Abstract :
The ability to place the care and concern for learners intellectual, social and emotional growth firmly at the heart of social constructionist notions of pedagogical practice is argued to be an expression of both the individual capacity and the institutional capability to demonstrate empathy. Learners in this context are understood to be both student learners and higher education (HE) tutors engaged in continuing professional development (CPD) activity. The ability to empathise and demonstrate empathy accurately varies from person to person and has been claimed to be a component of what Goleman (1996) describes as emotional intelligence , or Rogers (1961) as interpersonal effectiveness . It is argued that by consciously and consistently demonstrating empathic understanding and responding to the learner at the institutional level (via policies, procedures and processes), as well as at the interpersonal level (tutor to learner), sustainable and resilient relationship bonds or interpersonal rapport can be established which are capable of creating communities of learners, and are thus a means of delivering the goals of social constructionist theory at the level of practice. Details of a unit entitled Empathy , embedded within the e-Educator module, are provided which outline the ways in which a Sino-UK. collaborative team designed the empathy curriculum.
