Page 49 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Training Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 49
team members’ and teachers’ understanding of their own unpleasant emotions ...
The role of teachers’ emotions in teaching, the teacher-student
relationship and preventing ESL
Different studies and theories provide empirical and theoretical evidence
that teachers’ emotions play an important role in teaching and teacher-stu-
dent relationships (e.g. Cornelius-White, 2007; Roorda et al. 2011). Teachers
who are socially and emotionally competent develop supportive relation-
ships with students, create activities that build on the students’ strengths
and help students develop the basic social and emotional skills necessary
to participate in classrooms (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). A meta-analy-
sis (Wilson, Gottfredson, & Najaka, 2001) of 165 studies comparing the ef-
fectiveness of different school programmes (focused on teachers building
students’ emotional and social competencies) pointed to increased school
attendance and a reduced likelihood of ESL. Moreover, the quality of the
teacher-student relationship has been shown in many studies to be an im-
portant predictor of ESL (e.g. Battin-Pearson et al., 2000).
The power of emotions in the teaching process and the difficulties
teachers have in regulating their own emotions, especially negative/un-
pleasant ones, is an important issue to be considered.
Negative emotions focus attention on the particular stimulus that trig-
gered them (Derryberry & Tucker, 1994). They lead to mobilisation and syn-
chronisation of the brain’s activities, intruding and flooding the conscious-
ness (LeDoux, 1996). Students’ misbehaviour usually triggers a teacher’s
negative/unpleasant emotions that distract and divert the teacher’s atten-
tion from the instructional goals so as to solve their own internal emotion-
al reaction. Teachers’ emotions can also influence their categorising, think-
ing and problem-solving (Isen, 1993). Studies show that high anxiety can
reduce the limited resources of working memory (Eysenck & Calco, 1992)
due to intrusive thoughts and worry. The loss of working memory resourc-
es obstructs task-relevant processing (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001). Accordingly,
a teacher at the beginning of their teaching career who is highly anxious
about their lesson plans and misbehaving students is less likely to suc-
cessfully cope with the challenges that occur every day in the classroom.
Teachers’ emotions impact their approaches to teaching (student-focused
vs. content-focused approaches) (Trigwell, 2012) and their students’ ap-
proaches to learning, which is shown in students’ achievements, attitudes
to school, school attendance and ESL (Battin-Pearson et al., 2000).
Further, students are often aware of and influenced by teachers’ neg-
ative emotions. Although teachers may often try to hide their feelings,
49
The role of teachers’ emotions in teaching, the teacher-student
relationship and preventing ESL
Different studies and theories provide empirical and theoretical evidence
that teachers’ emotions play an important role in teaching and teacher-stu-
dent relationships (e.g. Cornelius-White, 2007; Roorda et al. 2011). Teachers
who are socially and emotionally competent develop supportive relation-
ships with students, create activities that build on the students’ strengths
and help students develop the basic social and emotional skills necessary
to participate in classrooms (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). A meta-analy-
sis (Wilson, Gottfredson, & Najaka, 2001) of 165 studies comparing the ef-
fectiveness of different school programmes (focused on teachers building
students’ emotional and social competencies) pointed to increased school
attendance and a reduced likelihood of ESL. Moreover, the quality of the
teacher-student relationship has been shown in many studies to be an im-
portant predictor of ESL (e.g. Battin-Pearson et al., 2000).
The power of emotions in the teaching process and the difficulties
teachers have in regulating their own emotions, especially negative/un-
pleasant ones, is an important issue to be considered.
Negative emotions focus attention on the particular stimulus that trig-
gered them (Derryberry & Tucker, 1994). They lead to mobilisation and syn-
chronisation of the brain’s activities, intruding and flooding the conscious-
ness (LeDoux, 1996). Students’ misbehaviour usually triggers a teacher’s
negative/unpleasant emotions that distract and divert the teacher’s atten-
tion from the instructional goals so as to solve their own internal emotion-
al reaction. Teachers’ emotions can also influence their categorising, think-
ing and problem-solving (Isen, 1993). Studies show that high anxiety can
reduce the limited resources of working memory (Eysenck & Calco, 1992)
due to intrusive thoughts and worry. The loss of working memory resourc-
es obstructs task-relevant processing (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001). Accordingly,
a teacher at the beginning of their teaching career who is highly anxious
about their lesson plans and misbehaving students is less likely to suc-
cessfully cope with the challenges that occur every day in the classroom.
Teachers’ emotions impact their approaches to teaching (student-focused
vs. content-focused approaches) (Trigwell, 2012) and their students’ ap-
proaches to learning, which is shown in students’ achievements, attitudes
to school, school attendance and ESL (Battin-Pearson et al., 2000).
Further, students are often aware of and influenced by teachers’ neg-
ative emotions. Although teachers may often try to hide their feelings,
49
