TRAINING FUTURE TEACHERS TO DEVELOP EMPATHY IN CHILDREN IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

TRAINING FUTURE TEACHERS TO DEVELOP EMPATHY IN CHILDREN IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Based on the experience of the Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University, the article describes the training of future teachers to develop empathy in children. Attention is drawn to the universal and individual approaches to the formation of pedagogical empathy and the methods and technologies used within them.
Keywords: empathy, empathic pedagogical action, disciplines of the professional cycle, primary education, preschool education.

Pribora T. O.
Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor,
Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.124

Recent years have been difficult for Ukrainian pedagogy. It was necessary to look for a new approach to educating both future teachers and the younger generation. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war, the problems of physical and social and ethical education have come to the fore. The dichotomy of “good-evil”, “truth-falsehood”, “spirituality-pragmatism”, “altruism-egoism”, “nobility-lowliness” has become relevant.

Accordingly, higher education has faced an important task to prepare a humane, tolerant, motivated, active and proactive specialist capable of understanding the inner world of a person and, if necessary, providing the necessary assistance.

The problem of developing empathy is not new. The concept, types and mechanisms of empathy have been studied by G. Andreeva, M. Barnett, T. Gavrilova, G. Dino, L. Zhuravleva, O. Kairis, L. King, T. Kolomiets, O. Kononko, V. McDougall, T. Pashukova, K. Rogers, E. Thatcher, J. Howard, V. Filatov, I. Yusupov.

Despite a significant number of studies on this issue, the peculiarities of training future teachers to develop empathy in children have not been covered.

The purpose of the article is to characterize the peculiarities of training future teachers studying under the educational programs 012 “Preschool Education” and 013 “Primary Education” to develop empathy in children.

The training of future teachers for the development of empathy in children in the program 012 “Preschool Education” and 013 “Primary Education” is aimed at two directions: the formation of the qualities of a teacher necessary for the manifestation of empathy in pedagogical conditions and the formation of the necessary professional competencies for teaching children empathy.

While studying in educational programs, students improve the emotional, cognitive, and action components of pedagogical empathy [2].

Determining the level of pedagogical empathy among first-year students has led to the conclusion that not all students have formed two forms of empathy (empathy and compassion), in particular, compassion is a more complex form mediated by moral knowledge, requires further development and consists in “experiencing the feelings of a partner that do not coincide with one’s own” [1].

Studying at the university is a time of realizing personal individuality and finalizing value orientations, so it is so important to add empathy to them.

The development of empathy and its manifestation of empathic pedagogical action – “a specific activity of the teacher, which manifests itself in the form of empathic contact between the teacher and the student and is a structure, each component of which contains an empathic component” [1, p. 10], is influenced by the study of disciplines of the pedagogical cycle: “Introduction to the specialty”, “Pedagogy”, “Didactics”, “Fundamentals of Pedagogical Ergonomics”, “History of Pedagogy (General and Preschool)”, “Pedagogical Technologies of Teaching in Primary School”, “Methods of Educational Work”, “Education of the XX century”, “Teacher’s Work with Pupils’ Parents”, “Fundamentals of Pedagogical Skills”, “Image of a Modern Teacher”, “Children’s Literature”, “Culture of Speech and Expressive Reading”, “Artistic Work and Fine Arts with Teaching Methods, etc. [3].

The logic of the location of these disciplines in the educational process and their content is aimed at ensuring that after completing their bachelor’s degree, each student makes a transition from compassion and understanding of the life situation to active work in order to help the child overcome obstacles while maintaining their activity and high level of emotional mood. Moreover, the assistance in overcoming obstacles is based on facilitative influence on the child. As we can see, the end result is the conative component of pedagogical empathy [1, p. 9].

In addition, it is important to take into account the fact that without an empathic element, every pedagogical action remains incomplete, since it does not affect the inner world of the student, which reduces the quality and effectiveness of pedagogical activity [1, p. 10].

In the process of teaching professional training disciplines, two approaches to the formation of pedagogical empathy are combined: universal and individual.

The universal approach involves the use of the case-study method to create pedagogical situations aimed at developing students’ emotional intelligence and competencies in general, and empathy in particular. The peculiarity of this approach lies in the close combination of theoretical and practical components of professional training, which leads to the formation of knowledge through the prism of practical experience, the acquisition of creative independence for professional self-realization, which allows to gradually improve the formation of three components of empathy: emotional, cognitive and conative.

The method is complemented by discussions, independent work and tasks aimed at self-diagnosis in order to better understand oneself [2].

The final development of the empathic response technique by students takes place during internships in Ukrainian educational institutions (under martial law, internships are allowed for students abroad). Educational and industrial practices allow students to gain practical experience of empathy, and create opportunities for the realization of pedagogical empathy.

An individual approach involves taking into account, on the one hand, the peculiarities of working with a particular group, and, on the other hand, the individual characteristics of each student. The means of developing empathy are training exercises, round tables, the use of elements of theater, business games and independent research on the problem.

Thus, the formation of pedagogical empathy in a higher education institution is realized through the teaching of professional cycle disciplines. The universal and individual approaches to the formation of pedagogical empathy make it possible to implement an individually differentiated approach in the education of students of this emotional process.

List of references

1. Kairis O. D. Development of empathy in the professional formation of students of higher pedagogical educational institutions: PhD thesis: 19.00.07. Kyiv: H. S. Kostiuk Institute of Psychology of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, 2002. 19 с.
2. Kolomiets T. V. Features of empathic interpersonal interaction in adolescence: PhD in Psychology: 19.00.07. Odesa: South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K.D. Ushynsky, 2015. 21 с.
3. Prybora T. O. Aesthetic possibilities of the disciplines of professional training of the future teacher. Scientific Notes of V. Vynnychenko Central State Pedagogical University (Series: Pedagogical Sciences). 2021. № 96. С. 140-148.