before I have even
entered the building. Many of these practices are an attempt at staying energized, engaged, organized and motivated in the university space.
However, I have learned that it is impossible to be this person all of the time, and that rest is essential. In order to maintain these efforts, I have to balance them with rest days, opening up the space to fuel my creative energy and enabling myself to draw inspiration from this shift in tempo, embracing slowing down to keep going in the colder weather and shorter days. I have also learned the importance of collaborative practice during the winter period having worked in a student-staff partnership team for two years. Building relationships with my colleagues which challenge traditional power hierarchies and forming circles of care provides me with warmth and the courage to continue doing my work in the university. These relationships also provide me with hope that, on continuation of this work, community, collaboration and partnership will become central to the function of the university, providing a space for knowledge production where currently minoritized knowledges are uplifted, and decolonial and antiracist pedagogies are brought to the forefront.
Emerging Themes
As we reflect on the literature, our own experiences, and the submissions received within the shifting landscapes of higher education, key themes emerge that contextualize and critique the neoliberal university - and help acknowledge our embodied selves are:
Corporatization and Disempowerment: Universities increasingly operate as corporate entities, prioritizing profit and governance models akin to businesses. This shift has led to reduced decision-making power for both academics and students.
Embodiment and Disembodiment in Academic Labor: The neoliberal university fosters a “hegemonic work-centric model” (Rosa, 2021) that prioritizes productivity while ignoring the embodied realities of its workforce. This model perpetuates disembodiment, privileging an ideal academic figure while marginalizing those who do not fit this archetype.
Wellness as a Tool for Discipline: Universities have introduced wellness programs, yet these initiatives often individualize responsibility for mental and physical health while ignoring the actual wellbeing of staff and students.
Restoring Relational Practices of Care: Amid the challenges experienced by educators and students in the neoliberal university, practices of care – both individual and collective –emerge as acts of resistance and restoration. These are not about enhancing productivity but about fostering relationality: building selfawareness and worth, building and valuing connections with others and the wider world.
Wintering in Academia: By embracing critical reflection and relational care, we can reclaim academia as a space for inclusion, equity, and community. This requires acknowledging the structural barriers we face while fostering practices that prioritize individual and collective well-being during challenging times such as conscious wintering activities that acknowledge us as whole human beings.
Conclusion
To conclude, by prioritizing embodied, inclusive practices and fostering connections, we can create environments that value individuals as whole human beings and nurture communities rooted in equity, wellbeing, and collective growth. This involves consciously embracing the practice of wintering within academia to reclaim space for reflection, care, and relationality amidst the challenges of the neoliberal university.
References
BACP (2022, June 20). University Mental Health Funding will only scratch the surface of need of support. BACP, News. https://www. bacp.co.uk/news/news-from-bacp/2022/20-june-university-mentalhealth-funding-will-only-scratch-the-surface-of-need-for-support/
Dolan, V. L. B. (2021). “…but if you tell anyone, I’ll deny we ever met”: The experiences of academics with invisible disabilities in the neoliberal university. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 36(4), 689–706. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.202 1.1885075
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977. (trans. C. Gordon) Brighton Harvester.
Freeman, J., & Stephenson, R. (2024). Trans and non-binary student experiences in higher education. HEPI. https://www.hepi. ac.uk/2024/05/23/trans-and-non-binary-student-experiences-inhigher-education/
Freeman, J. B. (2020). Measuring and resolving LGBTQ disparities in STEM. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7(2), 141–148. https://doi.org/10.1177/237273222094323
Harvie, D. (2000) Alienation, class and enclosure in UK universities. Capital & Class, 24(2), 103–132. https://doi.org/10.1177/03098168 0007100105
Hellerstedt, L. (2022). Report: Women do the academic housework. Universitates Lararen. https://universitetslararen.se/2022/03/17/ report-women-do-the-academic-housework/
Jinsella (2023, February 07). Explained: The £1Bn plus deals between UK Universities and the Arms Trade. Declassified UK. https://www.declassifieduk.org/explained-the-1bn-plus-dealsbetween-uk-universities-and-the-arms-trade/
May, K. (2020a) Wintering: How I learned to flourish when life became frozen. Rider.
May, K. (2020b) Wintering: The power of rest and retreat in difficult times. Penguin.
Olivier, I. (2022, August 18). US universities are pipelines to the defense industry. What does that say about our morals? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/ aug/18/us-universities-are-pipelines-to-the-defense-industry-whatdoes-that-say-about-our-morals
Ollilainen, M. (2019). Ideal bodies at work: Faculty mothers and pregnancy in academia. Gender and Education, 32(7), 961–976. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2019.1632808
Parker, L. (2011). University corporatisation: Driving redefinition. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 22(4), 434–450. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.cpa.2010.11.002
Rosa, R. (2021). The trouble with ‘work–life balance’ in neoliberal academia: A systematic and critical review. Journal of Gender Studies, 31(1), 55–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2021.193 3926
Soley, L. (1995). Leasing the ivory tower. South End
Winter Mornings a Time Focus
Jacqui Thijm Project Tutor UCEM
United
Kingdom
As a part-time EdD doctoral student, I am currently exploring themes around Critical Theory and Feminist Thinking; this can at times be both uncomfortable and confronting, and yet it is deeply illuminating and fascinating.
