Implicit Pedagogical Entitlement in Teachers' Profession in Iran: A Socio-professional Discourse

Abstract

Using a grounded theory approach, this study aims to develop a framework of teacher entitlement in Iran. The preliminary findings point to chronic socio-economic frustration as the main theme present in the entitlement discourse among Iranian teachers. Teachers were highly dissatisfied and felt that they deserved better social and economic advantages. The chapter unearths the dynamics of power relations in the wider educational context, and several factors in the immediate practical context of teaching (i.e., poor quality of teaching environments, crisis in teachers' professional identity, the complexities of teaching), that produced entitlement perceptions which, in turn, led to unacceptable behavior on the part of some teachers. The study also considers the negative impact of entitled teachers in schools on teacher–learner relationships and offers a conceptual framework for understanding teacher entitlement in the context of Iran.