Condiciones para realizar el proceso de elaboración de harina de frejol

Only one of the teachers asserted her self-perception by talking about her self as an individual in separation from her perception about herself as a teacher. The other teachers talked about themselves only as teachers. Thus, the teachers’ self - perception was seen in two different respects in this study.

Teachers’ self-perception as individuals

The teacher who asserted her self-perception as an individual by talking about herself was the one working in the campus. She emphatically stated that she was

seeing herself as “an open person”. Her self-perception was affected by her relationship with the bullies in her class. Talking about the way these children express their emotional needs, she supported this idea by stating that she believed that body touch is very important in human communication. “If you see Sotiris giving me a cuddle you will understand how satisfied he is….he sends a message that ‘I gave a cuddle to the teacher’ […] he can acknowledge his emotional needs but he can’t express them verbally …he feels proud that he can do this and I accept it…[…] I am like this with my family and friends…I always kiss them or give them a cuddle as soon as I see them”.

It seemed that this teacher brought herself as is in her classroom creating a genuine relationship with her pupils and this helped her to deal with their behavioural problems. However, throughout the interviews the rest of the teachers did not seem to see themselves as other than “teachers”. Their role as ‘teachers’ appeared to dominate their perception about themselves. Their attitude may had to do with issues of confidentiality in this project as some of them stated that they did not expect the researcher to ask them to talk about them selves as individuals. In addition, while they were interviewed they did not seem to realise any relation between them selves as individual personalities and their role as a teacher. Although some of them were very willing to disclose information about their pupils’ personal life they did not feel like talking about their own lives.

Teachers’ self-perception as teachers

Teachers’ self-perception as teachers was strongly related with the notions of motives to become teachers, job satisfaction, job effectiveness and the way the educational authority and the media deal with them.

Five of the teachers reported that they had chosen their profession because they were told that they could get a job immediately and they could have a stable salary. However, they had different dreams but they finally compromised. Despite the fact that for most the decision to become teachers was not completely theirs and that they seemed to suppress their dreams about themselves, they claimed that they did not regret becoming teachers. They said that they are happy with what they are doing as long as they are in the classroom. They even saw their relationship with the bullies as a way to offer support to these children that they lack love and understanding. “What gives me much satisfaction is my relationship with these children [….] I can learn so much from them [….] and they help me as a parent”, a teacher said. The teacher who worked in the campus also asserted: “When I am not in the school I sometimes regret it to become a teacher ….but when I am at school I find satisfaction…the profession itself gives moral satisfaction”.

The notion of internal satisfaction was also reported by a teacher as an essential component of job satisfaction. “You have to feel like that if you want to be effective….otherwise if you feel it like a doggy work then it is soul destroying”. Since this teacher seemed to be frustrated at not being what he wanted to be in

his life although he was offered a place at the university in Greece to study engineering, his idea implied that it is not easy to feel internal satisfaction in this job. In order to deal with his frustration he decided to continue his studies doing a masters degree in educational management in Britain. “I learnt from that…I see things differently now….my attitude towards my pupils is different….even towards difficult children…there are things all teachers should know if they want to be effective…I am more effective now….[…] the more I get educated the more effective I become”, he added.

All the teachers who participated in this study connected their role as academics with their relationship with their pupils. In this way, they estimated their effectiveness in the way they saw themselves functioning in two domains: the academic domain and the emotional domain, independently of whether they had postgraduate studies or not.

The teacher who worked in the campus felt that her task was to help pupils learn but she also realised that this is done within a relationship with those children.

