Pre-service teachers’ empathy and attitudes toward inclusive education—The chain mediating role of teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321066 April 29, 2025 13 / 18 toward inclusive education and the chain mediating role of teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy in the Chinese culture. The research findings indicated that pre-service teachers’ empathy directly predicted teaching motiva- tion, inclusive education efficacy, and attitudes toward inclusive education; pre-service teachers’ empathy also influenced attitudes toward inclusive education through two mediating variables: teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy. Teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy together play a chain mediating role in the relationship between empathy and pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education. Relationship between empathy and attitude toward inclusive education The study’s findings indicate that pre-service teachers’ empathy has a positive effect on their own attitudes toward inclu- sive education. This suggests that pre-service teachers with higher levels of empathy are more likely to have positive attitudes toward inclusive education. This finding validates research hypothesis 1 and is consistent with the previous finding [28]. Empathy, the ability to share and understand the feelings and thoughts of others, is one of the fundamental components of emotional experience and plays a crucial role in social interactions [15]. Empathy is a crucial factor that influences a person’s capability to engage in interpersonal and emotional communication, and the more empathetic an

individual is, the more he or she can put himself or herself in another person’s position and understand their thoughts and feelings. Strongly empathetic pre-service teachers can comprehend the challenges and requirements of children with spe- cial needs from the standpoint of children with special needs and are, therefore, more likely to accept special needs chil- dren and be willing to contribute to the development of these children [63]. In conclusion, the level of pre-service teachers’ empathy positively predicts attitudes toward inclusive education. Pre-service teachers’ empathy increases understanding and knowledge of the situation of special needs students [27], which in turn influences attitudes toward special needs chil- dren and inclusive education. Therefore, by developing pre-service teachers’ empathy toward special needs, students can improve their attitudes toward these groups [62] and increase teachers’ output of positive behaviors toward children [27]. Mediating effect of teaching motivation between empathy and attitudes toward inclusive education The results of this study indicated that pre-service teachers’ empathy has a positive effect on teaching motivation, and teaching motivation has a positive effect on attitudes toward inclusive education, while teaching motivation mediates the effect between empathy and attitudes toward inclusive education. This suggests that pre-service teachers’ empathy indirectly affects attitudes toward inclusive education through the bridge of teaching motivation. The results of this study

validated research hypotheses 2, 3, and 4. This study supports the previous findings [29,64,65]. Research indicates that individuals with higher levels of empathy are more capable of understanding others’ situations and emotions and thus feel more socially responsible and actively engage in social activities that promote social justice [66]. Similarly, pre-service teachers who are more empathetic will be able to understand and relate to the situation and feelings of children with spe- cial needs, and this empathy will make them realize their responsibilities as future teachers toward children with special needs. This empathy makes them aware of their responsibility as future teachers towards children with special needs. This sense of responsibility motivates them to have a stronger intention and belief in teaching, to be more willing to accept students with special needs, to pay attention to the interests of students with special needs, and to hope that students with special needs can have access to fair educational opportunities and quality educational resources. Mediating effect of inclusive education efficacy between empathy and attitudes towards inclusive education The results of this study indicate that pre-service teachers’ empathy has a positive effect on inclusive education efficacy, that inclusive education efficacy has a positive effect on attitudes toward inclusive education. Meanwhile, inclusive edu- cation efficacy has a mediating effect between empathy and attitudes toward inclusive education. These findings suggest

that pre-service teachers’ empathy also indirectly influences attitudes toward inclusive education through the bridge of