An enthusiastic teacher can be worth their weight in gold. But what if that smile is a bit forced? What if the warm welcome or the passionate explanation is actually the result of emotional labour – of consciously putting on an act?

That’s precisely what a new study by Wang and colleagues set out to examine. And the answer is surprising: even “faking it” can work, at least when it comes to students’ perceptions of teaching quality.

In this study, 64 teachers reported how often they faked, genuinely expressed, or suppressed emotions in class. At the same time, their 533 students completed questionnaires about how enthusiastic they found their teacher and how they rated that teacher’s classroom quality: did the lessons stimulate their thinking? Did they feel supported? Was there good classroom management?

What did they find? The more enthusiastic students perceived their teacher to be, the better they rated the overall teaching quality – no surprise. But here’s the striking part: teachers who reported faking emotions more often were seen as more enthusiastic, which was linked to better student ratings of teaching quality. Genuine emotional expression? Strangely enough, it made no significant difference.

This finding aligns remarkably well with my research on students’ perceptions of teacher authenticity (De Bruyckere & Kirschner, 2016). We found that students can’t directly know whether a teacher is being authentic – they base that judgment on authentic outward behaviours. What matters is not whether the emotion is real, but whether it comes across as real. This new study confirms that even staged enthusiasm can enhance teaching quality, as long as students perceive it as sincere. Authenticity, once again, is in the eye of the beholder (yes, that’s also a nod to my PhD title – guilty as charged).

So, should all teachers start acting? Not necessarily. The authors rightly point out that too much emotional labour can come at a cost: fatigue, burnout, and emotional dissonance. However, intentionally and selectively, a little use can be effective, especially if it helps students stay engaged.

This study reminds us that good teaching is sometimes about more than just good pedagogy. Who you are and how you come across—whether genuinely or deliberately performed—also play a role. Maybe we stopped calling that “fake ” and started recognising it as part of the job.

Abstract of the study:

With a sample of 64 teachers and their 533 students, this research examines how teachers’ self-reported emotional labor relates to student-reported teaching quality, with student-reported teacher enthusiasm serving as a mediating factor. Multilevel modeling analysis reveals that, at the student level, higher perceived teacher enthusiasm is associated with greater student-perceived teaching quality. At the class level, teachers’ faking emotions is associated with higher class-perceived teacher enthusiasm, which in turn, corresponds with higher class-perceived teaching quality. Our findings shed light on the intricate nature of teachers’ emotional labor by uncovering a positive and indirect link between emotional labor and teaching quality.