On the margins of two professions: Job satisfaction and stress among post-secondary correctional educators

Abstract

This paper examines how individuals in the unique, doubly marginal, environment of prison-based college faculty draw from both component professions to construct positive educational experiences. Based on qualitative interviews and participant observation, the processes by which correctional higher educators construct experiences are explored. Job satisfaction is constructed from two fabrics, social compensations (of interactional and intimate forms) and structural compensations. Balanced against the experiential rewards are the mitigating elements of interactional, institutional and organizational stresses. The integration of compensations and stresses are shown to form the foundation upon which positive professional experiences are constructed.