The Importance of Empathy Education in the COVID Era
The data from the 2019-2020 school year has been crunched, and like everything else in the world right now, the results are messy. This is because COVID impacted not only our data collection process, but also student responses to standard survey questions. In this post, we want to share all about the shift in student responses, and about the implications of COVID on the urgent need for the empathy education programs The Nora Project offers.
In the years we’ve been tracking Nora Project data in classrooms, themes have begun to emerge. For example, we’ve noticed year-over-year that our students’ cognitive, affective, and prosocial empathy scores improve across age, gender, race and other demographics. We’ve also noticed that an overwhelming number of participants with and without disabilities report making new friends through program participation, and that they believe some of those friendships will last. Notably, we’ve observed that through engagement in our Storyteller Project, students’ primary concern has shifted from “me” to “we,” as by-and-large they prioritize caring for others above their own personal success and happiness--an altruism marker identified by the Making Caring Common group at Harvard in 2014.
While last year our Storyteller students continued to make empathy and inclusion gains and to report the formation of authentic, mixed-ability friendships, their shift from “me” to “we” thinking was less complete this year.
Of course, the first question we asked ourselves in evaluating this data was, “Was there something fundamentally different about how the program was designed or implemented this year?” Given that overall empathy and inclusion impact data was still positive, the flagship Storyteller Program was basically unchanged, and outcomes were strongest in Storyteller classrooms piloting the new co-taught version of the project, we were unable, at first, to identify the cause of the shift. So we looked to the research for possible answers. As it turns out, increases in anxiety, overwhelm, and loneliness have an established relationship with decreases in empathy. This, of course makes sense--concern for self leaves less room for concern for others.
The pandemic has caused all of us great concern, and children have been impacted as much or more than adults. Sudden school closures, mandatory quarantine, unfamiliar masking and social distancing rules, extended uncertainty and confusion about the state of the world and what and who are safe--these factors took a toll. As Nora Project Leadership Council member Dr. Michele Borba observed in her bestselling book UnSelfie, “As anxiety increases, empathy wanes: it’s hard to feel for others when you’re in ‘survival mode.’”
After taking a step back then, it became clear that our data indicates an urgent need for opportunities to engage students in learning that helps manage their anxiety and overwhelm and gives them opportunities to connect with others and flex their empathy muscles. Without such opportunities, the decline in empathy and rise in narcissism, bullying, and depression that has plagued our children over the last several decades will likely continue. Indeed, these opportunities may be more important now than ever before, as in deciding what to teach with limited time and resources, we risk compounding students’ pandemic trauma by ignoring the learning they need most.
The data is clear--The Nora Project has a positive impact on students and on the culture of the classrooms in which they learn. Indeed, the programs we offer are critical in a time when anxiety and uncertainty threaten to undermine feelings of community and belonging. If you are interested in bringing The Nora Project programs to your school for the 2021/2022 school year, we want to talk to you! To get more information about our programs, complete this inquiry form and a staff member will reach out to you shortly. Or, if you’re ready to apply, complete our application and we’ll help you start the process.