Empathy is theorized to help teachers build strategic student–teacher relationships, develop productive parent partnerships, and acquire professionally informed social and cultural perspectives of students and families. However, this literature offers little empirical evidence regarding how practicing teachers conceive of and enact empathy in their work with students of color in urban schools. This article examines early career White female teachers’ conceptions or beliefs about empathy, and how those conceptions inform their professional decision making. Findings suggest several conflicts and contradictions exist between teacher participants’ conceptions of empathy’s relevance to her teaching, and what they do in their actual teaching practice.
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