Exploring the Impact of Service-Learning on Literacy Teachers' Self-Reported Empathy

Abstract

Although (1) literacy teacher education research and professional practice standards highlight the significance of empathy as a central tenant of teachers' professional dispositions, and (2) developing deeper and more empathetic understanding of others is a frequently cited rationale for utilizing service-learning as a critical pedagogy for in-service and pre-service teacher preparation, little quantitative research exists measuring in-service teachers' empathy or empathy development. The purpose of this chapter is to explore how a course-embedded, self-selected, and community-based service-learning experience effected participating literacy teachers' self-reported empathy. While participants scores increased in the pre-post condition, results of a paired sample t-test indicated no significant difference in teachers' self-reported empathy across the pre-post condition. Implications for practice and program administration as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.