School Teachers In England Research Articles

Unveiling heteronormativity: a visual exploration of LGBT+ teachers’ experience using photo elicitation

ABSTRACT At a time when UK schools are experiencing backlash for ensuring their LGBT+ colleagues and students are included, this article examines the ways in which schools create and uphold cisgender heterosexuality as the dominant narrative. The article presents the findings from four participants who took part in a photo elicitation study to represent their experiences as LGBT+ secondary school teachers in England. The photos and interviews reveal the myriad ways in which cisgender heteronormativity is produced in schools. The data also provides vital examples of how this dominant discourse is beginning to be challenged, and where small everyday acts can successfully disrupt the production of heteronormativity.

“No matter what is thrown at you, you still – inside your core – want to teach”: the role of calling in retention of secondary school teachers in England

ABSTRACT Retention of teachers in England is poor, yet many stay in the profession. Exploring why teachers remain, as well as why they leave, can improve understanding of retention. The aim of this study therefore is to investigate qualitative accounts of secondary-school teachers about factors contributing to decisions to stay or leave teaching. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with early career teachers, established teachers, and teachers who had left or were leaving teaching. Data was analysed thematically. Findings showed that teachers wanted more autonomy in their work to focus on student needs, develop their subject passion, and nurture collegial relationships. However, accountability, bureaucracy, inadequate resourcing, and top-down directives stifled their ability to craft their work and nurture their calling to teach. To improve retention, teachers should be provided with more opportunities to develop their calling as a work orientation. This requires organisational and culture change at the school and political level.

‘I had forgotten what it was like to feel like you’re doing a good job’: a longitudinal thematic analysis of teachers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Examining the changes in teachers’ experiences of their job resources, job demands and personal resources can reveal important insights into the profession. Accordingly, semi-structured interviews were conducted with an initial sample of 21 primary and secondary school teachers in England at three time points during COVID-19 (February 2021, July 2021 and July 2022). Four themes were identified in a longitudinal thematic analysis, namely: teachers’ perceptions of disconnection with and disrespect from the government; relationships are central to teacher wellbeing and work engagement; teachers’ preference for the physical school over the online/hybrid school; and reflections on teachers’ increased self-efficacy in using technology and increased resilience to change. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.

‘It's missing the heart of what writing is about’: teachers' interpretations of writing assessment criteria

AbstractPrimary school teachers in England are responsible for the statutory assessment of writing, using a set of criteria. The aim of this research was to analyse the responses of teachers to the criteria at the expected standard. An elicitation exercise with 10 primary school teachers was conducted, where teachers talked through their interpretations of the criteria. Qualitative, inductive coding was undertaken to provide a rich and deep understanding of teachers' understandings of the assessment criteria. The perceptions of teachers are shown to be varied and complex. Definitions of the criteria were diverse, and fundamentally different concepts of writing were identified, which points to sources of misunderstanding. Limitations of the assessment criteria themselves are also highlighted, which caused disagreement among the teachers. The findings show evidence of threats to the validity and reliability of the assessment and its use as an accountability measure because of the lack of confidence in inferences drawn from the use of the criteria in the assessment of writing.

Collaborative identity development during a global pandemic: exploring teacher identity through the experiences of pre-service high school teachers in England

ABSTRACT Since early 2020, COVID-19 has had a substantial impact on teacher education. We consider novel aspects of how pre-service teachers have collaboratively developed their professional identities during the pandemic. Drawing on findings from forty-five interviews with pre-service high school teachers working in England during September 2020 – June 2021, we share how collaborative identity development was central and occurred in a variety of spaces, communities and modes. Collaborative identity development featured in how pre-service teachers saw themselves making a positive contribution to society through education and, in strong subject connections. Reflection that is collaborative, personalised, iterative, and separate from notions of formal progression enables positive identity work. Notions of identity are absent from international policy initiatives in ITE (Initial Teacher Education). This case study provides insights for policy makers in and beyond England who aim to support teachers at the beginning of their career so that they are retained.

How to tackle poor teacher wellbeing for primary school teachers in England? Strategies to enhance teacher wellbeing and work conditions in teaching practice

This paper draws on Positive Psychology (Seligman, 2010) and attention to the Finnish context to explore ways of improving teacher wellbeing among primary schools in England.

