Pedagogical Empathy of Secondary Mathematics Teachers: Measurement, Antecedents, and Consequences

This multi-phase study sought to develop and validate a Pedagogical Empathy in Mathematics Scale (PEMS) and investigate the antecedents and consequences of pedagogical empathy among Mathematics teachers. The first phase of the study employed an instrument development research design in identifying the content domain, item-writing, content validation, tryouts, and establishment of validity and reliability through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. This phase exhausted content validation by experts and prospective users and sampled a total of 600 teacher-respondents for the first and second tryouts, all of which were extracted using stratified random sampling. The results of the first phase of the study confirmed a 21-item Pedagogical Empathy in Mathematics Scale (PEMS) in a semantic differential scale format with three dimensions: emotional awareness, supportive teaching, and instructional adaptability. The second phase of the study utilized a cross-sectional correlational research design and sampled a total of 150 teacher-respondents and 1,500 student-respondents using stratified random sampling. Results from a series of regression analyses revealed that teacher self-efficacy in teaching math-
ematics, gender, and basic empathy positively predicted pedagogical empathy. However, self-efficacy in mathematics did not significantly predict pedagogical empathy. Furthermore, results showed that pedagogical empathy negatively predicts students’ mathematics anxiety and positively predicts students’ perceived mathematics problem-solving skills. The validated PEMS provides a useful understanding for professional development programs and teacher training that promote empathic teaching methods, apart from being a dependable instrument for future research.