Teacher Empathy and Inclusive Education: the Moderating Role of Emotional Self-efficacy and Gender.

Abstract

The role of teacher empathy is recognized as a key factor in improving teacher-student interaction, motivation and academic performance. Despite the importance of teacher empathy, its role in promoting inclusive education is still largely unknown. High levels of empathy are not necessarily associated with greater ability to implement inclusive education, as they can lead to excessive emotional engagement and stress, which negatively affect teachers' abilities. Therefore, the present study explored whether the relationship between high empathy and perceived ability to implement inclusive education could be moderated by other variables, such as emotional self-efficacy and gender. A large sample of Italian support teachers (N=739; Mage=37.7; females= 86.9%) was recruited for this study. We found that higher levels of empathy were related to higher levels of self-efficacy in inclusive education, especially when levels of emotional self-efficacy were higher. This relationship was only found for female teachers. The results contribute to knowledge about the role of teachers' empathy for inclusion as well as the moderating role of the ability to regulate negative emotions. The study has implications for pre-service teacher education and in-service teacher training.