The focus on achieving results and the consequences for teachers in schools in England

ABSTRACT This paper reflects on the challenges that exist for school teachers in England. The research is based on semi-structured interviews with English primary (n = 10) and secondary (n = 10) teachers. The research reveals that too much emphasis is placed on achieving successful academic results in schools in England and that the focus on the highest and lowest achievers results in the middle range learners receiving less attention than is necessary for their successful academic development. Four key themes appear from the interview data and link back to the organisational culture of primary and secondary schools in England and the consequences that this has for the practitioners who are working in these settings. The research findings reveal that primary and secondary schools in England are overly driven by examination results, and that the leadership structures of the schools are considered to be anachronistic. Moreover, there appears to be an absence of forms of education that are interpreted as being enterprising and this works against collaborative professional development. The research develops the argument that instead of emphasising the importance of results, collaborative approaches to enabling professional development for practitioners in schools are necessary.

A Focus on Truth: Thomas Merton's Uncensored Mind by Patrick W. Collins

Reviewed by: A Focus on Truth: Thomas Merton's Uncensored Mind by Patrick W. Collins Robert Inchausti A Focus on Truth: Thomas Merton's Uncensored Mind. By Patrick W. Collins. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2021. 197 pp. $19.95. Based on the five volumes of Thomas Merton's selected correspondence, the ten essays that make up this book chart the evolution of Merton's thoughts on a variety of religious subjects—everything from interreligious dialogue to the priesthood, ecumenicalism, church authority, liturgy, and monastic renewal. They are united—Collins tells us on the very first page—by Merton's "unending search for what is real and true, not just in books but in living experience and practice" (1). As each essay unfolds, we see Merton evolve from a young convert thrilled by the "answers" he has found in the liturgy and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church to a seasoned monastic and spiritual master who has arrived at questions not so easily answered by the "verbal formulas" that satisfied him as a young convert. The chapter "On Spirituality," for example, starts with Merton's youthful aspiration to "be a saint" as he spelled it out in the Seven Storey Mountain, then jumps to this passage from a letter he sent to Catherine de Hueck Doherty ten years later: "After so boldly advertising to the world that I was out to become a saint, I find I am doing a pretty bum job of it. . . . But it is certainly a wonderful thing to wake up suddenly in the solitude of the woods and [End Page 85] look up in the sky and see and see the utter nonsense of everything, including all the solemn stuff given out by professional asses of the spiritual life: and simply to burst out laughing, and laugh, and laugh with the sky and the trees because God is not in words, not in systems, and not in liturgical movements, and not in 'contemplation' with a capital C, or in asceticism or anything like that, not even in the apostolate. Certainly not in books. I can go on writing them, for all that, but one might as well make paper airplanes out of the whole lot" (16–17). Collins follows this selection up with passages from Merton's correspondence with John Harris, a schoolteacher in England, and the Anglican scholar Etta Gullick. In both of these exchanges Merton defends contemplation against its facile popularizers in the late sixties and against those churchmen who reduce it to a species of rare and extreme piety not for public consumption. Near the end of this essay, Collins cites Merton's letter to Dom Francis Decroix in which Merton admits that when he entered the monastery in 1948, he had a lot of "answers," but now—twenty years later—he has only just begun to seek the right questions. "And what are those questions?" Merton asks. "Can man make sense out of his existence? Can man honestly give his life meaning merely by adopting a certain set of explanations which pretend to tell him why the world began and where it will end? Why there is evil and what is necessary for a good life. My brother, perhaps in my solitude, I have become as it were an explorer for you, a searcher in realms which you are not able to visit—except perhaps in the company of your psychiatrist. I have been summoned to explore a desert area of man's heart in which explanations no longer suffice, and in which one learns that only experience counts" (49–50). Each of the chapters in the book have a similar kind of progression as Merton corrects his own youthful simplifications, deepens his commitments, and qualifies his claims. On some topics, however, Merton retains his original positions now clarified and deepened by personal experience. Other times, he forges ahead into new territory or owns up to a new, honest, and hard-won befuddlement. Taken together, this multiple highlight reel of Merton's subtlest and most intimate spiritual turns of thought, throw light on the discerning operation of his mind and demonstrate for us what it means for a Christian contemplative to "focus...

