Teachers’ Emotions: an illustrated discussion

A cognitive theory of the emotions would suggest that emotional development can be pursued through challenge to the understandings and judgments on which emotions are based. The situation of two mature women teachers is here considered. They are found to have profound commitments to the pupils they teach and to gain considerable emotional security therefrom. They tend to define school matters outside their teaching as distractions and frustrations. It is suggested that professional development requires a whole‐school approach, one which would contribute to a fuller emotional commitment to the educational project.