Compassion and Empathy in Educational Contexts

Georgina Barton, Susanne Garvis, Georgina Barton, Susanne Garvis

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9783030189242
• eBook ISBN: 9783030189259
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

This book explores the importance of compassion and empathy within educational contexts. While compassion and empathy are widely recognised as key to living a happy and healthy life, there is little written about how these qualities can be taught to children and young people, or how teachers can model these traits in their own practice. This book shares several models of compassion and empathy that can be implemented in schooling contexts, also examining how these qualities are presented in children's picture books, films and games. The editors and contributors share personal insights and practical approaches to improve both awareness and use of compassionate and empathetic approaches to others. This book will be of interest and value to all those interested in promoting compassion and empathy within education.

Part ICompassion and Empathy Can Be Learnt

© The Author(s) 2019

Georgina Barton and Susanne Garvis (eds.)Compassion and Empathy in Educational Contextshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18925-9_1

Begin Abstract

1. Theorizing Compassion and Empathy in Educational Contexts: What Are Compassion and Empathy and Why Are They Important?

Georgina Barton¹ and Susanne Garvis²

(1)

School of Education, University of Southern Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

(2)

Department of Education, University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University, Göteborg and Stockholm, Sweden

Georgina Barton (Corresponding author)

Email: [email protected]

Susanne Garvis

Email: [email protected]

End Abstract

Introduction

The world is in constant change with growing inequality and access. When you watch the news, you are confronted with national disasters, wars/conflicts, waves of refugees and other crimes against humanity. At a national level, many countries have a changing political landscape that has seen a rise in fundamentalist nationalist parties leading to a discourse of “problematic immigrants”. We also witness the decline of democratic ideals and the ethos of supporting people in society as politicians are influenced by capitalist ideals and individual gain. In essence, the world appears to be becoming meaner, with little understanding shown to others. When did values change?

Changes can also be observed at a personal level for many people in their daily encounters with each other and social media. The rise in bullying and negative statements appears the norm in workplaces and social media. For example, there are some apps that allow anonymous feedback on people that is emailed to them. Likewise, children can access apps that send hurtful messages to each other without adult detection. We do not know the long-term consequences of such apps, but there have been news stories related to suicide and self-harm of the recipients of hurtful posts as well as other consequences. What we can learn from this example is that the old saying “treat others how you would like to be treated” is not enacted by all. A question we must ask ourselves is how would we like to be treated or how would we like our children to be treated? If the answer is “respectfully,” we must model appropriate behaviour to others.

One could argue that the lack of role models in society also causes the decline in compassion. The behaviour of politicians, celebrities, sports stars and other high-profile people suggests a decline in moral and ethical standards. This is worrying considering young children learn from role models. We know from research that when children are exposed to positive role models, they learn prosocial behaviour described as “voluntary behaviour intended to benefit another” (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006, p. 646). The need for children to learn prosocial behaviour is perhaps greater than ever before.

At the heart of these changes in society lies the importance of compassion to bring about change, to create a better world for all. As Armstrong suggested in her creation of the Charter for Compassion (2008):

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It calls upon:

all men and women to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion, to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate, to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures, to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity, to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

The Charter for Compassion is based on the central tenet that compassion is essential for a just and peaceful world. The Charter presents compassion as practical-acquired knowledge that can be taught and developed through reflection and practice. This suggests that compassion is learnt and can be continually developed within educational contexts. As editors, we follow this tenet and argue that compassion and empathy should be embedded within all educational practices and curriculum.

Compassion and empathy are key attributes to living a healthy and happy life (Hubbert, 2017) yet surprisingly there is little written about how we can teach these qualities and how teachers can best display these traits in and through their teaching practice. In a similar way, not much is known about how teachers can be supported in their everyday professional lives through compassionate and empathetic understanding. Much research that exists is from a psychological perspective—investigating the personal attributes of compassion and empathy—rather than on the social and cultural influence these dispositions can potentially have on society (Raab, 2014).

This book therefore aims to provide some robust studies and cases in analysing and understanding how compassion and empathy work in educational contexts from across the globe. Education is often seen as an important tool for teaching the future generation skills that are necessary for survival and societal advancement, based within compassionate and empathetic understanding.

