critical incidents in teachers' lives

279 Pages·2015·1.83 MB·English

CRITICAL INCIDENTS IN TEACHERS’ LIVES:
UNDERSTANDING TEACHER BE-ING

RUBANDHREE NAICKER
Student number: 202525247

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy (Ph.D.) in the discipline Curriculum Studies, School of Education,
College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal

December 2014

Supervisors: Professor Reshma Sookrajh and Professor Labby Ramrathan
DECLARATION

1. The research reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated is my original
work.
2. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university.
3. This thesis does not contain other person’s data, pictures, graphs, or other information,
unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons.
4. This thesis does not contain other person’s writing, unless specifically acknowledged as
being sourced from other researchers. Where other written sources have been quoted
then:
a. Their words have been re-written but the general information attributed to them
has been referenced.
b. Where their exact words have been used, their writing has been placed inside
quotation marks and referenced.
5. This thesis does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the Internet,
unless specifically acknowledged, and the source being detailed in the thesis and in the
references section.

RESEARCHER: R. NAICKER ___________________________

Date: December 2014

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is with deepest gratitude that I remember all the exceptional people who have helped me
though this arduous journey.

Professor Reshma Sookrajh - Life is uncertain. I underwent a difficult and challenging time
this year with my youngest sister’s unexpected diagnosis with cancer. Your incredible
support during this period is most appreciated! You allowed me the space to retreat from my
studies when I needed to and pushed me when I needed to get going again. This study would
not have reached completion without your endeavours to steer the way forward. My heartfelt
thanks for all your efforts!
Professor Labby Ramrathan - Your quest of shifting and pushing me to search for new ways
of seeing things and moving me in new directions, planted the seed for what was to blossom
later. Thank you for your input.
Sagie Naicker - My husband for his constant persuasion not to give up the journey. Having a
critical friend in you helped to shape my thesis. Your technical support made me reach the
end smoothly. Pursuing the doctoral study concurrently was certainly a unique experience.
Best wishes for your success!
Amy Govender - My dear mum for being there always! Your love, care, unwavering support
and motivation are always appreciated. I have drawn strength from your courage, endurance
and fortitude.
Kitty Govender - My late dad for his efforts to provide a good education.
Lecturers - Ronicka Mudaly, Vimolan Mudaly, Jaya Naidoo, Miranda Swart and Daisy
Pillay for the support and encouragement.
Safura Meeran- A phenomenal friend who I could call on at any time for emotional support
throughout this journey.
Roshini Pather and her library team for going the extra mile.
To all my research participants - Without your willingness to participate in this study, this
thesis would not have been possible. Your time and generosity is appreciated.
To the host of family and friends that showed an interest in my study and offered support,
thank you!
May you all be blessed! 

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this thesis to:

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, my divine master. Thank you for providing me with an
anchor to ground my life and the blueprint to live my life.

“True education is not for a mere living but for a fuller and meaningful life”
Sathya Sai Baba

I will always be mindful of your teaching that it is not bookish knowledge that is important
but the values and virtues that we cultivate in life.

