New realities of teachers' work lives : the impact of educational change on Australian teachers

The study reported in this thesis was an investigation into the work lives of Australian primary and secondary school teachers employed in the state education systems of South Australia and Tasmania. While the educational authorities of South Australia and Tasmania were the smallest of Australia's six state education systems, they remained sizeable organisations, controlling a total of almost 1000 schools. The study involved data which were collected through the application of an interview schedule and twin teacher and principal versions of a detailed survey to a sample of 100 teachers and 87 school principals. These three research instruments were designed specifically for use in this study and were the products of an extensive process of trial and development. The period investigated in the study, the first half of the 1990s, was perceived by the participating teachers and principals to be a time of turbulence in schools and education systems as these organisations, and the people who worked within them, were confronted with escalating expectations for profound educational change. The study found that the educational changes which were such a defining feature of the early 1990s affected these teachers' work lives significantly at a number of levels: first, the sheer number of different changes to which teachers were expected to respond was important; second, the overwhelming majority of the educational changes of the time were seen by these teachers as having been imposed on them from and by sources outside their work context of the school; third, these teachers perceived that half of the change initiatives of the time were intended to meet the needs of education systems as organisations, rather than to improve teaching or learning in schools; and fourth, the overall impact on their work lives which these teachers attributed to their involvement with educational changes was seen as negative by an overwhelming majority of the participating teachers. These teachers were, nevertheless, found to be highly satisfied with three key elements of their work lives: with the nature and quality of the working relationship between teacher and principal; with the working relationships they shared with their teacher colleagues; and with the nature of their interactions with students at school. On the other hand, the participating teachers were particularly, dissatisfied with the policy directions adopted and pursued by their own respective education systems and with the inordinate amount of effort they saw as required for them to meet all of the expectations of the teacher's role. These teachers' experiences with recent educational changes had significant implications for their self-predicted responses to future changes in education. A more complete picture of the multi-faceted nature of contemporary teachers' work was the most significant finding to have emerged from the study, with this picture being characterised by ten new realities of teachers' work lives: a myriad of change expectations; intensification; politicisation; competition between two kinds of collaboration; resourcing pressures; mis-matches between expectations, needs and access in professional development; dissatisfaction with education systems; conflict between organisational and professional goals; dissonance associated with a paradox between professional expertise and external control; and ironic options for distance and immunity. Five recommendations relating to future educational change efforts are drawn from the study: first, the number of simultaneous innovations should be kept to a level which is manageable by teacher implementers; second, proposed innovations should be connected directly to teachers' core tasks of teaching and learning; third, the level of resourcing provided should be adequate for both implementation and institutionalisation; fourth, local ownership of innovations should be promoted to enhance teacher commitment; and fifth, teachers should have access to positive experiences with a prior change before being expected to engage further initiatives.