ERIC Number: EJ1069606
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Jan
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0313-5373
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Teachers' Stories of Change: Stress, Care and Economic Rationality
Easthope, Chris; Easthope, Gary
Australian Journal of Teacher Education, v32 n1 Article 1 Jan 2007
The impact of economic rationalism on teachers' working lives has been documented extensively, particularly in the UK. This article provides a case study of its impact in the early 1990s in a small Australian state, Tasmania, to illustrate that although the particular institutional forms through which it is expressed may differ its impact is similar. We do this by focusing on teachers' stories of change that have stress as a major theme. Stress is partially explained by increased workloads, teachers teaching outside their specialist areas and a changing student population. However, the ideology of economic rationalism has heightened stress because of the perceived lack of administrative care. A major stressor is trying to maintain a professional ideology of caring while, concurrently, accommodating to economic rationality. The clash of ideologies leads teachers to reduce commitment by leaving teaching, moving to part-time employment, withdrawing into classroom teaching and/or rationalising their workload with, they perceive, a decrease in the quality of teaching.
Descriptors: Stress Variables, Faculty Workload, Case Studies, Foreign Countries, Caring, Teacher Attitudes, Teacher Effectiveness, Economic Factors, Educational Change, Ideology, Educational Administration, Secondary School Teachers, Interviews
Edith Cowan University. Bradford Street, Mount Lawley, West Australia 6050, Australia. Web site: http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A