ABSTRACT
David Fernie’s study examining new teachers’ emotional lives during their first months on the job highlights the importance of providing support for new teachers as they enter what is often a highly anticipated, but extremely pressurized and stressful position. As a teacher educator whose work has been concerned with the preparation of teachers for over 20 years, I have often marveled at the degree to which people are willing to ignore the relational and emotional quality of teaching. Think about or remember (if you’ve ever been a teacher) or imagine (if you have not) being in an intimate relationship with 20 or 30 children, sharing their ups and downs, their very different hopes and dreams, strengths and needs, likes and dislikes while simultaneously trying to get them all moving in the same direction toward mandated learning outcomes. Add to that beautiful mix substantial and increasing pressure to produce higher test scores and blame and public humiliation when this does not happen. Few other professions exist within such an emotionally charged domain.
