Emotion Regulation in Teachers for Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Islamic Elementary School: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Lucky Ade Sessiani 1 , Fatah Syukur 2 Universitas Islam Negeri Walisongo Semarang, Indonesia {lucky_sessiani@walisongo.ac.id 1 , fsyukur@walisongo.ac.id 2 } Abstract. Being a teacher means performing an emotional endeavor. Especially for teachers working with special needs students. This research aims to explore the emotion regulation strategies used by teachers while working with special needs students. A total of 5 individuals, special needs teachers in inclusive Islamic elementary school (Madrasah Ibtidaiyah) participated in the study. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), the emerging themes from teacher’s experiences indicate that awareness and belief in emotional experiences encouraged teachers to apply emotion regulation strategies. As emotion regulation being implemented continuously, teacher’s efficacy and well-being will also be developed during the process. These findings provide deeper understanding about emotion regulation as a skill that enriches teacher’s emotional competencies. Thus, it needs to be developed, especially for teachers in special education or inclusive schools, not only to support children behavior and classroom management, but also teacher’s well-being and mental health. Keywords: Emotion Regulation; Well-Being; Inclusive School Teachers; Special Needs Teachers 1 Introduction Teachers, like other individuals, experienced emotions in vary. Some research indicate that teaching is an emotional labor, it requires high emotional effort and has high potential risk in escalating stress level [1]–[4]. Special needs teacher in inclusive schools are dealing with more stressors. They are working with special needs students encompassed with cognitive, social, emotional, and/or behavioral disabilities and face a real challenges regarding preparedness in personal and professional terms. As suggested by Taylor & Ringlaben, at first, teachers in inclusive schools need to feel prepared and have more positive attitudes toward inclusion system itself, in order to meet student’s individual needs and have more positive approach in teaching [5]. Nevertheless, inclusive education system implementation in Islamic school institution under the Ministry of Religious Affair of Indonesia, well-known as Madrasah, still needs to be developed. Islamic inclusive schools faces a real challenges, on how to merge between the limited availability of facilities and resources, and the need for inclusive education. Previous research on Islamic schools are mostly focused on the system implementation and evaluation [6], [7], while the research on inclusive school teacher focused on their perception toward inclusive education system and how they cope with their personal or institution readiness to ICON-ISHIC 2020, October 14, Semarang, Indonesia Copyright © 2021 EAI DOI 10.4108/eai.14-10-2020.2303853