Teachers’ emotional labor in parent–teacher interactions: key elements and theoretical logic from a grounded theory approach

Editorial reading guide · Collaboration

What makes a parent–teacher conversation easier to sustain when people disagree?

The study describes the emotional work behind contact between teachers and families. A conversation that looks simple from home can require considerable effort at school.

Who was studied?

Twenty teachers in China took part in semi-structured interviews about parent–teacher interactions.

Age / stage: Primary and secondary school

Read with three questions

1. Whose emotional work is visible in the interviews?
2. How did the researchers move from individual accounts to their interpretation?
3. Where do children, families and educators each have a voice in the evidence?

Keep the limits in view

The accounts document experiences in the circumstances studied. They cannot establish how common an experience is in the wider population or measure an intervention effect.