How love works: exploring the meanings and expressions of love in educators’ work in primary and secondary education

Abstract

While teaching is widely recognised as emotional work, the emotion of love has received limited scholarly attention, particularly in the context of secondary education. This study addresses this gap by examining how homeroom teachers (educators) understand and express love in their professional lives. The research draws on in-depth interviews with 33 educators working in primary, middle, and high schools across Israel. We argue that educators share a form of emotional labour that comprises genuine emotions that comply with unwritten expectations for homeroom teachers to love their students. We further show how educators learn to develop an emotional capital of love through their everyday work. We identify an ethic of love as a guiding principle in educators’ work, manifested in three main expressions of love: love as motivation for working as educators; love as an emotional capital that can be learned and developed; and love as practice, encompassing practices of caring, non-judgemental acceptance, and knowing students. The study contributes to research about love in teaching and educational settings and to research on the learning of emotions and on love in professional work. It highlights the need to recognise love in teachers’ daily work and reflect critically on its opportunities and challenges.