Teacher sensitivity in interaction with individual students: the role of teachers’ daily negative emotions

Abstract

Research stresses the importance of teacher sensitivity for the development of special needs students, including students with attachment problems. However, little is known about the antecedents of teacher sensitivity. This study investigated associations between teachers' daily negative emotions and teacher sensitivity towards individual students. Data were collected from 71 teacher-student dyads in special education primary schools and included students with mild to severe attachment problems (6 to 10 years old). Teachers reported their daily negative activating (e.g. anger) and deactivating (e.g. sadness) emotions in relation to individual students during a three-week period. Teacher sensitivity was observed in interaction with the target student in a cognitively-challenging and an emotionallychallenging task. Teachers' higher but decreasing negative activating emotions were associated with higher levels of observed teacher sensitivity in the cognitivelychallenging task. In addition, heightened levels of negative deactivating emotions were associated with lower levels of observed teacher sensitivity but only in the emotionally-challenging task.

Measuring Teachers’ Social-Emotional Competence: Development and Validation of a Situational Judgment Test

“…In the long run, teachers' feelings of anger or anxiety and the inability to effectively interact and build connections with students are associated with lower occupational well-being (Schutz and Zembylas, 2009;Klassen et al, 2012;Dicke et al, 2015;Aldrup et al, 2017Aldrup et al, , 2018b. Moreover, teachers who feel depleted of their emotional resources have been found to be less sensitive and to provide less emotional support in their interaction with students and their classes had lower motivation and achievement (Shen et al, 2015;Arens and Morin, 2016;Klusmann et al, 2016;Koenen et al, 2018). Thus, identifying teacher characteristics that support them in dealing with their own emotions and in promoting positive teacherstudent relationships-even in challenging social interactions with students-is highly relevant for both student development and teachers' occupational well-being.…”

Development of the Competence Measure of Individual Teacher-Student Relationships (COMMIT): Insight Into the Attitudes, Knowledge, and Self-Efficacy of Pre-service Teachers

“…However, the teacher is also part of the relationship and what the teacher needs to be able to support the student should not be overlooked. It is not always evident to build close teacher-student relationships with each and every student in your class, and how teachers cope with negative emotions and conflicts in interactions with students is crucial to preserve and maintain teacher sensitivity (Koenen et al, 2019a;Ansari et al, 2020b). For example, if a teacher wants to calm down or console the student following a conflict, they need to be able to cope with their own emotions.…”

“…In building teacher-child relationships, teachers are the ones responsible for trying to establish, maintain and, if needed, restore the relationship. Negative teacher emotions and cognitions, such as helplessness or not feeling in control, can discourage the teacher from searching for new strategies to connect with a student, might cause teachers to withdraw from a student, and can undermine their sensitivity toward that student (Chang and Davis, 2009;Spilt and Koomen, 2009;Koenen et al, 2019a). The ability to cope with these negative emotions and cognitions, however, can strengthen teachers' resilience and is crucial in preventing teachers from becoming discouraged in the face of challenges, such as repeated conflict with students (Hastings and Brown, 2002;Beltman et al, 2011).…”

Problemas de conducta en el aula: construcción del concepto desde la perspectiva de las maestras de primaria

“…Estos resultados se ven respaldados por las investigaciones de González, Díez, López y Román (2010), Koenen et al (2018) y Paneiva, Bakker y Rubiales (2018) al señalar la capacidad del maestro para generar un clima en el aula que sea positivo, que sea sensible a las necesidades de sus estudiantes y que les proporcionen una base segura y un refugio en el que puedan expresar sus emociones. En este sentido, se coincide en que estas características de alguna manera orientarán las estrategias que las maestras utilizarán para apoyar a sus estudiantes.…”