Caring teaching as a troublesome practice: A consideration of ethical-caring as a threshold concept

This paper examines the potential of framing ethics of care as a threshold concept within higher education, arguing that its adoption requires ontological and epistemological transformation. Drawing on Noddings’ (1984, 2013) ethical-caring framework, we explore why caring practices, despite their alignment with student well-being and holistic development, remain troublesome within neoliberal university systems. While institutional policies often embed ontic approaches to care - transactional and systematised - they fail to capture the relational depth and moral orientation central to ethical-caring. In contrast, ontological approaches emphasise being and becoming, fostering trust, vulnerability, and reciprocity, yet these challenge dominant discourses of performativity and standardisation. We position ethics of care as troublesome knowledge, mapping its alignment with Perkins’ (1999) categories of alien, conceptually difficult, and tacit knowledge. This framing highlights why ethical-caring disrupts conventional notions of neutrality, objectivity, and productivity, and why its mastery is transformative, irreversible, and integrative. The paper also considers intersections between ethics of care and social justice, arguing that care without justice risks tokenism, while justice without care neglects lived realities. Integrating these perspectives requires reflexivity and equity-informed practices that resist neoliberal logic. By conceptualising ethics of care as a threshold concept, we contend that its enactment demands a reimagining of values and practices, positioning education as a relational and moral endeavour. This shift, while complex, offers the potential to create inclusive, humane learning environments that support both academic success and well-being.