Teaching Empathy - Empathy Action

Schools Choose Empathy

(Photos by Hannah Robertson Photography)

Following the recent spell of Desperate Journeys at The Royal Victoria Place, we reflect on the rise of schools choosing empathy for their students. We have the privilege of facilitating groups to take ’empathy steps’ and here’s a little of what we see.

When schools speak to us we’ve heard one phrase more than others: that they hope to ‘burst the bubble’ of their students. Teachers often inform us that they wish to not only expand and challenge their students’ understanding but also to inspire the use of ‘their own privilege’ and enhance their desire to help others.

A date, time and place are agreed and then they arrive.

A class of young people is ready to learn about empathy. Some are nervous, thoughtful and quiet. Others are nonchalant, and focus elsewhere as they wait. Yet others are noisy with anticipation. Their teacher is with them, answering questions, and asking their own too.

What they are all about to do is outside of their classroom. In this case, outside of their school. And possibly outside of the comforts of their own outlooks. It is an exercise in putting on the proverbial shoes of another.

They go through an immersive experience. In this case it’s Desperate Journeys. It explores the journey a Syrian family has to make when forcibly removed from its home, and is based on real facts and testimonies. It is one of an expanding range of empathy based activities.

Participants share about what they felt and matters that had impacted them. As organisers, we have one purpose: to listen. This is their empathy, we want to hear.

The debrief

It’s been called an “incredible teaching tool”, something that is not easy to create in the confines of classrooms. These are some of the words students have used to articulate how they felt during and after the event:

“It showed me that life doesn’t have a happy ending for so many people. This made me feel very emotional and sad because it makes me realise how lucky I am.”

“There was no control over the choices and we had to make them quickly, knowing each decision would be bad.”

“Breathtaking and scary.”

“It makes you feel for refugees and puts you in their shoes – it seems real, feels scary but mind-blowing.”

(Pupils, Frant Primary School & Hilden Grange)

And from the teachers:

“Today you have reached the hearts and minds of those who have the power to change the future… This was, without doubt, the most powerful school trip I have ever taken a class on.”

“The children have not stopped talking about it.”

(Teachers, St Johns Primary School)

What encourages us, as organisers of empathy, is the growing appetite from teachers to want to bring empathy right into the heart of their schools. Choosing to use experiences and simulations like Desperate Journeys and The Poverty Trap as curriculum for their students.

Empathy Action is looking to increase its range of empathy activities (including a future Climate Action simulation) and work further with schools, businesses and community groups.

If you’d like to know more about bringing a simulations to your group or volunteer with us, please do get in touch. We would love to hear from you.

My Desperate Journey by Jenny Maslin

Part time EA administrator, full time singer, musician and teacher, Jenny Maslin

My name’s Jenny and I volunteer with Empathy Action as an administrator. Having sat through many staff meetings and heard all about the planning and preparations that have gone into creating our new simulation, I was excited (and a little nervous) to see what it was all about. I experienced Desperate Journeys as a participant during their launch week and co-founders Ben and Matt asked me to write about my experience…

I joined a group of 26 strangers from all different walks of life, none of us quite sure what to expect. We were welcomed by the simulation’s director, given a passport, some money and asked to remove our shoes before entering one of the seven marquee tents that housed the whole experience. From there the journey began as we were thrown into a situation where, as a group, we had to make multiple decisions for our group’s safety, under pressure and with limited information available. I won’t give any plot spoilers, but will focus instead on the two questions that were asked at the end:

‘What struck you?’ and ‘How did you feel?’

When not volunteering with Empathy Action, I work as a musician and teacher. Sound and silence are a big part of my life and would therefore naturally be a focus for me as I walked through the dark, maze-like set. I found myself making observations between the cleverly designed soundtrack that followed us and the feelings I was experiencing: joyful party music; incoming explosions; the harsh voices of soldiers as they burst in on us; pants, sobs and cries of fear from the actors; the heavy silence as our group sat in darkness on a dingy to Europe, listening to the stories of desperation from a fellow passenger; the subtle changes in music as we turned corners and faced new, improved or worsened situations. I was struck with a sense of powerlessness, swept up in a tide of sounds and people I’d just met, travelling to an unknown destination.

I felt frustrated by the lack of autonomy of group decisions, and could see parallels with the loss of freedom of choice a refugee would face. I felt loss when we heard that our host’s family home and street had been flattened, and grief too when the same family had to make the horrendous decision to separate when applying to relocate. Earlier that day I had been enjoying the first signs of spring, gardening in my quiet peaceful neighbourhood. I had exchanged texts with my sister who has chosen to spend 2 years in Australia as part of a secondment scheme. I miss her very much but know that she is safe and happy, will be returning this year, and that I can visit her without many of the bureaucratic hurdles we experienced in the simulation. These feelings were brought home further in a concluding and powerful speech from one of our volunteers, and a resettled refugee herself. Reem told us of her family’s struggle to flee her home country and resettle in the UK. They are still waiting for the remainder of her family to be granted asylum. Her story brought me to tears. I left the simulation in deep thought, humbled and very moved.

