In the German-speaking part of Switzerland a new curriculum for primary and lower-secondary education with a competency-oriented approach is in the making. This entails an attempt at changing teaching and learning practices. Teachers are the main stakeholders in the implementation process. A reform implicates a need for improvement of their current practices (Kelchtermans et al., 2009). This can trigger refusal, uncertainty or even denial, problems any curriculum reform and its implementation has to deal with. True innovation requests a process of conceptual change, which includes motivational and emotional aspects (Ebert & Crippen, 2010). Emotions seem to play a crucial, yet little researched role (Cross & Hong, 2009). However, there is no evidence that negative emotions hamper the learning process. On the contrary, they can boost it and probably learning cannot do without it (Oser & Spychiger, 2005). On the other hand, for a successful development of one’s own teaching in a challenging context, a high degree of certainty seems to be a crucial emotion (Simons & Ruijters, 2004).

Teachers’ learning and their emotions are central for a research project at the Institute for Continuing Professional Education of the PHBern – University of Teacher Education, focusing on how to innovate teaching and at the same time to sustain proper emotional levels.

In the ongoing preparation of a professional development programme aimed at facilitating the implementation of the new curriculum, this research collects the collective experiences gained in supporting a process of collaboratively developing forms of competency-oriented teaching. Three lecturers of the PHBern instruct three groups of teachers formed by subject matters (Mathematics, German, and the interdisciplinary subject Nature-Human Being-Society) in two different schools. Their instruction is based on consolidated findings on effective continuing education as found in recent scholarly work (e.g. Vescio et al., 2008; Yoon et al., 2007), including didactical aspects such as actual teaching practice, focus on student learning and deprivatizing practice. It does so by developing collaboratively a lesson unit and by a continuous joint reflection of this process and its results. Lecturers engage in establishing among participating teachers a community of learners. This should facilitate the construction of knowledge and valuate this process positively (Borko, 2004). The development of the professional competence (Baumert & Kunter, 2006) has to be seen as a situated interaction of cognition, motivation and emotion (Korthagen, 2010). Lecturers have to be aware of this, in order to structure the process accordingly and adapt to heterogeneous teaching practices and thinking. In order to facilitate positive experiences, they must show that innovation solves relevant teaching related problems and they must make feelings of ownership (Chapman et al., 2010) and sense making possible.

This research observes and documents the project between August 2012 and June 2013. In addition, it analyzes in-depth certain aspects facilitating further development of the professional competence of teachers facing curriculum reform. The paper focuses on what activates positive or negative emotions during different stages of the project. It describes patterns in relation to the content, didactical aspects of the meetings or contextual constraints.

Baumert, J. & Kunter, M. (2006). Stichwort: Professionelle Kompetenz von Lehrkräften. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 9, 469–520. Borko, H. (2004). Professional Development and Teacher Learning: Mapping the Terrain. Educational Researcher, 33(8), 3–15. Chapman, C., Lindsay, G., et al. (2010). Governance, leadership, and management in federations of schools. School Effectiveness and School Improvement: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, 21(1), 53–74. Cross, D. I. & Hong, J. Y. (2009). Beliefs and Professional Identity: Critical Constructs in Examining the Impact of Reform on the Emotional Experiences of Teachers. In P. A. Schutz & M. Zembylas (Ed.), Advances in Teacher Emotion Research. The Impact on Teachers' Lives (S. 273–296). Boston. Ebert, E. & Crippen, K. (2010). Applying a Cognitive-Affective Model of Conceptual Change to Professional Development. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 21(3), 371–388. Kelchtermans, G., Ballet, K. & Piot, L. (2009). Surviving Diversity in Times of Performativity: Understanding Teachers’ Emotional Experience of Change. In Schutz & Zembylas (Ed.), aao. (S. 215–232). Korthagen, F. (2010). The Relationship Between Theory and Practice in Teacher Education. In P. Pe-terson, E. L. Baker & B. McGaw (Hrsg.), International Encyclopedia of Education (S. 669–675). Oxford. Oser, F. & Spychiger, M. (2005): Lernen ist schmerzhaft. Zur Theorie des Negativen Wissens und zur Praxis der Fehlerkultur. Weinheim. Simons, P. & Ruijters, M. (2004). Learning Professionals: Towards an integrated Model. In Boshuizen, Henny P. A., R. Bromme & H. Gruber (Hrsg.), Professional Learning: Gaps and Transitions on the Way from Novice to Expert (S. 207–229). Dordrecht. Vescio, V., Ross, D. & Adams, A. (2008). A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 80–91. Yoon, K. S., Duncan, T., et al. (2007): Reviewing the evidence on how teacher professional development affects student achievement. Washington.