Alternative Route to Licensure Teacher Candidates' Understanding and Use of Empathy

Empathy, defined as both emotional and cognitive perspective-taking, is considered to be an important teacher disposition; however, limited research exists on the implementation of empathy alongside the experiential teaching practicum within alternative route to licensure (ARL) programs. The purpose of this study is to examine ARL teacher candidates' (TCs) beliefs about empathy, their empathetic actions, and the role of teacher preparation in developing empathy in candidates' teaching. Using constructivist grounded theory, we collected data over two cohorts of our preparation program. We analyzed observations, interviews, a survey, and pedagogy coursework from the second cohort to generate findings. Our findings highlight empathy in teaching as educating from the learner's standpoint and creating positive interactions through empathy. Our analysis suggests that explicitly focusing on empathy throughout a teaching practicum can help TCs develop student-centered understandings of empathy that extend notions of imaging oneself in the other's place. Keywords: empathy; alternative route to licensure; teacher candidates
Introduction Teacher shortages, high levels of teacher attrition and turnover, and a focus on diversifying the teacher workforce have influenced the expansion of alternative route to licensure (ARL), or accelerated [...]