No room for emotions in academia

However, the world of higher education has not yet caught up with contemporary thinking on emotions. There is still a tendency for individual disciplines and departments to focus on developing their own academic character and traditions with emotions viewed as belonging solely in the pastoral domain.

This is short-sighted, as there is considerable research to indicate that emotions affect students’ learning in a variety of ways. Each time a student enters a lecture or seminar room they are bringing with them a set of emotions. These may stem from the university experience itself, for example, excitement at the idea of starting a new topic. Or they may come from the pressures of everyday life, for example, sadness at the end of a relationship.

Likewise, the lecturer or tutor is bringing their own emotional baggage into the room – perhaps a fear at what students will say in their end-of-module student evaluations. Understanding how these underlying emotions impact on academic work and teaching can enable them to be acknowledged and managed in a way which enables learning to take place effectively.

Managing emotion as a ‘soft skill’

Students need to learn how to control their anger. ©2015 Disney Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

In today’s society, the employability of graduates is high on the agenda and universities are expected to equip their students with professional and transferable skills that will smooth their transition into paid employment.

Being in touch with, and able to manage, emotions adds an additional so-called “soft skill” to the student’s repertoire. In contrast, being taught that emotion has no part in intellectual studies can lead to students suppressing emotions in a way which can be harmful to their personal development.

This is an issue that has been highlighted particularly in US legal education where “thinking like a lawyer” has traditionally involved suppressing any emotion. This has led to high instances of depression in law students.

In recent years, interest in the role of emotions in higher education has increased. However, there is little evidence that this has led to a consistent and well-researched acknowledgment of its importance across the board. Perhaps a mass screening of Inside Out at all universities would help hasten this process. As Disney has shown, emotions cannot and should not be ignored.

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