Propelling Children’s Empathy and Friendship

Susana León-Jiménez,Garazi López De Aguileta,Lídia Puigvert,Beatriz Villarejo-Carballido

doi:10.3390/su12187288

Abstract

Schools play a crucial role in creating supportive and safe environments, and positive feelings are key in fostering such environments. Schools as Learning Communities, based on the dialogic participation of the whole community, are improving social cohesion. However, the underlying processes leading to such transformations remain underexplored. This article suggests that successful educational actions (SEAs) implemented in a school as a learning community, analyzed in this case study, promote positive feelings such as friendship and empathy, contributing to a safe and supportive environment. The purpose of this study was to analyze how SEAs generate friendship and empathy and their impact in the environment in a school as a learning community in Spain. To that end, the methods used were interviews with 18 students and 10 teachers, and reviews of two documentary films featuring the school. Results suggest that SEAs generate friendship and empathy among many children by promoting mutual support and sharing narratives in such dialogic settings. In addition, developing friendship and empathy contributes to reducing violent behaviors and promoting more inclusive attitudes among many students. This study concludes by providing insights on how SEAs can contribute to safe and supportive environments through fostering friendship and empathy.

Highlights

In what follows, a review of the literature on supportive and safe school environments and the impact of successful educational actions in promoting such environments is presented.1.1
The results from the interviews indicate that participating in successful educational actions (SEAs) has generally promoted friendship and empathy among students, and that conflicts and violent behaviors have considerably decreased in the school, contributing to students’ wellbeing and to a safe and supportive environment
This provides a framework to interact with different people, and by periodically switching groups, they end up talking to people they might not have talked to otherwise, increasing the chances of creating new relationships based on friendship

Summary

Introduction

A review of the literature on supportive and safe school environments and the impact of successful educational actions in promoting such environments is presented.1.1. Violence-free, and supportive environments has been found to foster students’ positive trajectories. Such environments contribute to improving students’ self-esteem and self-concept [2], academic achievements [3], academic engagement [4], and social and emotional wellbeing [5], among others. Literature on school and classroom climates has shown that relationships based on feelings such as friendship are key in fostering safe and supportive environments, as it contributes to reducing conflicts [8]; to positive school experiences; and to a sense of school belonging [9], which is associated with emotional wellbeing [10]. The benefits of friendship in human lives are known; for instance, a study with seventh grade students found that relationships based on friendship are the main source of meaning in participating students’ lives [17]

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Conclusion