Emotional Aspect of Teachers’ Professional Mastery in Latvia: Theoretical and Historical Reflections

Within the context of re-evaluation of teacher education to meet the challenges of globalisation, the discourse about holistic understanding of teacher’s professional mastery is essential. The objective of this paper is to provide theoretical and historical reflections about teacher’s professional mastery, highlighting the emotional aspect as a dimension that integrates all its levels. Theoretical and historical reflections in this study follow the methodology of discourse evaluation. The discourse is contextualized in a setting of three periods of time (the 1^st independence 1918-1940, Soviet occupation 1940-1990 and the 2^nd independence from 1990) and grounded in Latvian national and international perspectives. The study aims to deconstruct the cognitive competency-based view on teacher education and to provide reflections on teacher education that is teachers’ self-based.