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ABSTRACT

Teachers’ lives are complex and dynamic. They find themselves in an era of new challenges
and new demands. Recent literature reveals that teachers are experiencing insecurities,
confusion and despair. In South Africa there has been a spate of curriculum reforms and a
wave of policy changes. Added to this are the severe contextual restraints, such as large
classes, lack of resources, poor school leadership, poor parental support, school violence and
other social problems, such as HIV/AIDS and poverty. As teachers face these realities on a
daily basis, they experience incidents that become turning points in their teaching lives and
are deemed by them as ‘critical’. These are termed ‘critical incidents’. This study seeks to
explore how teachers respond to these critical incidents and why they respond the way they
do. The use of life history methodology allowed them to tell their stories but more than that
it illuminateded how they were influenced by the contexts in which they live and work. The
use of in depth interviews provided the opportunity to access their personal, professional,
social and moral landscapes to reveal their lived experiences while they experienced the
critical incidents. By delving deeper through the different layers of their lived realities and
exploring how they interacted with and appraised the different events, their feelings and
emotions were revealed. The social-psychological framework on emotions provided a frame
to explore how teachers responded to the different influences, that is, the workplace
influences, socio-cultural/policy influences and personal influences that came to bear on
their teaching lives as they engaged with the socio-cultural milieu in which they were
immersed. The study used narrative analysis, content analysis and discourse analysis to
make meaning of the data. The use of multiple analysis approaches provided different lenses
to interpret and understand the critical incidents. The complexities of teachers’ lives were
revealed when critical incidents that were triggered by one influence provoked other
influences impacting on teachers in multifarious ways. It revealed how teachers interacted
with the different contexts, through their ego-identities that comprised their self-and social
esteem, values, beliefs, meanings/ideas and life-goals (broader goals). The critical incidents
were experienced as teachers appraised the different encounters, which resulted in either
congruence or incongruence to their broader goals. An appraisal of goal incongruence led to
negative emotions and an appraisal of goal congruence led to positive emotions. The thesis
that emerged from the study was that critical incidents in teachers’ lives affected the
teacher’s spirit. Teachers felt either inspirited or dispirited as the critical incident unfolded.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ................................................................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... ii
DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... v
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix
ACRONYMS ...................................................................................................................... x
CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................................ 1
ORIENTATION TO THE STUDY .................................................................................. 1
1.1 BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF THE STUDY .......................................... 1
1.2 CRITICAL QUESTION GUIDING THE STUDY ................................................ 6
1.3 PURPOSE AND FOCUS OF THE STUDY ........................................................... 6
1.4 RATIONALE FOR CONDUCTING THE STUDY .............................................. 6
1.5 OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS ..................................................................... 12
CHAPTER 2 .......................................................................................................................... 16
LITERATURE REVIEW – PART 1 .............................................................................. 16
2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 16
2.2 RESEARCHING TEACHERS’ LIVES ................................................................ 17
2.3 UNDERSTANDING CRITICAL INCIDENTS ................................................... 22
2.3.1 Perspectives of critical incidents in teaching and teachers’ lives ....................... 22
2.3.2 Incidents and influences that teachers deem as critical in their lives ................. 25
2.4 UNDERSTANDING TEACHER IDENTITY ...................................................... 27
2.5 TEACHERS’ LIVES: POLICY CHANGES AND INTERVENTIONS ............ 31
2.6 TEACHERS’ LIVES: PRACTICE SETTINGS .................................................. 34
2.6.1 School culture ..................................................................................................... 35
2.6.2 School leadership ................................................................................................ 36
2.6.3 Relationship with colleagues .............................................................................. 38
2.7 TEACHERS’ LIVES: INTERACTIONS WITH PUPILS .................................. 41
2.8 TEACHERS’ LIVES: PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK – PART 2 ....................................................... 45
2.9 A SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............... 45
2.10 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY APPRAISAL ................................................. 47
2.10.1 Primary appraisal components .......................................................................... 47
2.10.2 Secondary appraisal components ...................................................................... 53
2.11 ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ................................................................. 54
2.12 THE APPRAISAL PROCESS AND EMOTIONS ............................................ 55
2.13 CORE RELATIONAL THEMES FOR EMOTIONS ....................................... 57
2.14 CHAPTER SUMMARY ....................................................................................... 59
CHAPTER 3 .......................................................................................................................... 60
CHARTING THE METHODOLOGICAL TERRAIN ................................................ 60
3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 60
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................................ 60
3.2.1 Qualitative research within the interpretive paradigm ........................................ 60
3.3 LIFE HISTORY AS A RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................... 62
3.3.1 Understanding life history research .................................................................... 62
3.3.2 Memory work in life history construction .......................................................... 64
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3.3.3 Life history to understand teachers’ lives ........................................................... 65
3.4 SOURCING PARTICIPANTS FOR THE STUDY ............................................. 66
3.4.1 Purposive sampling ............................................................................................. 66
3.4.2 Inviting participation........................................................................................... 67
3.5 THE PILOT INTERVIEW .................................................................................... 71
3.6 THE DATA PRODUCTION PROCESS .............................................................. 72
3.6.1 Conducting life history interviews ...................................................................... 72
3.6.2 Adopting in depth interviewing strategies and techniques ................................. 75
3.7 DATA ANALYSIS PROCESS (STEPS AND APPROACHES) ......................... 78
3.7.1 Generation of interview transcriptions ............................................................... 79
3.7.2 Narrative analysis ............................................................................................... 81
3.7.3 Making meaning of the data ............................................................................... 82
3.7.4 Content analysis .................................................................................................. 84
3.7.5 Discourse analysis .............................................................................................. 86
3.8 ENSURING QUALITY IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS ................................ 88
3.8.1 Credibility ........................................................................................................... 88
3.8.2 Transferability ..................................................................................................... 89
3.8.3 Dependability ...................................................................................................... 90
3.8.4 Conformability .................................................................................................... 90
3.9 REFLEXIVITY DURING THE RESEARCH PROCESS .................................. 91
3.10 ETHICAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH ................................................................... 93
3.11 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER ................................................................................ 95
CHAPTER 4 .......................................................................................................................... 96
