More Harm Than Good? The Impact of Government and School District Initiatives on Teacher Resilience

• In Event: 58.070 - Lives of Teachers: Studies of Teacher Resilience and Work Life

Abstract

This paper is based on a longitudinal study of 20 elementary teachers, focusing especially on their tenth year of teaching. The teachers reported being under pressure to implement nine major improvement initiatives, all of which were mandated in a top-down manner with minimal teacher input. Some they disagreed with, others they found inconsistent. Given the nature and sheer volume of the mandates, they seemed to run the risk of seriously compromising the teachers’ resilience. Drawing on the data and the research literature, we conclude that school systems should take greater care to ensure that their improvement initiatives form a coherent whole, make sense theoretically, are feasible to implement, and support rather than undermine teachers’ resilience and hence their effectiveness

Authors

• Elizabeth Rosales, University of Toronto - OISE

• Clive M. Beck, OISE/University of Toronto

• Clare Kosnik, University of Toronto/OISE

• Judy A. Caulfield, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/ University of Toronto

• Yiola Cleovoulou, University of Toronto

• Shelley Murphy, OISE/University of Toronto