As we drew to a conclusion, we were told that there are 65.6 million people worldwide (a similar amount to the entire population of the UK) who have been forcibly displaced from their home: That’s around 1 in 100 of the world’s population. Refugees don’t start out as refugees. They are mothers, fathers, friends, colleagues, students, professionals… human beings just like us. We must engage with this world crisis and do what we can to help.

More accounts of Desperate Journeys:

Building “Desperate Journeys”

“Desperate Journeys“, Empathy Action’s new live interactive experience will be launching early next year to explore the refugee crisis with schools, businesses and groups.

Empathy Action are now actively looking for cast, backstage crew and event support to help build empathy with the global displaced and develop solutions and support for the refugee crisis.

The team have been trialling the set build at Tonbridge School courtesy of the Community Action Department of the school during their mid term break.

The experience is delivered within a maze-like set which can be assembled in a large hall or even outside during the summer. It will run for around 90 minutes as part of a 2-3 hour package delivered by the Empathy Action team, including briefing and a reflective feedback and discussion session. The experience is designed for up to 30 participants at a time, who will be guided through it by our cast members.

The challenging new piece is firmly based in facts, first hand accounts and case studies of this global issue to bring home to participants the human stories behind the headlines.

The launch is scheduled for 22-27th January at Tonbridge Baptist Church.

Empathy Action is now actively looking for more volunteering help to deliver this experience. The plan, to develop a pool of performers and crew, to rehearse through the autumn ahead of our launch week.

We need adults of any age who are comfortable improvising around a core script, interacting with the participants, and delivering powerful personal stories.”

If you are interested in helping please get in touch. Two local workshops will be running for all those interested.

Thursday 2 November 10 am -1 pm (Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells)
Friday 10 November 7 pm -10 pm (Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells)

If this strikes a chord with you please get in touch to hear more or to sign up for the workshops. Updates on the project will also be posted on Empathy Action’s Facebook page.

“feeling, even if only through a simulation, eclipses all the telling in the world”

Do simulations actually make a difference?

A question that we are frequently asked. The reality is there is no uniform response to each event. The feelings people who take part feel are unique. So to is their response.

Some leave with a deep sense of gratitude for what they have and a renewed appreciation of others living in desperation. Others, a sense that they have taken part in another useful activity. Others still pledge to do more. A few, however, actually go on to be inspired to do more.

We asked Kat Vrolijk to describe her journey ‘from simulation’ to ‘beyond simulation’. The following is what she shared:

In June 2014, when I took part in my first “Poverty Trap” simulation, little did I know what that first experience would spur me on to do. Although it took me some time to reflect on what had happened during the simulation and develop my current viewpoint, I remember that at the time I was deeply struck by the guest speaker that day: Kim Polman. Three years on, I can still remember how she inspired me and reminded me a lot of my mother. That experience was in a way the key which helped me understand why my mother founded her company and strives to make the gold mining sector more ethical and sustainable. For years she had been teaching me about compassion and kindness, and how I should do my best to help those that have not had the same opportunities as me, yet I never really understood it; the reality that only 36% of girls in rural Morocco go to school, or of the tens of thousands of children who work in mines around the world seemed so distant. Empathy Action’s simulation changed all of that for me: feeling, even if only through a simulation, eclipses all the telling in the world.

This experience is a form of visceral learning, where you are, for a brief moment, placed in the shoes of someone who has had a very different life. Although I had theoretically been learning about the underprivileged parts of the earth’s population for many years in Geography lessons and thanks to my mother’s advice, it was the emotional connection formed through the simulation which turned my theoretical knowledge of these issues into real understanding, and eventually empathy. It is interesting for me to reflect on how that simulation changed me, now that I am at university, learning about the emotional disconnect that many of us have with issues around the world which do not affect us directly. After the initial simulation, I discussed the experience with my mother, with whom I decided to bring the experience to my old school in Switzerland. This was the first time, of many, in which I played a cast role in the simulation, giving me a new glimpse into the dynamic and effects of the “Poverty Trap”. Empathising with these issues is one thing, but the experience also pushed me to get very involved in many fundraising activities, for both local and international causes. In July 2016, I was a part of a team of ten students and two teachers who travelled to Mumbai in India, and this experience too influenced me in ways I did not originally expect. Amongst other things, visiting the slum of Dharavi, showed me how much hope and joy there is in places that as privileged westerners we may look down upon, but also that there is so much left to be done in terms of infrastructure, sanitation and access to education. It also strengthened my desire to study architecture, in order to someday hopefully contributing to ethical and sustainable solutions to urban design problems.

