How did being empathic make a difference?
In one study involving 600 teachers and 10,000 students aged 4-18 years, the students of teachers who were trained to offer high levels of empathy and caring were compared with students of teachers who did not offer high levels of these conditions. The students of the highly facilitative teachers were found to: • miss fewer days of school during the year (on average five days compared with nine) • have increased scores on self-concept measures, indicating higher self-esteem • make greater gains on academic achievement measures, including both mathematics and reading scores • present fewer disciplinary problems • commit fewer acts of vandalism to school property • be more spontaneous and use higher levels of thinking. Furthermore, these benefits were cumulative; the more years in succession that students had facilitative teachers, the greater the gains, both intellectual and affective, when compared with students of traditional teachers. What other behaviours characterised empathic teac
