School Reform and the Gendered Organization of Teachers' Work

• In Event: 435 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 18. Schools and Gender Construction

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which schools, as gendered organizations, rely on the caring labor of teachers to meet the requirements of current school reform policies. Drawing on comparative analyses of ethnographic data from two public elementary schools, this study explores the following questions: 1.) What work do teachers engage in to meet the social, emotional, and material needs of their students as part of their daily work to promote academic achievement within schools?; 2.) How do care work practices differ across institutions?; and 3.) What factors explain these differences in how caring labor is performed? This study finds that despite a school reform context that minimizes teachers’ caring labor, care continues to be integrated into teachers’ instructional work with students. Comparative analyses also demonstrate that the amount, type, and intensity of care work activities taken up by teachers differs significantly between the two schools included in this study. An institutionalization of care, as seen in the public charter school, has the potential to help students with the most significant challenges progress academically but it also places a significant additional work burden on teachers without additional recognition and compensation for this work. As a “nested” and a gendered practice, care work continues to be an important but often invisible part of teachers’ work in elementary schools. Better recognizing and supporting teachers’ care work has the potential to help schools meet school reform mandates and improve teacher retention.

Author

• Katie Kerstetter, George Mason University