A Framework for Compassion-Based Teaching

To present a framework for compassionate teaching, the views of teachers and students on the topic were sought. These informants were chosen from among their corresponding populations in Tehran, using the snowball and mixed methods. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather the needed data. To analyze the data open coding and descriptive categorization were utilized. Results show that from the teachers’ perspective the design of compassion-based teaching has two general methods one that emphasizes cooperation and student-centeredness, while the other is goal-oriented and emphasizes lack of flexibility and unnecessary designing. In students’ view, teacher’s bi-dimensional role is separated from that of the student. The moral dimension includes flexibility, being conscientious, motivated, and law-oriented, while the skill dimension includes skills like planning, teaching, managing, and being knowledgeable. Students’ role emphasizes cooperation, motivation, learning and good performance, discipline, and hard work. Based on these findings, a four layer framework for compassion-based teaching is presented.