How could emotional aspects of teaching be addressed explicitly within pre-service teacher training programme? The question was prompted by an ‘an elephant in the room’ – an obvious issue that was ignored.  It drew upon decades as a school-based and then university-based teacher, from the perspective of both my own teaching and supporting beginning teachers. This is practitioner research by a university-based teacher educator, a doctoral research project addressing a need for improved practice.

There has been long-standing word-wide debate about the interaction of affect and cognition, of feeling and thinking. This is part of any research into emotions and teaching. Though the scarcity of such research was bemoaned, researchers have been investigating teachers’ emotions in a variety of educational contexts (Van Veen, K, and Lasky, S, 2005). Nonetheless more research and theorisation on teachers’ emotions is needed to gather understandings of how emotions influence teaching (Shutz, P and Zembylas, M, 2011) particularly to inform pre-service training programmes place little emphasis on relationships between teachers’ emotions and teaching practice (Sutton, R, Mudrey-Camino, R and Knight C, 2009).  
Most research applying the populist concept of ‘emotional intelligence’ to teaching uses the abilities-based model of Mayer and Salovey or Goleman’s mixed model of traits. However this enquiry recognises the ongoing lack of consensus around whether emotional intelligence is a valid or helpful construct (Matthews G, Zeidner M and Roberts R, 2012) especially in pre-service teacher training (Hawkey, 2006).

The theoretical framework constructed is ‘emotional knowledge, informed by linking three paradigms. Shulman’s work on knowledge needed by teachers, specifically the idea of pedagogical content knowledge (1983) is viewed together with Mortiboys’ claim that effective teaching is a mix of emotional aspects, what to teach and how to teach it (2011). This merged into a postulation that the emotional aspects of teaching can be explored as a body of knowledge.

Despite a trend across the EU towards competence-based teaching (encapsulated in the European Framework of Key Competences), the term 'competence' can have connotations of mediocrity in the UK (Eraut, M, 1994). Goleman’s inventory of emotional competencies (Goleman, 1998) was seen as valuable but a misnomer. Described as learned capacities to improve effective performance at work, these competencies have new meaning here as knowledge associated with emotions. This emotional knowledge of teaching is defined here as the trainee’s knowledge of their emotional experiences, experiences in 18 contexts derived from Goleman. Usually presented in a 4-cluster matrix of awareness/management and personal/social categories, these are:

Self-Awareness: emotional awareness, accurate self-assessment and self-confidence

Self-Management: emotional self-control, transparency, adaptability, achievement, initiative and optimism

Social Awareness: empathy, organizational awareness and service orientation

Relationship Management: developing others, inspirational leadership, change catalyst, influence, conflict management and teamwork/collaboration

A new question emerged: What role does emotional knowledge have in developing trainee teachers?

The enquiry was now an empirical test of a new theoretical framework. This phenomenon (emotional knowledge) is a social construction. An interpretative approach was used, ensuring that findings captured the intended meaning for the participants. To avoid bias and socially-desirable responses in my interpretations, the data collection used a mix of instruments. As well as prompting explicit consideration of emotional knowledge, these allowed trainees to reflect on any aspect of their teaching, opening the possibility of sharing tacit emotional knowledge through inferences.

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Eraut, M (1994) Developing Professional Knowledge and Competence, Routledge Farmer Goleman, G (1998) Working With Emotional Intelligence in Wolff, B (2005) Emotional Competence Inventory, Hay Acquisitions Company Inc. Hawkey, K (2006) Emotional intelligence and mentoring in pre-service teacher education: a literature review, Mentoring & Tutoring, 14 (2) Matthews G, Zeidner M and Roberts R, (2012), Emotional intelligence: A Promise Unfulfilled? Japanese Psychological Association 54 (2), 105-127 Mortiboys, A. (2011) Teaching with Emotional Intelligence (2nd edition), Routledge. Shulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57 Shutz P and Zembylas M (2011) ‘Advances in teacher emotion research: the impact on teachers' lives’, 2nd edn. Springer Verlag Sutton, R, Mudrey-Camino, R and Knight C (2009) Teachers’ Emotion Regulation and Class Management, Theory into Practice 48, 130-137 Van Veen, K, and Lasky, S, (2005) Emotions as a lens to explore teacher identity and change: Zembylas, M (2007) Emotional ecology: The intersection of emotional knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in teaching, Teaching and Teacher Education, 23 (4)