Objectives and Theoretical Framework

The teaching profession nowadays is defined as mainly feminine, with a significant concentration of women serving as teachers (Sargent, 2004). Nevertheless, in the last decades, teaching in Israel has undergone three major changes that shape the characteristics of this profession: (1) Reforms led by the Ministry of Education that aim to improve teachers' employment conditions, (2) the national ICT program which requires teachers to integrate technology in education, and (3) teacher-parent relationships that expressed in the increase of parental involvement in educational processes. Similarly, the mother's role has also been through various changes deriving from feminism movement, social expectations and cost of living. These changes may reshape the meaning of the work–family conflict and the perceptions of teaching and motherhood among teachers who are also mothers.

Changes in Teaching

Reforms in education are usually based on the 'top-down' policy; they are initiated and developed by the Ministry of Education, and are subsequently implemented into schools (Sabatier, 2005). The latest reforms in Israeli education system are expressed in changes of the employment structure. Although the ultimate goal of educational reforms is to improve teaching, they often encounter opposition from participants because of personal beliefs or cultural perceptions (Vidislavsky, 2012).

Another change that affects teaching is integrating ICT in education. It includes two aspects: embracing technology to promote teaching and technology-enhanced teacher-students and teacher-parents communication. Teachers today face different challenges starting from technical issues to becoming designers of their curriculum (Mørch, Hartley, Ludlow, Caruso, & Thomassen, 2014). In addition, in order to communicate and inform students and parents, teachers use social networks, as well as report grades and behavior data using school systems (Blau & Hameiri, 2017).  

As for teacher-parent relationships, parents are much more involved in their children's education in school and in some cases abuse their authority and power. This process can lead to a threat to the authoritative boundaries of the teachers (Addi-Raccah & Grinshtain, 2018) and their professional image (Addi-Raccah & Ainhoren, 2009). The three changes – employment structure, integration of ICT in teaching, and parent-teacher relationships - may be reflected in the social role of teachers who are also mothers.

Changes in Motherhood             

It is well known that mothers are usually responsible for their children's welfare as well as for their academic achievement (Landeros, 2011). However, in the last few decades, we witness changes in the motherhood perceptions. Among them, social changes such as feminist awakening, external and internal expectations regarding the ideal of motherhood, and increasing expenses and the cost of living that have bind women to economically support their family (Polachek, Tatsiramos, & Zimmermann, 2015). By trying to reach high standards in personal and professional spheres, women are more likely to experience an intense work–family conflict than ever before (Mahpul & Abdullah, 2011).

Work-Family Conflict among Mothers Teachers

Researches on the work–family conflict have shown its influence on burnout and exhaustion among married teachers (Noor & Zainuddin, 2011) and severe feelings among mothers (Thomson & Kehily, 2011). Yet, a relatively small number of studies have examined the work–family conflict among mothers-teachers (e.g. Claesson & Brice, 1989), particularly in recent years.

The purpose of the current study is to fill this literature gap by examining the perceptions of mothers-teachers about how changes in the teaching profession shape teaching and motherhood.

The study explored the following research questions: 1. How do mothers-teachers experience changes in teaching profession and in motherhood? 2. How do mothers-teachers experience work-family conflict in relation to the processes of change in these areas?

Participants The study focused on 30 Israeli teachers, all of whom were mothers of children up to the age of 13 years old. The rational lays on the assumption that the work-family conflict will be more pronounced among mothers of young children. These mothers of young children teach in elementary, middle or high schools. The participants were selected using snowball sampling from three different sectors of the state education: secular Jewish, religious Jewish and Arab education. All the interviewees teach in schools where the employment structure change was implemented, they all use ICT in their teaching and all experience teacher-parent relationships in their work. Instruments and Procedure Semi-structured interview enables to get explicit and implicit assumptions (Flick, 2018). Thus, this instrument was used in order to examine the perceptions of mothers-teachers about work - family conflict and their roles as teachers and mothers in the light of recent changes. The interview includes questions about the perception of their roles as teachers and mothers and questions relating to the changes discussed above in the teacher's role: employment reforms, integration of ICT in teaching, and changes in teacher-parent relationships, as well as three changes in the mother's role: feminism movement, social expectations and cost of living. Data Analysis This study used the thematic analysis method that focuses on the interviewees' perspectives and relates to the words and descriptions as reflecting their thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge (Corbin, Strauss, & Strauss, 2014). The analysis was based on the grounded theory approach which enables inductive conceptualization. The results of the analysis are thematic categories that according to the research questions, key categories relating to the perception of the interviewees were identified.

The findings revealed that the teaching has changed from a profession characterized by clear boundaries between work and family, into a profession in which boundaries are blurred and the requirements become more and more demanding. As teacher 14 described: "That does not mean there is no work at home. There is still work at home and quite a bit of work...lesson preparation times [in school] are not enough and you have to take it home sometimes...". While the main emphasis was on changes in the role of the teacher, it turns out that the changes in the role of the mother are equally dominant. When looking at the characteristics of the mother's role in the last three decades, it is possible to point out that, as in the teacher's role, changes result from the accompanying functions attributed to this role (Davis, 2012). These changes are evolved from three social developments, as they came up from the findings: first, social expectations, as teacher 10 put it " do everything, that's the expectation, give, feed, nurse, love but educate with limits, and fulfill yourself as a woman, be sexy, wonderful, mother, support, everything, be everything, everything!". Second is feminism "If you choose to stay home and raise children it's a bit less legitimate" (teacher 21). Third is economic need "I think that even economically, it's harder. You have to pay for daycares, your car, the house, rent - all sorts of things. And the husband cannot manage alone" (teacher 26). It seems that these three changes in the teaching profession and the three changes in motherhood reshape, respectively, the teacher's role and the mother's role. The combination of these roles changes might lead to a more acute work–family conflict, which means a feeling of burden, burnout, intensity and exhaustion among mothers-teachers.

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