Early mornings – think 5a.m. – are my most productive times. There is something special about a quiet house all to myself, even as the mornings get colder and darker when that alarm goes off, but the reward of not hitting the snooze button is worth it. I get that all important cup of coffee and set up my reading/ writing space with my mug warmer to keep my coffee hot to the last drop. I love to light a candle-especially the kind that crackles like a cozy fire.
Once everything is ready, I start my Pomodoro timer and I am all ready to work. I have discovered an app which has white noise and the added bonus of a cat meow to signal the end of each 25-minute session. This gives me a little bit of joy and helps with motivation.
Then as the rest of the house wakes up and I get ready for my working day I feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that I have had a good start to my day.
But of course, this does mean by 9pm (okay maybe 8pm sometimes), I am done for the day and ready for an early night. In the past this would be unwinding with a book, but with all the academic reading I do now I find this a difficult way to relax. However, I do enjoy an audio book or podcast as I wind down for the day.
Snowball Fights & Learning Communities
Myriam Houssay-Holzschuch Professor Université Grenoble Alpes France
bsky: @mhoussayh.cpesr.fr
As for myself, I make a much more conscious effort in winter time to take my coffee break outside, to make the most of the light. The benches in front of my building are a wonderful place to chat with colleagues and students and enjoy community. My insulated mug allows me to enjoy the cold while keeping the coffee piping hot, and my parka allows me to sit on wet benches (yes, wintering requires some appropriate gear).
My best memory is arriving one morning after some serious snow, warmed up by a commute by bike before the streets were cleared, watching the winter sun rise while students were building little snow sculptures. Snowball fights are such a great tool to build learning communities!
There’s the literal snowball fight (always a lot of fun) and the snowball fight that happens in the classroom and doesn’t require snow (which is also a lot of fun): I learned that technique from Susan Hrach's “Minding bodies”.
In case some people don’t know this technique, here it is: All the students (and the instructor too) write a question about the subject at hand on a piece of paper and roll it up; then they start a ‘snowball’ fight with the pieces of paper. Each of them then picks up a paper ball from the floor, unrolls it, and tries to answer the question before opening the floor for group discussion. This ensures active participation from absolutely everyone, and a variety of questions (no one is ashamed of asking their question, as it will be anonymous and read by someone else
Acknowledging Seasonal Shifts Through our Compassionate Collaborative Practice
My role is staff facing so these are practices I have designed and undertake in the work I do supporting the development of colleagues’ teaching practices.
For context, since 2020 I've run seasonal ‘development days’ for my team of academics and careers professionals. These are what might traditionally be considered ‘away days’ but I've designed them over time to have a distinct focus on compassion, belonging and deep collaboration. We are a team of eight people with diverse intersectional experiences across disability, ethnicity, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and care giving. We have drawn on our lived experiences to evolve a values-driven, activist-oriented approach to employability education (Breslin, 2024).
In our Winter Development Days next week, we'll take some time to reflect on the intentions we set at the beginning of the academic year and reconnect with the mantra we each created in September. We'll use this to orient where we find ourselves at the end of a hectic term and consider if we need to shift our direction or approach in the coming terms.
Our discussions will focus on balancing our individual and collective needs with those of our students. We'll take time to reflect on student feedback and emerging trends and explore how these exist in relation to our own experiences. We've learned that by building a nourishing, compassionate collaborative practice, we are best placed to extend the same compassion and consideration to our students.
I run these days at the end of each term and just this year have shifted to naming them 'winter', 'spring' and 'summer' Development Days as I can now recognise the seasonal shift in my own focus, energy levels and how I design our time together. So, our winter days this year are about rest, reorientation and reflection. The aim is for these days to provide us with the nourishment we need to set us up for a period of rest in advance of another frenetic spring term.
Cozy Compassion
Julia Ouzia Senior Lecturer in Psychology (Education) King’s College London
United Kingdom
I'm a big lover of coziness and try to offer this to my students as best as I can – I wear Christmas jumpers in my final week of teaching and take my supervisees for a hot drink and a chat. I think modelling being extra kind to oneself and others is a very useful way of wintering in academia.
Hot Chocolate & Cookies Holiday
Social
Michele Jacobsen Professor, Learning Sciences University of Calgary Canada
Throughout the year, university students, staff, and faculty embrace opportunities to come together, and foster meaningful connections and a sense of belonging within our School of Education community. For many of our domestic and international students, especially those far from home, regular social events create a welcoming space to build relationships with each other and with faculty, share experiences, and combat feelings of isolation, particularly during the colder months. In early December, we hosted a holiday social that brought together over 100 people throughout the afternoon for connection, seasonal music, and festive cheer. With hot chocolate, cookies, and plenty of smiles, the event served not only as a joyful gathering but also as an opportunity to give back to our broader community through a fundraiser for a local charity. This shared ‘academic wintering’ practice reflected the true spirit of togetherness – creating warmth, supporting one another, and celebrating the season as a united community.
