The out-of-field phenomenon, which entails teachers teaching outside their field of qualification, subject knowledge or expertise, is widespread (Ingersoll, 2002) in secondary and primary schools across cultures. This paper examines teachers’ experiences and perceptions of the phenomenon directed by the central research question: What does the out-of-field phenomenon mean for the quality impact of teachers and their classrooms? Itaims to understand out-of-field teachers’ world (Laverty, 2003) and how the phenomenon affects the development of effective classrooms and schools. The paper employs Gadamer’s theory as foundation to offer different perspectives of real life experiences regarding the out-of-field phenomenon while the hermeneutic phenomenological concepts and principles offer a method of accessing, interpreting and communicating human experience. The study reports on what the out-of-field phenomenon means for the effective construction of classroom and behaviour management strategies and how teachers cope with their responsibilities as professionals. In context with teacher turnover, attrition and retention (Ingersoll, 2002) concerns, the study seeks to understand the effect the out-of-field phenomenon has on the effective development of teachers and how it influences effective educational leadership.

Conscious of the social and behavioural interdependence theories of Piaget and Vygotsky (Scott, 2008), the data highlights the implications the out-of-field phenomenon has for effective classrooms and quality teaching as perceived by teachers, parents, school management and educational leadership. Focus on the teaching space (Bourdieu, 2010) provides significant insight into the phenomenon and how it influences what the individual teacher has to offer in this space. The objective of the paper is to provide an in-depth understanding and awareness of the real life, cross-cultural experiences of stakeholders through interview, observation and document analysis as study data.

The study agrees with Darling-Hammond (2006) that effective teachers need to understand and respond to the multifaceted nature of the environment in which they function and realise how they relate to this environment. The research questions focus on teachers’ effectiveness in the teaching environment when confronted with the phenomenon. Society has specific expectations about what teachers have to offer, the paper reports on how teachers teaching outside their field of expertise perceive and experience their interdependence with society. The out-of-field phenomenon is a multi-layered international concern grounded in literature about teacher demand and supply concerns as a reality in Australia (AEU, 2009), the US (Ingersoll, 2002), Europe (Bonesrønning, Falch & Strøm, 2003; Maaranen, Kynäslahti & Krokfors, 2008), and South Africa (Du Plessis, 2005). The existing literature on the out-of-field phenomenon touches on teacher  retention, attrition and turn-over (Ingersoll, 2002), with gaps evident regarding the real life experience of out-of-field teachers concerning their teaching, effective teacher support, professional development, effective classroom and schools.  The paper offers different ‘horizons’ (Gadamer, 1989), through the eyes of colleagues, parents, principals and district officers, both negative and positive about what teachers encounter when affected by the phenomenon. Relativist ontology and subjectivist epistemology played a role in choosing the methodology as a mechanism towards understanding that accentuates discovery, description and meaning while embracing a hermeneutic phenomenological approach (Annells, 2006; Laverty, 2003).

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