TEACHERS’ STORIES .................................................................................................. 96
4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 96
4.2 STORY REPRESENTATIONS ............................................................................. 96
4.3 VENETIA’S STORY .............................................................................................. 97
4.4 ROMY’S STORY .................................................................................................. 103
4.5 JULIA’S STORY .................................................................................................. 109
4.6 PRITHA’S STORY ............................................................................................... 116
4.7 PRALENE’S STORY ........................................................................................... 123
4.8 SAIYEN’S STORY ............................................................................................... 129
4.9 CHAPTER SUMMARY ....................................................................................... 134
CHAPTER 5 ........................................................................................................................ 135
DATA ANALYSIS: TEACHERS’ RESPONSES TO CRITICAL INCIDENTS .... 135
5.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 135
5.2 Scenario 1: Venetia – ‘Feeling mentally and emotionally sick’ ........................ 137
5.2.1 Powerless against violent learner ...................................................................... 137
5.2.2 Frustration at gaining access to management ................................................... 139
5.2.3 Anxiety attack: Stressful encounter with parent ............................................... 140
5.2.4 Unjustified criticisms regarding professional conduct ..................................... 142
5.2.5 Humiliation by taunting learners ...................................................................... 144
5.2.6 Ideologically offensive principles and values ................................................... 146
5.2.7 Statutory vulnerability ...................................................................................... 149
5.2.8 Shift from being enthusiastic to disillusionment .............................................. 150
5.3 Scenario 2: Romy – ‘Mentally and physically, my spirit was like broken down’
155
5.3.1 Responses to principal bullying ........................................................................ 155
5.3.2 Continuing against the odds: Moral values and a sense of vocation ................ 160
5.3.3 Personal consequences ...................................................................................... 162
5.3.4 Displaying agency - a different pathway .......................................................... 164
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5.3.5 Moving out of the comfort zone ....................................................................... 166
5.4 Scenario 3: Julia – ‘I was just isolated, an outsider’ .......................................... 169
5.4.1 Workplace conditions threatened...................................................................... 169
5.4.2 Goal to develop professionally being thwarted ................................................ 171
5.4.3 Belittled by learners from other grades............................................................. 173
5.4.4 Out casting and exclusion ................................................................................. 174
5.4.5 Moral drive through affective empathy ............................................................ 176
5.4.6 Feeling ‘pushed out’ – exploring alternatives ................................................... 176
5.4.7 Character at stake and personality ‘blocked’ .................................................... 177
5.5 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER ................................................................................ 181
CHAPTER 6 ........................................................................................................................ 182
DATA ANALYSIS: TEACHERS’ RESPONSES TO CRITICAL INCIDENTS .... 182
6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 182
6.2 Scenario 4: Pritha - ‘Every thought I had about how life was going to be,
it was shattered completely’ ................................................................................. 183
6.2.1 Prioritized union meeting over wedding ........................................................... 183
6.2.2 Feeling reassured with union support ............................................................... 185
6.2.3 Failure to live up to the ideal of being a role model ......................................... 186
6.2.4 Stigmatized by society ...................................................................................... 187
6.2.5 Being teacher from a new perspective .............................................................. 188
6.2.6 New awareness, new strategies ......................................................................... 190
6.3 Scenario 5: Pralene – ‘I convinced my mind that if I go back to school I
will heal’ ................................................................................................................. 193
6.3.1 Learners as the impetus for healing .................................................................. 193
6.3.2 Feeling recognised and supported by leadership .............................................. 196
6.3.3 Support from colleagues - extending her family .............................................. 197
6.3.4 Reciprocal support: Parent and teacher ............................................................ 199
6.3.5 Total commitment and renewed dedication to teaching ................................... 200
6.4 Scenario 6: Saiyen – ‘I had decided, I will make a fight of this…and this
was my fate’ ........................................................................................................... 203
6.4.1 Struggle to renegotiate identity ......................................................................... 203
6.4.2 Positive thinking as a stimulus to move beyond paralysis ............................... 205
6.4.3 Drawing on spiritual resources ......................................................................... 207
6.4.4 Feeling affirmed, validated and accepted through circles of support ............... 209
6.4.5 Transferring learnings and insights to the classroom ....................................... 213
6.5 CONCLUDING COMMENTS ON DATA ANALYSIS ................................... 215
6.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY ....................................................................................... 219
CHAPTER 7 ........................................................................................................................ 220
EMERGING FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS ................................................................. 220
7.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 220
7.2 ‘ENABLERS’ THAT ENHANCED TEACHER RESILIENCE ........................ 222
7.2.1 Social support ................................................................................................... 222
7.2.2 Spiritual resources............................................................................................. 223
7.2.3 Moral duty and a sense of vocation .................................................................. 223
7.2.4 Exercising agency through self-efficacy beliefs ............................................... 224
7.2.5 Positive emotions .............................................................................................. 225
7.2.6 Positive school culture ...................................................................................... 225
7.3 ‘DIS-ENABLERS’ THAT ERODED TEACHER RESILIENCE ...................... 226
7.3.1 Teachers’ inability to fulfil their personal goals and ideals .............................. 226
7.3.2 Ineffective school leadership ............................................................................ 228
7.3.3 School violence ................................................................................................. 229
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7.4 INTERCONNECTEDNESS BETWEEN TEACHERS’ PERSONAL
AND PROFESSIONAL LIVES ........................................................................... 231
7.5 CRITICAL INCIDENTS TRANSFORMING PRACTICE ............................. 233
7.6 CRITICAL INCIDENTS: THE CATALYST THAT DISPIRITED OR
INSPIRITED THE TEACHER .......................................................................... 233
7.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ....................................................................... 239
7.8 CONCLUDING REMARKS ................................................................................ 240
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 243
APPENDIX 1: CONVERSATION GUIDE ................................................................. 262
APPENDIX 2: SAMPLE OF PARTICIPANT LETTER WITH
INFORMED CONSENT ..................................................................... 263
APPENDIX 3: ETHICAL CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE ...................................... 265
APPENDIX 4: EMAIL FROM PARTICIPANT ........................................................ 266
APPENDIX 5: TURNITIN REPORT .......................................................................... 267
APPENDIX 6: LANGUAGE CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE .................................. 268

