When the teacher raves

Sixth graders' experiences of teacher anger in a pedagogical relationship

Authors

• Anni Piironen Jyväskylän yliopisto
• Perttu Männistö

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.146158

Keywords:

experience, anger, pedagogigal relationship, pupils, thematic analysis

Abstract

Although the teacher-student relationship and the emotions experienced in it have been researched lately, less attention has been paid to the ambiguity of the feelings of anger. This study examined students' experiences of teacher anger in the pedagogical relationship. Data were collected through a questionnaire and interviews with sixth graders (n=97) and analysed using thematic content analysis and composite vignette methods. Based on the analysis students experience teacher anger not only as unfair and hurtful, but also as understandable and necessary, sometimes as amusing or contradictory, depending on the role of the student in the described situation. Hence, students’ experiences of teacher’s anger are not explicitly negative, but rather ambivalent. The findings challenge the prevailing educational psychology discourse on the teacher-student relationship, where feelings of teacher anger are reduced to a barrier to learning, rather than considered more broadly as meaningful part of children’s growth as members of society.