Analysis of empathic artifice level of teacher candidates who study in the school of physical education and sport

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Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 1987–1992

WCES-2010

Analysis of empathic artifice level of teacher candidates who study

in the school of physical education and sport

Murat Tekin

a

*, Mehmet Güllü

b

a_{Karamano÷lu Mehmetbey University School of Physical Education and Sports Karaman 70100, Turkey} b_{ønönü University School of Physical Education and Sports Malatya 44000, Turkey}

Received October 16, 2009; revised December 25, 2009; accepted January 8, 2010

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine empathic artifice level of teacher candidates who study in the School of Physical Education and Sport.

Study group is composed of 125 boys and 72 girls totaly 197 students who are attending to 1st_{, 2}nd_{, 3}rd_{and 4}th_{class of} Karamano÷lu Mehmetbey University and Selcuk University School of Physical Education and Sport.

First of all, available information’s related to aim of study have been given systematically by scanning literature. In this way a teorical frame about the subject was formed. Secondly to reach the aim of the study; empathic artifice scale developed by Dökmen (1990) was applied to students who joined the research.

In data examine and interpretation; t test, One Way Anova tests were used and to identify differences between groups Tukey test was used and perception was based on P<0,05. Statistical package for social sciences packet program (SPSS) was used to find calculated data’s and evaluate criteria’s. Reliability coefficient of the scale was found as 0.86.

As a result of this study it was found that while there was a meaningful difference between teacher candidates who are attending to School of Physical Education and Sport, empathic artifice level and their sex, class and fathers’ education level; there wasn’t a meaningful difference between their emphatic artifice and mothers’ education level.

Keywords: Physical education; teacher candidate; empathic artifice. 1. Introduction

For Man's social healing, maturing, and living in harmony to become a part of society that he lives in, he must pass some processes. One of these processes is education. It prepares individuals to social life by equipping with knowledge and skills. For families, the quality of education and the choosing the right teacher are very important. Teachers can affect the student during the training activities which is a process of interaction. Teachers who have effective communication skills can be more effective and useful during this process (Barut, 2004). In this context, the importance of the concept of empathy is emerged. Empathy is in the increasingly important element of

* Murat Tekin. Tel.: +90 0338 226 27 15; fax: +90 0338 228 03 24

E-mail address: murattekin76@gmail.com

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communication between the people who become continually more complex and having intense relationship. Empathy is detecting opposite person’s feelings and thoughts as himself and putting himself against him (Rogers, 1962, Akt: Alver, 2005). Empathy with the most common definition and known is putting him into another person's own consciousness and having ability to understand the person’s consciousness feelings, desires and thoughts without trying (TDK, 2009). In another definition; it is the meaning of understanding other people’s feelings and thoughts or ourselves replacement process (Tamborini and his friends, 1990); It is the process of putting himself into another person’s place and looking at the events with their perspective and understanding that person's feelings and thoughts accurately and as a result, forwarding this situation (Dökmen, 1994);

It is the marker of positive social behavior and other forms of assistance (Miller and his friends, 1988); It is the process of putting himself into another person’s place and an effort to understand his feelings and thoughts dimensionally. It is the conversion to an appropriate behavior by evaluating the situations in an understandable and sensitive way by other people. If a person is much aware of his personal values and limits, he can protect his identity in his relations with others and misunderstandings in relationship with his grandparents, parents and teachers can decrease.

For this reason, although we cannot teach to an individual the empathy skills directly to others, we can teach exercises that will improve his awareness about himself like becoming aware of strengths and weaknesses of the communication and having the clarity of the value. At the same time, we can change the point of view from such as black-white, solid and accurate abstract idea to vulnerable and easy to change perspective view (Sezer ve Damar, 2005).The basic environment to do is a family and a school. Schools are institutions that give life to society. What gives schools the strength is the teacher-student interaction. How much the communication which is a base for interaction is better, that much the results which will be reflected in society is better (Barut, 2004). Therefore, building a good environment in society and ensuring relationship is one of the task of teachers. For this, teachers must have appropriate empathic tendencies and should be able to teach students empathy skills and moreover a teacher must be able to perform high-level communication. Barut (2004) summarizes it as: It is the reality that teachers can affect students during the education which is a communication process. Teachers who have effective communication skills will be more effective and useful in this process.

