Relations between teachers’ emotions in teaching and their approaches to teaching in higher education

This study investigated the relations between teachers’ emotions in teaching and their approaches to teaching in individual courses. It is derived from two fields of study that have hitherto been largely unconnected in higher education. While the research literature shows (a) a range of variables are related to the teaching approaches that teachers adopt and that these approaches are related to the quality of their students’ learning, and (b) that the emotional experience of teachers is an important factor in teaching, no studies have been reported on the connections between emotions and approaches in teaching in higher education. Two self-report questionnaires: the Approach to Teaching Inventory-Revised and the Emotions in Teaching Inventory, were completed by a sample of 175 Australian higher education teachers. The results suggest that there are significant relations between the ways teachers emotionally experience the context of teaching and the ways they approach their teaching, with positive emotions being associated with student-focused teaching approaches and negative emotions with transmission approaches. The relations help explain why new teaching strategies may not be successful or not even adopted.