Brightening Winter Streets with Christmas Lights
Ozge Suvari Doctoral Researcher
University of Westminster United Kingdom
My own wintering experience is very much from a student perspective. These days, I’ve settled into a routine of studying from home, and there’s nothing better than curling up on a cosy sofa with a blanket, my laptop, and a steaming hot drink to keep me company.
During these cold months, I love staying cosy at home but catching up with friends over coffee when I’m on campus is always a highlight. Seeing the Christmas ornaments around the city makes going out feel a bit more special, too. They make me pause and smile, and I hope they bring a little brightness to your day too!
A Poetry Project to Warm the Reflective Heart
Winters are cold, dark and wet in the UK. Finding ways to generate feelings of cosines and togetherness are top priority. This is no different when thinking about supporting students’ learning. Learning is after all relational.
In semester 1 during the academic year 2024/25 we introduced a poetry project to grow as reflective practitioners. Reflection can be hard to master and conventional ways don’t always help. Poetry can be liberating for our mind, heart and hand. We break free from academic writing conventions and express with richness the messiness of our human experience, what moves us, and what makes us think, without needing to use many words. Our language becomes elliptic and metaphorical. Poetry helps us illuminate our emotions and what really matters, make sense of our experiences and communicate our thoughts with clarity, openness and ambiguity at the same time, which is thrilling and invites conversations, which is really important for reflection. Through the poem’s metaphorical elements, one student even used seasons in reflecting on their lived experiences at the University while seeking solace and expressing optimism through the writing process.
The project involves colleagues from the School of Education, the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and Digital Education Services at the University of Leeds. It aims to bring together students and staff across disciplines to build human connections to shared learning experiences through engaging in poetic creative reflection about their learning. While it is winter now, the project will continue beyond the cold, dark and wet winter months. The cycle of seasonal change is continuous;
Chrissi Nerantzi, Ben Chong, Damian McDonald, Hanaa Mustafa University of Leeds
United Kingdom
spring will soon be here again! Educators are not bystanders but active participants in the project and the ambition is to continue in spring Semester 2 with further groups of students and their educators and publish at the end of the year an open book with the curated poems and share it with the wider academic community. The book will also help evaluate to what extent poetry can be a valuable tool in the toolkit to develop reflective practice in meaningful ways for lifewide and lifelong learning.
Abegglen, S., Burns, T., & Sinfield, S. (2017). Becoming writers: Transforming students’ academic writing. Investigations in University Teaching and Learning, 11, 42-46. ISSN 1740–5106.
Abegglen, S., Burns, T., & Sinfield, S. (2021). Supporting student writing and other modes of learning and assessment: A staff guide. University of Calgary.
Illingworth, S. (2022). Using poetry to solve problems. Times Higher Education. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/ campus/using-poetry-solve-problems
Jack, K., & Illingworth, S. (2019). Developing reflective thinking through poetry writing: Views from students and educators. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1515/ijnes-2018-0064
Owton, H. (2017). Poetry as reflective writing. In: Doing poetic inquiry. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan.
Simecek, K., & Rumbold, K. (2016) The uses of poetry. Changing English, 23(4), 309–313.
Thomson, P. (2022, September 26). Is academic writing changing? Patter. https://patthomson.net/2022/09/26/isacademic-writing-changing/
Clean the Air and Reduce COVID Risk
Heather Ganshorn Librarian
University of Calgary Canada
I think the number one practice that would help make being at the university during the winter months better would be air quality mitigation for preventing COVID and other respiratory illnesses. This is not something individuals can accomplish on their own, but something we must be demanding from our institutions to protect our students and our own health. This recent article outlines what universities should be doing to protect students from long COVID: https://theprovince.com/opinion/op-ed/opinionwe-can-and-must-do-more-to-protect-students-inhigher-education-from-the-risks-of-long-covid.
Wright, J. M., Ungrin, M., & Tennant, R. (2024, December 09). Opinion: We can, and must, do more to protect students in higher education from the risks of long COVID. The Province. https:// theprovince.com/opinion/op-ed/opinion-we-can-and-must-domore-to-protect-students-in-higher-education-from-the-risks-oflong-covid
Nothing Special
Licen
MA student
Columbia University
USA
As a student, frankly speaking, weather doesn’t affect me much. I pull myself out of home (which is not difficult for me) to a cafe or library because changing the environment helps me to enter a studying mode. Also, I reward myself with a cup of hot chocolate from time to time – I just love sweet things!
An Embodied Wintering Practice
Hannah Breslin Educational Developer: Employability UAL England
As an autistic person my sensory and physical experience of the world diverges significantly from most people’s. My embodied experience of being autistic shows up as differences in how I move, as well as how my body senses and interprets external stimuli. As such, my divergent needs play an important role in how I support and collaborate with my team, which, in turn, influences the ways in which we teach and extend compassion to our students.
