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The Autonomy Paradox: Teachers’ Perceptions of Self-Governance Across Europe

Author: Wieland Wermke

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-03-24

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 3030656020

What do we mean when we speak about teacher autonomy? How free are teachers to go about their work? To answer these complex questions the authors asked thousands of teachers in four national contexts: in Finland, Ireland, Germany and Sweden, what they think autonomy looks like. The resulting book examines teacher autonomy theoretically and empirically, comparing teachers’ perceptions of their professional autonomy. Utilizing a mixed method approach the authors combine data from a large-scale questionnaire study, teacher interviews, lesson and meeting observations, and workshops that brought together teachers from the four participating countries. All this engagement with teachers revealed that simply increasing their professional autonomy might not lead to desired outcomes. This is because, from a teachers’ point of view, increased decision-making capacity brings further complexity and risk to their work, and it may instead lead to anxiety, self-restriction, and the eventual rejection of autonomy. These surprising conclusions challenge the increasingly orthodox view that increased autonomy is a desirable end in itself. This is what the authors call the autonomy paradox.

The Autonomy Paradox: Teachers' Perceptions of Self-Governance Across Europe

Author: Wieland Wermke

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783030656034

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What do we mean when we speak about teacher autonomy? How free are teachers to go about their work? To answer these complex questions the authors asked thousands of teachers in four national contexts: in Finland, Ireland, Germany and Sweden, what they think autonomy looks like. The resulting book examines teacher autonomy theoretically and empirically, comparing teachers' perceptions of their professional autonomy. Utilizing a mixed method approach the authors combine data from a large-scale questionnaire study, teacher interviews, lesson and meeting observations, and workshops that brought together teachers from the four participating countries. All this engagement with teachers revealed that simply increasing their professional autonomy might not lead to desired outcomes. This is because, from a teachers' point of view, increased decision-making capacity brings further complexity and risk to their work, and it may instead lead to anxiety, self-restriction, and the eventual rejection of autonomy. These surprising conclusions challenge the increasingly orthodox view that increased autonomy is a desirable end in itself. This is what the authors call the autonomy paradox.

Insights into Autonomy and Technology in Language Teaching

Author: Chun Lai

Publisher: Castledown Publishers

Published: 2023-03-08

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1914291115

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Drawing on the literature and research findings from relevant research fields, including educational technology, educational psychology, adult and workplace learning, and language education, this book gives an overview of the relationship of learner and teacher autonomy and technology in language teaching. It discusses how technology both benefits and constrains autonomy, and how a positive interaction between the two could be fostered. It underscores a critical perspective in understanding their relationships and a holistic approach to boosting a positive reciprocal relationship between the two.

Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model

Author: Jesper Eckhardt Larsen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-12-24

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1000521311

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Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model examines the cultural distinctiveness of the Nordic teaching profession and teacher training compared to examples from Europe and North America. The book explores the concept of these ‘teacher cultures’ as various dimensions of professional identities, recruitment patterns, teachers’ social status, values and knowledge. It considers how Nordic teachers ́ socio-cultural backgrounds and their shifting societal roles compare with continental European examples, analysing the societal consequences of teacher cultures for the current Nordic welfare states. Offering a unique focus on teachers, the book uses a shared comparative and historical approach to add new knowledge to the analysis of global convergence and divergence in educational systems. The book will be of great interest to researchers, scholars and post-graduate students in the fields of comparative education, educational policy, the sociology of education and the history of education. It will also be of interest to policy makers, teacher educators and school leaders. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Teacher Autonomy

Author: Clayton Singer LaCoe

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

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Teacher autonomy can lead to either exciting or vacuous learning experiences for students. Therefore, it is of critical import that school leaders understand the complexities associated with teacher autonomy. In this book, Dr. Clay LaCoe examines how teachers view autonomy and whether or not the accountability associated with high stakes testing influences teachers' perceptions of autonomy. Researchers have tended to view teacher autonomy as a unitary concept. This book will expand the knowledge base by decomposing autonomy and deepening our understanding of how high stakes accountability affects teachers' perceptions of their own autonomy. First, a model is proposed in which autonomy is decomposed into six distinct sub-components: autonomy over curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, professional development, student discipline, and classroom environment. Second, the research examines the effects of external accountability on teacher autonomy by quantitatively and qualitatively comparing the perceptions of possessed and desired autonomy of teachers who are direct targets of external accountability to those same perceptions held by teachers who are not direct targets of external accountability. The results show that the six sub-component model of teacher autonomy provides a solid framework to understand the complex nature of teacher autonomy. The findings further indicate that, both quantitatively and qualitatively, there are no fundamental differences in how the teachers who are differentially targets of external accountability perceive their levels of possessed or desired autonomy. Although external accountability may affect the amount of autonomy teachers perceive they have or desire, this effect is not dependent on the level of external accountability faced by teachers. The results also show that teachers generally desire more autonomy than they perceive they already possess. The results inform school leaders about the complex nature of teacher autonomy and how leaders can leverage the power of teacher autonomy to make schools better places for children to learn and grow. Teacher Autonomy is an important book for collections in education.

