WHY should we be concerned about Empathy?
* Because Australian Teachers are noticing a distinct decline in empathy levels of students, reducing their ability to build and sustain relationships with peers and authority. This is negatively impacting behaviour and also dramatically reducing their employability for the future.
HOW we can increase Empathy?
* Building empathy is about increasing our students’ emotional intelligence and also their emotional vocabulary. No more should our students believe that any behaviour can only result in others feeling “happy, sad or angry”. This is about creating classroom cultures hallmarked by young people who think, who take responsibility and who can imagine walking in somebody else’s shoes. It’s about knowing the difference between sympathy, apathy and empathy too.
