Cringes when animals surround disheartened educator (6)
I believe the answer is:
cowers
'cringes' is the definition.
('cower' can be a synonym of 'cringe')
'animals surround disheartened educator' is the wordplay.
'animals' becomes 'cows' (cow is a kind of animal).
'surround' indicates putting letters inside.
'disheartened' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (the middle or heart is removed).
'educator' with its centre taken out is 'er'.
'cows' enclosing 'er' is 'COWERS'.
'when' is the link.
(Other definitions for cowers that I've seen before include "Crouches down in fear" , "Shrinks from escrow" , "Quails" , "Flinches, shrinks back in fear" .)