Emotions are an integral part of being human. Emotions may motivate us to take a course of action, or prevent us from doing certain things in life. They can be a source of pain and pleasure, and provide us with information regarding the different situations and relations that surround us (Hagenauer & Volet, 2014; O´Connor, 2008). In this sense, the teaching profession also involves dealing with (our and others’) emotions, which are defined and influenced by our interpersonal relationships.

Teachers’ emotional and professional subjectivities influence their teaching practice, professional development and pedagogical approaches (Yan, Evans, & Harvey, 2013). Through the expression of their emotional selves, teachers can develop greater reflexivity, stronger solidarity and more sensitivity toward their students (Shapiro, 2009). It is therefore important for teachers to reflect on how their emotions and feelings may increase or limit possibilities for their teaching, and how these emotions enable them to think and act differently (Fried, Mansfield, & Dobozy, 2015). 

Many questions have been posed regarding the role that emotions play in teachers’ professional subjectivities, such as whether teachers should conceal their emotions (for example, refraining from showing anger or sadness in front of students, or maintaining a positive disposition all the time) and the strategies they may use to do so. It has also been suggested that hiding emotions may have an impact on teachers’ health (Hayes, 2003; Timoštšuk & Ugaste, 2012; Yavuz, 2009) and other aspects of their lives (Day & Leitch, 2001).

Preservice teachers are in a vulnerable position given that they are uncertain of their professional subjectivities and future careers. While Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programs have traditionally focussed on technocratic, reproductive and quantitative approaches to deliver education to the preservice teachers (Stylianou, Kulinna, Cothran, & Kwon, 2013), they have not sought to understand and address emotions and feelings during teaching practicums. Dominant ‘regimes of truth’ within Physical Education (PE) have silenced embodied forms of knowing (Evans & Davies, 2004). Following Evans, Rich, Davies and Allwood (2005) and Dowling (2008), we argue that PETE is emotionally embodied and, therefore, an understanding of emotions is essential for preservice PE teachers. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the emotions of a group of preservice primary teachers from Spain undertaking their practicum in PE, and how their emotions manifest physically, using a Sociology of Emotions (SoE) approach.

The participants in this study were ten preservice PE teachers, of whom six were male and four female, studying at a Spanish university. All participants were Spanish by birth, were aged between 20 and 23 years old at the time of data collection, and were enrolled in the fourth and final year of their undergraduate degree programme. Ethical approval was received from the university and all names used in this paper are pseudonyms. Data were generated from body journals that students were asked to complete during their practicum, which lasted for 12 weeks (Varea, González Calvo, & Martínez Álvarez, 2018). Students were first given two broad instructions to complete their body journals: (1) Pay attention to your body during the practicum (e.g. how your body reacts and adapts to different circumstances). (2) Whenever you ‘feel your body’, pay attention to it and write down what happened and how you felt. During the 12 weeks, the students wrote about situations which they felt were significant regarding the embodied dimension of teaching, and sent their written reflections to their university tutor at intervals. The tutor read their narratives and, according to the content of each, made suggestions for further reflection. The use of body journals assisted these students to reflect on their practicum experiences, and they have been proven to be an effective tool to reflect on their embodied subjectivities as preservice PE teachers (González Calvo, Varea, & Martínez Álvarez, 2019). The journals used for analysis were selected by two of the authors according to an in-depth analysis and rich description of the narratives.

Two main themes were constructed from the data: 1) Emotional manifestations, listening to the body and first approaches to teaching; and 2) Emotional shields: hiding and simulating feelings. Overall, results suggest that preservice teachers may feel the need to make a ‘good impression’ within the school through the regulation of their emotions. However, they face constant challenges to succeed in uncertain teaching circumstances. The participants second-guessed themselves regarding their capacity to be effective teachers. Feelings of loneliness and exhaustion were also present in the preservice teachers’ narratives. They reported that they preferred to hide their emotions at the beginning of the practicum, as they considered that a show of emotions could be interpreted as a weakness. However, after a few weeks, some of them decided to show more emotion as they believed they had earned trust from their students and developed sufficient authority. Participants’ emotions physically manifested in different forms, such as an elevated heart rate, a tightening throat, digestive problems, shaking hands and legs, goose bumps, butterflies in the stomach and the sudden need to go to the toilet. In exploring these manifestations, this study employed both social constructionist and positivist approaches to emotions. Social constructionists generally reject the importance of the biological and physiological substrate in the determination of specific emotions, while positivists affirm the opposite view (Turner, 2009). Conclusions from this study demonstrate the benefits of providing opportunities for preservice PE teachers to reflect on their emotions during the practicum, the consequences that emotions may have on their bodies and teaching practices, and how to successfully address them.

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