Teachers' lives in school
Date
2004
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Abstract
Because teacher life in the context of the elementary school has been a relatively unexplored research issue, this research project sought to describe the life of teachers in the school elementary environment. The nature of teacher's roles, expectations of teachers, and quality of teacher life in school were questioned and what emerged was a rich description of teachers' school lives.
The researcher gathered data during the 2002 - 2003 school term. Ethnographic techniques were used to study 7 teachers as they experienced life in an elementary school. The data from semi-structured interviews, observational records, and other documents were analyzed and interpreted using grounded theory methods. The data were sorted and coded, and constant comparison means were used to explore emerging themes.
This study describes how teachers are integrally connected to relationships with their students, employers, and others in the profession who provide basic expectations. It also clarifies a picture of a myriad of less conspicuous stakeholders through roles that are relative to time and circumstance, and that are less obvious than the other three types of more traditional relationships. The inquiry into these roles led to emergent themes that were framed by in vivo comments and groupthink of the participants.
First, teachers felt they had to respond to the expectations of many stakeholders, and they worried that that they could not do all that was asked of them. The researcher was well into data collection and analysis when the first category emerged that served as a thematic frame. The data that focused on teachers' desks provided a metaphorical opportunity. Teachers' desks were used to house many artifacts that pertained to the teachers' interactions with stakeholders. Hence the first major theme is titled: My Desk Represents My Reality. Nested within the frame of the desk were categories that focused on time and people.
A second major theme that emerged from the data was that teachers often felt they had little or no control over the circumstances in which they found themselves and that often the pressures they experienced seemed to result from time demands. Hence, the second major theme is titled: The Clocks are Controlled Downtown.
A third major theme emerged from data that focused on the importance of relationships in teachers' day-to-day activities. For the participants, caring for the needs of others was a high priority and a central concern, while their own needs seemed of secondary importance. It was suggested in the data, that in concentrating care on others, the caring itself became an additional pressure. Thus, the third major theme emerging from the data was titled: It Only Matters if You Care.
Those three themes were woven into an initial, substantive theory, Choicepoints: An Emergent Theory of Teachers' Lives in School. The theory presents a fresh new look at how teachers live with stakeholder expectations and their own desire for quality in their lives. The theory suggests that as changes occur, 'teacher care' may have a powerful influence on teacher life.
Teachers as formal and informal leaders chose care for their stakeholders as a priority. In living through the caring role with others, teachers faced the consequences of their choices and the effects on their own quality of life. They were challenged to find balance in their lives. The researcher concluded with the suggestion that to transform school life of the multiplicities of tensions and to support teachers in thinking their lives together requires appreciative thoughtful leadership from all stakeholders.
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Bibliography: p. 168-175
Some pages are in colour.
Some pages are in colour.
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Citation
Hiebert, M. E. (2004). Teachers' lives in school (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/19584