Reflexive empathy as social relation: the case for contextualised professional learning

Figures & data

Figure 1. A research design cycle informed by reflexive empathy.

Table 1. Stages of reflexive research informed by reflexive empathy.

Stages of reflexive research	How different stages are informed by reflexive empathy
Data collection: Ethnographic investigation of the context of participants	Involves observation and empathic conversation with participants. The three emergent properties are used to improve participants’ self-awareness about their context and encourage them to share their experiences with researchers. This self-awareness and the sharing experience are considered the first step towards reflexive empathy.
Data analysis: Identifying reflexive emergences (SEP, CEP, PEP)	Aims to answer questions about the sociocultural world of participants: What they experience as the enabling and constraining effects of the emergences. The second step of reflexive empathy includes understanding the experiences, thoughts, feelings, and actions of ‘another’–teachers and students.
Evidence based co-design professional learning through reflexive empathy	Involves working alongside teachers to co-design learning experiences based on the findings. The findings help teachers to reflect on (1) themselves, (2) their contexts, and (3) their students. Reflexive empathy is achieved through participant-oriented conversations and empathic actions that serve the needs of teachers and students.
Implementation of professional learning
Feedback and discussion with teachers	The last two steps are about classroom implementation and the empathic evaluation of co-designed learning experiences. Researchers practice empathy through engagement with teachers, students, and other potential stakeholders and exploring how the reflexive emergences appear to them post intervention.