Roots of Empathy
Roots of Empathy was created in 1996 by Mary Gordon an internationally recognized educator, author, social entrepreneur and child advocate. The program was created to teach children about the power of a secure relationship between infants and their parents. The infants are considered the “little teachers” and with the help of a trained instructor can help children identify and reflect on not only their own feelings, but also the feelings of others. Instructors visit the classroom before and after the infant visits in order to prepare and reinforce the learning using one of their specialized lesson plans. The students then become the “changers”. They are the future leaders and the goal of Roots of Empathy is to “To build caring, peaceful and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults”. The program is designed for 5-13-year-old children, they also offer a childcare (ages 3-5) program called the Seeds of Empathy that was created in 2005.
British Columbia was one of the first provinces to embrace the roots of empathy program and helped to co-pilot the seeds of empathy program. Any school or childcare centre can choose to participate and can request to have the program included in their curriculum by simply going onto the Roots of Empathy website. You can also choose to take part in the program as a volunteer family or can become a trained ROE instructor yourself.
This program meets all five quality indicators outlined in our textbook Empowering Pedagogy for Early Childhood Education by Beverlie Dietze and Diane Kashin. The program offers experiences that help children feel like they belong, are understood and cared for, this can be extended to their families as well in the fact that the children are able to take their learning of empathy and better understanding of their own feelings home with them. It relies heavily on interaction and is constantly being reflected and changed depending on the need of the children. The curriculum is flexible in that there are no wrong answers and set outcomes. It is simply meant to be a learning experience and to help children better understand themselves and others.
“In society, we generally measure what we treasure. Traditionally, schools have measured children’s competence in subject areas. Roots of Empathy measures the affective side of children’s knowledge, understanding, and attitudes.”
– Mary Gordon, Founder/President, Roots of Empathy