At this time of the year my experiences of being autistic, and my evolving practice of wintering, converge around my light sensitivity. Light sensitivity has the most significant bearing on how I live my life. It guides me on where I can go, for how long I can be there, what activities I engage in and what experiences I have access to. Essentially much of my time and energy during the darker months is spent figuring out how to avoid strong, overhead artificial lighting as it causes physical pain, unsettling sensations and, with prolonged exposure, sensory overload (Lovering, 2022).
The upshot of this is an increased awareness of, and synchronicity with, the rhythms of natural light. I start my day before the sun rises and practice some breathwork to regulate my nervous system, as I take in the view from my window of the trees silhouetted against the steadily brightening sky. Breathwork is something I practice year-round but, in these darker months, witnessing the gradual dawning of light is powerful. This rhythm carries through to sunset as I work from home in dimly lit spaces, so I am attuned to the slow setting of the sun and, with it, the passing of time.
My team comes on this journey with me on the days we spend together, in-person, at the end of the autumn term. To honor my sensory needs, I make a request that we work with the overhead lights off, until this presents challenges for others. This means, in the colder months, that we witness the gradual fading of the light together. This mostly passes in an unspoken way but, for me, there is a strong sense of community and belonging in having others join me in these moments of quiet wintering.
Inevitably, we acquiesce to the dark and turn on the lights, but it’s an honour to work with, and support others, who hold this space so graciously with me.
Lovering, N. (2022, February 15). Sensory overload: What it is and why it happens – takeaway. PsychCentral. https:// psychcentral.com/health/sensory-overload#takeaway
Islands in the Sun
Tom Burns, Sandra Sinfield Associate Teaching Professors
We group the tables into islands w/sugar paper & felt tips for notes – and sweets (we buy ourselves) or small boxes of porridge (foraged from the Students’ Union) to make the students feel special – creative, low stakes collaboration = friendship groups.
Sinfield, S., Burns, T., & Abegglen, S. (n.d.). Take5 #87 Towards a more creative and playful HE. #Take5. https://aldinhe.ac.uk/ take5-87-towards-a-more-creative-and-playful-he/
We teach our PGCert online. Quite often we have a holding slide as a ‘welcome’ reminding arrivals of work that should have been done... Last winter, we started to replace that with a blank slide – and a prompt asking people to doodle and draw as they arrived. And as they drew, they chatted. This created a playful way to start the session.
Airth, V., Burns, T., Dempsey, J., Gevorgyan, R., Hunting, J., & Sinfield, S. (n.d.). #Take5 #51 The best way to develop a compassionate pedagogy? #Take5. https://aldinhe.ac.uk/take551-the-best-way-to-develop-a-compassionate-pedagogy/
High Visibility
Michael Upton Head of Teaching and Learning Development
London
Metropolitan University
United
Kingdom
We know from speaking to our international students that the UK weather conditions, and light can sometimes be a big change and challenge. Winter offers an opportunity for community building and shared empathy as part of developing our students’ sense of belonging, mattering, and becoming.
Create an opportunity in small groups for your class to share and celebrate the experience and customs of winter in their home town, county, country or continent (including here) including what the weather is like in their home country right now or what season it is. As an extension ask the class to suggest tips for a winter guidebook for next year’s students, collected on paper or Padlet – it could even be used to help next year’s cohort. Being seen in a dark winter takes more than a high viz jacket!
Morgan J., & O Hara M. (2023, October). Belonging, mattering and becoming: Empowering education through connection. AdvanceHE. https://advance-he.ac.uk/news-and-views/ belonging-mattering-and-becoming-empowering-educationthrough-connection
Classroom Joy The Power of Stickers in Higher Education
Rebekah Bennetch Lecturer of Technical Communication
University of Saskatchewan / Ron and Jane
Graham School of Professional Development Canada
bsky: @grrrl.bsky.social
To make my required winter term class more enjoyable, I use a ‘sticker chart’ to motivate students to engage more with the course content. Students earn monthly stickers by participating in class activities or doing extra work outside of class. Once they have collected enough stickers, they can choose a prize from the class treasure chest, which contains snacks, fidget toys, and other rewards. While this method of extrinsic motivation might not work for everyone, many students look forward to sticker redemption day, and I love seeing the joy it brings to the classroom.
Better Preparation for Students Before the Winter Months
Denise Morrison Student Experience and Community Engagement Specialist
In the winter months, studying can become overwhelming for some students. It’s therefore important to make students engaged and energized before the winter months. Students need to be aware of how they function differently in the seasons (weather) while studying, as well as being mindful beforehand of how the different seasons affect their mindset and study patterns.
I believe that what we can practice is better preparation and mindset change/empowerment for students, by giving more information to students at their enrolment, on-boarding, induction, Welcome week and first term of their studies pertaining to what to expect in how they might feel mentally, physically and emotionally (Seasonal Affective Disorder) in the winter months.