Primary School Teachers’ Perception on the role of ICT in Collaboration in England/ İngiltere'de İlkokul Öğretmenlerinin Bilgi İletişim Teknolojilerinin (BİT) İşbirliğindeki Rolüne İlişkin Algısı

Technology is ubiquitous and taken-for-granted part of everyday life and education that has become intrinsic in daily life. In many areas, especially education, information and communication technologies (ICT) are seen as being a significant agent for change and improving pedagogical practices, as there has been positive discourse around their value. Teachers’ accounts of everyday classroom use of technology are being explored to build a theoretical, pedagogical, and practical understanding of educational practice that involves technology as an intrinsic component of the classroom. As technology continues to evolve, educational praxis and pedagogy change alongside it. It is therefore important to explore what the role of technology is, as reported by practitioners in mainstream schools within an intensive and particularly challenging urban context. The current study aims to understand teachers’ use of technology in their daily classroom practices to contribute to collaboration between teachers and pupils. Twelve interviews were conducted with primary school teachers in England. The participating teachers came from five different schools based in South and North London, and one school in West London. The findings of the current study showed ICT supports interaction and collaboration; thus, pupils can learn from each other with the supportive pedagogical features of ICT. However, collaboration is limited to creating posters and slides, and also there is limited practices of collaboration between pupils with and without special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), so collaboration that supports problem-solving skills and the development of metacognitive skills was reported as typically absent.

Voice Symptoms and Wellbeing in School Teachers in England

Negative psychological factors such as depression and other common mental disorders have been found to be associated with voice problems in teachers. However, there is little research with teachers that investigates the relationship between positive psychological factors such as wellbeing and voice problems. Although negative and positive mental states are on a continuum of psychological health, research suggests negative and positive effects are not necessarily inversely correlated and therefore need to be investigated separately. To explore the relationship between voice symptoms and wellbeing in teachers working in primary and secondary schools in England. We hypothesise that as wellbeing increases voice symptoms will decrease. Cross sectional study using a self-administered web-based questionnaire conducted with primary and secondary school teachers in England. The study included 1205 teachers from 608 primary and secondary schools, including state and fee paying, and mainstream and special schools. Voice symptoms were measured using The Voice Symptom Scale and wellbeing was measured using the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Information was also obtained on health, lifestyle, sociodemographic and environmental factors. Analysis was conducted using a linear multi-level regression model. A statistically significant relationship between voice symptoms and wellbeing was identified (-0.31 95% CI -0.41, -0.20 P =< 0.001). Other factors found to be statistically significantly associated with voice symptoms were age, sex, gastroesophageal reflux, class size, background noise, speaking louder than normal and respiratory infection. Hours teaching per week, deprivation of school, voice training, teaching subject, smoking status and asthma were not associated with voice symptoms. This study suggests that there is an association between vocal symptoms and wellbeing. Teachers with higher wellbeing had fewer voice symptoms.

Primary teachers’ experiences of neo-liberal education reform in England: ‘Nothing is ever good enough’

ABSTRACT As the global neo-liberal reform movement in education continues to evolve, so does the simultaneous transfiguration of the profile and status of primary school teachers in England. Reform continues to delineate the aims and purpose of primary education in increasingly essentialist terms. This paper explores English primary school teachers’ perceptions and experiences of teaching, and of being a teacher, in a period of considerable change. Extending the existing research literature about primary school teachers, it explores the progressively strategic nature of policy enactment and the tactics employed by teachers to manage conflicting demands. The paper draws upon rich qualitative data from two sets of interviews with 22 primary teachers employed in the South-East of England. Thematic analysis facilitated findings about teachers’ encounters with, and responses to, neo-liberal policy reform, notably in relation to accountability and managerialism. The view that ‘nothing is ever good enough’ reflects recurrent data affirming the relationship between school leadership and teachers’ demoralisation, as well as perceived reputational decline more broadly. Findings highlight the emergence of the primary practitioner as ‘tactician’, and of a particular brand of survivalism necessary for a context that acts to pedagogically and philosophically constrain the purpose of primary education.

