Education Reform and the Role of Administrators in Mediating Teacher Stress

Autor/inn/en	Margolis, Jason; Nagel, Liza
Titel	Education Reform and the Role of Administrators in Mediating Teacher Stress
Quelle	In: Teacher Education Quarterly, 33 (2006) 4, S.143-159 (17 Seiten) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0737-5328
Schlagwörter	School Restructuring; Teacher Burnout; Conflict; Educational Change; School Buildings; Administrator Role; Educational Policy; Phenomenology; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Role; Stress Variables; Self Concept; Teacher Administrator Relationship; Interviews; Action Research; Professional Development + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Schulreformplan; Schulumwandlung; Burnout-syndrom; Burnout; Teacher; Teachers; Burnout-Syndrom; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Konflikt; Bildungsreform; School building; Schulgebäude; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Phenomenological psychology; Phänomenologie; Psychologie; Lehrerverhalten; Lehrerrolle; Selbstkonzept; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Projektforschung
Abstract	School change is inevitable. As a human institution, schools are in a constant state of transformation, and individual teachers adapt or provide the impetus for that transformation all the time. The question, then, is not whether there will be change, but what change there will be--a question complicated by the fact that change means different things to different people. The tensions between innovation-status quo and teacher-administrator perceptions within a school-change effort form the basis for this study. Through phenomenological inquiry focused on teacher and administrator meaning-making, this study explored the inherent complications of change. Further, this study responded to the call for empirical research on the relationships between teacher learning and school restructuring and the interface between teacher and school change. To better understand how teachers experience changing educational policies, the goal here was to document and interpret teachers' "lived experience" via phenomenological inquiry--"What is it like to teach amidst educational change?" This article examines educator perceptions of change, the way in which they integrated the prescribed changes, and the role of administrators in mediating the attendant stressors, thus impacting the efficacy of the proposed reform. Three major findings emerged from this study: (1) There is a "complex interactive relationship" between structures in schools designed to yield certain changes and the lived experiences of teachers within those structures; (2) "Teacher vitality" is an important dimension of teacher lived experience and the viability of school reforms; and (3) "Teacher role embodiment"--the perceived compatibility between a teacher's sense of self and the roles they take on within a school--impacts teacher satisfaction and feelings of self-worth and the viability of school reforms. These findings are rooted in teacher lived experience of change efforts, and indicate that individual teacher and collective staff remembered experiences become intertwined. (Contains 2 tables.) (ERIC).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10