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Teachers’ Emotions at Primary Schools in Hong Kong and China:
Implications for School Leadership
Abstract
Emotion is at the heart of teaching but it is very often ignored or underplayed in most
educational initiatives. Research into teacher emotions has increased since the late 1990s in
Western countries. This study was a pilot study investigating teacher emotion through about
interviews to 56 primary school teachers in Hong Kong and China to gain insight about the
nature of teacher emotions at primary schools. The data will be analyzed using narrative
inquiry using Nvivo 9. The findings of this study will provide a lens to understand teacher
emotions. It is expected that the findings will eventually lead to improvement in teaching and
student learning and encourage teachers to utilize and regulate their emotions effectively to
achieve a good quality of teachers’ lives. The implications for school leadership through
taking teacher emotion into account will be discussed.
1. Objectives or Purposes
The immediate objectives of this study will identify what elements teacher emotions
comprise and explore the discrepancies and similarities between those held by primary
teachers in Hong Kong and Mainland China through individual interview and focus group
discussions on both sites. The long-term objectives will explore teacher emotion management
and the relationship between teacher emotions and their approaches to teaching, self-efficacy,
and student learning gain.
2. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
Understanding Emotion and Teacher Emotions. Teaching is an emotional practice
(Hargreaves, 2000). Emotions comprise its most dynamic qualities, literally, because
emotions are fundamentally about movement. Emotions are described in a variety of ways in
the literature. However, to acknowledge both the social and cognitive dimensions of the
construct, this study will define emotions as “socially constructed, personally enacted ways of
being that emerge from conscious and/or unconscious judgments regarding perceived
successes at attaining goals or maintaining standards or beliefs during transactions as part of
social-historical contexts” (Schutz, Hong, Cross, & Osbon, 2006, p. 344). Research has
demonstrated that “teacher emotions are not internalized sensations that remain inert within
the confines of their bodies but are integral to the ways in which they relate to and interact
with their students, colleagues and parents” (Farouk, 2012, p. 491). The classification of
teacher emotions into positive and negative forms is common in the research literature.
Positive emotions generally include joy, satisfaction, pride and excitement, and negative
emotions include anger, frustration, anxiety and sadness (Hargreaves, 1998; Sutton &
Wheatley, 2003).
Importance of Teacher Emotions. Cognitive and social psychologists have demonstrated that
emotions can shape cognition, influence motivation and subsequently affect people behaviors
(Mesquita, Frijda, & Scherer, 1997). Research suggests that teacher emotions can influence
their cognition including attention, memory, thinking and problem solving (Mogg & Bradley,
1999). Sutton and Wheatley (2003) claim that teacher emotions may have an impact on their
own behaviors, that is, a teacher with more positive emotions such as joy, pride and
satisfaction might “generate more teaching ideas and strategies” (p. 338). Trigwell’s (2012)
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research shows that teacher emotions are associated with their teaching approaches: Teachers
with more positive emotions are more likely to adopt student-focused teaching approaches
and teachers with negative emotions are inclined to adopt more transmission teaching
approaches.
Methods, techniques or modes of inquiry
This study will investigate teacher emotion through primary school teacher interviews to gain
insight about the nature of teacher emotions at primary schools in Hong Kong and China.
Narrative inquiry will be employed to code and analyze interview data. Narrative inquiry is a
research approach that can unveil the complexities and changes of educational phenomena.
3. Data sources or evidence
A sample of 56 primary teachers from 12 schools in Hong Kong China was approached. Out
of these teachers, 65% of them are female, 78% of the teachers held Bachelor qualifications,
about 43% of them were aged between 33-40 years, 45% of the teachers held intermediate
teacher certificates, approximately 30% had eight years work experience, and 40% had 8-15
years work experience.
4. Results and/or conclusions/points of view
Data analysis is processing. Preliminary results show that both groups of teachers reported
positive and negative emotions. However, there are differences in teacher emotions,
especially for negative emotions between Hong Kong and Chinese primary teachers.
5. Educational importance of this study for theory, practice, and/or policy
This study will contribute to the fields of theory, practice and policy making relating to
teacher emotion. The findings of this study will enhance our understanding of teacher
emotions so that more research on teacher emotions and professional development programs
to help teachers to understand their emotions, regulate them, and then improve their teaching
effectiveness. In practice, teachers could understand more about their emotions and their
peers’ emotion in Hong Kong and China so that they could learn from each other.
Additionally, school leaders could understand that teacher emotion is a fundamental element
in their teacher effectiveness and in school improvement. They will adjust their leadership
through taking teacher emotion into account. As for policy makers, the results of this study
may not only provide an evidence for including the emotional dimension in educational
reform and change initiatives, but also for what elements of emotions should be included.
6. Connection to the themes of the congress
This study could connect to the 3rd theme of the congress: Exploring and Understanding
Contemporary Approaches to Teaching and Learning
References
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teachers’ moral purpose and the relationships they have with their pupils? Teachers and
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Hargreaves, A. (1998). The emotional politics of teaching and teacher development: With
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doi:10.1007/s11251-011-9192-3
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