Earlier this summer, I spent two weeks volunteering for Empathy Action, and experienced (in a small amount of time), a few of the ups and downs that small independent charities face: a strong sense of community, wondering how to measure impact, eyes shining with a common goal, the anger and sadness evoked from injustices… I was also delighted to have lunch with Kim Polman, three years later, to tell her how she had contributed to my complete worldview change, and to also learn about her new movement: “Reboot the Future” which seeks to “encourage everyone to live the golden rule everyday”.

Since initially “having my eyes opened”, my world has kept on expanding further and further, as I have grown more and more aware of all the things which need changing around the world. Empathy Action helped me look beyond my bubble, and grasp as many opportunities as I could get my hand on. Indeed, although I would not even have dared dream of this a year ago, I am now on a full scholarship studying Architecture, and hoping to minor in Environmental Studies, at the University of Toronto in Canada.

I can whole-heartedly recommend Empathy Action’s simulations to any and all – but be prepared for your world to change!

Thanks Kat! We’re grateful for all who take part in the simulations and realise that each person will respond uniquely to empathising with others living in desperation.

If you would like to find out more about the simulations programme or volunteering, interning opportunities please get in touch.

Kim Polman & Kat Vrolijk 3 years after the initial simulation that inspired Kat

Attending a Secret Cinema Youth screening with the Empathy Action team

Cast photo before the Poverty Trap simulation and day programme for Kingham Hill School

Cast photo before the Poverty Trap simulation and day programme for Canford School

Teaching Empathy in Schools

Look out for me. You will not see my face, but you will be able to recognise me by my toes and nail varnish!

These words were recounted by Annabel Taylor Ross, Head of PSHE at Blundell’s School, Tiverton, as she shared a story with 86, spellbound Year 9s, during the debrief of the immersive poverty empathy exercise they’d just taken part in.

They were spoken to Annabel by an inspirational Afghan woman, Suraya Pakzad, whom she’d met once whilst working in Afghanistan.

Suraya was fighting for girls education in a country where women and girls’ rights were, and indeed still are, severely restricted. At the time, the education of girls was completely outlawed. Women weren’t allowed to leave their homes unless they wore a full burqa. So when Suraya came to meet Annabel, she was completely hidden by the burqa save for her feet. The only way Annabel could identify her was by her painted toes!

This surreptitious meeting allowed Suraya to share with Annabel her vision to transform her community through education, one girl at a time. In 1998 she founded Voice of Women Organisation and ever since, at great risk to her own life, Suraya has struggled tirelessly for the rights of girls and women in her home country. In the last decade women’s rights in Afghanistan have gradually improved, however, 85% of women still have no formal education and are illiterate. Annabel’s encounter with Suraya touched her heart. Her desire, through the re-telling of the story to her PSHE students, was that it would touch their hearts too and stir them to action.

For Annabel, having served in the army and later in development, teaching children PSHE at Blundells requires significantly more than the usual classroom practices. She believes that empathy is crucial in order to build real understanding and to drive transformative action. Annabel wanted her students to ‘feel’ the desperation that so often characterises poverty.

To those ends she arranged for Empathy Action to design and run a ‘poverty day’ at Blundell’s, to help teach her students empathy…empathy with the poor and the refugee, empathy with those less privileged than ourselves. As well as The Poverty Trap simulation which provides teachers like Annabel with a powerful platform to connect with their students, the day also incorporated different empathy activities, including; immersive workshops, eating ‘slum lunch’ and engaging with a film about refugees.

Annabel is not alone in her belief of the importance and need for empathy in schools. A Headteacher, Andrew Halls from King’s College School in Wimbledon, has recently commissioned lessons in empathy for his pupils, to help combat the ‘Empathy Deficit‘. Geography Departments and Global Citizenship classes are also beginning to employ empathy mechanisms to teach their students about the realities of poverty as opposed to simply relaying statistics and textbook interpretations. In an ocean of information, deeper, meaningful understanding has become scarce, and in response, educators, business leaders and humanitarians are now seeking to bring empathy-based understanding back into their classrooms, boardrooms and learning spaces.

At last year’s UN World Humanitarian Summit Empathy Action made a pledge to champion empathy in places of education, the work space and humanitarian arenas. We pledged to work towards not only increasing understanding and compassion, but, most importantly, to do everything in our power to catalyse a surge of ’empathy actions’ to help combat global deprivation.

As one Year 9 told Annabel after taking part in the Poverty Day:

After experiencing the Empathy Action Day this Monday, and getting an opportunity to have a very small insight of the… slums and… life as refugees, I decided that I wanted to do something… I would really like to donate my personal money to a charity or an organisation to support the ones in need – especially the ones that live in slums and the refugees. I would like to donate monthly… I really wish to help… even if my help…is very small… Thank you so much for giving us all the chance to experience such things, I truly think that it was one of the best moments in my life where I got to realise something that I would never have without the help of someone else – someone wise.

If you are a PSHE or Geography teacher interested in an empathy programme for your school, or perhaps an organisation looking to arrange a meaningful activity for your team, please get in touch with us, we’d love to help out.