ERIC Number: EJ867043
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Jan
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0742-051X
EISSN: N/A
Publicly Minded, Privately Focused: Western Australian Teachers and School Choice
Forsey, Martin G.
Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, v26 n1 p53-60 Jan 2010
In the growing school choice research literature little, if any, attention has been given to the choices made by the providers of educational services. Yet the workplace preferences shown by teachers and school administrators influences educational practice in important ways and helps illuminate some of the important issues raised in the school choice literature, such as the impact of marketisation on school planning, infrastructure and service delivery in public and private schools, social justice and resource distribution. Following discussion and analysis of the tendency for educational anthropologists to ignore teachers and their work, I use the stories of two teachers to help illustrate the research upon which this essay is built. Based on in-depth interviews with fifteen teachers in Perth, the capital of Western Australia, the primary aim of this paper is to "give voice" to teachers by describing and analysing the social implications of the workplace choices exercised by a range of teachers. Issues of permanency, care, systemic needs, commitment to different forms of social equity, gender and age all emerge as important influences on the choices made by individuals when it comes to the type of school they choose to work in. (Contains 2 tables.)
Descriptors: Social Justice, Private Schools, School Choice, Educational Practices, Foreign Countries, Teacher Attitudes, Interviews, Public Schools, Influences, Teacher Behavior, Educational Environment, Teaching Conditions, Selection
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A