Examination of preschool teachers' compassion and fear of compassion

OpenAlex İngilizce

This study aims to examine preschool teachers' compassion and fear of compassion. The sample of this survey study consisted of 274 preschool teachers. Personal Information Form, Adult Compassion Scale, and Fear of Compassion Scale were used as data collection tools. Data analysis showed that the compassion level of the preschool teachers was high whereas their fear of compassion level was low. It was also found that the compassion of preschool teachers did not differ significantly based on their gender, age, marital status, educational level, having children, having a pet, having someone to care for at home other than children and their place of residence. Emotional compassion level of preschool teachers who were married and had children was higher than the emotional compassion level of their colleagues who were single and did not have any children. Compassion level of teachers who had 6 to 10 year-professional seniority was significantly higher than their colleagues who had 0 to 5 year-professional seniority. It was found that the fear of compassion level of the preschool teachers did not differ significantly based on their demographic characteristics. Also, a negative significant relationship was found between preschool teachers’ compassion and their fear of compassion. Based on the research findings, it can be suggested that, preschool teachers can be trained on compassion-based activities and compassion can be integrated into daily activities in preschool classrooms. Transfering their knowledege on compassion as a behavior to their classroom activities will help children to take those acts as a role model.