Empathic understanding and positive comments and ideas concerning human nature are one of the basic personality traits that should be found in individuals who will be teachers (Karahan, 1998). Thus, teachers are the trainers of students and earning good empathy skills can be provided by hosting these skills. As it is know that empathy can make easier the communication of people, empathy education is given to different occupations to arise the abilities of empathy (Ercoúkun and his friends, 2006, Akt:Erçoúkun and NalçacÕ 2008). In a class where there is empathy, teacher should accept all students own personal ideas without directing them in accordance with his own ideas (Murat his friends, 2005).

It should be considered whether or not physical education teachers should have empathic skills as they have major impact on students' personality development, communication skills and environmental compatibility is as an important issue. For this reason, knowing the empathic skills level of teacher candidates at physical education and sports school may give very important messages to concerned people about gaining empathic skills. In this context, this research is aiming the examination of the empathic skills level of teacher candidates at physical education and sports school.

2. Method

2.1. Research group

125 Boys and 72 Girls of totally 197 of 1th_{, 2}th_{, 3}th_{and 4}th_{grade of School of Physical Education and Sports}

students at Selçuk and Karamano÷lu Mehmetbey Universities are the research group members.

2.2. Data Collection

First of all available information relating to the objectives of the research has been obtained by scanning the literature in a systematic way. Thus, a theoretical framework has been created about the subject. Secondly, to reach

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the purpose of the research, empathic skills scale which was developed by Dökmen (1990) was applied on to the surveyed students.

2.3. Analysis Of Data

To analyze and interpret the data, t test, One Way Anova has been used and to understand the differences between groups tukey test has been carried out at P<0.05 significance. To evaluate and calculate values, SPSS (Statistical package for social sciences) has been used. The scale reliability coefficient (Cronbach Alpha) was 0.86

3. Findings

Table 1 According To The Gender Variable, t Test Comparison Results About The Level Of Empathic Skill Of Teacher Candidates At Physical Education And Sports Schools

N Average Std. Deviation t P

Boys 125 149.8240 26.5184

Girls 72 141.0000 27.0940 2.231 0.027

If the test results are examined in table 1, a significant difference of the level of empathic skill among teacher candidates can be seen according to the gender variable ( t rate =2.231 P=0.027<0.05 ).

Table 2 According To The Class Variable, One-Way Anova Test Comparison Results About The Level Of Empathic Skill Of Teacher Candidates At Physical Education And Sports Schools

Variance Source KT Sd KO F P

Intergroup 6310.551 3 2103.517 Intra-group 136566.769 193 707.600

2.973 0.033

If the test results are examined in table 2, a significant difference of the level of empathic skill among teacher candidates can be seen according to the class variable ( F rate =2.973 P=0,033<0.05).

Table 3 According To The Class Variable, Tukey Test Comparison Results About The Level Of Empathic Skill Of Teacher Candidates At Physical Education And Sports Schools

Class Variable Average Differences P

2. class 11.3128 0.086 3. class 6.4284 0.640 1. class 4. class -15.2034 0.040 1. class -11.3128 0.086 3. class -4.8844 0.799 2. class 4. class 3.8906 0.901 1. class -6.4284 0.640 2. class 4.8844 0.799 3. class 4. class 8.7750 0.490 1.class 15.2034 0.040 2.class -3.8906 0.901 4. class 3.class -8.7750 0.490

If the test results are examined in table 3, the level of empathic skills of teacher candidates at Physical Education and Sports Schools has been analyzed and as a result, the level of empathic skills of teacher candidates at 4.class is higher than 1.class teacher candidates.

