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University lecturers’ emotional responses to and coping with student feedback: a Finnish case study

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Abstract

Lecturers often find themselves unable to appropriately interpret or deal with student feedback, which may consequently be essential to how they feel about teaching and students. Research into lecturers’ emotional responses to student feedback is scarce, despite the growing use of student feedback as a means of evaluating teachers’ work. This narrative study explores seven lecturers’ responses to student feedback. The lecturers had prior to the study participated in pedagogical training aimed at developing a deep understanding of learning and teaching in higher education. Interviews with the lecturers were conducted and the data was analysed using a categorical approach to narrative analysis. Building on positive psychology, particularly broaden-and-build theory, we consider lecturers’ emotional responses as spirals, and thus had identified upward and downward emotional spirals regarding student feedback. Our findings suggest that pedagogical training may act as an intervention, as it appeared to be meaningful in providing guidance for coping with student feedback. We finally argue that lecturers need to find ways to cope with student feedback as this is essential for their teaching.

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Notes

  1. 60 ECTS credits measure the workload of a full-time student during one academic year, and each ECTS credit stands for around 26–27 working hours.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 2000, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland

    Sonja Lutovac, Raimo Kaasila, Jyrki Komulainen & Merja Maikkola

Authors
  1. Sonja Lutovac
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  2. Raimo Kaasila
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  3. Jyrki Komulainen
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  4. Merja Maikkola
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sonja Lutovac.

Additional information

Current themes of research and authors’ most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education

Sonja Lutovac, Ph.D., Post-doc researcher

University of Oulu, Faculty of Education; sonja.lutovac@oulu.fi

- Teacher identity development in pre-service teacher education, including school experiences with mathematics and affect in mathematics (e.g. math anxiety)

- Therapeutic approaches in teaching and learning

- Collaborative experiences, mentoring and affect in higher education

Lutovac, S., & Kaasila, R. (2014). Pre-service teachers’ future-oriented mathematical identity work. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 85(1), 129–142.

Lutovac, S., & Kaasila, R. (2011). Beginning a pre-service teacher’s mathematical identity work through narrative rehabilitation and bibliotherapy. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(2), 225-236.

Lutovac, S. (2008). Mathematics anxiety among primary school pupils. In: M. Cindrić, V. Domović, M. Matijević (Eds.), Pedagogy and the knowledge society: 2nd Scientific Research Symposium Pedagogy and the Knowledge Society, Zadar, Croatia. Zagreb: Učiteljski fakultet, vol. 2, 225 -231.

Kaasila, R., & Lutovac, S. (2015). Developing research relationship toward a learning partnership. Scandinavian Journal of Educational research, 59(2), 177-194.

Kaasila, R., & Lutovac, S. (2011). Developing Doctoral Student Mentoring through Narrative Teaching Strategies. In J.P. Henderson and A.D. Lawrence (Eds.), Teaching Strategies (pp. 203-218). New York: Nova Science Publisher.

Raimo Kaasila, Ph.D., Professor of Teacher education

University of Oulu, Faculty of Education; raimo.kaasila@oulu.fi

- Identity development, reflection and collaborative experiences in pre-service teacher education

- Affective domain in teacher and mathematics education (e.g. beliefs and emotions)

- Therapeutic approaches in teaching and learning

- Development of university pedagogy, including academic writing and supervising in higher education

Kaasila, R., Hannula, M. S., & Laine, A. (2012). “My personal relationship towards mathematics has necessarily not changed but …” Analyzing pre-service teachers’ mathematical identity talk. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 10, 975–995.

Kaasila, R., & Lauriala, A. (2012). How do pre-service teachers’ reflective processes differ in relation to different contexts? European Journal of Teacher Education, 35(1), 77– 88.

Kaasila, R., & Lauriala, A. (2010). Towards a collaborative, interactionist model of teacher change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(4), 854–862.

Kaasila, R., Hannula, M. S, Laine, A., & Pehkonen, E. (2008). Socio-emotional orientations and teacher change. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 67(2), 111–123.

Hannula, M. S., Liljedahl, P., Kaasila, R., & Rösken, B. (2007). Researching relief of mathematics anxiety among pre-service elementary school teachers. In J. H. Woo, H. C. Lew, K. S. Park, & D. Y. Seo (Eds.), Proceedings 31st Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education,Vol. 1 (pp. 153–157).

Jyrki Komulainen, Ph.D., lecturer

University of Oulu, Faculty of Education; jyrki.komulainen@oulu.fi

Merja Maikkola, M.A., lecturer

University of Oulu, Faculty of Education; merja.maikkola@oulu.fi

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Lutovac, S., Kaasila, R., Komulainen, J. et al. University lecturers’ emotional responses to and coping with student feedback: a Finnish case study. Eur J Psychol Educ 32, 235–250 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-016-0301-1

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