By supplying and supporting students with additional information before the winter months they will be able to recognise these changes in their moods, anxiety etc. and help build up strategies and processes to combat these issues.
It is therefore vital and very important for students to maintain a strong mindset and resilient spirit in the winter months to have or experience a better education journey.
At times students might experience some sort of anxieties, mood swings or feelings of overwhelm or not be too sure how to express how they are feeling, what’s happening to them or why they’re feeling the way they are in the winter months of their studies. Being aware of the support that is available through their university or other organisations can make a world of difference.
Also, another area to consider is that there are different types of students: those who travel to campus, those who live on campus and students who study off campus. These different types of students need to be supported differently and their general understanding of the approach to their educational needs, support, and journey needs to be assessed thoroughly to enable them to thrive and be successful in their studies. For example, students who live off campus and travel by public transport will be more than unlikely to go on to campus for a lecture on a day that there is snow or bad weather.
Sip and Sew
Jo LSE Fellow
London School of Economics and Political Science
United
Kingdom
X/bsky/Instagram: @moonjiboi
I like to keep things fresh and unexpected in the classroom no matter the weather, but I have noticed that it especially makes a difference when we do things with our hands and bodies in the winter. I get my students to draw, walk around, and play-act so that their mind-body connection as they learn is developing as well as their analysis. I hold this lesson close for myself as well – in the winter I take care to do more creative work; this winter, I have been attending embroidery socials – both public events and with friends where people sit quietly, embroider or mend clothes that need mending and have hot drinks together. I have also been reading a lot more fiction and magical realism and watching a lot of fiction in multiple languages that I often also introduce to students to keep the connection between storytelling and learning, which is integral to anthropology. Lastly, I have found that keeping a kettle, tea, fruit and some simple snacks like biscuits in my office has made a big difference to how students feel when they meet me for office hours. Being offered a hot drink sometimes makes all the difference in tone.
Build Resilience & Commitment Pack
Katharine Jewitt Associate Lecturer
The Open University United Kingdom
In January, I send all my students a “Build Resilience and Commitment” Pack. This can be sent through the post or provided as a digital pack.
Image of pack: https://drive.google.com/file/ d/1jmdx1h6sG2UmXPgiTGYbZDXqN2Xk-ze_/view
I send a note which says:
Taking care of yourself as you embark on your learning journey this year is essential!
Self-care is not selfish; it is a necessity as you embark on your learning journey. This “Build Resilience and Commitment” pack offers some practical tips and tricks to ensure optimum performance in your health and wellbeing.
Examples of items I include:
• The January Action Calendar from Action for Happiness https://actionforhappiness.org/
• A personal resilience quiz
• Mindfulness exercises
• Om So Hum, Om So Hum – https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=ipSBWztUy1o
It’s not just a mantra that we should understand, it’s a technique and just chanting “Om So Hum, Om So Hum” for 10-15 mins daily can relax the breathing and balance our inner energy flow.
Visual workouts – https://darebee.com/workouts/newyear-reset-workout.html and https://darebee.com/ collections/seated-workouts-collection.html
Postcards with motivational quotes
Question – Focus on your biggest ‘win’ so far this week. It is ok to let go of anything that no longer serves you.
Positive affirmations:
• What resonates with you?
• I am in charge of my mind.
• I am strong in mind, body, and spirit.
• Amazing opportunities exist for me in every aspect of my life.
• I choose to be happy right now.
• I am grateful for all that I have.
• I am positive and optimistic.
Radiators and Drains exercise (provide a picture of a radiator) – a personal reflection activity to list everything in your life that radiates positive energy –things you do, people in your life versus things you do that drain your energy and leave you feeling depleted (drains).
A list of positive emotion states (Fredrickson, 2009)
– Ask students to try to experience at least 8 on a regular basis – or a minimum of 5 a day.
• Joy
• Gratitude
• Serenity
• Interest
• Hope
• Pride
• Amusement
• Inspiration
• Awe
• Love
One student said “After receiving this from Katharine, I now write down my list at the end of each day – it’s one of the most impactful things I’ve done to improve my levels of motivation and positivity. It also provides me with a great list of memories I may otherwise have forgotten.”
Fredrickson, B. (2009). Positivity. Crown Publishing.
