ERIC Number: EJ1385285
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0142-5692
EISSN: EISSN-1465-3346
Undermining Teachers' Social Capital: A Question of Trust, Professionalism, and Empowerment
British Journal of Sociology of Education, v44 n3 p418-434 2023
The question of professional trust urgently needs closer attention in relation to teacher recruitment and retention, as this research shows it has significant bearing on the symbolic capital that may help to attract, motivate, and sustain high quality teachers. In Australian schools, teachers are frequently subject to initiatives to improve their practice, address their perceived limitations, and hold them accountable for failing students, schools, or systems. We argue that teachers, in the advent of these reforms intended to improve them, come to believe they are distrusted in their professional roles. Denying teachers the sense of themselves as capable professionals risks contributing to the problems of retention that are becoming ever more urgent in the Australian context and elsewhere in the world. This article explores the impacts of discourses and policy directions on teachers' perceptions of professional trust. Drawing on case study data from two schools in the state of Victoria, Australia, we highlight the ways discourses of professional distrust emerge through policy directives that position teachers as 'the problem' in education.
Descriptors: Teacher Persistence, Social Capital, Trust (Psychology), Professionalism, Teacher Empowerment, Foreign Countries, Professional Identity, Educational Policy, Recognition (Achievement)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A