The cultural and emotional politics of teacher-parent interactions

This article seeks to explore the ways in which the culture and organization of teaching influences the experiences and emotions teachers report in their interactions with parents. Hargreaves' framework, based on the emotional politics of teaching, is used here to analyze fifty-three primary and secondary teachers' interview responses in which they described interactions with parents that elicited negative and positive emotions. Parent-teacher interactions are explored as emotional practices that are inseparable from teachers' moral purposes, shaped by influences of culture and relationship, and inextricably interconnected elements of status and power. Data suggest that the culture and organization of teaching influence the values, discourses and senses of purpose teachers hold and thus the experiences and emotions they report in their interactions with parents. The article closes with suggestions for further research and policy considerations. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.