Table 4. According To The Level Of Student’s Fathers’ Education Variable, One-Way Anova Test Comparison Results About The Level Of Empathic Skill Of Teacher Candidates At Physical Education And Sports Schools

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Intra-group 135764.045 194 699.815

If the test results are examined in table 4, a significant difference of the level of empathic skill among teacher candidates can be seen according to the level of students’ fathers’ education variable ( F rate =5.082 P=0.007<0.05).

Table 5 According To The Father’s Level Of Education Variable, Tukey Test Comparison Results About The Level Of Empathic Skill Of Teacher Candidates At Physical Education And Sports Schools

Father’s Level of Education Variables Average Differences P

Secondary -15.3939 0.004 Primary University Level 12.5559 0.066 Primary 15.3939 0.004 Secondary University Level -2.8380 0.810 Primary -12.5559 0.066 University Level Secondary 2.8380 0.810

If the test results are examined in table 5, the level of empathic skills of teacher candidates at Physical Education and Sports Schools has been analyzed by Tukey Test and as a result, the level of empathic skills of fathers who have a secondary education is higher than the fathers who have a primary education.

Table 6. According To The Mother’s Level Of Education Variable, One-Way Anova Test Comparison Results About The Level Of Empathic Skill Of Teacher Candidates At Physical Education And Sports Schools

Intergroup 1287.596 2 643.798 Intra-group 141589.724 194 729.844

0.882 0.416

If the test results are examined in table 6, a significant difference of the level of empathic skill among teacher candidates cannot be seen according to the mother’s level of education variable ( F rate =0.882 P=0.416>0.05 ).

4. General Discussion

According to the gender variable, a significant difference of the level of empathic skill among teacher candidates cannot be seen (p<0.05). When we look at average value; an average of the level of empathic skills of boys is (X=149.824) but the level of empathic skills of girls is (X=141.000). According to these results, the level of

empathic skills of boys is more than the level of empathic skills of girls. Societies produce different roles according to gender and expect different roles. Although it is accepted as level of empathic skills of girls is higher than boys didn’t result as parallel to many researches. The study resulted in the opposite direction. It is because as people are thought to be a change in the process of socialization. That finding may be as a result of family and child rearing methods of the environment and going through the process of different socialization of boys and girls. According to Borden, Karr, Caldwell-Colbert (1988) Mills and Grusec (1989), it is found out that girls at every age level can establish effective empathy compared to boys. Ornum and his friends (1981) found out that boys can get more marks compared to girls. Eisenberg-Berg and Lenon (1980) found out that boys can get more marks compared to girls at nonverbal empathy dimension. Austin and his friends (2005) has written A Starter Study about Empathy” and “Emotional Intelligence and Examination Performance of Medical Students. He has dealt with empathy and emotional intelligent and pointed out that medical students who want to be successful as professionals should give more importance to quality rather than cognitive ability. Moreover, having such qualifications which are the indicators of academic success can motivate preferences doing in this way. While U.S. medical students are recording a decrease in the level of empathy, UK does not have comparative information. As a result, a significant effect was found between genders of X community. While men's empathy score increased in 1th and 2th, women’s score has decreased. Erçoban,(2003) Investigation of level variables of Branch Teachers of secondary stage at primary education in terms of the empathic has resulted in differences by regarding sex, choosing the job willingly or not and finding the monthly income sufficient. These results are parallel to our research. Also the researches below are parallel to our research; the research of Duru (2002) is about investigation of empathic level trends of candidate teachers in terms of psycho-social variables. The research of Barut (2004) is about examination of

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teachers’ empathic and conflict trends who are working at secondary education institutions in accordance with some variables. The research of Bozkurt (1997) is about empathic level trends of different gender students’ integration level at different at Hacettepe University. The research of Korkmaz and his friends (2003) is about comparison of students at Physical Education and Sports Schools in Faculty of Education at University according to their ages. Öztürk and his friends (2004) research is about Investigation of empathy conditions of coaches and referees. And the last one is the research of Alver (2005) which is about examining of Psychological Counseling and Guidance students’ empathic skills and decision making skills according to different variables.

