Associations Between Teacher Identity, Well Being and Effectiveness

Author(s):

Christopher Day

Conference:

ECER 2010

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 05 B, Research on Professional Knowledge & Identity in Teacher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2010-08-26

08:30-10:00

Room:

AUDITORIUM XII, Päärakennus / Main Building

Chair:

Maria do Céu Roldão

Contribution

Research into teachers’ professional identities is important because it: i) furthers understandings of the work of teachers in different policy, work and personal settings at different times in their lives; ii) probes relationships between the cognitive and emotional dimensions of teachers’ work; and iii) has the potential to investigate associations between identity, well being and effectiveness.

This paper will draw from the results of a large scale longitudinal, mixed methods study with 300 teachers in different phases of their careers in a range of 100 elementary and secondary schools. The research found that teachers’ sense of identity was a key factor in this; and that their ability to manage the sometimes stable, sometimes unstable personal and work spaces in which they found themselves was a key factor in sustaining their sense of well being and effectiveness.

Method

The data presented in this paper were generated via two in-depth interviews in each of three years of data collection. Teachers were interviewed about their perceived and measured effectiveness (in terms of the progress and achievement of their students in national tests) and the factors which contributed, positively and negatively to these (Day, Sammons, Stobart, Kington and Gu, 2007). In addition, teacher generated ‘effectiveness’ histories collected by means of a ‘critical incident’ workline. Teacher interviews were also analysed and coded, at document level, using NVivo1. Individual teacher profiles were used to identity relevant data regarding motivation, commitment, self-efficacy and well-being. These data, in addition to the various professional, situated and personal factors reported by teachers as having a positive or negative influence on their effectiveness, were classified and placed into a data matrix (Miles and Huberman, 1994).

Expected Outcomes

The research found that teachers experienced three ‘scenarios’ which disturbed the relative equilibrium of three key dimensions of identity – the professional, the situated, and the personal. The relative strength of teachers’ commitment, job satisfaction, well-being, self-efficacy and vulnerability, agency and resilience, and perceptions of effectiveness were affected but not always determined by threes influences, for the ways in which they were managed were mediated by teachers’ strong sense of vocation, personal circumstances, school leadership and relations with colleagues and students. Whereas, to date, pre-service and in-service training and development programmes have focussed predominantly upon the development of classroom management, pedagogy and subject content knowledge, these findings suggest that a secure sense of professional identity, commitment and well being are central to teachers’ capacities to be and remain effective.

References

Day, C., Sammons, P., Stobart, G., Kington, A. and Gu, Q. (2007) Teachers Matter: Connecting: Connecting work, lives and effectiveness. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis: an expanded sourcebook (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

Author Information

Christopher Day

University of Nottingham

School of Education

Nottingham

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