Govendor et al (908-922)

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Relational Pedagogies Reimagined: Reflecting on Mattering and Response-Ability in Higher Education

Rosaline Govender

Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, Durban University of Technology, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1411-4581

Nereshnee Govender

Writing Centre, Durban University of Technology, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9613-0341

Anthea Jacobs

Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5792-6347

Siyanda Ntlabathi

Teaching and Learning Centre, University of Fort Hare, East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9131-5353

Muhammad Nakhooda

Department of Biotechnology and Consumer Science, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Bellville, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6074-1232

Abstract

This paper explores how Pedagogies of Mattering (PoM), grounded in post-humanist theory, can reshape higher education by centring relationality, co-responsibility, and material conditions. Using a Collaborative Autoethnographic (CAE) approach, five academic developers reflect on their facilitation of small-group critical dialogues at the HELTASA (Un)Conference 2024, drawing on lived experience to examine the entangled nature of learning and teaching. Four interconnected themes emerged: (1) ethics, trust, and care as foundations for student voice and agency; (2) relationality and co-creation as means of deepening engagement; (3) material conditions such as infrastructure, access, and linguistic inclusivity; and (4) decolonial pedagogies that affirm indigenous knowledge and multilingual practices. We argue for curriculum co-design, inclusive assessment, and decentralised institutional structures that value both human and more-than-human actors in the academic space. PoM offers a practical framework for transforming higher education into a space of collective flourishing, where knowledge is not merely transmitted, but co-created through care, dialogue, and responsibility.

Keywords: curriculum co-creation; decolonial pedagogy; pedagogy of mattering; relationality; response-ability; collaborative autoethnography

How to cite this article: Govender, R., Govender, N., Jacobs, A., Ntlabathi, S., & Nakhooda, M.  (2025). Relational Pedagogies Reimagined: Reflecting on Mattering and Response-Ability in Higher Education. African Perspectives of Research in Teaching and Learning, 9(6), 908-922.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.70875/v9i6article18