Through a teacher’s eyes: A photo-voice narrative inquiry on career longevity through emotional appraisal

In this study, the voice of the teacher was empowered through the photovoice method within the narrative inquiry approach. The participants were high school, middle school, and elementary school teachers and have been teaching in the same school for over 10 years. Each of the four teachers provided photographs as a triadic piece that connects their emotions to lived experiences and their continued motivation to remain in the teaching career. The analysis was based on the emotional understanding of teachers and the lived experiences that inform their decisions in their classroom. The appraisal of emotions as depicted in the photographs and interconnected within the lives of the teachers was a contributing factor to understanding the importance of emotional balance. The reflection process allowed teachers some way to acknowledge their efforts, evaluate who they were as individuals and put into action activities that would provide them success with teaching. The relative findings that hold the most value for these teachers was the ability of self-efficacy and the use of self-reflection to maintain emotional balance. The study also yielded the identification of coping strategies that the teachers were able to use to deal with unpleasant emotions, burnout and stress along with the management of emotional regulation. The teachers have built and developed resiliency strategies that have maintained their longevity and used pleasant and unpleasant emotions to monitor their career: self-reflection, self-efficacy, love of students and teaching.