This is an interesting paper (14 page PDF) but it really needed at least some editorial oversight. For example: in the abstract, we are promised four salient themes, but the text delivers us five (knowing a student's mental states, feeling or experiencing a student's mental states, a trait or character of the tutor, a display of care or concern, and the relation between empathy and compassion). The writing is occasionally quite loose, for example, "empathy is roundly praised mainly for being an effective vehicle for promoting student learning" and "educators, especially those in tertiary settings, can still reap the goods of empathy without being fully assaulted by its attendant costs." By 'loose', as you can see, what I mean is the use of words in a vague or awkward context so that we sort of get what the author is saying, but not precisely. But all that aside, this is quite a good treatment of the subject, looking at the benefits of an empathy-based approach to teaching, the risks of such an approach, and how to mitigate those risks. Image: Edutopia.
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