What is the International Early Learning Study?
The International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS) is an international survey that assesses children at age 5 who attend Early Childhood Education and Care centres and/or schools. It measures Emergent Literacy, Emergent Numeracy, Self-regulation, Empathy & Trust and Pro-social behaviour1.
What is empathy and how does it develop in childhood?
Empathy is defined as ‘the ability to imagine and understand the thoughts, perspectives and emotions of another person’2. Research exploring empathy in childhood is conflicted with regard to whether it is an ability you are born with, or something that develops over time. Some argue that genes play a role in the development of empathy3 whilst others argue it is learnt through experience4. Either way, research on the development of empathy in childhood consistently suggests it is a skill which can be enhanced during a child’s early years5.
Why is empathy important, and relevant, in the context of education?
Firstly, according to Hoffman’s stages of empathy development, children start to understand that other people’s feelings and perspectives may be different to their own in nursery or primary school, between the ages of two and eight years old. Secondly, experts highlight that whilst academic skills are key outcomes of the education system, success in a world biased towards neurotypical thinking is not attainable in the absence of sufficient social and emotional skills6. For example, some view empathy as a precursor for effective cooperation, collaboration and communication upon entry to the labour market7. Furthermore, a longitudinal study found that those who were high in empathy in childhood and adolescence tended to have more constructive communication skills, higher levels of resilience and were better at integrating within social networks in adulthood8.
The role of schools has been shown to be important in fostering empathy as a skill4 and primary schools have an opportunity to encourage its development. According to the Consortium on the School-Based Promotion of Social Competence “Schools are widely acknowledged as the major setting in which activities should be undertaken to promote students’ competence and prevent the development of unhealthy behaviours. In contrast to other potential sites for intervention, schools provide access to all children on a regular and consistent basis over the majority of their formative years”9.
What do we know, and more importantly, what do we not know?
Empathy is one of the key four developmental domains which are widely recognised as key early learning and developmental skills that childhood education programmes aim to develop10. For this reason, IELS – an international survey that assess children at age five which identifies key factors that drive or hinder the development of early learning8 – gathers information on the development of children’s empathy at this age.
Currently, empirical research exploring how empathy is interconnected to other competencies, such as emergent literacy, numeracy and self-regulation, is lacking for this age group. There is no common framework which pulls together information at a national scale. As a country, we do not fully understand how empathy and other competencies are developing in our children, and what we can do to promote our children’s development.
How can we increase our understanding of empathy development?
By taking part in IELS, your child or school will be contributing to a piece of research that will inform international understanding of children’s development. More than that, our research so far shows that children love doing the games and jump at the opportunity to have 30 minutes out of the classroom!
Link to IELS
For more information, please visit the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study’s website: https://www.oecd.org/education/school/early-learning-and-child-well-being-study/
[1] OECD. (n.d.). The International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study – The Study. https://www.oecd.org/education/school/the-international-early-learning-and-child-well-being-study-the-study.htm
[2] Oxford Reference. (2024). Empathy. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095750102#:~:text=n.,and%20emotions%20of%20another%20person.
[3] Warrier, V., Toro, R., Chakrabarti, B., the iPSYCH-Broad autism group, Borglum, A., Grove, J., the 23andMe Research Team, Hinds, D., Bourgeron, T., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2018). Genome-wide analyses of self-reported empathy: correlations with autism, schizophrenia, and anorexia nervosa. Translational Psychiatry, 8(35). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-017-0082-6
[4] Heyes, C. (2018). Empathy is not in our genes. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 95, 499-507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.11.001
[5] Schonert-Reichl, K. A., & Oberle, E. (2011). Teaching Empathy to Children: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations and Implications for Practice. In B. Weber, E. Marsal & T. Dobashi (Eds.), The Politics of Empathy: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives on an Ancient Phenomena. LIT Verlag Münster.
[6] Berliner, R., & Materson, T. L. (2015). Review of research: promoting empathy development in early childhood and elementary classroom. Childhood Education, 91(1), 57-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2015.1001675
[7] Goldstein, T. R., & Winner, E. (2012). Enhancing empathy and theory of mind. Journal of Cognition and Development, 13(1), 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2011.573514
[8] Allemand, M., Steiger, A. E., & Fend, H. A. (2015). Empathy development in adolescence predicts social competencies in adulthood. Journal of Personality, 83(2), 127-241. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12098
[9] Consortium on the School-Based Promotion of Social Competence. (1994). The promotion of social competence: Theory, research, practice and policy. In R. J. Haggerty. Sherrod, N. Garmezy, & M. Rutter (Eds.), Stress, risk, resilience in children and adolescents: Processes, mechanisms and interaction. New York: Cambridge University Press.
[10] OECD. (n.d.). The International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study – The Study. https://www.oecd.org/education/school/the-international-early-learning-and-child-well-being-study-the-study.htm
