Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Applied Research in Education
Year: 2023
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/5th.areconf.2023.10.100
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Emotion versus Cognition in Teacher Workplace Learning: A Case Study
Ewa Toloczko, PhD
ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this paper is to examine the interaction between affective and cognitive responses to the work realities as demonstrated by an academic teacher in his professional setting. A case study was designed to explore this psycho-cognitive phenomenon in context and to collect data, the source of which was a record of observations and judgments formulated by the teacher over an extended period of time. The material was analyzed statistically and descriptively to address three research questions about the range of emotions triggered by the participant’s daily duties, the nature of self-evaluative comments in relation to the teacher’s expertise, and the influence of controlled reflective interventions on his behavioral patterns. The study results support the assumption that working in higher education presents an emotional challenge which can be effectively managed through systematic cognitive processing. The teacher’s affective responses to work became more transparent while the duration of his negative moods decreased. Although limited in its sample size, this study contributes to the existing literature on expert teachers and their emotion management skills. Its novelty lies in the approach that assists the application of cognitive strategies, such as problem-solving, inductive logic, or evidence review, to formulate informed statements about external or internal reality and to utilize the new knowledge for adaptation purposes. It is proposed that the structured practice of examining one’s affective behavior should be an ongoing process and a valuable learning tool for faculty, forming an essential part of quality assurance mechanisms in all higher education institutions.
keywords: expertise, higher education, professional judgments, reflection, self-regulation