According to current psychological knowledge, a humanistic approach to educating pupils in a multicultural school environment requires teachers to have ethnocultural empathy. According to Lin & Chung (2024), in multicultural education, empathy is considered as an essential teacher disposition that enables teachers to better understand culturally different students. Ethnocultural empathy is defined as empathy that is directed towards people from racial and ethnic cultural groups different from one’s own ethnocultural group (Wang et al., 2003). According to Wang et al. (2003) ethnocultural empathy has four components: Intellectual empathy is the ability to understand how a person with a different ethnic background thinks or feels (Empathic Perspective Taking). Communicative empathy focuses on the verbal expression of ethnocultural empathic thoughts and feelings toward members of other ethnic groups (Empathic Feeling and Expressions). Ethnocultural empathy consciousness is being conscious of how society treat other ethnic groups (Empathic Awareness). Acceptance of cultural differences is concerned with accepting why people of other ethnic groups behave as they do (Acceptance of Cultural Differences). A person who has a higher ethnocultural empathy level behaves more positively toward different ethnic group members, has the ability to perceive their feelings, shows respect for their traditions, languages, and protects them against some discriminatory behaviors (Demir & Demir, 2014). This research study focuses on comparing the variables of ethnocultural empathy between preservice students and teachers. Research sample: 120 university students of pre-primary and primary education and 100 teachers. Research instruments used: the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy with subscales: empathic feeling and expression, empathic perspective taking and acceptance of cultural differences, empathic awareness (Wang et al., 2003). The results of the comparation analysis indicate statistically significant differences in the variables of acceptance of cultural differences and empathic awareness in favor of students. The results are discussed in the context of the ontogenetic and generational specificities of the research sample.

Keywords: Ethnocultural empathy, prospective teachers, teachers, comparative study.