Contributions
Jacqui Thijm
Myriam Houssay-Holzschuch
Hannah Breslin
Julia Ouzia
Michele Jacobsen
Chrissi Nerantzi
Ben Chong
Damian McDonald
Hanaa Mustafa
Licen
Tom Burns
Sandra Sinfield
Michael Upton
Rebekah Bennetch
Denise Morrison
Jo
Katharine Jewitt
Slowing Down as Diffractive Praxis in Higher Education
Jessie A Bustillos Morales
Our pedagogical practice in Higher Education is saturated by the pervasive “broad-based political and cultural movement” of neoliberalism, which pressures universities and demands a constant reinvention of ourselves, the institution’s vision, and our pedagogies in order to protect capital and income under the pretence of student satisfaction (Giroux, 2008). As a teacher educator, writer and researcher who has taught across various courses in the Social Sciences, I value the importance of re-thinking and re-imagining education with future educators, as we live in times where critical thinking in education is overshadowed by the reduction of teaching as the enacting of policy and the reduction of pedagogy to calculated acts of practice that may serve the “Capitalocene” (Braidotti, 2020, p. 467). Having worked in HE for several years, the start of teaching terms has led me to explore approaches that can help me attune to pedagogy differently, away from the “market fundamentalism” of the accelerated academy (Giroux, 2008, p. 11). The work by Barad and the focus on diffractive methodologies has helped me acknowledge how intra-actions can be troublesome in real practice, as they challenge the formulaic linearity of teaching and learning that the modern university has become dependent on due to the neoliberal market logics that currently affect universities, such as student satisfaction surveys and competitive university world rankings. A diffractive methodology offers opportunities to develop a “commitment to understanding which differences matter, how they matter, and for whom” (Barad, 2007, p. 90). Using diffractive methodologies in my own pedagogy has highlighted the importance of slowing down in an environment where relentless self-enterprising and acceleration have become the norm.
I originally understood praxis as a process of reflection and action, closely associated with the critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire (1970). Praxis is also about power and collective social transformation, as Boronski explains: “Praxis can be understood as acts which shape and change the world or the steps people take to act on their emerging critical consciousness: thus, a greater sense of awareness or thoughtful examination of taken for-granted assumptions can be two further illustrations of praxis” (Boronski, 2022, p15). Yet, praxis shifts with Barad’s agential realism, from relying mostly on reflection to diffraction. Whilst reflection relies on a separation between us and the world in order to have the space to reflect, diffraction allows us to ‘see’ beyond separations to relationalities that are “articulations” of the world as unified phenomena (Haraway, 1992, p. 313). Therefore, this renewed sense of diffractive praxis involves diffracted points of departure where the classroom is transformed as more than space, more than people, more than materials, but rather “space, time, and matter… interactively produced in the ongoing differential articulation of the world” (Barad, 2007, 234); a spacetimemattering. Slowing down therefore becomes an act of refusal, a resistance which recognises how teaching and learning go beyond the individuals who take part in it, and involve intraactions with materiality, relationalities and events, all of which as entangled phenomena should not be reduced to single rationalised units of existence, even when institutional power dynamics push education towards instrumentalisation and learnification.
Whilst there are several ways in which our praxis and pedagogies have become institutionalised and coopted by neoliberal imperatives, I have found that pausing and slowing down is one of the ways in which I can “stay with the trouble” (Haraway, 2016, p. 2)
and challenge the fixities of teaching and learning with human and more-than-human others. As a result, I have introduced different diffractions to my praxis, such as intra-acting with classrooms, materials and events, which would remain excluded in a humancentred pedagogy. Diffractive praxis as slowing down involves students taking snapshots of their classrooms and of university displays and reflecting on how they intra-act with their own educational journeys and what these may say about the purposes of education. Through diffracted intra-actions, social justice, inequalities and contemporary debates can be repositioned not as a thing external to the individual and therefore outside of practice, but as part of the everyday intra-actions, in-between moments, beyond the fixities of policy and practice that tend to dominate education and the education of children and teachers.
References
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Duke University Press.
Boronski, T. (2022). Critical pedagogy. An exploration of contemporary themes and issues. Routledge.
Braidotti, R. (2020). ‘We are in this together, but we are not one and the same’. Bioethical Inquiry, 17, 465–469.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Herder & Herder.
Giroux, H. (2008). Against the terror of neoliberalism: Politics beyond the age of greed. Paradigm Publishers.
Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.
Haraway, D. (1992). The promises of monsters: A regenerative politics for inappropriate/D others. In L. Grossberg, C. Nelson & P. Treichler (Eds.), Cultural studies. Routledge.
Riding through Winter: Journalling, Well-Being, and the Road to Hope in Academia
Simone Maier
As an hourly paid lecturer, it is bruising working at a London-based UK university; against a backdrop of low student enrolments, my hours keep being cut while nationally, a cost-of-living crisis rumbles on. One of the small comforts I have held onto is journaling.
It brings me physical and mental pleasure to step out of the house into the cold and pass the early morning dog walkers in Butterfield Green before I enter the Belle Époque bakery. They serve the best pastries this side of the Channel. The staff know my order: a latte and a pain au chocolate. What is even more of a luxury than biting into the pastry is the mental space of writing in my journal; its pages offer a space to reflect, ‘bitch’, and hope. I use the pages to appreciate friendships, worry about my family and teaching, and dream about my future. Reflecting through journaling brings into focus what matters. I write screeds about the inspiration I find in books, friends, exhibitions, and movies. What has become clear through journaling is the importance of riding.
I started riding again during the pandemic when the university asked staff to avoid using the bus. I took to commuting on the bike. I had ridden since I was a teenager to get around in the semi-rural area I grew up in outside Melbourne, Australia. I stopped in London after I became pregnant. I had told myself that with a heavy teaching load, it was okay for some passions to hibernate. But I needed to find space. Just as a pen flows across the page, opening up new ways of thinking, I also found space gliding along country roads, experiencing new thoughts.
