Emotional rules in workplaces can stifle veteran mathematics teachers' epistemic and relational agency and thus their ability to learn¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoretical r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2031: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Emotional rules encountered by veteran mathematics teachers in their workplaces not only create emotional labor but can also stifle their epistemic and relational agency, and thus their ability to learn. → Chen 2026

Evidence¶

Chen 2026¶

Chen, G. A., Vedder-Weiss, D., & Marshall, S. A. (2026). Introduction: the role of affect in STEM teacher learning. Instructional Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-026-09777-4

q2 · i? · theoretical · r2

The editorial describes Horn et al.'s (2025) study of the emotional rules veteran mathematics teachers encounter in their workplaces, reporting that these rules "can also stifle their epistemic and relational agency." The special issue paper itself was not read.

"illustrating how emotional rules not only create emotional labor for teachers but can also stifle their epistemic and relational agency and thus, their ability to learn"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The role of affect in STEM teacher learning remains seriously underexplored despite growing research on teacher emotion
• Strict emotional regimes contribute to the production of vulnerability that can precipitate deficit narratives from asset-oriented teachers
• Contextual resources shape teachers' agentic responses in challenging situations, which in turn shape their interpretations of student behavior and possibilities for responsiveness
• Epistemic empathy, an affective phenomenon, dovetails with science teachers' learning of responsive teaching — related
• Consultation with trusted colleagues offered new interpretations of a student's behavior, lessening a teacher's emotional labor and shifting her from surface acting to deep acting (Linda case) — related
• LLMs redistributed educational labor while family and institutional rules left parents and professionals responsible for interpreting outputs and deciding how they entered practice — related
• In Case 2, persistent strong negative self-critique led teachers to assign deficit narratives to students as having missed opportunities, serving as foils for teachers — related
• Organized PD groups reported fewer negative emotions than teachers learning informally — related