An exploration of teacher vulnerability in a context of large-scale government-mandated secondary school reform.
Published: 2004
Language: eng
Number of pages: 180
Subjects: Educational change -- Ontario -- History -- 20th century.; Teachers -- Ontario -- Attitudes.; Teaching -- Ontario.; Emotions.; Education and state -- Ontario.
Description: This study examines teacher professional vulnerability in a context of large-scale government mandated secondary school reform. Its primary objective is to develop and refine a theory of vulnerability by grounding it in secondary teachers' day-to-day work as they implement a complex set of reform mandates. It is exploratory and developmental in nature. Two questions are addressed: What is the nature teacher professional vulnerability? In what ways might support influence teacher professional vulnerability? Mixed methodology is used to achieve the primary purpose of this study.The survey and interview data together reveal a dynamic interplay among individual agency, individual attributes, and context that affect the ways teachers understand and experience vulnerability. These data show that teacher professional vulnerability is a complex, multidimensional emotional experience. It has both a protective or inefficacious component, as well as an open or willing component. The conditions of secondary school reform implementation are such that teachers believe that they have lost valued work conditions, and that their sense of purpose as a teacher is under attack (Kelchtermans, 1996). These conditions cause teachers to experience protective or inefficacious vulnerability.Teachers experience willing or open vulnerability as proposed in the theoretical framework primarily in their interactions with students. They value developing rapport with them, and see this more personalized kind of relationship as necessary for students' academic, social and emotional development. The open dimension of vulnerability has not been identified in previous research, and requires further study to better understand its dimensions.
Notes: Adviser: Lorna Earl.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2004.

Electronic version licensed for access by U. of T. users.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 65-05, Section: A, page: 1610.