Comparing sources of stress for state and private school teachers in England

Teaching is understood to be a highly stressful profession. In England, workload, high-stakes accountability policies and pupil behaviour are often cited as stressors that contribute to teachers’ decisions to leave posts in the state-funded sector. Many of these teachers leave state teaching to take jobs in private schools, but very little is known about the nature of teachers’ work in the private sector. This research addresses this gap in knowledge and compares the sources of stress experienced by 20 teachers in the state sector to those of 20 teachers in the private sector. The paper is based on qualitative data from a larger study. It analyses data collected in interviews and focus groups with classroom teachers and middle leaders working in mainstream primary and secondary phase education in England. The results emphasise state school teachers’ acute distress in relation to workloads driven by accountability cultures. In comparison, private school teachers report less intense experiences of work-related stress, but some identify demanding parents as a concern. The research’s novelty lies in this comparison between sectors and these sector specific insights may help to focus school leaders’ efforts to improve teaching conditions in both sectors.

Teachers’ self-efficacy and intercultural classroom practices in diverse classroom contexts: A cross-national comparison

This cross-national study provides new insights in teacher efficacy in today’s culturally diverse classrooms using survey data of 269 early childhood and primary school teachers in England, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Teacher efficacy can be viewed as a two dimensional concept in which both general beliefs are measured alongside (diversity-related) domain-specific beliefs. These beliefs are related to the cultural classroom context and the use of intercultural classroom practices. Our results indicate that policies and professional development targeted at the reciprocal relation between diversity-related efficacy and practices are important when preparing teachers for working in diverse classroom contexts.

Decolonial options and foreclosures for global citizenship education and education for sustainable development

This article builds from scholarship in Environmental and Sustainability Education and Critical Global Citizenship Education calling for more explicit attention to how teaching global issues is embedded in the colonial matrix of power (Mignolo, 2018). It reports on findings from a study with secondary and upper secondary school teachers in England, Finland, and Sweden who participated in workshops drawing on the HEADSUP (Andreotti, 2012) tool which specifies seven repeated and intersecting historical patterns of oppression often reproduced through global learning initiatives. Teachers reacted to and discussed the tool and considered how it might be applied in their practice. The paper reviews two of the key findings: a) the relationship between formal and nonformal global education and mediation of mainstream charity discourses, and b) emerging evidence of how national policy culture and context influence teachers’ perceptions in somewhat surprising ways.&#x0D;

Modelling the relationships between teacher working conditions, job satisfaction and workplace mobility

Teacher shortages are a recurring problem in publicly funded schools, in part because of poor retention. Working conditions in schools are an important predictor of teacher job satisfaction and retention, yet research has so far made limited headway in identifying the specific aspects of the working environment which matter. This research uses representative data on state secondary school teachers in England in 2013 to derive an unusually rich set of working conditions variables. Regression analysis is used to model the relationships between working conditions, teacher job satisfaction and turnover intentions. The results show strong associations with the nature of school leadership, whether teachers have received training in the specific subjects they are assigned to teach and scope for career progression within the school. These results are robust to checks for common source bias. The study identifies ways in which schools can improve retention.

Changing attitudes to mathematics in primary school teachers in England

ABSTRACT Concern about attitudes to mathematics and mathematics education is not unique to England. Studies across the world, including the USA, Canada and Australia, indicate similar concerns. This research aimed to identify the factors that impacted on the formation of teachers’ attitudes to mathematics in primary schools in England and to discover how these have been shaped and/or changed during an in-service professional development programme, The Mathematics Specialist Teacher Programme (MaST). We thus take a unique position in attempting to develop a possible model for reducing teacher mathematics anxiety, and its consequences in classrooms. Findings were analysed using key typologies of professional learning and and revealreveal that teachers who undertook the programme made strong, explicit links between previous experiences of being taught mathematics, their own feelings of mathematics confidence and competence, and levels of mathematics anxiety. High-level collaboration with colleagues and expert facilitators were evident as significant factors in overcoming this anxiety.