A few years ago, I joined a riding club. The club brings together people who share a passion for riding, balancing the thrill of the road with the safety of group riding, where responsibilities are shared, skills are exchanged, and knowledge is passed on. The club’s leaders spend hours meticulously planning routes and tasty refreshment stops that take me to parts of the UK I would never have otherwise discovered. I also enjoy the club for the new friendships it has offered me and the support of experienced riders who have helped me significantly improve my riding.
One day, frustrated with the demands of family life, my floundering university career, and myself for not making any art for months, I went for a ride. As I headed north out of London, the mid-winter sun set in ripples of pink. I kept meaning to turn back but found excuses for another 10 minutes and then another until I was travelling along Essex lanes. Under a low moon, a deer crossed a freshly ploughed field.
I realised that I knew where I wanted to go: to a tiny cottage deep in Essex where an exceptionally rare teacher lives. She continues to have a seismic influence on the learning development community but is too self-effacing to acknowledge her impact. Recently, following decades of exceptional work, she has finally been recognised as a teaching professor. (If she were Dean, we’d have a far healthier epistemic community!) I have known her since 2018 when I became a teacher and started working on a foundation art and design course. After attending her classes for three weeks, I began to understand the potential of education differently. Over the years, she has generously mentored me through both formal and informal channels. Over a cup of tea, I rekindled my sense that my teaching is a small but worthwhile contribution to a community that values each other
and holds a shared faith that creativity should be at the heart of learning. She welcomes creative approaches to learning in all disciplines as a means of helping us think, shape ideas, communicate entangled knowledge, and invite comments.
Each time we interact, I bolster my awareness of who I am as a teacher and rekindle hope in creative learning, which can take any form: a 2D drawing, a journal entry, a dialogue, or a ride.
On the way home, my Honda NC750 takes in the cold night air. Between villages, I put on my high beam to shine a single light into the distance. As I travel along undulating, tree-lined roads, I look forward to journaling the following morning.
Seasonal Creativity
Magda Olchawska
Hi, my name is Magda and welcome to Another Way Creativity series video. Another Way Creativity videos focus on intentional and authentic creativity from within and in my case creativity that embraces my neurodiversity.
The ideas I’m sharing with you in this video are tailored very much to my way I work and how I sense the world.
Over the summers and the hot spring days, my creative self often wants to do nothing more than read a book, go for a walk or potter around my small balcony garden or the house. The long, hot days, as much as I love the light and the lightness of summer and spring, distract me a lot with all the wonderful changes that happen daily. In the context of my studio practice it means that I’m too unfocused to come up with new ideas. In the past two I started blocking the warmer months for activities that won’t require a lot of creative input, such as re-organising my work, updating my websites or other admin that I’m not that keen on doing otherwise. I try not to worry about not doing enough of creative activities as I know my creativity will bounce back with new energy around September. I like the cold and the darkness, having cuppa after cuppa while slowly awakening communication channels with my creative self and imagination. For me, the quietness and darkness of the colder months are connected with blossoming creativity that doesn’t need forcing but flows abundantly.
My creative self needs to be patient with me as one of my neurodiverse spiciness is what’s commonly known as ‘distraction’. I tend to work on several projects at once, while endless supply of ideas keeps coming at me, eagerly to materialise. It’s not easy to contain such energy, and for me it’s a daily challenge to embrace this part of my personality.
My neurodiversity responds very well to visual stimulation and changing seasons; to me, is a visual stimulation. The beautiful blossoming spring and summer colours seduce my imagination, while fall and winter stimulate my creativity from within. Listening to my creative self and respecting creative seasonality is more in tune with my personality and the way I truly enjoy working. Seasonal creativity has helped me become more open to changes and introduced flexibility in my work. But most importantly, creativity that follows seasons agrees with my authentic approach to developing projects Another Way. My personal Another Way of working, accommodates my neurodiversity, uses fewer virgin resources and is based on creative intuition.
Many people prefer to wind down before Christmas, while I do the opposite, and I love it. I’m so full of creative energy, which wakes up in the early hours, willing and ready to create some magic fully embracing my creative awakening in the middle of the winter.
Thanks so much for watching. I wish you all Happy Holidays and many creative awakenings in the year ahead.
See you next time.
Video: Another Way: Seasonal Creativity https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=UVXiPrvr1vM
Design
Bridgette Crabbe
This publication visually embodies the essence of “wintering” in academia—an exploration of seasonal rhythms, care, and connection within the university experience. Using a vibrant blue palette, the design reflects the quiet intensity of winter, evoking both stillness and resilience. Circular and rectangular motifs symbolize seasonality, emotions, time, and the interplay between isolation and collaboration. Through these elements, the visual language reinforces the themes of slowing down, embracing warmth, and fostering community, transforming the academic space into one that honors both the individual and the collective experience.
