"My Feelings Aren't Worthy of Acknowledgment": Psychological Contract and the Teaching Assignment Process

• In Event: Park Central Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Contextual and Socio-Emotional Aspects of Change: Leadership Considerations for School Improvement

Abstract

Research suggests the teaching assignment process affects teacher career decisions (Donaldson & Johnson, 2010; Feng, 2010; Gardner, 2010; Ost & Schiman, 2015). The purpose of this study was to investigate how administrators employed communication and trust in the distribution of teaching assignments and how psychological contract affected the process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 teachers and nine administrators from public high schools.
This study used psychological contract, trust, and communication (Rousseau, 1989; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 1998) as conceptual frameworks. Administrator communication was related to teachers’ perception of trust in administrators and psychological contract breach. This research contributed to a better understanding of how administrators implement the teaching assignment process and how teachers experience it.

Author

• Daina Lieberman, Fairfax County Public Schools