Apology and Accountability
Responding to Emotionally Charged Moments in the Classroom
While faculty are not trained to respond to psychological and emotional distress, the classroom can be a space that brings up charged responses, especially when discussing topics that relate to lived experiences of violence, injustice, and oppression. While faculty should direct students who experience distress to access support from trained professionals—such as through campus wellness centres, psychological services, peer support services, sexual violence support services, and culturally relevant support services—faculty can also play a pivotal role in how emotions are navigated in the classroom. In our research on trigger warnings in higher education, my co-investigators and I found that requests for trigger warnings often had more to do with desires to have emotions taken seriously in the classroom rather than an expectation that uncomfortable or difficult topics should be avoided (Dyer et al. 2024). Given that emotions do arise in the classroom, sometimes in unexpected ways, developing strategies for addressing the emotional dynamics that can emerge in the classroom can help equip both faculty and students with better tools for navigating and responding to difficult emotions like anger, sadness, fear, and shame when they arise.
Although few people in universities are trained to respond to emotionally charged situations, classrooms can benefit from both students and teachers developing and learning foundational skills in communication and conflict resolution through de-escalation, accountability, and apology. For instance, many difficult encounters in the classroom can be resolved quickly by accepting responsibility for our actions and apologizing in meaningful rather than superficial ways; conversely, a small encounter can spiral into a major conflict when emotions are met with defensiveness, aggression, or denial/avoidance. Learning how to be accountable, how to apologize, and how to facilitate this process can go a long way in fostering an engaged learning environment that allows students and faculty alike to work through conflicts and difficult emotions that emerge.
Things to Consider:
- The most vocal person in the room may not be the one who has been harmed.
- You might never know who was harmed in the classroom, they may never share their experience with you.
- You may learn about harm in the classroom from third parties, other students, colleagues, your department chair, or an administrator; this may happen long after the class has ended.
- Not all emotionally charged moments are harmful; it is important to distinguish between a difficult emotion or discomfort and a situation in which harm has been done.
- You can approach both discomfort and harmful experiences in a similar way, but the consequences should be different.
- Discomfort requires reassurance, space, time, and support to work through the emotions.
- Harm requires responsibility, accountab