CityU in Canada creates an inclusive and caring environment

Arden Henley believes in the power of positive learning. The principal of Canadian programs at City University of Seattle in Canada, a.k.a. CityU in Canada, told the Straight in a recent phone interview that research has demonstrated that where anxiety is prevalent and competition dominates, it actually interferes with the cognitive process.

“If you create an inclusive and caring environment, you actually make it easier for people to learn,” Henley said. “A variant of that is to focus on the strength of the student. What do they bring? That’s consistent with caring, compassionate, and kind approaches.”

Henley has spent 35 years of his life practising family therapy. He said that over the course of his career, he’s learned a great deal about the corrosive effects of stress hormones. Too much adrenaline and cortisol being released too frequently impedes learning new concepts. And he’s convinced that when people feel that they are in a safe place, it can put them in an alpha state.

“Then you can see how this naturally leads into a foundational concern for social justice,” he said. “Because as you’re more open to others in your immediate environment, that teaches you to be open to people farther away from you and in different groups.”

According to Henley, people in these alpha states are able to feel on an experiential level—rather than just conceptually—why others would like to be treated fairly and to have equal opportunities in life. CityU in Canada offers graduate programs in counselling and education—two careers where empathy is critical.

So how does this empathetic approach to learning manifest itself at CityU in Canada?

“It starts with our adviser, who is very conscious of building relationships with the students so that they always have someone to talk to and take their problems and issues with,” Henley replied. “We emphasize that. But we really try and see every student as an individual. We look at their success as a priority—each and every student. Unlike some institutions, we don’t take pride in the percentage of students who fail to complete a program. We take pride in the percentage of students who complete the program.”

Henley explained that CityU in Canada’s pedagogical approach grew out of collegial relationships in the professional community rather than in the academic community. All the instructors are practitioners, many of whom have known each other for many years. And according to the principal, they’re keenly interested in education linking back to the community.

“Our education programs are offered in school districts in the context of their relationship with the districts,” he said. “The delivery is distributed and localized. So, again, there’s an emphasis on community—not just in the sense of creating community but also the relevance of the learning to a particular community.”

The Ministry of Advanced Education has approved CityU in Canada’s request to create a bachelor of management degree, which raises the possibility of this holistic approach being expanded into new areas.

“We’re now looking at how we can, in some ways, introduce the same kind of values and the same approach to education in business and management: community-centric with a focus on ethics,” Henley noted. “We’re looking at the issue of sustainability.”