Relations of Teacher Empathy to Student-Teacher Relationships and Classroom Context

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 12:40 pm
  In Roundtable Session: The Importance of Adult-Child Relationships (Table 38)

Abstract

Theoretical models posit that teachers’ social-emotional skills can influence students’ social-emotional skills and the classroom context. This study aimed to elucidate some of these associations by examining the role of teacher empathy in relation to students’ reports of caring relationships with teachers and classroom supportiveness. Multilevel modeling was utilized to examine baseline data from a randomized control trial of an SEL program with 15 teachers and 339 middle school students. Results showed that teacher empathy was not significantly associated with students’ reports of student-teacher caring relationships; however, teacher empathy was positively associated with students’ reports of classroom supportiveness. These results add new layers of insight into existing models linking teacher empathy to classroom contexts. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Authors

• Joshua Lovett, University of Illinois Chicago

• Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, University of Illinois at Chicago