Implicit beliefs about teaching ability, teacher emotions, and teaching satisfaction

Abstract

Although there are studies that link both implicit beliefs and emotions with well-being, most of these studies have been conducted in a domain-general context. The aim of this study was to contextualize these findings in the teaching context by examining the role of implicit beliefs about teaching ability in teacher emotions and satisfaction. This study draws on two theories of emotions: appraisal theories of emotion and broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions in order to understand the roles of cognition (i.e., implicit beliefs about teaching ability: incremental and entity beliefs) and emotions (i.e., teacher emotions: enjoyment, anger, and anxiety) in teaching satisfaction. Using data from a sample of 413 Filipino pre-service teachers, results of structural equation modeling provided support for a model of incremental beliefs about teaching ability predicting teaching satisfaction through teacher emotion of enjoyment. The findings of the study underscore the important role of implicit beliefs about the malleability of teaching ability and positive emotions toward the teaching experience in pre-service teachers’ teaching satisfaction.