The research in learning emphasizes mostly the cognitive aspects of learning processes, whether it is based in the mental constructionist or the social constructionist tradition Of course cognition must be considered a central part of learning, but often the constructionist theories ignore the importance of feelings in learning. But feelings play a central role when we develop sympathetic and antipathetic attitudes towards other persons or situations. Therefore, in a learning context, feelings have a big impact on the students’ approach to the teacher, other students and their own motivation and focus of interest. In our paper we will pin down the importance of feelings for the interaction between students and between students and the teacher in different ways. First we will present a general theory of feelings based on existentialism and phenomenology. We will differentiate between four basic feelings, namely feelings of passion, negative feelings, instrumental feelings and alternative feelings. These feelings can be seen as the four basic feelings, being mixed or ‘fine tuned’ in our individual approach to specific situations. Second we will present a theory of ‘self objects’. Self objects can be understood as persons in the outer world representing and ‘containing’ needs, desires, frustrations etc. of the subject. In the construction of and dealing with self objects the learning subject develops abilities to perform and to construct meaning through the relation to the other. With these two starting-points, we will discuss both intra- and inter subjective aspects of students’ feelings and the importance of these to central mechanisms in the learning process, such as readiness to learn, motivation, interest and goal orientation.

In our paper we will use empirical examples from a research project about the teacher’s role in an area of reform, where teachers and students have been interviewed and teaching has been observed. Also, we will use historical material from a book, we are working on, about students and their identity building in the Danish ’higher school’ from the middle ages till today.

We will discuss how teachers, in their teaching, can relate to the dimension of feelings in a productive and constructive perspective.