Exploring teacher identities and emotions in the teaching of organic chemistry in grade 12 technical sciences.

Abstract

Organic chemistry is one of the topics taught in technical sciences, and the manner in which learners adapt to organic chemistry depends on teachers’ teaching approach. This study explored the identities and emotions of teachers teaching technical sciences in grade 12 classes in the Harry Gwala and Ugu Districts in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Furthermore, this study examined how teachers’ identities and emotions influenced their teaching of organic chemistry. This study adopted Gu and Day's (2007) three dimensions of teacher identities as well as Hargreaves's (2001) emotional geographies of teaching as conceptual frameworks. This study was located within the interpretive paradigm and adopted a qualitative approach. The narratives were constructed from data generated through semi-structured interviews and collages. Five grade 12 technical sciences teachers participated in this study. The findings of this study reveal that teachers teaching technical sciences have diverse identities and mixed emotions when teaching organic chemistry. Data showed that the situated, professional, and personal dimensions of teacher identity overlapped and influenced each other. Teachers were found to have mixed emotions when teaching organic chemistry in technical science classes. Teacher emotions were influenced by the availability of resources, parental and school management team support, and teacher knowledge. This study also found that teacher emotions influenced the teaching of organic chemistry in technical sciences classes. When teachers have positive emotions about teaching organic chemistry, learners also feel eager and enthusiastic to learn and as a result, learners achieve good marks. Concurrently, if teachers have negative feelings about teaching organic chemistry, they do not feel confident to teach hence learners feel demotivated and discouraged to learn, resulting in poor performance of learners. Additionally, the trends of closeness and distance in socio-cultural, moral, physical, political, and professional geographies shape the emotions experienced by teachers through communication.