Abstract:

Successful or unsuccessful teaching as a phenomenon seems to be a complex of factors: knowledge, skills as well as positive social behavior lead a teacher to the achievement or failure of learning goals. However, the bibliography suggests that emotional and social factors play an important role too, especially considering the characteristics which make a teacher in-service effective. Yet, Covid-19 added more obstacles to this.

The contribution of self-efficacy and the impact of empathy on an individual level has been of interest to a large portion of researchers in terms of effective teaching and successful learning products. In other words, it seems that the educational outcome is influenced both by teachers’ ability to understand their students and by their belief in their abilities. Yet, little has been explained the interaction between emotional factors in teachers’ behavior as part of their teaching skills in the pandemic.

Though, technology integration seems to be well-established in every part of social life, research suggests that there are plenty of challenges to overcome facing the integration of instructional technology in daily classroom due to pandemic era.

Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the effect of teachers' empathy on their self-efficacy when using technological tools. This raises the following three research questions. The first refers to the negative way in which teachers’ fewer years of teaching experience affect their self-efficacy compared to those who have more years of teaching experience. The second question then explores the positive impact of teachers' many years of teaching experience on their empathy compared to those with fewer years of teaching experience. Finally, the third question concerns how the empathy of teachers with many years of service predicts their self-efficacy.

To conduct this study, a quantitative methodology needs to be applied. Two questionnaires measuring empathy and self-efficacy will be administered to a sample of Primary Education teachers working in Greece via institutional email. An adapted version of the TEQ (Toronto Empathy Questionnaire) and a combination of items from the GSE (General Self-Efficacy Scale and the TSES (Teachers' Sense of Efficacy) have been selected to assess a general sense of self-efficacy and how respondents perceive it.

Statistical analysis of data, through SPSS, will indicate whether the comparisons and the prediction tests add to the existing bibliography or are contradictory. Visualizing the results, we will further discuss the findings.

Keywords:

Empathy, self-efficacy, teachers, instructional technology context, years of teaching experience.