Teacher Identity Development in Teacher Authority Through Teacher-Student Relationships: A Qualitative Study

• In Event: Beliefs, Identity, Teacher Motivation, and Emotions: Perspectives for Teacher-Student Relationships

Abstract

Framework: Focusing on the relational elements of care, respect, and trust, this sequential qualitative study examined teacher identity development in relation to the ways teachers develop various types of authority through their interactions with students. A theory-driven model (see Figure 1), originally based on the literature in the fields of Educational Psychology and Instructional Communication (e.g., Harjunen, 2011; McCroskey & Teven, 1999; Mottet, Frymier & Beebe, 2006; Pace & Hemmings, 2007; Ryan & Deci, 2000), was produced which illustrates how teacher-student relationship is related to the development of legitimate teacher authority, which consequently impacts the development of effective teacher identity. The model was supported by the findings of this study.
Methods & Data: All study participants were from the same school district in a Mid-Western State in the U.S., and included 20 anonymous high school English students and 15 teachers representing all grade levels (i.e., K-12, except grades 4 and 8), and multiple areas (e.g., math, science, English, history, technical skills, music, special education, sports coaches). Data included student essays on effective and ineffective teachers, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews conducted with the individual teachers.
Student essays were mined to create a teacher observation form identifying effective and ineffective teacher behaviors based on students’ perspectives. This form helped identify and classify the degree and types of effective teacher behaviors. Both observational and interview data were used to classify each teacher as either a legitimate authority (i.e., earned authority with both influence and control; Harjunen, 2011) or laissez-faire authority (i.e., lax authority with little to no influence or control; Goodnight, 2004). These data were then analyzed to describe legitimate teacher authority development, how authority affects teacher effectiveness in the classroom, and how the development of authority and effectiveness affect the development of teacher identity.
Results: Based on each authority type, the findings of this study showed how teachers classified as legitimate authorities develop authority as they interact with their students. Using multiple forms of consistent care and respect via their teacher-student relationships, these teachers develop trust with their students; trust which is embodied as student cooperation in the classroom. By cooperating with the teacher, students allow the teacher to have authority and legitimize it through continued cooperation. In addition, these teachers showed evidences of effective teacher identity rooted in their beliefs about their role in students’ long-term academic and social development. This was exemplified by; personally knowing their students to understand what motivated them; and treating students of any age as mature individuals who were allowed to make choices. On the other hand, teachers classified as laissez-faire authorities tended to not spend much time contemplating their effectiveness. They focused more on the daily minutia of teaching and did not see themselves as agents of change for the long-term in their students’ academic and social development.
Significance: This study highlights the critical role of teacher-student relationship in teacher authority and teacher identity development. Also, this study holds practical implications for the training and evaluation of preservice and in-service teachers.
Figure 1

Authors

• Robin Roberson, East Central University

• Ji Yeon Hong, University of Oklahoma