Reflections of the Empathy Concept on the School Environment

Abstract

By nature, people tend to communicate with other individuals around them. When communication is healthy, the incompatibilities in the organizations are minimized. One of the most important factors that ensure healthy communication is the ability to empathize. Empathy can be explained as the ability to put oneself in the place of the other person in general. This qualitative research, which aims to examine the reflections of the concept of empathy on the school environment in terms of students, teachers, school administrators and parents according to the opinions of teachers, is structured in a phenomenological design. The study group consists of 30 teachers working in different branches. The researchers created a semi-structured interview form with open-ended questions. The data is structured under categories and themes. The findings of the study are presented under 10 themes. The participants expressed the concept of empathy as empathy and developing a perspective to understand the other person, while the high empathy skills of the school stakeholders positively affected the success of the social environment of the school and human relations. Studies to be carried out to improve the empathy skills of teachers, school administrators, students and parents, in-service training activities, student, and parent activities were among the prominent results. It may be recommended that lessons and practices aimed at developing the empathy skills of teacher candidates be included in teacher training programs, and that inspectors and administrators, who are expected to play a leadership role in education, develop empathy behaviour and guide teachers, students, and parents.