Why don’t we have enough teachers?: A reconsideration of the available evidence

ABSTRACT There is widespread concern about the shortage of secondary school teachers in England. Recruitment to initial teacher training regularly fails to meet its intake targets. The secondary school pupil population is increasing. Teacher vacancies have risen, and more teachers are reportedly leaving the profession prematurely. Despite considerable investment in a wide range of initiatives, costing millions of pounds, the government has acknowledged that it has been unable improve the situation substantially. This paper presents time-series analyses of official data and documentary analyses of government publications. These suggest that teacher shortages are partly created by government policies themselves - including flaws in the selection system, and school funding system, the official extension of the education and training leaving age, and increases in the number of small schools. It is difficult when planning for teacher supply to anticipate the impact of such varied policy changes years ahead. Consequently, estimations of the numbers needed to be trained are hardly ever accurate. This paper suggests a reconsideration of the current selection processes for initial teacher training, independent review of the Teacher Supply Model, and a long-term approach to teacher supply planning, considering other policy changes in a more coordinated way.

‘It ain't (only) what you do, it's the way that you do it’: A mixed method approach to the study of inspiring teachers

This paper draws on findings from a study of ‘inspiring’ teachers in order to illustrate the way in which the chosen mixed methods design contributed to the success of the research in addressing its research aims. The study investigated the concept of ‘inspiring’ and ‘inspirational’ teaching through recruiting a purposive sample of 17 primary and secondary school teachers in England drawn from nine schools in a single Multi‐Academy Trust (MAT). The aim of the study was to integrate and synthesise evidence from a range of perspectives using multiple methods involving a combination of descriptive and numeric data, in order to increase knowledge and understanding of what it means to be ‘inspiring’ within the current educational landscape. The study fits with the ‘numbers and a narrative’ tradition reflecting the growing popularity of mixed methods (Gorard &amp; Smith, ) and adopted an equal‐status, sequential research design that comprised integration of multiple methods including semi‐structured interviews with teachers, classroom observations including both descriptive field notes and systematic observation schedules that tapped features associated with effective practice, numeric ranking sheets for teachers and head teachers and a student questionnaire survey that included rating scales and open‐ended response questions. The findings reveal clear associations between effective and inspiring practice but also identify particular features that distinguish inspiring practitioners and their practice. Findings concerning the socio‐emotional component are highlighted in particular in relation to the emphasis these teachers placed on creating positive relationships with students and a safe supportive classroom climate.

Primary school teachers' views and opinions about the idea of the national levels of students' attainment: Case study England

The aim of this study is to research perceptions of primary school teachers in England about the implementation of the national levels of students' attainment and Standard Assessment Task (SAT). Teachers' views and opinions were studied by using a semi-structured interview created for this purpose. The following themes are explored: procedure of determining the students' level of attainment, responsibility for achieving high level of attainment, providing assistance to teachers in achieving the defined levels as well as what happens if students are under achieving and who and how provide help to teachers if they have problems to reach the required standards. The research involved twelve teachers from Hertfordshire. The respondents stated that the assessment of teachers should not be neglected in the process of student assessment since only the achievements of students in SAT are favoured. In addition, it is highlighted that personal and family context should be taken into account when assessing student achievement and based on that assessment the performance of teachers and schools should be estimated. Although teachers consider themselves to be largely responsible for achieving the results, they also point out the significant role of students, as well as the entire school and family environment. In this context, participation of school management, educational psychologist and teaching assistant are highlighted in the process of improving student achievement. Although the size of the sample does not allow the generalization of the outcomes, the research results indicate the tendency which can be significant for the process of standardization of education in Serbia.

Supporting and inhibiting the well‐being of early career secondary school teachers: Extending self‐determination theory

This paper reports an original examination of the well‐being of early career secondary school teachers in England, which extends the evidence bases relating to early career teachers’ working lives, teacher well‐being, self‐determination theory and performativity, respectively. Drawing on a secondary analysis of qualitative data generated for four separate empirical studies between 2005 and 2013, in a context in which teachers’ work was subject to unparalleled external regulation, the authors examine the extent to which the well‐being of early career teachers can be explained by self‐determination theory, which posits that well‐being is enhanced when innate psychological needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy are satisfied. The findings suggest that satisfaction of these three basic psychological needs is a necessary but not sufficient condition for optimising the well‐being of early career teachers, which is dependent upon the interaction of a wider range of individual, relational and micro‐, meso‐ and macro‐environmental factors. Amongst the recommendations for policy and practice, policymakers and school leaders are urged to uphold their duty of care to newly and recently qualified teachers by doing their utmost to create conditions for the optimisation of such teachers' well‐being. Several specific means of bringing this about are proposed, together with a checklist for those concerned to support the well‐being of early career teachers.