Oral Presentation Royal Australian Chemical Institute National Congress 2026

The Role of Empathy in Tertiary Science Teaching: What do we know and what's yet to be learned?   (141060)

Stephen George-Williams 1
  1. The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia

The Role of Empathy in Tertiary Science Teaching: What do we know and what's yet to be learned?

Alan Chen1,2, Stephen George-Williams1, Sara Kyne2

1School of Chemistry,  

2School of Chemistry,

 

Empathy is widely recognised as a critical component of effective teaching and learning.1,2 Yet the role of empathy within tertiary education remains under-researched, particularly from the student perspective and within discipline-specific contexts. This presentation brings together findings from a recent systematic literature review of qualitative literature and our own empirical study to examine how empathy is understood and enacted in tertiary teaching and learning environments.

 

The systematic review was conducted using the SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, and Research type) framework3 to identify qualitative studies focused on empathy in tertiary teaching and learning. From an initial pool of over 1,000 publications, 29 studies met the inclusion criteria. Analysis revealed conceptual inconsistency in how empathy is defined and operationalised, with many studies emphasising the perception of empathetic action and behaviour of instructor roles.4–8 The review also highlighted notable gaps in the literature, including a lack of studies that incorporate both student and instructor perspectives, limited cross-disciplinary comparison, and limited exploration of how perceptions of empathy evolve over time in tertiary education.

 

The findings from the systematic review are complemented by our previous qualitative interview study with first-year chemistry students at an Australian university.9 This study explored students’ lived experiences and perceptions of empathy in their courses. It was noted that students:  

  • Primarily described empathy in cognitive and behavioural dimensions,
  • Perceived varying experiences of empathy from instructors dependent on different tertiary teaching roles, and,
  • Characterised institutional and technological infrastructure as largely non-empathetic.

Participants also suggested practical strategies for embedding empathy more meaningfully in course design, communication practices, and institutional systems.

 

Together, these studies underscore the need for a deeper understanding of empathy in tertiary education, particularly within science. This presentation argues for greater research capturing student voices, disciplinary contexts, and longitudinal experiences. and describes implications for empathetic teaching practice, curriculum design, and future affective education research. Simultaneously, we consider the perspectives of staff, especially given their own psychosocial needs and the very real possibility of emotional burnout when empathy is overexpressed or expected beyond staff capacity.

 

References

(1)          Meyers, S.; Rowell, K.; Wells, M.; Smith, B. C. Teacher Empathy: A Model of Empathy for Teaching for Student Success. College Teaching 2019, 67 (3), 160–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2019.1579699.

(2)          Cuff, B. M. P.; Brown, S. J.; Taylor, L.; Howat, D. J. Empathy: A Review of the Concept. Emotion Review 2016, 8 (2), 144–153. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073914558466.

(3)          Cooke, A.; Smith, D.; Booth, A. Beyond PICO: The SPIDER Tool for Qualitative Evidence Synthesis. Qual Health Res 2012, 22 (10), 1435–1443. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732312452938.

(4)          Arghode, V.; Yalvac, B.; Liew, J. Teacher Empathy and Science Education: A Collective Case Study. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education 2013, 9 (2), 89–99. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.921a.

(5)          Bridenbaugh, J. R.; Arikawa, A. Y.; Briant, J. O.; Ross, J. Perceptions of Empathy in the Classroom Among Educators in Higher Education and Healthcare Disciplines: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Allied Health 2024, 53 (3), e147–e155.

(6)          Hamdan, A. Conceptual Framework for Understanding Empathy in Physics Faculty. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 2024, 20 (2). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.20.020148.

(7)          Ross, J.; Hicks-Roof, K.; Cosby, M.; Arikawa, A. Instructor and Student Perceptions of Teacher Empathy in Higher Education. College Teaching 2023, 71 (1), 28–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2022.2049673.

(8)          Zhao, Y.; Fuller, L.; Daugherty, K. Evaluating Pharmacy Faculty Perceptions of Empathy in Education: A Qualitative Study. CURRENTS IN PHARMACY TEACHING AND LEARNING 2021, 13 (8), 975–981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2021.06.014.

(9)          Brutto, L.; Z. Chen, A.; Pullen, R.; H. Kyne, S.; R. George-Williams, S. What Does Empathy Look like to You? Investigating Undergraduate Chemistry Students’ Perceptions of Empathy in Regard to Their Lived Experience at University. Chemistry Education Research and Practice 2025. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5RP00284B.