Developed Empathic Capacities as a Condition of Quality Interpersonal Relationships within a School Environment
A quality school atmosphere is based on а human/altruistic approach to students but also on a satisfied teacher, who is characterized by a number of positive qualities and an equally satisfied student, who cultivates positive feelings towards the authority of their teachers, the school and the education process in general. Good quality relations between people are based on empathy which is the ability to relate to the feelings of other people. It is via empathy that a teacher, however briefly, puts on their students’ shoes and thereby feels the same emotions, which is what actually allows teachers to truly understand their student’s feelings, actions and problems and to respond positively to them. In doing so, they show a full understanding of their needs directed towards the well-being of the students. Empathy includes both cognitive and emotional components and, therefore, in the process of empathizing, knowledge and emotions interact. As most authors consider it to be a regulator of different behaviors, in the context of altruistic behavior specifically, empathy is a very important motivation for altruism, given the degree of emotional unity established, which is a precondition for effective and sincere interaction between people and an initiator of a close understanding of another person's emotional world.
Dr. Biljana Maslovaric, Mr Marijana Blecic and Dr. Shai Cohen