I want to be happy as a teacher. How emotions impact teacher professional development

Abstract

The role that affective factors play in the teacher professional development (PD) process has not been sufficiently investigated. This emotional work still remains a neglected, “untapped vein” (DiPardo & Potter, in Vygotsky’s educational theory in cultural context. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 317-45, 2003). Approaching PD as a self-determined task that involves a sequence of decisions and actions theoretically frames the perspective in this study which examines the ways teachers relate to their own learning processes. Open-ended questionnaires distributed before and after teacher workshops and follow-up semi-structured qualitative interviews were used to explore how ten university language teachers proceed in accomplishing their PD. Four kinds of teacher goals (instructional, occupational, developmental and affective-emotional) and three appraisal patterns in teacher learning behaviour emerged, with critical consequences for the two professional teacher profiles that were identified. The results prove a close link between positive emotions and teacher professional development and confirm some of the essential functions of positive emotions.