Emotional labor of a Brazilian public school teacher: domination and resistance in a neoliberal context

Abstract

There have been many studies on teachers’ emotional labor and on the ethics of caring affect teachers’ emotional labor. Yet, little research has examined teacher emotional labor under current neoliberal discourses in the education systems in Brazil. Using interviews and diaries, this study investigated the emotional labor a Brazilian school teacher of English when teaching according to critical literacy studies. The findings indicated that her emotional labor was related to the political situation in Brazil, neoliberalism discourses and emotional rules, as well as clashes between teacher roles and her desire to teach critically. She felt torn between acting according to what she believed was good for her students and her critical literacy practice versus obeying the emotional rules for teachers’ and students’ roles at her school. As she did that, she experienced both domination and resistance. The study concludes with implications about neoliberalism as related to teacher emotional labor.