Leading under Duress: How Exceptional Teachers Thrive in the Global South.

Group Submission Type: Book Launch

Description of Session

This study aimed to examine the question of teacher attrition /retention common to both the Global South and the OECD countries, including the United States, through an investigation of the “exceptional” teachers in the Global South countries of The D.R. Congo, Ghana, and Uganda. Three major research questions guided this study: Why do exceptional teachers in select Global South countries remain on the job despite the overall lack of consideration attributed to their profession? Why have the 20 selected teachers in this study remained steadfast in their moral conduct of their student's learning in a precarious environment with little or no regard for their value as professionals and educators of future generations? What are the ethical leadership implications of the selected teachers' steadfastness for educational leaders in the Global South and beyond?
This study's qualitative narrative inquiry used a purposeful maximum variation sampling (Creswell & Poth, 2018) to select 20 participant teachers. Data collection methods included a Qualtrics survey, a 40 to 60-minute interview, a collection of artifacts, and the researcher's comments. This study included student voices to accurately depict the current state of education and the conditions of teachers in the three countries. It administered two procedural focus groups with 12 students in two countries. The narrative analysis of data (Caulfield, 2022) yielded two themes in response to the research questions. First, the exceptional teachers held professional motivation and altruistic teaching philosophies. Second, they developed alternative coping mechanisms and found personal benefits in teaching. To answer the probing question of what ingredient of any nature compelled these teachers’ altruistic behaviors, this investigation suggested there was an iceberg of altruism with an observable and an invisible side.
Explicitly, participants in this study exhibited altruistic behaviors and engaged in benevolent actions despite experiencing social and professional duress. However, the study did not conclude that they were altruistic people because they ripped some form of personal benefit from their seemingly selfless actions and decisions. Grunig’s (1992) four models of fundraising (press agentry, public communication, two-way asymmetric, and two-way-symmetric) as applied to teaching as a philanthropy suggested that exceptional teachers somehow benefited from their teaching, although not socio-economically. A discussion of leadership the ethics theories of ethical egoism and psychological egoism (Gotthelf, 2016) led to the warm glow-giving theory (Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm, 2017), according to which integrating altruism into daily lives yields some benefit to mental health and well-being. This theory could explain that exceptional teachers' joy and satisfaction from helping their students was their best reward. Participants' altruistic actions included – but were not limited to – teaching students, volunteering, donating time and money, and working for organizations that focus on the common good.
The exceptional teachers’ accounts revealed that both the teachers and the beneficiaries of their altruistic acts – their students – harness the power of altruism to aid in making the world a better place (The Decision Lab, 2022). In line with the warm glow-giving theory (Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm, 2017), one can rightly ascertain that altruism made both the exceptional teachers (the giver) and the student (the receiver) feel good (The Decision Lab, 2022). Although the exceptional teachers’ altruism appears self-sacrificing - it embodies some form of self-benefit because one can hardly fathom altruism for altruism’s sake. This study appeals to the Global South countries to implement education policies that should redecorate the profession of learning leadership. The OECD countries, including the US, which also deal with teacher attrition, can ponder the stories of the steadfastness of their Global South’s peers in worse-off contexts and wonder, “How we can do more of it?” (Chip and Dan Heath, 2011).

Sub Unit

• Book launches and Workshops / Book Launch

Chair

• Jean-Pierre Bongila, University of St. Thomas, MN

Book Launch Presenter

• Jean-Pierre Bongila, University of St. Thomas, MN