An Evaluation of a Story Exchange Teacher Training Intervention to Promote Empathy

Empathy, a key social emotional competency, plays an integral role in our daily functioning and social interactions, and the role of empathy in educational settings cannot be understated. Schools are widely engaged in promoting social emotional learning (SEL) and, thus, empathy development in students. However, it has become evident that student SEL and empathy promotion also require the development of such skills in teachers. Storytelling interventions can be used in school settings to promote the development of social emotional competencies. However, little is known as to how engaging in such intervention training affects teachers’ SEL and empathy development. This study explores the perspectives of teachers (N=10) who engaged in a story exchange facilitator training intervention. Through semi-structured interviews this study explored the perceived effects of the training on a) teachers’ social emotional competencies, particularly empathy, b) attitudes towards the SEL training, and c) experiences of SEL intervention implementation. Four themes were identified: the perceived importance of SEL for teachers, training outcomes, training perceptions, and experiences of intervention implementation. Findings indicate that the story exchange facilitator training may enhance teachers own social emotional learning with strengths of the training and issue in implementing the training outlined. Limitations and directions for future research are explored.