Teachers and meaning. Consistency among those teaching in Jesuit high schools across the Americas

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ABSTRACT This study uncovers the meanings that secondary teachers working under the religious structure of Jesuit institutions attach to their work. I draw on theoretical insights coming from organisational behaviour. I use cases of teachers who worked or work in Catholic high schools run by the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit order. I interviewed 105 teachers, lay and Jesuit priests, who teach in the United States, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. The findings reveal that the participating teachers create meaning of their work using the building blocks of the self, others, the work context, and the spiritual life and that Teachers in the study showed a relatively similar pattern of making meaning in their work using four sources of meaning: others, the work context, the self, and spiritual life. There is no evidence that neither the professional status (being a Jesuit teacher or a lay teacher) nor the geographical setting of the teachers, mark a difference within the different meanings attributed to being a teacher in this particular educational context.