A beginning teacher in emotionally intensive micropolitical situations

- This study focuses on emotions and micropolitics in a beginning teacher's work.
- Beginning teachers are seen as active participants in their working communities.
- Emotionally intensive situations and their micropolitical dimensions are analysed.
- Findings show the strategies that a beginning teacher uses in these situations.

This narrative research focuses on two questions: how do emotions and micropolitics appear in a beginning teacher's work and, what kind of strategies does a beginning teacher use when negotiating emotionally intensive situations in the micropolitical context of the school? The research material consists of three narrative interviews with one beginning Finnish secondary teacher. The results illustrate the significance of school's micropolitics for a beginning teacher's work and the various relational and emotional aspects that are present when a beginning teacher tries to balance between school's micropolitics and a teacher's own values. In addition, the research increases knowledge about how beginning teachers learn to negotiate emotionally intensive situations and use various strategies in the micropolitical context of their work.