The happiness of teaching (as eudaimonia): disciplinary knowledge and the threat of performativity

Abstract

In this article the authors explore and critique education and teacher education as disciplines against the backdrop of teaching as a form of human flourishing connected to the virtue of eudaimonia, a kind of happiness. Their concern is with flourishing as a human being who teaches and in teaching expresses and moves toward fulfilling his or her essence or goodness. Questions are raised about how the quest for disciplinary status may negatively affect teacher well‐being by narrowing and flattening what it is teachers do when teaching, thus undermining the very reasons why teachers choose to teach.

Keywords:

• teaching
• affect
• discipline of teaching
• eudaimonia