“The message I always try to pass to them is that ‘yes, you can be better […] all of you can improve what you are, she said. In addition, her idea about the way she functions as a teacher in the classroom implied her idea about her effectiveness as a teacher: “ […] generally my methods are not very modern, neither is my work impressive. This doesn’t mean that I am not effective. I am effective because I can manage to improve discipline in my class, the companionship and the morale in my class, I have improved their behaviour”. She was probably setting behaviour improvement as her priority in her task,

since according to her “behaviour is THE problem in our classroom”. So she could estimate her effectiveness based on the level on discipline she could achieve in her class. However, at the same time she realised that academic progress is also important but she seemed very disappointed from herself as an academic. “Well, I tried to use collaborative methods of learning…I tried group work but I didn’t succeed. When they sit together they quarrel, they punch each other….so I use a teacher-centred way of teaching”. She said that in a guilty way. She felt that the failure of the pupil centred process with those children was her failure as a teacher.

Her self-perception as a teacher was also affected by the way she saw herself in relation to the work of her colleagues in other schools. “Yes, I feel illiterate in comparison with my colleagues because, as I said, I’ve seen the work of other teachers in other schools. I am feeling that I don’t do enough…..to the extent that I wonder whether I would be effective in a school with higher academic expectations, with better pupils than those of this school ”, she said laughing, adding that“well, I guess I can adjust”.

This comparison seemed to affect her self-esteem as a teacher and created feelings of guilt in her. Looking at my research journal I realise that this is a common feeling for the teachers who worked in that school. Some of them perceived their service in that school as a punishment on behalf of the Ministry. They were all feeling tired and demotivated. Disappointment was also apparent when she seemed to compare her performance in academic and emotional

domain. Throughout the interview she seemed to see her self more as a counsellor rather than a teacher in the school.

Nevertheless, the rest of the teachers who participated in this study felt very effective in both domains.“Pupils with positive attitude prevail in this classroom and this makes me very positive towards the whole class [….] I am ok with myself but there is always a way to improve. I feel that I have a close relationship with them and that I can help them to raise their academic progress”, a teacher said. Even teachers who have children from ethnic minorities in their classroom feel that they can help them to improve their academic performance through a close relationship with them.

However, despite their sense of effectiveness teachers also asserted that their job is not an easy one at all.“Sometimes I feel tired….I feel that I have nothing else to offer to those children”, a teacher said after 23 years of service. Another teacher attributed her tiredness to the fact that“we have to deal with teenagers. It’s more difficult to handle their behaviour rather than to teach them [….] I don’t feel adequately educated to face that. We should be educated more on this issue.” Moreover, the overloaded curriculum was regarded as a problem that creates pressure to them by all of the teachers. As the teacher in the campus said:

“During the first term I was doing the policeman at school. I didn’t do a single off as I had to spend all of my time with them either giving them some extra help for the lessons or talking with them about their problems”.

Finally, three of the teachers felt very disappointed by the way the educational authority faced them in terms of promotion. The educational system is regarded as unfair from the teachers and creates them a feeling of injustice and bitterness.

“When I realise that other colleagues with the same years of service get a promotion and I don’t I feel very disappointed”, a teacher said. The same opinion was expressed by the teacher working in the campus. “ They put me in this problematic school and I’ ve been working here for ten years whereas most of the teachers don’t stay longer than two years in this school. I’ve been dealing with bullying and learning difficulties every day and when I went to them they didn’t give me the promotion!”

All three teachers, however, mentioned that they feel ok with themselves no matter what the educational authorities think about them. Nevertheless, their perception about how the educational authorities were seeing them affected their self-esteem as teachers. In addition, at that time when the interviews were taking place there was an incident of violence against a teacher which led to a strong debate in the media about school bullying and it seemed that the media were accusing the teachers of bullying students at schools. This incident was broadly discussed in staff rooms and teachers inevitably brought this issue into the interview as a factor that affects their perception about themselves and their role at school. “ We are abused by the way the media present our role. They give a very negative picture for us. They search for an opportunity to overemphasize some weakness in order to deprive us. […] I think the State has to take some measures about us”, a teacher said.

Generally, the discussion on the role of media in relation to teachers’ self- perception as teachers raised teachers’ defensiveness and revealed specific defence mechanisms employed by them in order to overcome their tensions created by the way they perceived their role.