Abstract

The need to improve teachers’ abilities to respond to the needs of diverse students has been widely acknowledged. To acquire these abilities teachers need ongoing reflection and opportunities to learn in practice in various contexts. However, earlier research has not extensively theorised teachers’ intercultural learning as a holistic life-long learning process. This article discusses teachers’ intercultural learning as a lifelong process in which emotions play a significant role. The article is based on the findings of an analysis of biographical interviews with 10 Finnish teachers. The research question addressed here is: How does the significance of emotions for teachers’ intercultural learning appear in teachers’ stories? The findings present four ways in which the emotional dimensions of intercultural learning was present in the teachers’ stories: emotions shook the teachers’ values and perspectives, emotions triggered action, the teachers’ own feelings of otherness enabled sensitivity towards others, and the emotional climate supported the teachers’ intercultural learning. Finally, the article discusses the pedagogical conditions for teachers’ intercultural learning as an emotional process.