Emotional aspects of teaching:
Creating positive emotional ecologies
while learning to teach
Ed Tyson: Collaborative research participant
Eamonn Pugh: Thesis researcher
“Last week I enjoyed my placement, but
felt somewhat demoralised. This week I
have experienced the feelings that first
motivated me to train as a teacher.”
[Student B]
Outline
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Enquiry question
Theoretical framework
Sub-questions
Methodology
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Initial findings
Enquiry Question
How
do beginning teachers
engage with
emotionally-knowledgeable teaching?
Emotional intelligence
(Mayer and Salovey, 1997)
Personal
Awareness
Response
recognising our
own emotions
managing
emotions well in
ourselves
Social
recognising the
emotions of others
Taking account of
emotions in
relationships.
Emotional competence
Personal
(adapted from Goleman, 2001)
Social
Self-Awareness
Social Awareness
Knowing how you feel
Empathy
Recognition Knowing how well you are Pupil orientated
doing
‘Whole school’ awareness
Self-confidence
Regulation
Self-Management
Self-control
Being trustworthy
Being conscientious
Flexibility
Driven by learning
outcomes
Initiative
Relationship Management
Developing children and other
adults
Having influence
Communication
Dealing with conflicts
Modelling leadership
Making changes
Building links between people
Teamwork & collaboration
Pedagogic, Emotional and Content Knowledge
Shulman, 1987, Mortiboys 2011, Schön, 1983
Emotional ecology and emotional knowledge
(Zembylas, 2007)
Planes of emotional
ecology
Types of
emotional knowledge
Individual
How a teacher experiences and expresses emotional
knowledge on a personal plane. [Emotional connections to
subject content; attitudes/beliefs about learning & teaching;
educational vision/philosophy; emotional self-awareness]
Relational
How a teacher uses emotional knowledge in relationships
with pupils [Emotional affiliation with pupils; care; empathy;
classroom emotional climate; knowing pupils’ emotions]
How a teacher’s emotional knowledge includes the
school’s institutional/cultural context and how this
Socio-political influences his/her decisions and actions. [EK of power
relations; emotional understanding of curricular debates;
emotional politics of pedagogic & content discourse]
The contextual picture
Emotional ecologies
Individual, relational
and socio-political
Learning partnerships
Wenger , 2010
Student teachers,
pupils, mentors, tutors,
other learners
Sub-questions
• How does the emotional knowledge of beginning
teachers reveal itself in a school workplace
context?
• What is happening when the emotional
knowledge of beginning teachers ‘interacts’ with
their emotional ecologies ?
• How is the practice of beginning teachers and
their tutors influenced by the interactions
between emotional knowledgeable teaching and
emotional ecologies?
Methodological theory
• Phenomenon: interaction between
emotional knowledge  emotional ecologies
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Interpretative paradigm
Knowledge created – social construct
But pragmatic (not paradigm driven)
Action research approach
Mixed methods (using triangulation)
Data collection
From eight PgCE Primary students over a 4 week period
whilst on their Developing Placement (2nd of 3 observed
teaching placements).
•Emotional knowledge assessment form
a) Observation feedback
b) Self-assessment
•Weekly Placement reviews
•Weekly journal entries
Planned (provisional):
•More reviews and journal entries
•Focus group
•Individual interviews
Emotional Knowledge:
Observation Form
Emotional Knowledge: Self
Assessment Form
Data analysis
It is an interpretive analysis of PgCE students’ journal
entries that have been selectively codified to extract their
engagement with emotional knowledge in this context.
This initial coding uses the Zembylas’ model of
interaction between their emotional knowledge and the
three planes of emotional ecology; individual, relational,
socio-political.
Initial findings from the data
Journal
Entry 1
Journal
Entry 2
Journal Entry
3
Journal Entry
4
Student A
Ind 5, Re3
Ind3, Re1
Ind2, Re2
Ind5,Re1,SP1
Student B
Ind5
Ind2, Re2
Ind1, Re1
Ind4,Re2,SP1
Student C
Ind3, Re1
Ind2, Re2
Ind2, Re1
Student D
Ind2, Re1
Student E
Ind9, Re1
Re3
Student F
Ind2, Re3
Ind2, Re3
Student G
Ind2
Ind3, Re1
Student H
Ind5
Ind4, Re4
Ind4,Re2,SP1
Re1, SP2
Re1
Ind3
Ind7, Re3
Emotional ecologies
Ind Individual, Re Relational, SP Socio-Political
Ind2, Re1
Examples of EK interactions with Individual
Emotional Ecologies
By reflecting on my
practice, I decided
that I feel tense when
a lesson is drawing to
a close
If I, as an adult, could quite
easily change my mood on
the basis of a mood change
in the children in my class
then it would seem logical
that surely the children would
be effected by my mood.
I found me feeling
harassed was not picked
up on by observation. This
made me feel that perhaps
I am doing better than I first
thought.
Zembylas (2007)
visualises emotional
ecologies as
‘overlapping planes’.
What about this
example?
Examples of EK interactions with Relational
Emotional Ecologies
My class teacher is
great, really supportive
and I get on well with
her, but I still felt nervous
teaching in front of her
I know his return would disrupt
the class a little. I also think he
will be hard to engage if and
when he returns. But I would be
happy to work on this and to try
and build his confidence up. He
needs to be given a chance.
Over the next two weeks I
aim to focus on pupils'
feelings and the reasons for
behaviour issues in order to
help pupils more and
improve my behaviour
management
What about this
example?
Examples of EK interactions with SocioPolitical Emotional Ecologies
I found out some shocking
information… I was told by the
class teacher that during
reception and Year 1 the
children’s teacher didn’t have any
structured learning like phonics
or another reading strategy
All the staff involved with this
year group, myself included,
have tried to support him as best
we can this week - we have
discussed his case at length and
his behaviour has been a real
cause for concern
I have felt confident about
the routines of the school.
What about this
example?
Discussion
• How could the research be developed
from here?
• How does the emotional knowledge of beginning
teachers reveal itself in a school workplace context?
• What is happening when the emotional knowledge of
beginning teachers ‘interacts’ with their emotional
ecologies ?
• How is the practice of beginning teachers and their tutors
influenced by the interactions between emotional
knowledgeable teaching and emotional ecologies?
References
Goleman D. (2001) An EI-based theory of Performance in The Emotionally
Intelligent Workplace, Eds. Cherniss, G and Goleman, D, San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass
Mayer, J. and Salovey, P. (1997). What is emotional intelligence? In Salovey &
Sluyter (Eds). Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence: Implications
for Educators (pp. 3-31). New York: Basic Books
Mortiboys, A. (2011) Teaching with Emotional Intelligence (2nd edition),
Routledge.
Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books.
Shulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform.
Harvard Educational Review, 57
Wenger, E (2010) Knowledgeability in Landscapes of Practice: from Curriculum
to Identity, Presentation to SHRE Conference, available at
http://www.slideshare.net/centrehep/etienne-wenger-presentation
(accessed16/09/11)
Zembylas, M (2007) Emotional ecology: The intersection of emotional
knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in teaching, Teaching and
Teacher Education, 23 (4)
Appendix: Piloting data collection tools