Empathy and Teachers roles

Hyejin Yoon

George Mason University

EDRS 810

Dr. Seth Parsons

Fall 2016
 Introduction

For a long time, educational researchers have investigated what factors contributed to

the effective learning of students:; motivation, attitudes, characteristics, time management,

background knowledge, classroom environment and positive relationships with teachers

(Amrein & Berliner, 2003; Klein & Schnackenberg, 2000; Marzano, 2004; Messick, 1994; Murray

& Greenberg, 2000; Trueman & Hartley, 1996; Young, 1991). Among these factors, the teacher

has been identified as an obviously important and critical factor in effective learning (Rivkin et

al., 2005). Teachers assume a wide range of roles in school. Teachers roles now include much Commented [SP1]: One or two spaces after period, but not
three

more than imparting knowledge and grading students assignments. In the 21 st century

classroom, different teacher roles are required: teachers should be facilitators of students

learning and creators of a learning-friendly environment in classes rather than being a deliverer

of existing knowledge, which promotes passive learning. Therefore, recently teachers roles

have become the main field of interest for some researchers. Many researchers have shown

that the effectiveness of teachers roles in the classroom appears to be related to various

personality traits. The main research problem has been the investigation into personal

characteristics of successful teachers, such as personality traits or some dynamic dispositions

(Handley, 1973; Jong el al., 2013; Polk, 2006; Ryans, 1970). Among teachers emotional

characteristics, the most important appear to be emotional intelligence and empathic Commented [SP2]: Most important for what?

sensitivity (Anari, 2012; Chan, 2006; KAYA, 2015; Peck et al., 2014). By extension, a teachers

personality, especially empathetic traits, and his/her professional roles are combined to shape
the outcome of students learning (Bru et al., 2002; Watkins & Wagner, 2000). Therefore, it is
useful to explore whether or not teachers empathic skills are connected to teachers successful
Commented [SP3]: Work on the flow of logic here. There
is a lot going on with teacher roles and personalities and the
connections among these aspects of teaching and their
teaching performance seems central to your proposal, so
these relationships really need to be clear.
Commented [SP4]: And roles?
performance in order to help pre- or in-service teachers develop their professional life and

teaching style. Commented [SP5]: Long paragraph. Break up.

Literature Review Formatted: Font: Bold

Understanding Techers Rroles

Over time, there have been many efforts to define effective teachers classroom roles.

Teachers assume multiple roles in a class. Also, the roles of teachers in education have been

changing in response to major shifts in society and the economy. When it comes to teachers

roles in a general sense, substantial research has been conducted ranging from Humanism,

Pragmatism, Constructivism, to Critical Pedagogy. The teachers roles were commonly

identified and generalized in 4 categoriessocial roles, school roles, teaching roles in classroom

and self-professional roles. Carvalho, Nogueira, and Nova (2012) explored the characteristics of

good teachers as these traits were perceived by undergraduate education students. By using a

questionnaire, they collected data from 108 respondents (about 26% of the population of 415).

The participants, who were students at an undergraduate school, were asked about the traits of

good teachers and 39 % of the respondents answered that it was a positive connection Commented [SP6]: College teachers?

between teachers and students. 11% of students ranked Knowledge/Didactics concept at

second place. The technology variable was the last (6%). However, there are two major Commented [SP7]: Abrupt transition

teachers roles that have not changed: teachers facilitate students growth of personal

characteristics and their acquisition of knowledge. By creating proper learning conditions and

learning means, teachers carry out these core functions. Harden and Crosby (2000) wanted to Commented [SP8]: Long paragraph. Break up

ask teachers about how they saw their roles in education and what would be missing if they
were unable to perform these roles. They collected letters from teachers concerning their roles

and accountability in school. They then categorized their roles. Based on teachers activities,

six areas were identified: the information provider, the role model, the facilitator, the assessor,

the planner, and the knowledge resource. In each of the six areas, two roles are subdivided to

form 12 distinct roles (Figure 1). To validate the identified 12 roles, the researchers

administered a questionnaire to 251 teachers who were at various levels of seniority in the

medical school at the University of Dundee. They were asked to rate each of the 12 roles Commented [SP9]: Again, college teaching?

relevance to their jobs. In the questionnaire, 12 roles were described with five-point scales

each; 1 = definitely no, 2 = probably no, 3 = uncertain, 4 = probably yes, 5 = definitely yes. As a

result of the survey, the all participants acknowledged the 12 roles as the responsibilities of

teachers: the average rating for each of the roles ranged from 3.5 to 4.2. Among them, several

roles are simultaneously taken by teachers (Harden & Crosby, 2000).

