EmpathyLab
Young people are growing up in a society with a major empathy deficit; hate crimes are at their highest level since records began and there are increasing concerns about the negative effects of social media.
EmpathyLab’s vision is to inspire young people to drive an empathy revolution, building a kinder world. We are the first organisation to build children’s empathy, literacy and social activism through a systematic use of high-quality literature. Our strategy builds on new scientific evidence showing that empathy is a learnable skill, and that reading builds real-life empathy skills.
- An annual Empathy Day in early June (10 June in 2021). See https://www.empathylab.uk/celebrating-empathy-day-2020 for a summary of what happened this year.
- A whole-school, year round empathy education programme. We also offer one-off training opportunities for teachers.
- An annual Read for Empathy book collection for 4-16 year olds, announced every January.
- Empathy-focused author events. See https://www.empathylab.uk/RFE to find out more.
We’re one of ten grantees given a NESTA grant for developing social and emotional skills through the ‘Future Ready Fund’ – https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/future-ready-fund-winners/.
The new Curriculum for Wales 2022 features empathy heavily. We are working with three clusters of schools in Swansea, Pembroke Dock and Ceredigion. We build schools’ capacity to teach children empathy skills.
Young people are learning what empathy is and why it’s so important; engaging with empathy boosting literature; learning to name, recognise and share emotions and planning how to put empathy into action.