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Schematization of a social-psychological approach towards emotions,
derived from Lazarus (191) by van Ven et al. (205) adapted 46
Figure 2: Methodological steps and processes 79
Figure 3: Retrieved from: htps:/www.gogle.co.za/search?q=depresion+images 137
Figure 4: Retrieved from: htps:/www.gogle.co.za/search?q=depresion+images 15
Figure 5: Retrieved from: https://www.google.co.za/search?q=isolated+images 169
Figure 6: Retrieved from: htps:/www.google.co.za/search?q=life+shatered+images 183
Figure 7: Retrieved from: https://www.google.co.za/search?q=healing+images 193
Figure 8: Retrieved from: https://www.google.co.za/search?q=healing+images 203
Figure 9: Teachers’ inspirited or dispirited through critical incidents 237

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Core relational theme for each emotion (Lazarus, 1991) 58
Table 2: Biographical profile of participants and reasons for becoming a teacher 70
Table 3: Summary of Venetia’s response to critical incident 154
Table 4: Summary of Romy’s response to critical incident 167
Table 5: Summary of Julia’s response to critical incident 180
Table 6: Summary of Pritha’s response to critical incident 192
Table 7: Summary of Pralene’s response to critical incident 202
Table 8: Summary of Saiyen’s response to critical incident 214

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