Enhancing empathy in secondary teachers: Implications for initial teacher education in Vietnam

Huyen Thi Thu Bui
Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam
Thuy Thi Ha
Vietnam Women's Academy, Vietnam
Phuoc Anh Hoang and Hong Thi Thanh Nguyen
Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam

This study explores the effectiveness of an educational intervention designed to enhance empathy in secondary school teachers in three Vietnamese cities. A total of 412 secondary school teachers participated in a survey assessing their general level of empathy by completing three empathy scales: The Basic Empathy Scale (BES), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and Teacher Empathy (TE). Thirty-four teachers with low and moderate levels of empathy were invited to participate in a 10-week educational experiment focusing on a psychoeducational program about the role of empathy in pedagogical activities and the practice of perspective-taking skills and active listening through role-playing and emotion recognition. The results showed that secondary school teachers in the research sample exhibited better affective empathy than cognitive empathy. The educational intervention for teachers was effective in enhancing their empathy. Discussions on the results, directions for future research, and limitations of this study are also presented.
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Authors: Dr Huyen Thi Thu Bui (corresponding author) is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Psychology and Education, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam. She attained her PhD in psychology at the University of Bolton, UK. Her research interest focuses on school psychology and educational psychology. Email: huyenbtt@hnue.edu.vn Ms Thuy Thi Ha has been working as junior lecturer and researcher at Vietnam Women's Academy, Vietnam. Her research interests are gender equality and domestic violence in women. She has expertise in doing quantitative research and analysing data. Email: hathuync79@vwa.edu.vn Dr Phuoc Anh Hoang holds a PhD in psychology and is a junior lecturer in the Faculty of Psychology and Education, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam. Her main research interests are teachers' counselling skills and gender-based violence prevention for adolescents. Email: phuocsp@gmail.com Dr Hong Thi Thanh Nguyen holds a PhD in education and is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Psychology and Education, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam. Her main research expertise pertains to educational theories and teaching methodology. Email: hongtlgd@gmail.com Please cite as: Bui, H. T. T., Ha, T. T., Hoang, P. A. & Nguyen, H. T. T. (2026). Enhancing empathy in secondary teachers: Implications for initial teacher education in Vietnam. Issues in Educational Research, 36(1), 20-39. http://www.iier.org.au/iier36/bui.pdf