Is Empathy the Key to Effective Teaching? A Systematic Review of Its Association with Teacher-Student Interactions and Student Outcomes

Abstract Teachers’ social-emotional competence has received increasing attention in educational psychology for about a decade and been suggested to be an important prerequisite the quality of teacher-student interactions student outcomes. In this review, we will summarize current state knowledge association between one central component teachers’ competence—their empathy—with these indicators teaching effectiveness. After all, empathy appears particularly promising determinant explaining high-quality interactions, especially emotional support students and, turn, positive development from theoretical perspective. A systematic literature research yielded 41 records relevant our article. Results indicated that teachers reporting more with victims bullying hypothetical scenarios greater likelihood intervene. However, there was neither consistent evidence relationship degree which they supported emotionally general, nor classroom management, instructional support, or Notably, most studies asked self-evaluation their empathy, whereas assessments based on objective criteria were underrepresented. We discuss how methodological decisions limit conclusions can draw prior outline perspective future empathy.