Motivation
This book is based on the work of iben, Dissing, Sandahl
8. Theoretical Foundations 2
Daniel Siegel, a clinical professor of psychology at UCLA, says,
“Empathy is not a luxury for human beings, it is a necessity. We survive not because we have claws and not because we have big fangs. We survive because we can communicate and collaborate.”
In other words, empathy facilitates our connec tion to others. It develops in infancy through the relationship with the attachment figure. A child first learns to tune in to his or her mother’s emotions and moods, and later on other peoples.
That is why the role of teachers istremendously essential in the social development of empathy in students. In particular it plays an important role in the development of the teaching staff by encouraging future teachers to strengthen their own emotional skills. Thus support can be given to empathy development and to the emotional regulation of their students. It is clear that teachers’ empathy contributes to their ability to meet students’ overall educational needs, and boost students’ confidence in the school climate.
A systematic review of 70 studies from Danish Clearinghouse lead by Svend Eric Nordenbo from 2008 regarding ”Which manifest teacher-competencies affect the academic performance of the students?” shows that tree competencies are crucial for teachers:
• Didactic abilities/competence – knowledge of one’s subject and subject-specific didactics.
• Management-competence/classroom management–the ability to create clear structures, overview, clear rules, and a healthy climate.
• Relational competence.
He further formulates it in this way:
“If we want to create a good learning environment it´s important to teach teachers to create good relations: To show tolerance, respect, interest, empathy and compassion to each child and appeal to the children´s understanding of a conflict instead of bullying them.”
Danish psychologist and author Helle Jensen puts it this way:
“It takes a lot of empathy to meet students in a way that meets them with respect and equality, while taking responsibility for developing their capacity for professional as well as emotional and social learning. It requires a lot of personal integrity of the professional to be able to maintain the respectful presence in relation to themselves and to others, especially in conflict-filled, challenging and stressful situations.” (Jensen, 2014)
Students need, more than anything support to maintain or develop their empathy skills and to this they need teachers who are motivated and master self-accord according to Jesper Juul et.a., 2016.
“Self-accord means a person is at peace at the core of their being, which is the only place from where a person can relate deeply to other people and to a complex world undergoing extreme transformation, a world in which it is difficult to find role models.”
In the end, it is all about teaching student’s empathy, and the crucial factor for this is the teacher’s natural ability to meet the students empathetically. An empathic approach does nottake place for one hour a week, but at all times and in all subjects during a school day. It is about for the teacher to make a difference for the students, create meaningful relationships, and be credible role models, to show the way through their actions, as a way of being.