Teachers' Perceptions of the Development of Autonomy in Students

Author: Cristina Maria Dolcino

Publisher:

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13:

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The Ruler and the Ruled

Author: Sherry Ann Lepine

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13:

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This study was designed to compare teachers' perceptions of teaching autonomy at two economically diverse elementary school campuses to determine factors that influence teachers' perceptions of their ability and authority to make important decisions regarding their classrooms and students. Using a quantitative measure developed by Pearson & Hall (1993), the Teaching Autonomy Scale (TAS), fifty teachers, twenty-five from each campus, rated their teaching autonomy. The TAS served as a sorting and selecting tool to place teachers in two cohorts: low and high teaching autonomy. From these cohorts, ten teachers were selected to participate in an interview and discussed factors that influence their individual authority in making important classroom decisions. Teachers also discussed actions of resistance and conformity to mandates, reform initiatives and policies, which influence their ability to exercise teaching autonomy. Previous research has defined teaching autonomy as a measurable and quantifiable construct (Pearson & Hall; Pearson & Moomaw, 2005), as well as a professionally conferred characteristic awarded the teaching professional upon completion of the degree and meeting the licensing requirements for public school educator. Findings of this study point to teaching autonomy as a state of being that is best understood through a theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1966; Mead, 1934) and role-identity theory (McCall & Simons, 1966). The findings indicated a need for a different conceptualization of teaching autonomy. An original grounded theory is proposed that describes teaching autonomy as a series of identities, which are by nature transitory and shifting, rather than as a fixed score on a set of indicators. Further complicating this theory are the varying governance structures in schools that contribute to teachers taking both active and passive roles when exercising authority over the decisions important to the classroom. Schools that operate democratically, as learning organizations, cultivate teaching autonomy and value the professional input of teachers concerning decisions that impact the classroom and student achievement. Schools that operate bureaucratically do not necessarily value a teacher's input into decision-making. Additionally, teachers in the study acted autocratically regarding their teaching autonomy and made decisions in isolation, even in a tightly coupled policy environment. Governance structures influenced the teachers' selection of two roles, ruler or ruled and eight identities were described by teachers in the study they used when exerting or deferring individual authority over the top-down decisions imposed by external authorities. The role identity theory presented by the author offers a better explanation of how teachers enacted and described the phenomenon of teaching autonomy at their campuses than does previous research. Implications for future research, for school leaders and for policy are based on the conclusion that teaching autonomy is state of being that must be understood from an interactionist perspective alongside the characteristics of the teachers' workplace.

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Autonomy in Light of the Standards Movement and No Child Left Behind

Author: Jeana Lee Byrne

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 9781109531855

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The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the extent to which elementary teachers perceive their autonomy and to examine how various factors are perceived to impact their autonomy, how those factors affect their career plans, and how teachers maintain autonomy. Analysis of two-way ANOVAs indicated a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of grade level teachers and teachers with other teaching assignments in curricular autonomy. Analysis of the interview transcripts corroborated this difference. Factors the interviewees identified as impacting their autonomy include grade level standards, parents, principals, central administration and legislation.

A Multiple-case Study on the Perceptions of Teacher Autonomy in a Traditionally Structured and a Teacher Powered School

Author: Jerry Lee Wright

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13:

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The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to examine teachers’ perceived autonomy in two different school settings. The theory that guided this study was Bandura’s social-cognitive theory, specifically focusing on the three aspects of human agency. The research question was used to investigate the similarities and differences of teachers’ perceptions of autonomy in two schools one traditionally structured and the other teacher-powered. Thirteen participants from two separate settings, one teacher-powered school and one traditionally structured school were selected for this study. Participants were selected using criterion-sampling methods to ensure that all participants were teachers within their setting. Teacher-powered schools was defined as schools with a leadership structure driven by teacher leaders while traditionally structured schools were defined as schools with a principal-driven organizational structure. Data collection was triangulated using participant interviews, site observations, and document analysis. Data for this study were organized based on site and participants’ responses. Categorical aggregation was utilized to help identify common themes across multiple sources. Based on the data collected, it was determined that teachers in teacher-powered schools reported having a higher level of autonomy over curriculum decisions and instructional strategies than those in traditionally structured schools

The Autonomous Animal

Author: Claire Elaine Rasmussen

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 9781452946757

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Autonomy is a vital concept in much of modern theory, defining the Subject as capable of self-governance. Democratic theory relies on the concept of autonomy to provide justification for participatory government and the normative goal of democratic governance, which is to protect the ability of the individual to self-govern. Offering the first examination of the concept of autonomy from a postfoundationalist perspective, "The Autonomous Animal "analyzes how the ideal of self-governance has shaped everyday life. Claire E. Rasmussen begins by considering the academic terrain of autonom.