In order to fulfill all sides of these complex roles, teachers should have appropriate Commented [SP10]: If these studies were conducted at the
college level (even medical school), we cannot automatically
apply it to K-12 teaching.
competencies that represent a combination of traits, abilities, knowledge and skills.

Considering the characteristics of the roles pointed out above, empathy is also an important

part of teachers competencies aside from the pedagogical competence related to academic

work and the interactional competence related to social work. Nevertheless, there has been

little interest on the connections between teachers empathy strategies and effectiveness of

their roles. Research about the relationship between empathy and teachers roles is required,

because improving teachers performance is imperative. If we are to raise the quality of the

educational process, we can expand educations contribution to societys human resources. Commented [SP11]: Work on flow of ideas and cohesion.
How does one understanding lead to the next and the next,
etc. to build a cohesive argument.
 Figure 1. The 12 roles of the teacher (Harden & Crosby, 2000).

Understanding Empathy

According to the person-centered approach (Rogers, 1961), human beings have a great

capacity and innate desire to grow and develop themselves. Person-centered theory

emphasizes that teachers should encourage students to learn by trusting their capabilities to

grow. Hazler (1999) argued that person-entered theory has a strong connection to empathy.

Empathy is important in relationships with others, so it is usually considered as a vital

element of teachers skills. The skill enable effective communication between stakeholders in

the educational environment. That is, teachers empathetic orientation toward students affect

the exchange of information between teachers and students (Nerdrum & Ronnestad, 2002).

Moreover, emotional abilities are fundamental for successfully performing the different roles of
teachers. Empathy can stimulate teachers to be open, careful, and connected to students

(MacAllister, 2000). Empathetic teachers are able to adapt a curriculum and their teaching

methods to fit their students needs. Therefore, researchers realized that minority students

who experience teachers caring and supportive attitude are more engaged in class and achieve

higher academic goals than other students who do not (Gay, 2001)

Empathy is an ambiguous concept. Currently, there is no universally accepted definition

of the term empathy. The definitions differ from one another depending on points

emphasized by the authors. Many researchers consider empathy as a set of empathic skills.

There is a list of specific empathic skills of successful managers:

Active listening, sentimental sensitiveness, calming and relieving, facilitation, behaving

compatibly with teachers moods, consideration and discernment, sensitivity to

teachers needs, supportiveness, motivating abilities, looking at situations from others

perspectives, understanding of teachers feelings and thoughts, benevolence and

helpfulness, building cooperation and harmony, seeing the hidden aspects of behaviors

and attitudes, forming a climate of intimacy and trust, respect for teachers values and

beliefs, constructiveness and forgivingness, flexibility, sincerity] and intimacy (Toremen

et al., 2006, p.497).

Even though many elements are presented to define empathy skills, there is an

underlying assumption: empathetic skills are oriented toward understanding others emotions,

difficulties, and perspectives. The capability to relate to others, take care of them, and put

oneself in anothers shoes make a person empathetic (Morgan & Palmer, 2008; Shih et al.,

2009). Moreover, Baron Cohen and Wheelwright (2004) delved into the attributes of empathy,
mentioning empathy allows us to understand the intentions of others, predict their behavior,

and experience an emotion triggered by their emotion (p. 163). Two critical components are

included in empathy. The first one is its cognitive element (grasping others feeling and taking

others perspective), the other one is affective element (reacting emotionally to other peoples

emotional state). Given the focus of definition of empathy on the personal and psychological

aspects of relationships, it is clear that empathy skills are very important for teachers.

