ABSTRACT
Passion is defined in the Oxford Dictionary (1989) as ‘any kind of feeling by which the mind is powerfully affected or moved’. It is a driver, a motivational force emanating from strength of emotion. People are passionate about things, issues, causes, people. Being passionate generates energy, determination, conviction, commitment, and even obsession in people. Passion can lead to enhanced vision (the determination to attain a deeply desired goal) but it can also restrict wider vision and lead to the narrow pursuit of a passionately held conviction at the expense of other things. Passion is not a luxury, a frill, or a quality possessed by just a few teachers. It is essential to all good teaching. It is
not just a personality trait that some people have and others lack, but rather something discoverable, teachable or reproducible, even when the regularities of school life gang up against it. Passion and practicality are not opposing notions; good planning and design are as important as caring and spontaneity in bringing out the best in students. Although not the whole story, passion, uncomfortable as the word may sound, is at the heart of what teaching is or should be.
