Emotional management in peer-group mentoring

Transcription

1 1 Emotional management in peer-group mentoring Teacher induction in Northern Europe: Experiences and challenges, Helsinki Estola 20

2 Introduction 2 The research group s interests are in the relational and emotional aspects of teaching This research focuses on the emotional management in the peer-group environment: supporting and/or restricting. Aims of the research: to find out how the peer-group as a narrative environment conditions the emotional talk and reflection To deepen the understanding on the phenomenon countermeasures-> improvement of mentoring practice Research question : How does the peer group restrict emotional reflection?

3 The group & the meetings 3 What? New course aimed for students who had questions and uncertainties about their future work and especially the interpersonal aspects of teaching When& Where? The course took place in Autumn 2012 and consisted of six 2 hour peer-group mentoring sessions Cozy classroom setting at the teacher training school Who? The participants: 10 soon-to-graduate student teachers from both primary and early childhood education The Mentors: The group was led by two teachers from the teacher training school who had previous mentoring experience. One member of the research group recording the meetings

4 The data & analysis 4 The data used in the research consisted of the following: Transcribed video recordings of the six meetings Reflective diaries by the students that were used for both evaluation of the course and with their consent for research purposes Reflections by one member (Hannele) written after the completion of the course. Separate analysis on what actually took place in the group and the later reflections of the meetings Hannele s reflections gave us valuable insights of the ways in which the emotions and emotional reflection were managed at an interpersonal level Selected episodes where what happened differed significantly from what Hannele had thought or felt during those moments.

5 Theoretical connections 5 Emotions are an integral part of reflection process and also a tool to control social behavior. Cultural and institutional norms and expectations of being a proper teacher What can be expressed? emotional rules (Zembylas) emotional management (Hochschild) Edge-emotions threatening existing individual and socially shared meaning structures and comfortable status quo (Mälkki 2011) Group culture and the importance of maintaining cohesion and harmony (Kaunisto& al. 2012)

6 Methodology 6 Narrative paradigm: social reality as narrative reality (ontology), organizing principle of knowing (epistemology), stories as objects of research (methodology), collective and individual identities worked through stories, researcher as a co-constructor and storyteller (Spector-Mersel 2010) Stories are windows to social worlds Narrative practice: Narratives comprise the interplay between experience, storying practice, descriptive resources, purposes at hand, audiences and the environments that condition storytelling. (Gubrium &Holstein 2006) Narrating oneself as a teacher/student teacher

7 Hannele s journey in the group 7 Rollercoaster of emotions Consistent themes : anxiety on future co-operation with co-workers, feelings of inadequacy Disclosure of negative emotions usually came as comment/addition to discussion started by others à less risk of violating shared meanings In the end she felt like the reflections prompted by the meetings had enabled her to learn something important of her short-comings on handling interpersonal relationships She said that the mentoring process has been hugely important to her in her current situation

8 Reflection level 8 We identified three ways which the group hindered emotional talk and the possibility for emotional reflection. They represent different means of staying in the emotional comfort zone by managing emotions. 1. AVOIDANCE: Refusal to deal with themes that might lead to uncomfortable places. 2. LAUGHTER/HUMOR: Lightening the tone or reacting with laughter to otherwise serious topics, restores feeling norms to culturally acceptable ones by distancing teller and listener from the event 3. MASKING: Hiding negative emotions or leaving something unsaid to keep the cohesion of the group intact and preserving ones own identity

9 Things to consider 9 How to overcome the defenses against edge-emotions and make the peer-group mentoring experience more than just a place for feeling comfortable and at the same time not turning it into a therapy session? Lessening the defenses à alternative means for reflection such as diaries which enable taking distance to the initially threatening situation Laughter and humor are excellent ways of increasing group cohesion, but can also act against the intentions and aims of the peer-group mentoring process How to utilize them properly? The whole story can never be told even with the limits peergroup mentoring is still very important and meaningful