What does empathy look like in the classroom?

Q. How to show empathy for students and yourself to improve classroom interactions and ensure equity?

As educators, we enter every class with a plan.  One of the most foundational yet underrated traits in classroom interactions is empathy.

Empathy is the ability to step into another person’s shoes – to understand their circumstances and respond accordingly. In teaching, this means considering students’ challenges and adapting our approach. When we encourage students to be present in class, assign them tasks, provide feedback on their work, and offer chances to resubmit failed assessments, we are adopting an empathetic perspective. Additionally, when we organise events specilised to their interests and sometimes spend time with them casually, we further support this empathetic approach.

Empathy looks like equity
The first step towards creating equity and a semblance of parity among students is understanding students’ social constraints and their abilities – both physical and intellectual – while maintaining fairness in our approach.
Educators demonstrate this by supporting students who struggle with a concept without passing judgment, setting a positive example for their peers.

Empathy looks like firmness and clarity

Empathy also requires us to be aggressive in the classroom. Establishing clear assignment deadlines and outlining evaluation criteria demonstrate an educator's confidence and self-respect. This is an example of self-empathy: understanding and validating your emotions and experiences in the same way you would others’. This kind of empathy includes acknowledging the possibility of being taken for granted by students and acting remedially. By acknowledging and validating my concerns, I can prepare my arguments thoroughly. This enables me to discuss typical topics such as gender parity, caste, and colonialism with confidence in the classroom. It allows me to speak and explain concepts without limiting my voice or self-censoring. These abilities stem from being empathetic towards my own needs as a scholar. This same clarity demonstrates to my students what effective communication looks like, even when debating on complicated subjects.

Empathy looks like listening and understanding

At some point, we have all extended assignment deadlines for students facing difficult circumstances. As teachers, we have all lent our ears to students facing challenges. As a counsellor, I lean towards being less sceptical of students’ accounts and taking them at face value. This is how to switch from just hearing to truly listening.
Empathy allows for a wider range of emotional expression
To an outsider, my students may sometimes appear rude, unresponsive, aggressive or uninterested. This does not concern me, as student responses stem from a combination of personal experiences and environmental factors, rather than solely my teaching approach.
This might seem counterintuitive, but being at ease in any classroom takes a lot of emotional work. At the beginning of each semester, through many introductory, ice-breaking exercises, I gain an idea of students’ socio-cultural backgrounds. I also try to understand their politics and the values they hold regarding various issues we discussed during the semester. This helps me better understand students' emotional responses and guide classroom discussions without stifling individual viewpoints. Recognizing these external influences while empathizing with students' emotional expressions allows us to respond without taking their words and actions personally.

I understand that empathy in teaching can take many forms, but it can be encouraged through the intentional incorporation of certain practices. In a world increasingly dominated by social media, which often lacks genuine relational connections, demonstrating to our students that we can understand their perspectives, engaging with their emotions, and being present for them can significantly improve our interactions in the classroom.

About the Author: Dr Neha Wadhwa is an assistant professor at Manipal Centre for Humanities, Manipal Academy of Higher Education.