La empatía en la formación de maestros de Educación Infantil y Primaria: estudio descriptivo del perfil empático de una muestra de estudiantes de la Universidad de Granada

Abstract

The configuration of today's society demands comprehensive teacher training that includes learning to know, to do, to live together and to be a person. This is the only way to be competent to respond to the needs of 21st century Infant and Primary Education pupils. One of the fundamental and necessary competences for all pupils is empathy. This study describes the empathic profile and other relevant socio-demographic variables at the time of entering the first year of university studies in a sample of 462 students of Early Childhood and Primary Education at the University of Granada. The results showed mean values of empathy in all students and higher scores in women than in men. Age was negatively related to empathic concern, and university entrance qualification was linearly and positively related to the emotional dimensions of empathy. Students who had taken the Humanities and Social Sciences baccalaureate showed higher perspective-taking skills than those who had taken the Science and Technology baccalaureate, and higher empathic concern scores than those who had taken the Science and Technology baccalaureate and those who had taken the Vocational Training baccalaureate. The results point to the desirability of focusing on the development of empathy in future teachers as part of their academic training.