Emotion management among kindergarten teachers in their motivational interactions with their staff

ABSTRACT

The kindergarten staff comprises one teacher and two permanent staff members: an aide and a fill-in teacher. The study tracks the tactics that teachers use to motivate staff members to do their jobs effectively, in view of their considerations in choosing these tactics and the way staff members perceive them. The study is based on a multiple case study that focuses on ten cases in Israel (kindergarten staffs comprised of a teacher, a teacher’s aide, and a fill-in teacher), each treated via interviews and observations. Four main motivational tactics are found, all interrelated and each accommodating various strategies that the teacher uses to motivate staff members to do their jobs well: interpersonal and professional outreach, partnering, professional empowerment, and appreciation of job performance. The analysis and the discussion indicate that the emotional dimension generally, and the expression and management of emotions particularly, run like a crimson thread through the motivation processes that teachers set in motion. Accordingly, the article emphasizes the way teachers tend to express or repress their emotions toward their aides and fill-ins in the broader frame of the process of motivating them to work effectively.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Masada Studni

Masada Studni is the vice president and dean of the undergraudate studies in the Gordon College of Educaiton. Her works focus on preschool education and the teaching career.

Izhar Oplatka

Izhar Oplatka is a professor of Educational Administration and Leadership at The School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Israel and the head of the dept. of Educational Policy and Administration.  Prof. Oplatka’s research focuses on the lives and career of school teachers and principals, educational marketing, emotions and educational administration, and the foundations of educational administration as a field of study.