The teaching experience and the emotions it evokes

The purpose of the present study is twofold: (a) examine the intensity of a wide range of teachers’ emotional appraisals regarding teaching profession and teachers themselves as teachers; (b) analyse the differential effects of years of experience on the teachers’ emotional appraisals. Participants were 180 Israeli teachers. The teacher emotion inventory (TEI) that assesses the intensity of sixteen emotional appraisals was used. Factor analysis of the TEI displayed three factors: (i) positive emotions (PTE) (ii) negative emotions concerning “myself as a teacher” (NTE-Personal); and (iii) negative emotions that focus on the teaching profession (NTE-Profession). Findings: (a) teachers experienced mixed emotions with regard to themselves as teachers and their profession; and (b) PTE were more intense than both NTE-Personal and NTE-Professional, regardless of years of experience; and (c) significant differences were found between teachers having varying years of experience on NTE-Personal, but not on the other two factors (PTE and NTE-Professional).