Examining University Students’ Empathic Engagement with the Past: Gleanings from the University of Cape Coast

The purpose of the study was to examine undergraduate history education students’ level of empathic engagement with the past. The cross-sectional survey design was employed to collect data from undergraduate students to establish their level of empathic engagement with the past. The participants of the study were 110 continuing Bachelor of Education Arts (history major) students who were selected through the simple random sampling technique. Quantitative data was collected with a questionnaire. The results portrayed that the students possessed a high level of empathic understanding of the past. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference in students’ level of empathic understanding of the past based on their year of study in the University [F (2, 107) =.334, p=.714], their sex t (-.903) = .108, p= .369), and their ages [F (3, 106) = .771, p=.512]. It was recommended that academic institutions that train history teachers, like universities and colleges of education, emphasise pedagogical practices supporting historical empathy in teacher preparation. This will ensure that students’ level of empathic understanding is not based on the individual’s abilities but on the appropriate knowledge and skills acquired in their training.