The topic of the emotional relationship between educators and learners is one that many makes many educators uncomfortable. The dominant educational culture in which most of us work has several unwritten yet strong and abiding rules:

Objectivity is better than subjectivity and objectivity requires emotional distance

Real learning is about the mind and thinking, not emotions and feelings

Being emotionally invested, especially in an educational setting, is 'soppy', not 'serious'

Contrast these statements, and the attitudes and assumptions underlying them with the following quotes:

If you want students to truly grow and improve, then you have to value who they are and what they are doing while they learn. —Kathy Burke

If I'm not emotionally invested in someone's growth, I can't provide the assessment feedback that helps that growth. —Dan Apple

These two statements are affirmations of emotional investment on the part of a mentor or educator. It is critical that both statements cite growth, as opposed to just learning, as the goal of an educational experience.

There is fundamental difference between "learning" and "growing". According to "Differentiating Knowledge from Growth" (Faculty Guidebook 2.2.4), knowledge is the result produced from learning. Growth, on the other hand, is the result of personal development produced by self-assessment. This is not to denigrate learning; on the contrary, learning is fundamental to successful performance in any context. But if the goal is not just demonstration of knowledge attained, but actual growth, then what we're ultimately looking for is a trigger for improvement, which is the essence of growth and development.

Improvement is the outcome of assessment, based upon a model of performance where each of the factors that comprise a performance may be addressed systematically. Leaving the self-assessment aspect for the moment, let's consider what we mean when we talk about "performance." According to the Theory of Performance (FGB 1.2.1), one can predict that performance will increase if any of the following five components of performance are improved: knowledge, learning skills, awareness of identity, experience in a new context, and factors within the performer’s personal life. It is critical to note that these components are not limited to only the cognitive — identity, experiences, and personal factors all contribute to an individual's performance, for good or ill, and learning skills (skills that when gained actually improve one's ability to learn) come from the social and affective, as well as cognitive domains. If an educator is committed to helping students improve their performance as learners, then there must be awareness and acceptance of learners as more than cognitive beings.

This is the beginning of emotional investment: acceptance that learners are social and emotional even as they work within a setting traditionally focused upon only the cognitive domain. This acceptance should be easier than it usually is; after all, educators are also social and emotional beings, struggling with issues of identity, experiences and personal factors.

The final nudge from emotional acceptance to emotional investment comes with the application of assessment. Unlike evaluation, where the instructor evaluates (judges) the learner's performance, assessment requires focus upon affirming (a social and affective response) what was positive about a performance as well as working to help the performer improve his or her performance. A strong assessment demonstrates belief in the value and potential of another. You have to want to see a learner improve and grow in order to spend the time and energy a strong assessment requires. That wanting means that you're emotionally invested in the growth and improvement of your students. It may not always be easy but it is the surest possible way to help a learner succeed. 

Think back on the teachers, mentors, and coaches that you have had. When did you experience the greatest learning and growth? How important was that other person to your learning/growth? How emotionally invested were they? Perhaps more importantly, how did their emotional investment motivate you? The more we analyze the most successful mentoring relationships, the more we see that the relationship was one of emotional investment. Often the investment begins based upon cognitive concerns but when real success and abiding transformation (the hallmarks of growth and personal development) are achieved, the nature of the investment always crosses over into the social and emotional domains.