Date of Award

2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

First Advisor

Dr Winston Massam

Department

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

Abstract

Empathy is a vital human quality with profound significance in both the broader world and the school environment. It forms the bedrock for building positive relationships, resolving conflicts, promoting inclusivity, and enhancing communication skills. In schools, it creates a supportive and inclusive atmosphere, facilitating effective teacher-student communication, reducing discrimination, and encouraging students to develop essential life skills that will serve them well in all aspects of their lives. Despite the above importance of Empathy, learners do not appreciate its importance and end up acting unempathetically while research has shown that teachers feel inadequately equipped to teach this value. This research hence examined storytelling's role in promoting empathy and learning among high school learners focusing on the learner’s level and understanding of empathy, how storytelling influences the learner’s empathetic abilities and the probable storytelling influence on learners learning in the selected schools. The study was conducted in a mixed secondary school in Nairobi County, Kenya, involving a sample of high school students and employed a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection methods (questionnaires, observation, interviews, and Focus Group Discussions). The participants were exposed to storytelling sessions designed to evoke empathy and enhance their understanding of diverse perspectives and experiences. The research found out that Storytelling imparted multifunctional learning benefits like active listening, creativity, and collaboration skills with classroom applications on top of opening a platform for vulnerability that allows learners, especially boys, to share freely in a safe, supportive environment. The exchange of genuine personal stories fostered perspective-taking, emotional engagement, identification with characters, and breaking of biases among learners. This research has the potential to contribute to educational practices by highlighting the importance of storytelling as a tool for promoting social-emotional learning. Aiming to create more compassionate and inclusive learning environments by fostering empathy and understanding among high school learners the findings of this research could inform educators and policymakers in developing strategies to enhance empathy development and social-emotional learning in schools.

First Page

1

Last Page

90

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