Teaching implies a high degree of “other-focusedness”; it is a profession, where adopting the perspective of others is essential for, among other things, the promotion of successful learning experiences (Aðalsteinsdóttir, 2004; Coffmann, 1981; Schmitz et al., 2006). Like medical doctors and other helping or caring professions, teachers can be said to have a professional responsibility at the interpersonal level (Holm, 2001). Regardless if communicating with pupils, parents or colleagues, teachers’ ability to relate to their counterparts in an empathic manner becomes crucial. However, despite of its indisputable importance, teacher empathy seems to be rather rarely focused in teacher education programs (e.g. Halamandaris & Loughton, 1973). This contribution elaborates on the proximate question how the assessment of empathy as well as the development of empathy through targeted training programs can be realized within teacher education.  

In contrast to the field of teacher education, considerable research interest has been devoted to the study of empathy of (prospective) physicians and nurses (e.g. Fields et al., 2004; Hemmerdinger et al., 2007; Pedersen, 2009; Stepien & Baernstein, 2006; Yu & Kirk, 2009). Hence, a critical review of research and theories related to the issue of empathy from the fields of medicine and nursing formed our starting point. In particular, two questions were addressed by means of our analysis: (i) Which methods for assessment of empathic ability among (prospective) helping and caring professionals are most promising with regard to the development of a teacher-specific measurement tool? and (ii) Which methods used for training medical and nursing students’ empathic ability appear most relevant for teacher education?. With reference to the positive impact of empathy on treatment satisfaction and adherence to treatment plans (as reported e.g. by Wheeler and Manhart Barrett, 1994), the cultivation of teacher empathy is hypothesized to foster successful learning processes (cf. Rogers, 1993).

A summarizing overview of the status of current research on empathy as a professional competence among physicians, nurses and teachers, illustratively presented in topic-specific sections, was established. Further, the findings were “translated” into critical pedagogical considerations, and an integrated framework for the study of teacher empathy as an assessable, teachable and improvable competence was developed.

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