Emotions and Change During Professional Development for Teachers

Abstract

Teaching is emotional, especially when teachers must change their practices. Past research on emotions and change in the general population has been predominately quantitative. Research about teachers' emotions, however, has been predominately qualitative. To draw on both these approaches, this mixed methods study examined 50 elementary teachers' emotions during eight workshops on the writing process, by using repeated questionnaires with scale and open-ended questions, follow-up questionnaires 4 months later, and participant interviews. Quantitative data revealed that teachers' emotions became more positive, but returned to initial levels 4 months later. Quantitative data analysis found no relationships between emotions and change in practice. Interviews, however, revealed mixed emotions related to changes found in the quantitative data.