Emotions and confidence within teaching in higher education

Abstract

Teaching is connected with a variety of emotions, but research on this area is scarce in the field of higher education. The present study explores the role of emotions and confidence within six different teacher profiles. Furthermore, the study aims to analyse emotions that arise during participation in courses on university pedagogy. Altogether 97 university teachers were interviewed. The method of content analysis was used to identify descriptions related to emotions and confidence. The results implied that teachers with consonant learning-focused profiles had the most positively charged emotions regarding teaching. However, those with consonant content-focused profiles had neutral or negative feelings about teaching and about the development of teaching. Confusion characterised those who were in a developmental phase in their teaching. Furthermore, the results showed that the emotional aspect was evident in the pedagogical training of university teachers.