Rooted in Community: Toward A Grounded Theory of Empathy Development in Nature Preschools

Abstract

Empathy is core to what makes us human and early childhood is considered an important period for nurturing empathy. A recent quantitative study has found nature preschools to be effective in the context of fostering empathy in young children (Ernst et al., 2022). While these results are promising, more research is needed, particularly to understand how nature preschools foster the development of empathy in the children they serve, hence the study at hand. The purpose of this study was to explore nature preschool teachers’ experiences of empathy development in young children in the context of nature preschools and to develop a grounded theory-based conceptual model to explain the findings. Following data analysis using the grounded theory coding paradigm, a core phenomenon emerged: the school culture of nature preschools that is nature-based, childled, and rooted in community, which is embedded within the context of the natural setting of the preschool that offers opportunities to foster empathy. The causal condition identified was the role of the teacher who uses the strategy of an ongoing approach to empathy development, which resulted in the consequence of children’s unique expressions of empathy. This model contributes to our understanding of how empathy is developed in early childhood in the context of nature preschools, from the perspective of nature preschool teachers, and offers insight to improve professional practice. Implications are discussed in light of the study’s limitations.