The emotional burden of teaching: navigating emotions in real-time in the school environment

Research indicates that teachers’ ability to regulate their emotions in the classroom is essential to teachers’ well-being and contributes to student engagement and a positive learning environment. However, emotional regulation in the classroom requires continual adjustment to classroom dynamics, personal awareness, and professional responsibilities. Although research highlights the importance of teachers’ ability to regulate their emotions, few studies have examined teachers’ experience of expressing and managing emotions in the school environment. This study addresses this gap using a qualitative approach to examine teachers’ perceptions regarding ongoing efforts to balance their emotional responses while maintaining an environment conducive to learning. Twenty-seven interviews with teachers from Aotearoa, New Zealand secondary schools were analysed using hybrid thematic analysis. Three dominant themes were constructed from the interview data. The findings show that teachers experience a significant emotional burden daily, often using emotion regulation strategies without being aware of how they actively manage their emotional well-being, while others struggle to cope. The findings highlight the importance of advocating for proactive emotional regulation training and institutional support for teachers to help address emotional burden.