School Leaders’ Emotional Support of Teachers Through Emotional Transformation: Qualitative Insights into the Maintenance of Teachers’ Occupational Identity

Leaders’ reframing of employees’ negative emotions is a vital part of socio-emotional support at work. This qualitative research aimed to achieve a richer understanding of principals’ reframing of teachers’ negative emotions in principal-teacher relations. The study used data from semi-structured interviews with 12 principals and 24 teachers and found that teachers’ emotional reframing by principals commonly follows intense negative emotions linked to threats to teachers’ occupational identity. In addition, the study revealed the use of reframing communication strategies, such as empathic listening, empowering messages and normalizing messages. The results of the study and their implications are discussed.