ABSTRACT
Teaching, often through the delivery of lectures or seminars is a core component of the role of most legal academics. The way teachers understand, regulate and utilize emotions within the classroom has been identified as playing a role in academic achievement, standards of behaviour and student wellbeing. The institutional restraints on academics generally, and the culture of the legal academy which has traditionally disregarded emotions, may militate against the acknowledgement and inclusion of emotions on occasion, but there are also possible solutions to be found. Alongside teaching, research and administration form the nexus of academic life both generally and within the law school. One way of interpreting the difficulties with work-life balance relates to the concept of emotional labour. G. S. Gates identified that “deep acting” was used as well, for example, by attributing a display of anger by a student over a low grade to youth and immaturity, to enable them to deal with it calmly.
