Pedagogy is understood as “the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept”.

Discussing what we understand as pedagogy and which concepts and methods come to our minds, questions are raised about empathy, ludic practices, ipsative teaching, VARK model, digital tools, physical space, experimental learning activities, risk taking stimulation, freedom of expression and so on.

I have been wondering how one would start to teach Empathy. It’s such an important skill for everyone including teachers and students.

I got greater clarity after a discussion with my colleagues from the PG Cert. First of all, can empathy be taught? I am not sure about that as from my perspective empathy is an inner value. Although, in any case, empathy could be encouraged with listening, respect and allowing to each of us to explain our story, where are we coming from and our background. Active listening is key as well as the creation of a safe space where everyone feels comfortable and can share their thoughts freely. Physical space is something I had never considered before James Carazzo’s session, but after reflecting on it, I believe is an essential part of creating an environment of trust.  I am also curious how we can extrapolate this concept to on-line teaching where the physical space is substituted by a cold screen. How can empathy be delivered in a digital world? 

In addition, other thoughts come to my mind. Is the size of the students group relevant when we want to encourage values like empathy? From my experience, it is more challenging to have meaningful conversations across all the students when the group is larger than 25-30 people.