Feeling Valued or Adding Value? An Exploration to South American Teachers' Sense of Mattering

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: International Education From the Front Lines: Social Justice Within and Across Borders

Abstract

Teachers have expressed that over the years, their role has changed and that they have become mere technocrats, who are subjected to the mandates of bureaucrats. The purpose of this qualitative paper is to look at teachers’ lived experience from the lens of another construct: mattering. In this paper I explore teachers’ self-perceptions of their own mattering; the participants of the study are teachers working in public schools in a South American country. Using Prilleltensky’s conceptualization of mattering I show to what extent teachers feel valued and how far they feel they add value with their efforts. I also explore how this contributes to their prognosis for wanting to work as a teacher in the future.

Author

• Ignacio Barrenechea, University of Miami