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Findings from the Research Study: The Observees

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Emotional Labour and Lesson Observation

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Abstract

Building on the contexts, theoretical concepts and methodological approach I outlined in Part I, I examine in this chapter the common or diverging themes from the narratives which I defined within the following six phrases: rewards and ‘hidden’ emotional labour; performativity, ethics work and emotional labour; embodied emotion and teaching in FE; stress and anxiety in observations; feelings of shame ; and teachers seeking personal recognition . Within these themes , examples show how Bourdieu’s conceptual tools, such as habitus , illusio and doxa , can be usefully applied to observations and teachers’ lived experiences . The interactional space between social and personal aspects of the narratives are illuminated by psychoanalytical , specifically Object Relations theory , including notions of feelings of shame and seeking personal recognition from the writings of Butler, Winnicott and Mollon. I integrate these ideas through a psychological and interactionist concept which has been termed the ‘narrative unconscious ’ by Freeman (2010). This analysis provides insights into interpretations of teachers’ professional habitus and understanding how complex and fluid emotional experiences may impact on the process of observations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The teacher has been given a pseudonym.

  2. 2.

    The name of the school has been changed.

  3. 3.

    Advanced level qualifications , Level 3 on the UK National Qualifications Framework.

  4. 4.

    Names of places have also been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants .

  5. 5.

    Of course, it is likely that my own interest in creative writing has played a part in an interpretation of this concept.

  6. 6.

    I explore this issue in more detail in the following chapter which analyses the managers’ narratives .

  7. 7.

    As a requirement of unemployment benefit, some individuals must provide evidence of re-training .

  8. 8.

    Refers to the graded outcome (‘inadequate’) from Ofsted criteria of lesson observation used by management .

  9. 9.

    Indicating Anna’s perception that an observation awarded a grade two (‘good’) is not good enough.

  10. 10.

    Graded ‘One’ using the Ofsted criteria, indicates an assessment of a lesson as ‘outstanding’.

  11. 11.

    Refers to an article in the media (Kinder 2012) where the Education Minister wrote an open letter to his teacher of thirty years ago, seeking forgiveness for his misbehaviour in school. This sparked a debate about encouraging others to do the same if they also felt guilty for being disrespectful to their past teachers .

  12. 12.

    These participants are from three unconnected colleges in different locations—see the summary table at the beginning of this chapter for details.

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  1. Cambridge, Waikato, New Zealand

    Ursula Edgington

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Edgington, U. (2017). Findings from the Research Study: The Observees. In: Emotional Labour and Lesson Observation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2991-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2991-2_5

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