According to classroom variable, among emphatic skill levels of teacher candidates at schools of physical education and sport was found a significant different (p<0.05). As a result of this different, the emphatic skill levels of teacher candidates at fourth classroom appeared higher than teacher candidates at first classroom. According to these results, it appears that their emphatic skill levels increase when teacher candidates’ classroom levels increase. Emphatic skill can be improved with education as it depends, at this reason; we see the result that curriculum and lessons which has been given to teacher candidates enhance their emphatic skill. In this study, It was also determined that teacher candidates emphatic skills increased when classroom level increased and that there was a meaningful different among their emphatic skill levels according to classroom such as results of Demir and his friends’ study (2009) which named the emphatic tendency of Turkish, social science and biological teacher candidates and relation with certain variables, results of Akyol and ÇiftçibaúÕ’s study (2005) which named the determined of emphatic skill levels of preschool teacher candidate, results of Aka’s study (2001) which named the examined of emphatic skill of nurse candidates at Akdeniz University, results of Altekin’s study (1995) which named the compared of emphatic skill levels of theater, interior design, environmental design students, result of YÕldÕrÕm’s study (1992) which named the examined of emphatic skill levels and empathic tendency levels of physiology department students and psychological counseling and guidance department students. These studies show to be parallel with our study. But some studies don’t show to be parallel with ours such as Dilekmen’s study (2000) which named the examined of democratic attitude of classroom teacher candidates according to diverse variables, Ada and his friends’ study (2000) which named the examined of altering at democratic attitudes of university students during their undergraduate education according to diverse variables, Ercoúkun and NalçacÕ’s study (2008) which named the examined of democratic attitudes and emphatic skill of classroom teacher candidates. As a reason for not parallel between these studies and ours, it is thought to could be arisen that research groups and perceives of the empathy concept show to difference from classroom to classroom.

According to their father’s education levels variable, among emphatic skill levels of teacher candidates at schools of physical education and sport was found a significant different (p<0.05). As a result of this different, the emphatic skill levels of teacher candidates whose fathers’ education levels was high school appeared higher than teacher candidates whose fathers’ education levels was primary school. Rogers (1975) written findings of the study related to empathy. He listed in order that emphatic exist form can be learnt from emphatic persons; that the correct empathy connection skill improved by means of education; that therapists, parents and teachers may improve emphatic state; that empathy can’t be obtained from inborn but can be learnt; and that emphatic skill can be learnt easier at emphatic environment. Our study indicates to be parallel with Roger’s study. Furthermore, YÕldÕrÕm and his friends’ study (1997) which named the examined of emphatic skill of nurse candidates at Marmara University according to classroom shows to be parallel with ours.

According to their mother’s education levels variable, among emphatic skill levels of teacher candidates at schools of physical education and sport wasn’t found a significant different (p>0.05). As this result, it is seen that mothers’ education levels didn’t provide differentiation at the obtained of emphatic skill of teacher candidates. Besides, some studies show to be parallel with our study such as Demir and his friends’ study (2009) which named the emphatic tendency of Turkish, social science and biological teacher candidates and relation with certain variables, Aka’s study (2001) which was named the examined of emphatic skill of nurse candidates at Akdeniz University, Ercoúkun’s study (2005) which named the examined of emphatic skill of classroom teacher candidates according to diverse variable.

As a result of this study, among emphatic skill levels of teacher candidates at schools of physical education and sport was found a significant different, according to their classroom, sexuality, fathers’ education levels variables; while it wasn’t found a significant different, according to their mothers’ education levels variable. Everybody may have emphatic skill but it isn’t forgotten to be more important that each teachers should have emphatic skill. In view

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of these results, it is thought that research finding can help characteristic of teacher candidates, their social adjustment, works to understand against persons and everyone interested in this field.

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