Emotion suppression among school teachers in

Israel

Dafna Zilberman-Shemesh & Izhar Oplatka

School of Education, Tel Aviv University

The research purpose/questions

The present study aimed to trace the ways by which Israeli teachers manage their emotions at work and posed two questions:

(1) What kind of emotions do teachers tend to express and what kind do they suppress?

(2) What are the determinants affecting emotion suppression among

teachers?

Teaching as an emotional practice

Feels a wide variety of emotions

Expresses a wide variety of emotions

Suppresses a wide variety of emotions

Is exposed to a wide variety of emotions in the class

Engages in many emotion-based interactions

The teacher

Major concepts,

Emotion regulation: Refers to "the processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions" (Gross, 1998, p. 275).

The process of consciously inhibiting emotional expressions while emotionally aroused has been referred to as expressive suppression (Butler et al., 2003).

The plausible effects of E-S

Emotion suppression

Low energyLow well-being

Depressed moodHigh stress

Low satisfactionNegative emotions

A sense of discrepency

But - the ability to conceal one’s emotions is important to maintaining

relationships with others

Methodology

15 teachers, at lease 4 years in teaching, and are known by informant not to share their feelings often.

3 male teacher, 12 female teachers

5 teachers from each school level (elementary, junior-high, high school)

Age range: 29-65

Time in post: 5-43

Semi-structured interviews

The suppression of negative e-s

There were many times when I controlled myself in front of the principal and didn't say what I really feel. I didn't display my frustration and offense. He insulted me and I kept silent…I had difficulties coping with this (Female, math teacher, 20 years in teaching)

It happened that a student was late and I told him 'don’t come in [the classroom], but wait outside, go to the library and work there'. But, then the principal entered the class and asked me to let him in. I was very angry but I didn't say anything, definitely not in front of the students. There are many times you keep silent in front of the principal (Female Art teacher, 43 ys)

With the students…

You must not tell a student that you are frustrated with him; I'm disappointed in you, I teach you, I sit with you personally and even so, you are disappointing. You must not say that, and you can't express frustrations in front of the class (Male, Math teacher, 41 y-s)

Sometimes some pupils arrive at school unclean, with stains on their cloth, and when you see that the child wears the same shirt day after day, or a pupil who is scratching his head cause of lice, that is disgusting…so I take a step backward, but never say a word about it (Female, English teacher, 24 y-s)

The suppression of positive e-s The majority of the interviewees believe that a display of

positive emotions towards the principal should be very careful because of its negative consequences to the teacher – "just to say thank you very much", "never express emotions at all, never get excited as if you don't know anything, not sure about yourself…”

 

I prefer not to laugh with the pupils, no! They may think there are no boundaries…you must not forget you are the teacher and they are the pupils…otherwise, the teacher will loss his authority. You must not be too close to them…they need distance, clear boundaries (Male, Math teacher, 15 y-s)

The determinants.…

Conflict avoidance

I asked myself whether to tell [the principal] I was offended...in the end I decided not to share anything with her. I don't want a big conflict. I was furious, I was so angry, but I didn’t' say a word…I still have many years ahead to work with her (Female, History teacher 20 y-s).

Fear of the principal

I am very afraid of the principal…don't feel comfortable to share my feelings with him. He is cold and non-empathic. I am very careful with him…never know what he thinks…you can't share your feelings with him (Female, Arabic teacher, 21 y-s).

The determinants (continued)

Fear of parents

In the educational system today it is a problem to express the anger you feel towards a parent. A parent can influence my work…to push the principal to move you out of the school a year later to another school (Female, Science teacher, 16 y-s).

The teacher as a professional

My role is to be a filter, not to say what I feel, I think…I always say that a teacher is a big civil servant. Every class is a performance and drama…

Conclusion…

Anger and frustration “ought to” be suppressed – very similar to findings from Canada (Sutton et al, 2009)

Teachers usually suppress these emotions towards the principal and students and very rarely towards colleagues

Many suppress emotions towards parents because of the complexity of teacher-parents relations as reported in many countries (e.g., Casanova, 1996; Dotger et al, 2011)

Some secondary school teachers prefer to suppress positive emotions in the class and thereby unlikely to ‘waste’ instructional time

Some practical suggestions

Talk with your staff about when, where, and what to express emotionally at work

and with whom.

We need to prepare our prospective teachers to face emotional occasions.

In-service trainings aimed to provide teachers with strategies to manage their

emotions at work are more than welcome.