Inspection and teachers’ emotions: An emotional evaluation of inspection

Abstract

In the study, inspection is discussed in relation to the teachers’ feelings and emotions it creates before inspection, during inspection and after inspection process. Teacher’s emotions have been investigated intentionally as emotional side of education has been neglected. Education is closely related to the emotions of teachers, who are the most important producers of educational activities.

Educational activities are reduced to standard activities and defined with simple explanations or single labels such as ‘good-bad’, ‘successful-unsuccessful’, ‘adequate-inadequate’. Inspection causes emotions to be neglected. Moreover, recently, it has been discussed that there are approaches and systems that suggest constant and multi-dimensional inspection instead of traditional inspection.

Qualitative research model was used to understand of teacher emotions. A semi structured form was used for the 38 primary school teachers’ interviews. After teacher interviews were completed, we analyzed and compared the interviews. Participants’ expressions were checked in terms of correctness, potential validity and reliability problems such as misinterpretation.   

The results of the study can be summarized as follows: There were no positive expressions related to the emotional impact of inspection on teachers. In addition, teachers felt that the inspectors were stressed, anxious, uneasy, accusatory, coercive, looking for defect and areas of unsuccessful teaching performance. Most of teachers reported that being observed and evaluated caused them to have negative emotions.

Teachers’ perceptions about inspection are found to be negative. There are no statements that indicate there is a positive impression of inspection on teachers. The emotions that are experienced before inspection: pressure, hurry, stress, concern, tension, anxiety, worry, uncertainty; during inspection: stress, tension, anger, loss of strength, humiliation and lack of self-efficacy, and after inspection: relaxation, stress, sorrow, anger, fury, meaninglessness, disappointment. The single positive emotion that the teachers use to describe an inspection is “relaxation”.