Being empathic in complex situations in intercultural education: a practical tool

ABSTRACT

Empathy, being multidimensional in nature, addresses cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioural components of interpersonal interaction. It is considered a core element of global competence. As schools become more diverse, empathy, which expresses the ability to observe social situations from other people’s points of view plays a critical interpersonal and societal role in the educational arena. Using the Delphi technique, this study developed and validated a practical tool for identifying empathic behaviours through a deep discourse analysis of complex emotionally charged interactions, practiced in simulated encounters. The Empathic Patterns in Interpersonal Communication (EPIC) practical tool, presented in this paper, was developed and validated through a structured instrument validation process that enabled the multifaceted and complex phenomenon of empathy to be addressed in a concrete way. The EPIC practical tool offers a new approach to developing awareness to cultural differences and diversity among teachers while refining the communication and the emotional skills which are significant components in teachers’ socio-emotional learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Global competence
• simulation-Based learning
• empathic competency
• practical tool
• Delphi technique

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by MOFET Institute grant for applied research in education.

Notes on contributors

Gabriella Landler-Pardo

Gabriella Landler-Pardo, serves as the director of the Center of Empathy in Education and Society, and the simulation center at the Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel Aviv as well as a teacher educator and a lecturer. Her areas of research are simulation based learning, empathy, the development of professional identity of teacher educators and the Impact of induction and mentoring programs for beginning teachers.

Rinat Arviv Elyashiv

Dr. Rinat Arviv Elyashiv serves as the Director of the Research Authority at the Kibbutzim College of Education. Her research focuses on educational policy, teacher careers, teacher professional development, educational assessment and social inequality. She participates in international partnerships to promote teachers' professional identity and development.

Michal Levi-Keren

Dr. Michal Levi-Keren served as head of the Educational Evaluation Graduate Program at the Kibbutzim College of Education, and as a researcher and lecturer at the Kibbutzim College and at the Tel-Aviv University. Her current research interests include emotional aspects of teaching and learning, assessment of teachers' professional development, mentoring, and induction programs.

Yehudith Weinberger

Prof. Yehudith Weinberger, B.Sc. (Biology), M.A. (Science Education), Ph.D. (Education), is the Rector of Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts, located in Tel Aviv. Her major areas of expertise and publication are development of higher order thinking, empathy in education and teacher education. In 2016, Prof. Weinberger established The Center for Empathy in Education and in the Society that considers the good relations between people as the educational and social core, and sees in their nurturing a value and a condition for learning and growth.