Biographies
Dr Sandra Abegglen, PhD, is a Researcher in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on online and hybrid education, collaborative pedagogies, creative teaching and learning practices, and fostering inclusivity in educational settings. Recognized for her innovative and impactful work, she has received awards for her transdisciplinary and international collaborations, which bridge diverse disciplines and perspectives to enhance educational outcomes.
Dr Fabian Neuhaus, PhD, is an accomplished academic and researcher specializing in spatial planning, urban design, and community development. His work focuses on exploring the intersections of urban environments, social equity, and digital technologies, with a particular interest in how community-driven approaches can support resilient and inclusive cities. He has contributed to numerous international projects and publications, offering insights into the living conditions of vulnerable groups in urban spaces and developing strategies to enhance the quality of life in diverse communities. He also advocates for inclusion in design education and educational pedagogies.
Dr Annapurna Menon, PhD, is a Teaching Associate at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield. She joined the Department in September 2022 after finishing her PhD at the University of Westminster in June 2022. Her doctoral research focused on the coloniality of postcolonial nation-states, specifically studying the Indian nation-state’s exercise of power in Indianadministered Jammu & Kashmir. She has also published on topics relating to Hindutva, right-wing politics, militarisation, gender, and activism.
Kelsea Costin is a graduate of BA Sociology from the University of Westminster and is currently a Master’s student in Cultural Studies at SOAS, University of London. As a member of the Pedagogies for Social Justice project, she is passionate about implementing collaborative and relational approaches to teaching and learning in higher education. Her time as a Research Intern and Academic Support Intern at the PSJ have largely contributed to her interests in student-staff partnerships and decolonial and antiracist work in universities.
Bridgette Crabbe is a Filipino-Canadian interdisciplinary designer with a passion for transforming spaces into vibrant, immersive environments. Her expertise spans graphic design, branding, photography, trend forecasting (an extreme generalist perhaps) and urban design. Bridgette holds a Bachelor of Design from MacEwan University and has dipped into the world of the advertising industry. Currently pursuing a Master’s of Planning (MPlan) at the University of Calgary, Bridgette is driven by a vision to create impactful, experiential spaces that combine visual design and the built environment to inspire connection.
Graphic Design
Editorial Team
Guest Essays
Jessie A Bustillos Morales
Lecturer in ECE, UCL Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom.
Jessie A. Bustillos Morales is a lecturer in the Department of Learning and Leadership at the University College London (UCL). She holds a Ph.D. in Education from UCL. She is an educator, researcher, and writer from Venezuela. With over thirteen years of experience in academia across several institutions in the UK, her interdisciplinary background spans sociology, philosophy, and education.
Her work focuses on exploring educational and social inequalities through innovative theoretical frameworks and creative methodologies that connect to everyday educational practice. Jessie’s rese arch examines how identity-based inequalities are reproduced in educational spaces and practices and their impact on the lives of children and young people.
Simone Maier
Associate Lecturer, School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom.
Simone is an Australian-born art educator, artist, and researcher with a strong academic background, holding a BA in English Literature, a BA in Fine Art (Hons), and an MA in Art Education from the Institute of Education, UCL. Since 2018, she has balanced her roles as a mother, artist, and educator while working in a foundation program for art, design, and architecture at a London-based university. Simone is deeply committed to the advancement and protection of fine art education, actively contributing through her artmaking, publications, and teaching.
She engages with professional networks, such as the National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD), where she serves as a National Councillor. Passionate about the transformative power of art, Simone believes that it is essential in shaping a sustainable, equitable future.
Magda Olchawska
Higher Education Administrator, Research Assistant and Neurodivergent Multidisciplinary Content Developer & Creator, London, United Kingdom.
I’ve dreamt of being a writer and filmmaker since I was seven. As a child, I truly believed that it was the only way to break free from the shadows of communism that shaped my childhood in the 80s Poland. Now, living in London with my family, I embrace my European identity and our complicated history.
Reflecting on my trajectory, I realise how my neurodiversity has played a massive role in choosing the creative path. Having struggled with dyslexia and dyspraxia throughout my life, I feel I’m coming to many personal and creative realisations later in life as only recently the world, and creative industries have become more accepting of neurodiversity.
I practice slow creativity, giving my projects and artworks space to connect with my creative intuition before formulating. My multidisciplinary art practice lies at the intersection of film, art and new media. I’m passionate about long-term economic, environmental, and social sustainability, drawing my inspiration from the intergenerational knowledge of women and mutual aid. Passion and commitment to social justice affects my artistic style and creative choices.
https://magdaolchawska.com
“In our relentlessly busy contemporary world, we are forever trying to defer the onset of winter. We don’t ever dare to feel its full bite, and we don’t dare to show the way that it ravages us. An occasional sharp wintering would do us good.
We must stop believing that these times in our lives are somehow silly, a failure of nerve, a lack of willpower. We must stop trying to ignore them or dispose of them. They are real, and they are asking something of us. We must learn to invite the winter in. We may never choose to winter, but we can choose how.”
- Katherine May
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
