Abstract
The role of empathy in the teaching profession has been vastly investigated in relation to its effect on students, but research on how teachers’ empathy affects their own well-being at work is limited. This study investigated empathy and instructional assignment-related stress factors of primary school teachers serving in general or special education; moreover, it investigated if empathy predicted instructional assignment-related stress. Data were collected from 190 primary school teachers using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and the Inventory of Job-related Stress Factors. Teachers reported moderately high levels of perspective-taking and empathic concern and lower levels of fantasising and personal distress. Also, they reported moderate to low levels of stress regarding instructional assignment-related factors. General and special education teachers did not differ in their reported scores on empathy or stress-related factors. Finally, it was found that instructional assignment-related stress factors can be predicted by personal distress and fantasising; however, the core empathy skills (empathic concern and perspective taking) were not found to be strong predictors of the stress factors tested.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 57-75 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | International Journal of Disability, Development and Education |
Volume | 64 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2 Jan 2017 |
Keywords
- Empathy
- general education
- instructional assignment-related stress
- Interpersonal Reactivity Index
- inventory of job-related stress factors
- perspective taking
- special education
- teachers