The Mediating Role of Cognitive Flexibility in the Effect of Empathic Tendency on Teacher Professionalism

The aim of the study was to determine whether cognitive flexibility had a mediating role in the effect of empathic tendencies of physical education and sports teachers on their professionalism. Empathic Tendency, Teacher Professionalism and Cognitive Flexibility Scales were used in the study with personal information form. A total of 283 physical education and sports teachers, 85 (30%) female and 198 (70%) male, voluntarily participated in the study. In the analysis of data, The Shapiro-Wilk normality test was used to determine if data set had a normal distribution or not. Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) coefficient and Bartlett test were used to determine the suitability of the data for factor analysis. The theoretically created model was tested with a structural equation model. In the study, descriptive statistics were used in order to determine the average scores obtained from the scales. AMOS and SPSS package programs were used for analysis of data set. It was determined that the participants' Empathic Tendency, Professionalism and Cognitive Flexibility levels were high. Also, all variables were determined to had a significant correlation between each other. It was determined that all variables positively affected each other, empathic tendency predicted both cognitive flexibility and teacher professionalism at certain rates (40%-28%), and cognitive flexibility had a mediating role in the relationship between empathic tendency and teacher professionalism. As a result, multifaceted and effective studies that will increase the empathic tendency and cognitive flexibility levels should be carried out.