Reclaiming Time: Temporal Agency and Sense-Making Practices of Chinese Primary School Teachers

• In Event: Empowering Teachers: Enhancing Agency, Autonomy, and Innovative Practices Across Global Contexts

Proposal

1. Background
In recent years, the workload and time pressures experienced by teachers globally have become a central concern in educational reform (OECD, 2018; Thompson, 2021; Verhoeven, et al., 2003). Digital technologies, while intended to streamline administrative tasks and enhance teaching practices, have often exacerbated these issues (Perlow, 1999), introducing new challenges in time management (Philipp & Kunter, 2013; Te Braak, et al., 2022), workload (Kraaykamp, et al., 2009; Thomas & Bailey, 2009), and professional autonomy (Apple & Jungck, 1990; Brante, 2009) . This usually results in prolonged working hours, a growing accumulation of tasks, and a diminishing sense of the value of their work. In China, primary school teachers face similar challenges, with institutionalized schedules and externally imposed tasks shaping much of their daily routines (Song, 2023; Song & Wu, 2023). Despite government policies to alleviate teacher workloads (Xinhua News Agency, 2019), the tension between institutional demands and teachers’ desire for autonomy persists (Zhao & Fu, 2022; Zhang & Zhou, 2023).
Temporal agency refers to the process by which teachers shape and reclaim time in response to external demands, using it to enact their intentions and realize their professional values (Flaherty, 2002; Ringel, 2016). Amid both internal and external time constraints, teachers continuously make autonomous choices and derive meaning from their actions.
This study examines how Chinese primary school teachers (CPSTs) reclaim time through the exercise of temporal agency, with a focus on their sense-making practices within the structured temporal frameworks of their schools.
2. Perspectives
Sense-making is the process through which individuals, such as teachers, interpret their environment or external stimuli based on their experiences, knowledge, and beliefs, and subsequently take action (Maitlis & Christianson, 2014). In the context of schools, sense-making involves the interaction between teachers’ perceptions of situational demands and their “personal frame of reference.” (Spillane et al., 2002; Ketelaar et al., 2012; Luttenberg & Van Veen et al., 2013).
From the sense-making perspective, as examined in this study, the temporal actions of CPSTs are the result of the interaction between teachers’ temporal agency and the school’s institutional time frameworks. The extent of alignment or misalignment between teachers’ personal time frameworks and the school’s institutional time frameworks influences the outcomes of sense-making. Luttenberg (2013) further categorized the sense-making process into four types: assimilation, accommodation, toleration, and distantiation. Guided by this framework, this study investigated how CPSTs construct meaning while competing for time amid various educational activities.
3. Methods and Participants
This study based on a qualitative design (Creswell, 2013), which allowed for an in-depth exploration of the lived experiences of teachers within a specific context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 CPSTs in Shanghai, chosen to represent diverse experiences and roles. Participant observation involved shadowing CPSTs to understand their daily temporal activities and interactions.
4. Results
4.1 CPSTs' Time Composition
The school’s institutional time established close connections with various work activities, such as subject teaching, specific role activities, and administrative tasks, through the mechanisms of “extended-internalized,” “segmented-embedded,” and “compressed-synchronized.” These mechanisms provided a stable order to the institutional lives of CPSTs.
4.1.1 “Extended-Internalized” Subject Teaching Time
This theme captures how CPSTs’ teaching time extends beyond formal classroom hours and integrates into their personal lives. CPSTs often spend significant time preparing lessons, grading assignments, and engaging in professional development activities outside of official school hours. Additionally, the CPSTs interviewed expressed their willingness to dedicate substantial time to these activities.
4.1.2 “Segmented-Embedded” Specific Role Time
This theme highlights how CPSTs’ time is segmented and embedded into specific roles and responsibilities. CPSTs often juggle multiple roles, such as “classroom teacher” (ban zhu ren in Chinese) and “subject leader” (bei ke zu zhang in Chinese). Each role carries its own set of responsibilities and time demands, leading to a segmented and sometimes fragmented experience of time.
4.1.3 “Compressed-Synchronized” Administrative Instruction Time
This theme examines how CPSTs experience compressed and synchronized time due to administrative demands. Tight deadlines for tasks such as report submissions, meetings, and policy compliance are often aligned with institutional timelines, leaving little flexibility for CPSTs to manage their time. This compression creates urgency and pressure, which can detract from their focus on teaching and student engagement.
4.2 Types of CPSTs’ Sense-Making Practices under the “Institutional-Autonomous (I-A)” Time Frameworks
Based on the varying influence of institutional and autonomous time frameworks on sense-making, this study categorizes the meaning construction in CPSTs’ institutional lives into three types of practices.
4.2.1 Gradual Adaptation to the “I-A” Temporal Framework
Compulsory institutional time and the school’s culture overshadow CPSTs’ autonomous time frameworks. In aligning with and synchronizing to this framework, they reveal the dual potential of both the “suppressed” side and the release of autonomy.
4.2.2 Boundary Permeability of the “I-A” Temporal Framework
This type illustrates how institutional and autonomous time frameworks interact in CPSTs’ sense-making. They operate within the “strong situation” (Ashforth, 2001) imposed by institutional time, often experiencing struggle. At the same time, they seek ways to assert their identity and values, trying to carve out “ordered” autonomous time amidst the “busy” institutional environment.
4.2.3 Selective Alienation from the “I-A” Temporal Framework
This type describes the sense of “normlessness” (LeCompte & Dworkin, 1991) CPSTs experience due to role overlap and unclear responsibilities, leading to a selective “alienation” (Brooks et al., 2008) from institutional time frameworks. Seeking “leisure” amidst busyness, achieved through this alienation, doesn’t reduce work content or hours. Instead, it reflects a sense of meaning and identity that teachers find while managing role conflicts and ambiguous responsibilities. Here, “leisure” means shifting from “spending” autonomous time to “possessing” it.
5. Scientific or scholarly significance of the study
This study contributes to the broader discourse on the future of education in a digital society. Specifically, it offers empirical insights into how Chinese primary school teachers navigate and make sense of their roles within the structured temporal frameworks of their schools. This is particularly relevant in the context of increasing institutional pressures and technological demands within a digitalized education system.

Author

• Ruixin HUANG, East China Normal University