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Emotional Labour Matters for Kindergarten Teachers: An Examination of the Antecedents and Consequences

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Abstract

This study examined the relationships between kindergartens teachers’ emotional labour strategies and their relations to instructional leadership, trust in colleagues, teaching experiences, and teaching satisfaction. With a sample of 491 kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong, this study found that surface acting negatively predicted while deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotion positively predicted teachers’ teaching satisfaction; instructional leadership and trust in colleagues were positively related to deep acting and expression of naturally felt emotion, respectively. Meanwhile, teaching experience was found to be positively related to their adoption of expression of naturally felt emotion and teaching satisfaction. These findings shed light on the nature of kindergarten teachers’ work, and provide some implications for teacher development in kindergartens.

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Funding

The work was supported by the Quality Education Fund of Hong Kong SAR under Grant No. EDB/QEF 35/17.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Hongbiao Yin

  2. Centre for University and School Partnership, Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Winnie Wing Yi Tam

  3. Department of English Education, College of Education, Jeju National University, Jeju-si, Republic of Korea

    Moonyoung Park

  4. Department of Education Policy and Leadership, Faculty of Education and Human Development, Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Chrysa Pui Chi Keung

Authors
  1. Hongbiao Yin
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  2. Winnie Wing Yi Tam
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  3. Moonyoung Park
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  4. Chrysa Pui Chi Keung
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Contributions

HY: conceptualization, methodology, data curation, writing. WWYT: data analysis. MP: writing. CPCK: Data collection.

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Correspondence to Hongbiao Yin.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding this submission.

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Yin, H., Tam, W.W.Y., Park, M. et al. Emotional Labour Matters for Kindergarten Teachers: An Examination of the Antecedents and Consequences. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 32, 239–249 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-022-00647-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-022-00647-4

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