C&S563: Class #5 School Cultures and Community of Learners

Changing Teachers, Changing Times Teachers’ work and culture in the postmodern age Andy Hargreaves (1994) NY, NY: Teachers College Press

Time b Presses down the fulfillment of teachers’ wishes b Pushes against the realization of their wants b Compounds the problem of innovation and the implementation of change

Time b Fundamental dimension through which teachers’ work is constructed and interpreted by themselves, their colleagues, and those who administer and supervise them.

1. Technical-Rational Time b Administrator imposed b Can be modified, eliminated, etc. b Does NOT in itself guarantee educational change

2. Micropolitical Time b Time distribution often reflects dominant configurations of power and status within schools and school systems. Higher-status subjectsHigher-status subjects b Classroom work Configuration of elementary teachers’ timeConfiguration of elementary teachers’ time

3. Phenomenological Time b Subjective dimension of time Where time is lived, where time has an inner durationWhere time is lived, where time has an inner duration Varies from person to personVaries from person to person b Teacher time conflicts with administrator time No one cares about existing pressures and demandsNo one cares about existing pressures and demands

Monochronic Time One thing at a time Low sensitivity to context Control over completion of schedules Orientation to schedules and procedures Polychronic Time Several things at one time High sensitivity to context Control over description and evaluation of tasks Orientation to people and relationships

4. Sociopolitical Time b Separation: The further one is away from the classroom, from the densely packed center of things, as it were, the n the slower that time will seem to pass there.The further one is away from the classroom, from the densely packed center of things, as it were, the n the slower that time will seem to pass there. Paradox: the more the teacher tries to slow down the implementation process, the more impatient the administrator becomes.Paradox: the more the teacher tries to slow down the implementation process, the more impatient the administrator becomes. The result? Intensification of work!The result? Intensification of work!

Intensification b A bureaucratically driven escalation of pressures, expectations and controls concerning what teachers do and how much they should do within the school day.

Sociopolitical Time Continued b Colonization Process by which administrators take up or “colonize” teachers’ time with their own purposes.Process by which administrators take up or “colonize” teachers’ time with their own purposes. Goffman’s “back stage”Goffman’s “back stage” –Cover classes, lose prep time, more duties

Importance of Back Stage b Allows for relief of stress b Fosters informal relationships that build trust and solidarity among teachers b Gives teachers a measure of personally controlled flexibility in managing the packed and complex character of their working life.

Teacher Guilt b Persecutory Arises from doing something which is forbidden or from failing to do something that is expected by one or more external authorities.Arises from doing something which is forbidden or from failing to do something that is expected by one or more external authorities. Comes with accountability demands and bureaucratic control.Comes with accountability demands and bureaucratic control. Encourages overt yet superficial compliance with innovations that are unwanted or whose validity and practicality are doubtedEncourages overt yet superficial compliance with innovations that are unwanted or whose validity and practicality are doubted

b Depressive Individuals feel ignored, betrayed, or failed to protect the people or values that symbolize their good internal object.Individuals feel ignored, betrayed, or failed to protect the people or values that symbolize their good internal object. Feel not meeting the needs of their people.Feel not meeting the needs of their people. Common in caring professions.Common in caring professions. Can’t do what they feel is right in context of their work.Can’t do what they feel is right in context of their work.

The End Result Passionate commitment to care + Poor criteria for fulfilling it guilt and burnout

Remedies 1. Ease accountability and intensification demands of teaching. (p. 156) 2. Reduce the dependence on personal care and nurturance as prime motive of elementary teaching. 3. Relieve uncertainty and open-endedness in teaching by creating communities of colleagues to set own professional standards and limits while remaining committed to continuous improvement.

Cultures of Teaching b Comprise beliefs, values, habits, and assumed ways of doing things among communities of teachers who had to deal with similar demands over the years. b Carries the community’s historically generated and collectively shared solutions to its new and inexperienced membership.

Phenomenon b Physically teachers are alone in their classrooms b Psychologically, never alone! What they do in terms of classroom strats and styles are powerfully affected by the outlooks and orientation of the colleagues with whom they work now and have worked in the past.What they do in terms of classroom strats and styles are powerfully affected by the outlooks and orientation of the colleagues with whom they work now and have worked in the past.

Four Forms of Teacher Culture b Individualism Isolation, little adult feedbackIsolation, little adult feedback b Collaboration b Contrived collegiality Administratively regulated, compulsory, implementation-oriented, predictable, fixed in time and spaceAdministratively regulated, compulsory, implementation-oriented, predictable, fixed in time and space b Balkanization Particular patterns of interrelationshipsParticular patterns of interrelationships Low permeability, high permanence, personal identification, political complexionLow permeability, high permanence, personal identification, political complexion

A Healthy Culture b Teacher voice b Establishment of trust in people and processes b Reculturate to restructure