Camaranos (2010) research showed that students capacity for empathy is influenced

by their status and position. The research examined levels of empathy of 216 psychology

graduate students at each level of graduate training. The participants were asked to fill out

self-report empathy measure. The researcher hypothesized that empathy would increase over

the training course and tested the assumption through a regression analysis. As a result, the

study argued that students empathetic perspective can be developed by training.

Furthermore, people demonstrate empathic reactions that lead them to build positive

relationships with others through dialogue about empathy (Kouprie & Visser, 2009). To

comprehend the process of empathy development, Barrett-Lennard (1981) explained that there

are five phases of empathy in pre-conditions for empathy. Empathy develops through

interpersonal communication. It proceeds as a back and forth series of communication

between two people either in one to one setting or as part of a larger group. If the exchanges

are positive and supportive, empathy can develop. This Is termed the empathy cycle. It

appears that communication is very important part of building empathy between individuals

and in groups. Without effective communication, empathy is unlikely to develop.

 Purpose and Questions

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a significant relationship

between teachers empathy strategies and the effectiveness of their duties. To pursue the main Commented [SP12]: Instruction?

aim, this research investigated teachers empathy levels, and the effectiveness of teachers

professional performances. Commented [SP13]: I do not see roles in here anywhere,

which is fine, but the title and intro is focused on roles.

Research Questions

This study seeks answers for the following questions. The general research question was:

Do teachers using empathetic strategies perform their roles in an effective way? Commented [SP14]: Wait. Here is roles? What do you
mean roles? Duties? Instruction?

To be specific, there are the following sub-questions.

1) What is the level of teachers empathy?

2) How productive are teachers in their professional roles?

3) Is there a significant correlation between teachers empathetic attitudes toward students

and the efficiency of their function in school? Commented [SP15]: Are you equating efficiency with
effectiveness? Be careful here. We really need to nail down
exactly what you are studying .

Methodology

Participants

I will e-mail flyers to many schools administrators so as to receive the name list of

teachers who will notify their intensions to join this project. Participants will be recruited from

elementary, middle and high schools. A minimum sample size will be 150 participants. The Commented [SP16]: From where? US?
majority of teachers will be female, because over 90% of teachers are female in Korea. Ages Commented [SP17]: So it is a Korean sample? Why?

range will be between 24 to 60 years old. Each participant will be given $10 gift card when he or Commented [SP18]: Thats a lot of money!

she completes the questionnaire.

Instruments and data collection

Teachers empathy level and professional roles will be profiled by means of two sets of

questionnaires with closed questions. By employing questionnaires, large amounts of data can

be collected and analyzed relatively easily and quickly. I could also obtain objectivity avoiding

direct contact with the participants. However, limitations are inescapable such as difficulties in

meaning negotiated through communication. It will be possible for respondents to leave the

answer blank or just fill in any answer when they could not understand the questions. I am also

not sure whether the respondents will be truthful when they fill out the questionnaire. In the

case of respondents completing the questionnaires while somebody is watching, their answers

could be influenced. Even with all the disadvantages of the method, I believed that I could get a

meaningful result due to the advantages mentioned above.

Two sets of questionnaires will be designed. One will be used so as to measure Commented [SP19]: So you are not using existing
instruments?

teachers empathy level, and the other the productivity of teachers roles. A set of

questionnaire will be employed as to investigate how teachers think of their roles in

classrooms. It will be designed with two parts. The first part contained several multiple choices Commented [SP20]: So we are looking at empathy level,
roles, and productivity? All self-reported.

as to collect basic information regarding the participants such as gender, age, grade that they Commented [SP21]: ? You have two instruments. More
than two parts?

taught, period of teaching experience, educational background.

 In part two, the teachers will be required to answer the questions. There will be eight

categories of teachers roles on the questionnaire. Those categories will be organizer (setting

goals, choosing strategies, and organizing groups), communicator (communicating with

students where necessary), stimulator (improving students motivation, interest, and

involvement), manager (setting rules and procedures as well as managing class), innovator

(inspiring students to think critically), consultant (providing students with advice and consulting

service), cooperator (cooperating with students actively), and observer (observing the process)

(Wang & Gao, 2015, p. 95). The instruments will contain 16 items for self-assessment on a five- Commented [SP22]: Was this reviewed in the lit review?

level scale measuring level of frequencyvery frequently, frequently, occasionally, rarely, and

never. Specific behaviors that represented one element of eight teachers roles will be

described in each item. The participants will express how much they showed the behaviors

illustrated in each item in their classrooms. The maximum score will be 80 and the minimum

score will be 16.

