The Emotional Toll of Obligation and Teachers' Disengagement from the Profession

Obligation, or the binding responsibility to respond to the other, both lends teaching its moral integrity, but also takes an enormous emotional toll on those who teach. Obligation is of particular importance today given that education is increasingly being restructured by ideologies of the market and managerialism that seek to minimize the moral integrity of teaching, and invoke feelings of self-doubt, guilt, anxiety, and shame in teachers (Ball, 2003). The effect is teacher burnout and greater attrition that negatively impact students (Crocco & Costigan, 2007). This research note provides an introduction to a two-year inquiry initiated by the authors. The purpose of the inquiry is to illustrate and explore how teachers experience and understand obligation; to unravel the complex relation between the emotional toll of obligation and teachers' disengagement in all its forms; and finally, to closely examine the profession's understanding and response to the anxiety of obligation. This note provides the context, theoretical framework, and methodology for the planned research.