It may be argued that schools already engage many children in compassionate understanding in a variety of ways—such as, the school ethos and values, relationships shown in school (teacher-student relationships, student-student relationships and parent-teacher relationships), extra-curricular activities as well as actual curriculum content that focuses on compassion. However, we argue that a specific focus on embedding compassion across the curriculum is needed with examples of reflection and practice. Teachers need to be aware of how they can create activities with young people to support the development of compassion and empathy. Through such a focus, schools can support the development of moral, ethical, political and social capabilities of students.

Defining Compassion and Empathy

Compassion and empathy are linked; however, they refer to slightly different attributes within the human condition. According to Jiménez (2017) there is a distinct difference between compassion and empathy even though they stem from the same desires—what Jiménez refers to as “to better relate and understand others’ experiences” (p. 1). Compassion has been defined as “the emotion one experiences when feeling concern for another’s suffering and desiring to enhance that person’s welfare” (Halifax, 2012, p. 1751). Compassion usually creates some distance between people and focuses on how we can help others but also step back from situations and assess how best to deal with challenges (MacBeth & Gumley, 2012). Empathy on the other hand allows us to feel what others are feeling and be sympathetic towards them or “the ability to walk in another’s shoes” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 98).

Compassion is in many ways better for our own wellbeing and resilience (Jiménez, 2017), whereas empathy has the potential to burn us out if we do not have the skills to recognize when to distance ourselves from emotions such as hurt and pain. It is, therefore, important that skills such as compassion and empathy are taught in schools but also that teachers and preservice teachers have these attributes in order to teach students more effectively in our complex world (Aronson, 2002; Aronson, Sikes, Blaney, & Snapp, 1978).

Other concepts related to compassion and empathy are morals and ethics. According to Cam (2012), moral experiences grow out of children’s own explorations and, therefore, begin at home. Once in care prior to school, children have direct interaction with an extended peer group and other adults. Cam (2012) suggests that:

Mixing with other children throughout the day, in both structured activities and free play, provides constant opportunities for moral development in an environment that is likely to have a greater focus on social learning than will be the case at school. (p. 17)

The development of compassion and empathy, however, lasts throughout one’s lifetime (Wei, Yu-Hsin Liao, Ku, & Shaffer, 2011). Much research has explored these attributes from a psychological perspective whereby “distinct appraisal processes attuned to undeserved suffering, distinct signaling behavior related to caregiving patterns of touch, posture, and vocalization, and a phenomenological experience and physiological response that orients the individual to social approach” (Goetz, Keltner, & Simon-Thomas, 2010, p. 351) can be carried out. Goetz et al. (2010) share a comprehensive review of literature that analyses compassion as an affective experience and oriented state. This perspective relates to a number of theorized models offered in the literature.

Models of Compassion and Empathy

Not surprisingly, a number of scholarly researchers have explored the notions of compassion and/or empathy in different environments. Halifax’s (2012) model of enactive compassion, for example, acknowledges that “compassion is an enactive, emergent process of factors in the attentional and affective domains, the intentional and insight domains, and the embodied and engaged domains of subjective experience” (p. 2). These are known as A, I and E axis. According to Halifax (2012), this psychological model involves the notion of people’s attention or mental processing resources to everyday objects. Attention, for example, can be focused or dispersed, and Halifax (2012) notes that this idea determines people’s ability to acknowledge and respond to others suffering. For Halifax (2012), attention should be “nonjudgmental, nonreactive, not contracting in relation to adversity, and nongrasping in terms of the desire for a particular outcome” (p. 2). In this sense, people are capable of listening attentively to others’ concerns without having to always offer solutions to problems.

The other element to an enactive model of compassion is affect. Halifax (2012) explains that the affective domain involves two emotional states: kindness and equanimity. These are defined as:

Kindness and equanimity are essential affective processes associated with compassion. Kindness is characterized by a dispositional tenderness toward others as well as genuine concern. Equanimity is a process of stability or mental balance that is characterized by me...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• Part I. Compassion and Empathy Can Be Learnt
• Part II. The Importance of Compassion and Empathy for Children and Young People
• Part III. Compassion and Empathy in the Curriculum
• Part IV. Compassion and Empathy for Teachers
• Part V. Compassion and Empathy in Different Educational Contexts
• Back Matter