To measure teachers empathy ability, an Empathy Quotient questionnaire will be

employed. The Empathy Quotient questionnaire (EQ-short, Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004) Commented [SP23]: So this is an existing instrument. Do
you have validity and reliability information?

is self-reporting for adults of normal intelligence. It will contain 30 questions divided into two

categories: 20 empathy items (item 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28,

29, and 30), and 10 filler/control items (item 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 16, 17, 20, 23, and 24). The filter or

control items will be to make participants distracted from incessant concentration on empathy.

The questionnaire will not be invented to investigate individuals empathy in affective and

cognitive categories at the same time, because affective and cognitive components were too

entangled to separate them.

 On each empathy item, people could score 3, 2, 1, or 0. If the respondents mark at

score 0 point in each of the items listed above, it represents mild empathic behaviors and if

mark at score 3 point, strong empathic behaviors. The EQ will have a maximum score of 60 and

a minimum of Zero.

Procedures

This study will go through two phases. In the first phase, two sets of questionnaires will

be designed. However, it is impossible for experts to design the right questionnaire at the time

due to the complexity of forming a questionnaire. Questionnaire designed should be pretested

on a small number of people who have the same characteristics in the survey (Leung, 2001). By

means of a pilot study, the research method could be considered as reliable and valid. Commented [SP24]: This is an extensive undertaking. But
yes!

Therefore, following constructing questions, 5 teachers will be selected randomly to conduct a

pilot study. In piloting, I will focus on how participants understand particular words and

interviewed them regarding what they thought when they filled out the questionnaires. Then,

the questionnaires will be modified with respect to the questions order, the quality of

questions, and the layout afterwards.

In the second phase, the application of the instruments will be organized in several

groups of teachers. The participants will be informed specific instructions on how to fill the

questionnaire and on the time required to complete. The teachers were required to complete

the questionnaires within several weeks.

Data analysis
 After the completed questionnaires are gathered, I will check whether there will be any

errors in entry and conformity to assumptions of the test conducted. Tthe data will be entered

into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The questionnaires will be collected and the

data will be analyzed through descriptive statistics analysis of variance and correlation

measures. The purpose of this study is to explore whether there is a significant relationship

between teachers empathy skills and the effectiveness of their roles in class. I hypothesize Commented [SP25]: Im hesitant to think that you could
gather that construct through self-report.

that teachers who have emotional interactions with students consider themselves as being

successful in performing teachers roles. Therefore, the independent variable is teachers

empathic level and the dependent variable is the self-assessment of efficiency in teaching.

Ethical Considerations

Considering ethical issues, every participant will be informed this studys purpose,

procedure, risks, benefits, and they gave informed consent. They will be also told the data

would be used only for research purposes. To ensure the privacy of research participants, the

data were collected anonymously and the participants were informed of the anonymity of the

questionnaire and the safeguarding of their personal privacy.

Confidentiality

The data in this study will be confidential. To maintain the confidentiality of the data,

participants name will not be collected nor any identifiers placed on the research data. The

survey questionnaire data will be encrypted on a personal computer and access to the date will

be limited to the researcher and the researchers committee members. Moreover, the data will
be destroyed after 3 years by deleting the digital files from the computer memory.

Good start, Jin. There is a lot going on in this proposal, and you need to work to bring it down

to be clear and manageable. First, you really need to work on the variables under study. What

are they? How are they related in the literature? Etc. Similarly, you need to carefully define

terms and constructs. What exactly do you mean by roles? What exactly do you mean by

effectively conducting duties? These need to come from the literature and be clearly defined

and operationalized. Likewise, you need to work on the flow of logic connecting ideas in a

well-reasoned manner.

19/25

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